VinyVango

Sims played with fire and pride. Hepa played with the hustle and fire expected of college player, though his stats were sparse (probably due in part to the fact he got zero meaningful minutes in a real game until about 10 games into the season). The most introverted guy on our team and the guy who had every reason to check out after getting no minutes early in the season stepped up. Coleman is a plus on the court. Sims' play was the only thing keeping things remotely watchable from a Texas perspective. The rest of the team needs to be running sprints today. Add those 3 guys who showed up in Waco to any other team in our conference and you have a team that can take the #2 spot in our conference and make a run into the 2nd weekend of the NCAA tournament. The rest of team is a hot mess of soft play, lack of development, minimal sense of time/situation, and wanting to get their three point shots up. Guys like Ramey, Hamm and Kai have shown glimpses of the right attitude. Baker, Williams, and Cunningham have not seen enough time to get any feel for the college game or be expected to offer any real contribution this year. AJ is best in an off the bench role until he gets stronger and shows the desire/ability to play smart with 100% effort on both ends of the court. Liddell has gone from showing promise to being a complete WTF. He doesn't seem to have a clue what position he is playing or what he is supposed to be doing on either end of the court. Febres is way too soft to be playing anything other than a 10 min a game, shooting guard role off the bench... maybe as a 8th man. Living and dying by his 3 point shot is asinine. I'd get it more if he was a huge, motivating, aggressive personality and strong defender, but his defense and rebounding are 2nd string Lady Longhorn on a good day. He's becoming the next Eric Davis, Jr who gets paraded out at the expense of other players' development on the hope that he taps into his twice a year scorch the nets effort. For reasons unknown, Hepa suddenly exited the doghouse and is getting real minutes and showing he deserved then all along. Time to give some other guys real time. At this point, I've ever up for spinning the wheels on Cunningham in Febres' role for a game or two to see what he has. I'd also try something nuts like running Hepa at SF and Jai / Hamm at PF. Our guard stacked line-ups are not cutting it. Hell, maybe run Baker and Sims at the same time and play a 3-2 zone for a bit on defense. Let Ramey backup Coleman and fight with AJ and Febres for SG minutes. Bench any player who jacks up a contested brick 3 pointer early with more than 3 seconds on the shot clock. If we lose any more games to a team that shoots 31% overall and 29% from the 3 point line, I think you need to fire Shaka and his "offensive coordinator" and let Yaklich and his choice of fill-ins ride the rest of the season out. We can't be worse on offense with him running the show.

It does really remind me of the level of coaching, aggressiveness, and basketball iq i saw in a low level high school game last year ... in that game parents were yelling at their kids on the court about what to do... Sims and hepa were the only guys who fought and played like they really cared to be on the court tonight ..and hepa had zero points ... I’m certain every coach in the conference is dying to play us... looks like we have maybe 4-6 wins left in the tank this year Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Can we hire Fran to finish out the season as coach? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

2-14 from 3 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Give Liddell, Williams and Cunningham a look... febres is hurting the team this game Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I must say hepa’s defense looks exponentially better than last year Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Fran just ripped the fuck out of febres for soft play Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’d be happy not seeing febres in another game until he quits playing like a soft, 13 year old ... give his minutes to someone who will hustle ... a walk-on can stand around and jack up clunker 3s if we need that Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sims and Coleman playing well ... Hepa hustling ... nobody else seems to want anything to do with a physical college level basketball game right now Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

2nd possession turnover by AJ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

First shot of the second half contested three-point airball by Febres Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ramey and Coleman have clearly been told to drive inside but nobody else has a clue what they need to do as/when that happens Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

3 trips to the free throw line 1/7 on three point attempts ... Febres 1 point 3 turnovers... Baylor up 13 at half Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Zero movement by any player to fill lanes on offense when the pg drives ... just standing at the 3 point line Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

6 point game Baylor ahead Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Fran said “ this Texas team plays like it has polos and khakis on sometimes” Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

27-19 Baylor w 4 1/2 mins left Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Kai Jones standing at the three point corner on offense ... nobody wants anything to do with paint Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Several possessions where we don’t even get a shot up on the rim Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Andrew Jones is a great come back story ... he needs to dump the flexing after a shot until he decides to play a little defense too Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I will zealously root for my team and bitch about perceived stupid plays and poor coaching when they occur. I’ll also expect to be disappointed (which sucks). I anticipate many “welp” moments and hope they are numbed by Baylor tears in the end. In a scrape by season, I’ll hope that the heat Shaka feels encourages him to accept a job in a much colder climated conference. Absent a second weekend appearance in the NCAA tourney, I hope our AD gives him the boot the day the last game is played. I think he’s had fair time to get the machine running ... he needs a ceiling year to survive with arguably his most imbalanced roster since his arrive. I’d like him gone but I’m not rooting against my team. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Baylor will zone us to death and make use live/die by the outside shot. We'll need to at least pretend to want to get the ball inside to make them break a sweat and consider the need to sag a bit and/or have more than one man playing interior defense. Our standing around, 4 and 5 out looks on offense will allow them to play aggressive and extend their zone more against us than they would a team with a desire to get the ball inside. With zones it's about finding and accepting passes and driving into the gray / weaker areas to make two guys collapse and open up space for drives and shots, which is not so easy unless the passer/driver plays without hesitation and the guys accepting passes inside the zone use strength and leverage to maintain their space. Ironically, Baker's hands, size, and (alleged) shooting ability could've made him useful in this game if he'd been developed/taught/used as an interior post at all during the past 12 games. If our guards can get inside against Baylor's aggressive zone, Baylor will eventually sag a bit back off Ramey and Coleman to limit their driving lanes and make the stationary Febres heave contested, rushed shots from the outside corners all night. I anticipate we will gladly accept the option of living and dying by the long ball rather than attempting to get inside and draw fouls. On defense, Baylor will force Sims (or his back-up) to come outside the paint when we play man and will drive the paint against our smaller guys. Defense and rebounding of our 2nd big like Kai, Liddell, or Febres (who Shaka loves to basically use as our PF defender in the small ball line-up) will be a huge factor in how this and most of our games this year go. I can see them getting to the line a lot in Waco. We are a competent defending team more often than not. Absent some high-scoring game by Febres where more than 1/3 of his shots find the net, this game will boil down to our PGs being focused on driving inside to create open passes and draw fouls, and them making a few open shots at times Baylor decides to sag off to close the driving lanes. We can't afford our guards to be hesitant, dribbling for 15 seconds while trying to direct traffic for stationary targets.

not since the gut-pack and Big-O were available on weekends.

Baker needs a ton of work. Currently, he doesn't look like a starter on most teams. He'll need the flip to switch after a couple years of hard work to even get a summer league roster fill invite at the next level. He has shown a couple of glimpses (few and far between because of how he is used) of good hands, + passing skill, length on defense (despite little vertical lift), and a nice touch around the basket. This staff needs to firmly shut down the 3 point green light for him. It's not doing the team or him any good. He needs to be drilled on how to post up and box out ... He should be used as a big in/near the key who can receive a pass and quickly pass to another teammate. This tiptoeing around the 3 point line after a very high screen and BS about jacking up 3 pointers when your 7 foot tall and not Dirk needs to end. Once he shows some consistent desire to play to his size, hits a few close shots and 2 point jumpers, THEN maybe give him the green light to shoot a wide open three as a 3rd or 4th option. Baker is clearly not a 1 or 2 and done guy, but a good coaching staff could mold him into an asset and get some non-garbage time use out of him In the very least he could easily be slotted into a 2-3 zone today and be a formidable wall in the paint with a little coaching about verticality and leverage. He's kind of the new James Banks who looks "off" here but could excel with a coaching staff that teaches him to maximize his physical anomalies. Otherwise, encourage him to transfer and recruit some guy who is built to play the role. The fact Baker is not NBA ready as a freshman doesn't mean he's as good as he will ever be. It's nonsensical to suggest any player is a "bust" until about midway through the junior year. Was he overrated by recruiting services? Sure. There's a ton of subjectively and popularity/exposure factors in recruiting rankings. With a teenager who is not a 5-star who plays like a grown man, you have to look at potential. Being really tall, able to run without stumbling, and having good hands certainly get you more exposure that the 6'6" small school, center who will get a mid-tier school scholarship, grow a couple inches in college, and manhandle someone like the current version of Baker. In short, I see promise and potential in Baker, but it's only accessible if he is used in the right way. He needs a lot of inside play coaching up and toughening up rather than "shoot whenever you want" glad-handing. Our coaching staff seems okay with the players exhibiting inconsistent technique and soft habits. It's like they think the James Harden "you be you" coaching approach will work for teenagers. Give me Billy Donovan... sadly, Billy Gillespie would be an improvement when it comes to showing a little fire. [end of rant]

Get febres and Liddell off the court for the rest of this turd Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk