HookEm

The team that lost to ACU was Final Four caliber. We finished #9 in the final season poll. That team was stacked and criminally underachieved. Did Chris Beard keep Kai Jones, Greg Brown, Jerecho Sims, and Matt Coleman from going pro, even though they all had college eligibility left? Nope. Did Chris Beard keep Kamaka Hepa, Donovan Williams and Royce Hamm from hitting the portal? Nope. It all worked out fine, even though a lot of us were very worried at the time. Let's give Terry a little time and see what happens.

I still am hopeful that we will have a very good team next year. We could very easily end up with this team: Tyrese Hunter (6'0 G) - Started 38 games on Elite 8 team Max Abmas (6'0 G) - Summit PoY, NCAA All-Region Team (Oral Roberts) Quincy Olivari (6'3 G) - 2x All-CUSA (Rice) Kalib Boone (6'9 F) - All Big-12 (Oklahoma State) Dylan Disu (6'9 F) - Started 35 games on Elite 8 team, Big12 Tourney MVP Ron Holland (6'8 F) - 5-star, #6 National Recruit Brock Cunningham - (6'5 F) - 113 games played for Texas, on most of our best lineups Kadin Shedrick (6'11 C) - 35 starts for Virginia Alex Anamekwe (6'5 F) - Minimum minutes. Will probably not be an impact player for a few more years We won't get all of these players, and honestly we don't have room for them all. TLDR version: Relax. Lot of stuff will happen over the next month.

Hepa wound up at Hawaii. Last year he averaged 11.5 pts, 6.6 reb, 2.0 3s with pretty solid efficiency. He is now out of eligibility.

For me, Morris is a much bigger loss for the college game which is dominated by guards. Mitchell is making a good decision if he goes in the 1st round. If not, I think it would be better for him to develop while continuing to cash them NIL checks.

Chris Beard was on the verge of turning Texas into a monster. Anyone who thinks RT will be as successful as Beard COULD have been are not worth debating. Beard definitely has the higher ceiling, which approaches dynasty level. That said, one is here and the other isn't, because Beard despite all of his salesmanship and coaching prowess... is a moeran. Let's also all remember that Beard was 65-38 in his last 4 seasons (63.1%). Granted, it looked like he had it going in 22/23, but there are no guarantees. And yes, Terry has a career 0.530 record, but that includes two major rebuilds at historically bad teams. His last 3 years at Fresno he was 66-34 (66.0%). He won't be a 0.500 coach at Texas. I would bet my retirement on it.

The Pelicans should have offered up Zion for Kevin Durant back a couple of months ago. New Orleans would be sick with Durant. And they have a ton of picks to get more assets as needed. And I bet Brooklyn would have rolled the dice and taken that deal. Wonder if Minnesota would trade KAT for Zion. Couple of underachievers who could use a change of scenery. Did anyone really think that New Orleans with some of the best, most fattening food on the planet, would work out well for Zion?

Here are a few dumb Trae Young trades...

I'll be with my wife and three kids (15, 17, 19). They all love to snorkel so that will be a priority. Also some good beach time. Would love to try some good local restaurants away from the cruise ship / party crowd. We will probably drive all over the island.

Agree 100%. This is a major loss IMO. He reminded me a lot of Avery Bradley this year. I think with more reps he is going to be really special.

Really? I'm not trying to crap on Haith, but he hasn't had the best career as a head coach despite being at programs where he should have been able to win big. In seven years at Miami, Haith took them to a grand total of one NCAA tourney (winning 1 game). In contrast, after Haith left Jim Larranaga took over and has taken them to a Final Four + an Elite 8s + 2 Sweet 16s. It's not like Miami is Fresno State. His time at Mizzou was a failure, with NCAA violations ultimately leading to sanctions and an entire year of wins vacated. And he didn't win a single tourney game there. His time at Tulsa started ok with a couple of 20 win seasons and an NCAA play-in loss. But each season has been worse with his last one at 11-20. Good coaches can be successful at Tulsa. Bill Self made an Elite 8. Tubby Smith made two Sweet 16s. Nolan Richardson was 119-37. All-in Haith was 320-237 (0.561) with one NCAA tourney win and only 4 Tourney appearances in 18 seasons. At Mizzou, Tulsa and Miami, you should be expected to win a few tourney games. He barely won more games than Terry did at freaking Fresno and UTEP. Regardless, I'm glad he is on our staff.

Crazy that Mobley is 1st in contested 3s. Wow.

Luka is 2nd in the NBA in usage. I would HATE to play with a ball dominant perimeter player like that. Yay! I get to stand around at the 2-point line and hope that he will drive and kick it out to me. Brutal. He is James Harden 2.0. I hate watching this style and I hate playing it. It is one thing if you have a very high usage center (see Embiid). That means the team is consciously getting the ball into the paint where you don't expect it to come back out. Moreover, guys like Embiid and Giannis are playing at an All-Defense level on the other end of the court. Westbrook gets a lot of shit for his usage, but he has only had two seasons higher than what Luka just threw down (which was the #8 all-time single season usage mark). If you are a perimeter player with this kind of usage, you damn sure better be D'ing up like Kobe or Jordan on the other end or your team is going to hate you.

I'm headed to Cozumel in July with the family. Staying in the Nah Ha condo complex between Hotel B and Peninsula Grand on the Northwest side of the island. Any advice on restaurants in the area? We plan to rent a car, but I haven't booked it yet. Mainly plan to snorkel as much as possible. Let me know if anyone has tips on good tour operators or places to go from shore.

His time was running out at Fresno State??? Lololol. He had just coached them to three straight 20 win seasons and their first Tourney appearance in 15 years. They had TWO 20 win seasons in the 10 prior to Rodney Terry. He also hugely improved their recruiting. He had also recently won their conference tournament. He got poached by UTEP, he didn't leave Fresno under duress. And at UTEP, his tenure was right in the middle of Covid. He wasn't on the hot seat at all. If you include performance bonuses, he had the potential of making ~$1M for Texas vs. $750K at UTEP. (And got to move to Austin). I'm not saying that his 10-year record was stellar, but at least paint a correct picture.

I can’t help but think that with a healthy team we would have beaten any of the Final Four teams with the game being in Houston. Sorry, I just don’t think UConn looked better than us. Sigh.

That is exactly the kind of player I want. A 4 year guy at the same successful school his whole college career, who just wants a change. Kind of like getting your 4-year degree and then going to grad school somewhere else for a change of pace. NOT a player who leaves after a year because they aren't getting playing time or are feuding with the coach.

FWIW - Here are some of the mock draft positions I have seen for Mitchell. Only 3 / 17 have him going in the 1st round. Only 7 / 17 have him getting drafted at all. He should come back for another year. #18 - Celtics #20 - Heat #24 - Nets #33 - Pistons #41 - Lakers #47 - Cavs #50 - Thunder Not first round x 3 Undrafted x 7

I would definitely prioritize getting guys from winning programs. Don't need an infusion of bad habits.

As you know, the NBA drafts on potential. It is obvious watching Mitchell that he has more potential than 99% of NCAA players. The kid is a spring and has a great attitude. He COULD be a monster in 3-4 years. I think with NIL, the strategy could change for players who are at the back end of the lottery. If they can stay in college and make $1-2M vs. going to play in the NBA-DL, they might do it. Plus they get MUCH more exposure in college, which gives them more potential for a bigger marketing deal once they are in the NBA. Everyone knows who Drew Timme is. Nobody knows who Ausar Thompson is.

If so... I'm out. Recruiting for cultural fit should be the absolute top priority.

I would get the Tech big guy Fardaws Aimaq. He would give us a legit center and is a good rebounder and defender. Once he came back from injury Tech was a different team.

Fair, but there are a lot of hard-ass, ego-centric head coaches who would try to bend this "player led, mature team" to their will. Sometimes it results in great teams. Sometimes it breaks them and they crap out early. If they are indeed player-led, then Terry deserves credit for getting out of their way. On the flip side, I don't think the players are the ones coaching up Dylan Disu into playing like an All-American / NCAA Tourney MVP.

I guess I missed the part where Beard called the cops and then Randi got hauled off to jail. The reality is that none of us know exactly what happed that night. We all have assumptions that are influenced by our own biases. The facts are that Randi called the cops and Beard went to jail. Sure, he is innocent until proven guilty in the eyes of the law. But I don't have to abide by those rules when deciding how I feel about him. At a minimum, in my mind he is guilty of bad judgement for not de-escalating the situation and removing himself physically (as the stronger party). That is the bare minimum, which is enough to get him fired from his dream job. But... It is quite possible that what actually happened is way worse than that. Maybe he did choke her. Maybe he bit her trying to hurt her. Maybe he has been mentally abusing her for years. Maybe this has happened 10 times and only now she decided to call the police because she was afraid he might seriously hurt her. Maybe all of the above is true and he paid her off to recant her story. In summary... F him. He le let this program down and I'm embarrassed that he is an alumni of this school.

wat no wai

Or maybe he deserved to get arrested for a felony charge because he put hands on his fiancé to the degree that she called the cops. My opinion: F that guy. I hope he falls flat on his face at Ole Miss. It shocks me the pass he is getting from the media.