someguy

they also hired Grooms' replacement.

As CTJ alluded to earlier, there were some minor maturity issues that needed to be ironed out. But Murphy also has some very positive intangible traits. He's the most charismatic and natural leader in the QB room. He's also one of those guys who is very competitive, even in dumb, small, every day ways. You can never tell for sure, but I like Murphy's chance of developing. The decision to stay at Texas and continue to develop when the overtures of the portal must have been enticing only reinforces my sanguine outlook. Whether the fruits of that are at Texas or not, I have no idea. My hope is that Murphy/Arch are both the real deal and it is no lose situation, because that 2024 QB decision is going to be difficult.

I'm really proud of him. What a difficult journey, and he has come out of it such an impressive young man. Imagine the how difficult it is to get that kind of diagnosis. Then imagine how much more difficult it is your freshman year of college, when you are trying to figure out who you are and your place in the world. Then imagine being a high level D1 athlete who feels invincible and dreams of making millions in the NFL one day, and now you can't play and might not see 30 without a transplant. Just surviving is an accomplishment, but to put in the work to graduate from UT is incredible.

They will need to drag Wright out of the program kicking and screaming, and even then they'll probably have to change the locks.

I could very well be reading the website incorrectly, but I don't think Nahlin switched from Texas to Tech in March. It reads (to my eye anyway) that Nahlin made a RPM prediction for Texas with a 65% confidence on 3/25/23. Before that prediction, the prediction algorithm had Texas at 30.5% and Tech at 23.8%. After Nahlin's prediction, the algorithm moved to Texas 80% and Tech 8.6% (really odd swing IMO). After the Spielgelman prediction, the RPM currently sits at Texas 49.6% while Tech is 43.4%. Or I'm reading it wrong. I don't know. https://www.on3.com/db/micah-hudson-145743/recruiting/125563/rpm/

Keilan Robinson was also struggling with a groin injury going into the game. The RB room was in rough shape for the bowl game.

I've always been skeptical that Donewald would stay. They did a good job of keeping it in house, but there was a power struggle in the immediate aftermath of Beard's suspension and the naming of Terry as interim. Donewald felt like he should have been named interim and it took a while for he and Terry to sort out the leadership dynamic, even going to far to where each had their own whiteboards. Obviously they figured out how to coexist well enough as the season went on. Donewald came with Beard. Despite all the sunshine from the 9.95ers, I was skeptical that Donewald would stay and work for a guy like Terry (unless he just really, really, really liked Austin for family reasons). Losing Donewald's ability to develop talent is a major blow, IMO

there was way more to that story. There's a reason he never surfaced anywhere else.

don't forget concluding that Catalon is too awesome and experienced to need spring practice.

this picture looks like evidence of a failed experiment seeking to clone Haynes King.

This is where I am trying to be. I am firmly in this camp... ...yet I struggle to see anything interesting in this trailer. This will be a prime example of wait for the reviews/voices I trust. I want to be optimistic, but it is getting increasingly difficult.

SD St has 9 fouls in 8 minutes played in the second half. The refs are killing any sense of flow or momentum in this half. Brutal.

LSU getting a veryyyyyy friendly whistle right now.

my absolute trust and faith in Pixar has been shaken in recent years. I'll probably still see this, but the trailer looks shows a story that looks annoyingly derivative, albeit with the typical Pixar look and feel (which does count for something).

I actually like the call. Hand clearly on hip pushing to the side. It isn't as obvious as a hack across the arm, but that kind of push absolutely affects the shot.

Nobody cares about who does and doesn't get my seal of approval. I'm not particularly pro RT or anti RT. I just want Texas to hire the best basketball coach they can to lead the program. RT is somewhere on the list of realistic candidates, and the strengths and weaknesses of his fitness for the position have been discussed ad nauseum. To answer your question directly - there is nothing that RT can do in this tournament that will make me feel like he is a slam dunk hire. As i wrote in my earlier post, in my mind there is a big difference between taking over a team full of upperclassmen and super seniors and guiding the team and building/maintaining a program. RT is absolutely crushing it in leading this team, and that is most definitely a big part of the job and he deserves a lot of credit. But in my mind some folks are treating performance at a single tournament as tantamount to being qualified to lead a program. I don't agree. Some things are factual and beyond dispute. RT was a pedestrian head coach at Fresno and UTEP. Reasonable minds can reach different conclusions on how to interpret that. Some say success at leading smaller programs is the best way of demonstrating the ability to successfully lead bigger programs. Others make the argument that recruiting to smaller programs is more difficult, and coaching with fewer resources doesn't let someone address weaknesses. Getting to coach at a school like Texas with access to elite talent and more resources, some people have skills to succeed in that environment where they couldn't in the smaller school environment. I tend to side with the former, but I can't say the latter is impossible. I do not think RT is the worst possibility. My opinion on hiring RT is contingent on what other candidates are out there. If, for instance, Texas passed on hiring Donovan because RT made a final four, I would consider that a mistake. I have absolutely no idea whether Donovan (or whoever else clear upgrade coach) is a realistic candidate. I have come around to the position that keeping RT is preferable to hiring someone who is not a slam dunk upgrade. There are some very real benefits to recruiting continuity and program stability, but I would still be concerned for the Peter principle, where RT's ceiling is really great assistant but isn't a top guy (a la Mark Adams, Barry Switzer, etc). I am also mindful of the track record of assistants stepping into head coaching roles without proving it as a head coach elsewhere. I will say my enthusiasm for a RT hire would be higher if he maintained Donewald. I do think Donewald has been a very large part of the success at Texas. Obviously RT did not have assistants at the level of Donewald at his prior stops, and a great head coach has assistants who are strong where the head coach is weaker. I'd have more confidence in the RT/Donewald pairing. I'd want to know if that pairing could continue in the future. If not, I would consider it an open question if RT was good at hiring assistants. Regardless of my opinion/concerns, it looks like RT will be hired. I'll be 100% in his corner if/when that happens. I'm enjoying the heck out of this run and hope it is a regular occurrence in the years to come.

It happened when he landed awkwardly during warmups in the PSU game.

The funny thing is Drake would have beaten Louisville if Van Lith wasn't an absolute stone cold killer down the stretch (and if their one big could have shot 50% on wide open lay ins). Louisville played with much more energy and focus tonight and hit their shots. Texas laid an absolute egg, even considering the limitations. The combination of those things makes for an ugly score. Total side note, but on my way out I ran into Sydir Mitchell. I haven't felt that tiny in a long time.

can’t blame the crowd - riding the refs during the commercial break, lots of energy. they want to erupt.

there are valid critiques of energy, gameplan, etc, but at the end of the day this team lacks quality, creative, offensive players. Not many can create their own shot or create for others. Injuries and youth have brought them here, and hopefully the future should look different, but right now they just are not hard to defend.

Moody is definitely more into it - crowd wants to be a factor.

this team really struggles with entry passes to the post - Holle probably the worst offender, but Harmon makes some terrible decisions at times.

she did not have surgery. She had some back luck where it could have been drained and she could have been back pretty quickly, but the blood coagulated so it could not be drained and had to naturally be removed by her body. She was on the slower end of that timeframe, unfortunately.

Got to see the second half of the Louisville game before the Texas game. If Drake had a big who could reliably hit a layup they would have won by 10. Van Lith really bailed out Louisville and was their offense down the stretch. It isn't really Texas' game, but Drake got so many open/uncontested looks with their bigs slipping screens/back cutting - it looked like the Louisville bigs had never seen a backcut before in their lives. I really enjoyed watching the younger players get some extended run. Jak is going to be a monster defensively as she adds some strength and gets a bit more aggressive.