HookEm

Part of me likes the thought of keeping Terry because for the most part he has kept the culture going that Beard started. Yes, our defense isn't as good. But there is continuity and the results have been outstanding so far. But the risk is VERY high that we take a big step back next year and never get back to this level in his tenure. If we bring in another coach it is almost certainly going to be a full reset. Maybe that reset will be better (hopefully) than what we get with Terry. But it could also take us down the Shaka / Strong / Herman / Sark path. Of course Terry himself could take us down that path too. The truly annoying thing is that under no scenario, new coach or keeping Terry, will we be better off than we were 3 months ago. And we likely never will be again. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!

I think all but the most casual fans realize how crushing it was to lose Beard. I mean just a horrible horrible gut punch to the program. I am convinced we will never find a more perfect fit of a coach in my lifetime. And his defense is a thing of beauty. Perfectly orchestrated team defense. Some prefer a great offensive identity, but for me Beard's system was perfection. Smothering defense and slow but VERY efficient offense. Dec 12 (on my birthday!) was probably my worst moment as a UT fan/alumni. That includes the hoops loss to ACU, Route 66, the loss to evil superman Roy Williams, Colt's knockout at Alabama, etc. The only thing close was the Big-12 title game in 2001 when fans were throwing beer bottles at Chris Sims. Similar to Beard, that was both a sports loss and a UT embarrassment.

I don't put a ton of stock into comparing the current ratings with the ratings we had under Beard to start the year. When he left the team, our average opponent was ranked #152, we hadn't played a single true road game, and we had played some of the worst teams in Div-1. Since that time the average opponent is ranked #68 and we have played in some of the toughest road environments in the country. I will agree that the defense doesn't look as good with just an eye test though. Sometimes it is, but there isn't nearly the consistency.

Yes, that was an incredibly impressive display.

I actually like the way Terry has set the rotations. The starters are our highest upside players. To win, you have to get a few of these guys going. We can feel out the other team see who is going to go off and who isn't. If Timmy Allen has a mismatch, he can exploit it. Mitchell and Disu can also establish some post defense and attack the glass. One of our guards will hopefully be playing well. Then as we start subbing in our bench (ideally subbing out the cold players), we have a HUGE advantage over the other team. They are subbing in WEAKER players while we are subbing in guys (who may be BETTER than our starters) who will move the ball, and generate spacing with their shooting and IQ. Also our bench has our lowest ego guys on the team (though most of our team is remarkably low ego). These guys have proven that they can stay engaged and aren't going to pout because they aren't "starting". It seems like Rice likes his role of assassin off the bench. Cunningham is a near-perfect off the bench guy who can boost the energy after the initial game adrenaline and crowd enthusiasm wanes. And Bishop can also come in and dirty it up with physicality. Rice, Cunningham and Bishop are all "lunch pail" types who have some dawg in them.

Not one person thinks our starters would beat our bench?

Agree. Cunningham has turned himself into a real asset. With most of our players (outside of maybe Rice), it depends on who you are getting any given night. Hunter can play like a 1st team All-American. First seven games of the season: 15+ points on 52% shooting. Since then? 8 points on 33% shooting. Dylan Disu and Dillon Mitchell can be really disruptive on the glass. Disu also leads the team in blocks by a wide margin. Timmy Allen can take over a game and can score 20+ Christian Bishop can be really dominant at times. I actually think he is our best low post player. But at times he can be a turnover / foul machine. Morris is a wildcard. He is the most athletic player on the team IMO.

Our bench this year is so good, it has me wondering if they would actually beat our starters. The starters are probably better individual talents, but the bench has a bunch of hoopers. Curious what you all think. Since we only have 9 players on our bench, I put Carr on both teams.

Grill being out is huge. That guy is a pain in the ass.

KenPom and Massey both have us winning 2.1 more regular season games, so actually slightly better chance we go 3-1 than 1-3. I think we may need to win 5 more games to get a 1 seed. So we need to do one of the following: - Win out and then win the Big12 opener - Go 3-1 and then make the title game - Go 2-2 and then win the Big12 Tourney

We still have a path to a 1-seed.

Tech is playing with some desperation, having won 5 of their last 7. If they win 2 more (plus probably a win in the Big 12 tourney), they have a real shot at making the tournament. They play TCU and Okie State at home, both winnable games. And get OU and KU on the road. There is a reasonable chance that they go 3/5.

A big consideration for me is the assistant coaching staff. Right now I think we have one of the best in the country. I think there is a good chance that they all stay if we keep Terry. I can’t see many wanting to follow Beard to his next gig given the way things ended here. People talk about our experienced team and it being “player led”, but I think a lot of our success is because of the work of the assistants. That includes the high school recruiting and transfer portal. Beard obviously guided the ship, but a TON of the heavy work has been done by these guys. Terry never had a staff like this at UTEP or Fresno. I’m still not saying we should hire him. But more that his current results may be a better indication of his future than what he did with less resources.

Great teams should crush crappy teams like OU…. Errrr except the current #1 team in the country actually got throttled by OU. Maybe OU is actually a quality win. I’ll just enjoy the wins when they come.

10 of those losses were by 6 or fewer points. We were so close to being awesome. The talent was definitely there.

That Roach dunk might be the greatest dunk in UT history. Struggling to think of a better one. Here is the video:

BTW - The USC team that beat Durant wasn't "dogshit". They had wins over #8 Wichita State, #9 Oregon, #11 Washington State, #11 Arizona, @#16 Oregon and others. They had #16 draft pick Nick Young (All PAC-12) and #26 draft pick Taj Gibson (All PAC-12) and #62 pick Gabe Pruitt.... plus some other upper classmen. They were a worst case scenario draw for us as they were experienced and also had NBA talent.

My main point is to congratulate Terry for what he is doing and weigh it heavily in his interview for the permanent position. In no way do I want to make him the permanent coach before seeing how the season ends. And likely not even then. I also challenge the narrative that this is a “player-led team”. Literally nobody was saying that when Beard was still at the helm, and the players haven’t changed. People say it now because it helps diminish what Terry is doing.

Bamba is second only to Vince Young in the list of Longhorns who were drafted into horrible positions. He has been criminally underused and underdeveloped his whole NBA career.

I agree if you are talking about an interview. Making a post game speech is a different animal.

Is this a serious post or parody? Repetition in speeches is exactly what strong leaders do. “I have a dream that x, I have a dream that y.” He is trying to reinforce that defense is what won the game. (In stark contrast with the loss in Austin). And recognizing players who contributed on that end. You can’t establish a culture without a TON of repetition.

The more I think back on the game yesterday, the more impressed I am. Man, what a great win. Holding them to 66 points was quite a statement after they lit us up for 116 in Austin.

I think it is possible that Terry could be a lot more successful at UT than he was at Fresno or UTEP - and I mean relative to his Big-12 / SEC conference peers. Some coaches are great at developing, motivating and coaching up inferior players and helping them overachieve. They find success as underdogs at lower-level schools who don't have the talent and demands of a big-time program. And sometimes these coaches fail when they get to a big program and try to use the same tactics on elite one-and-done type recruits (see Billie Gillispie and many others). These "hard-ass" types can also struggle with the other duties they have at an elite program: Dealing with rich boosters, dealing with the media, handling high-level assistant coaches, managing egos where everyone wants to be the star, dealing with NIL, etc. I think it is possible that Terry is actually good at all of these CEO-type activities that he never really had to deal with at Fresno State. And he has an elite coaching staff that can fill in any other deficiencies. He has shown that he can keep the players motivated in an extremely volatile situation. He has the team playing well together and everyone filling their roles. He has the NBA-caliber players (Hunter, Morris, Mitchell) buying in on not being a star and sharing minutes. And he is making decisions throughout the game that are leading to big wins. (Solid substitutions, keeping Rice coming off the bench, pressing to get a 10 second call, etc.). If you look at Jerry Tarkanian, he put together some of the best teams ever at UNLV. He was pretty "meh" at Fresno State and even landed them on probation when he left. Again, I'm not saying I would offer Terry the job today. I've been pretty clear about what I think he needs to do to secure the job. But I can see how his success this year may not be a "fluke" or guarantee that we will suck once "Beard's" players leave.

Yep. I cringe any time someone calls Rice a “role player”. He looks to be the leader of this team. He is a muthafuckin G.

Our key players (Carr, Hunter, Allen and Rice) were all stars on their previous team. The reason they don’t all try to play hero ball is because this coaching staff has coached it out of them. And it still pops up from time to time. More than anything, the coaching staff deserves credit for taking a group that had largely never played together, and getting them to play like a team.