SL Xpress

Hopium? I'm still irrationally pining for Jay Wright. Is that going to happen? It is not, Mr. SL Xpress. It is not.

When I think of the career Rodney Terry has amassed and then I think of the career Bill Self has had at Oral Roberts, Tulsa, Illinois, and then Kansas, they feel eerily similar. If Bill Self goes through a number of years with similar results to this one, they're going to be looking for him to quickly retire. Personally I think this was a decent season for Texas. Especially given my thoughts of what was going to happen after the loss to UCF. Eventually Terry needs to get to the second weekend over the next few years, or he won't be at Texas any more. How quickly that timeline needs to happen is above my pay grade. He also can't be missing the tournament all that often. Drunk harassing phone calls to one of your players and being arrested for choking your fiancée are out as well. I still question Terry's ability to build a team and to get them to buy into an identity that can lead to tremendous success. Nothing about this season addresses any of that. At the same time, he's personally compelling enough to attract some talent, and when the team is down he has some kind of leadership skills to right the ship. That's not nothing. It's not enough in and of itself, but it's not nothing.

Nebraska fans' angst over losing their athletic director to A&M feeds me.

I knew Texas was aspiring to make a first class beach volleyball facility, but creating a manmade peninsula with a lake surrounding the complex on Guadalupe is more than I was prepared for.

The official site says she's competing with the beach team this weekend against Long Beach State: https://texassports.com/news/2024/3/14/beach-volleyball-preview-lbsu-tournament.aspx "Indoor players Kenna Miller, Auburn Tomkinson, Averi Carlson, Reilly Heinrich and Devin Kahahawi will also compete this weekend." I'm sure she headed out to Los Angeles early and met her Mom out there. I'm also convinced she's entering her name in the portal in the May time frame. But I was surprised she didn't enter in the December portal period, so it won't be shocking. Bringing in Rutherford and Lauenstein pretty much sealed the deal as far as I'm concerned, and I wasn't even clear she should stay before that. Having said that, I do think she looked a little better than Rutherford in the spring exhibitions. I don't put much stock into it, because Rutherford is a newcomer to how Texas wants to do things. I've watched Rutherford at Kentucky on many occasions over the last 4 years. She's special. Her defense is absolutely abysmal, however. Like, worse than Fields. But that's okay. She'll be subbed out. It's a shame we won't see her attack from the back row much, but she's a liability out there on defense.

This video is a year old, and it's an hour long, so I don't know how much interest there is in it. But if you want to hear some real nuts and bolts about the strategies and philosophies the Texas program employs, and what helps make Texas volleyball different, this is for you. I watched the interview with Sullivan from a year before, but I never knew about this one. It's even better. Also, I know this is short notice, but today, (March 10) at 7pm central time the same guys/youtube channel are doing a live interview with Sullivan and Hunt. I'm sure they'll post it somewhere on their site after words, so I'll link it after that happens. I'm really excited to hear it! Anyway, here's the link to last year's show:

How about a short term plan to lose the war? A good start would be to not allow a vote on the floor of the House for $60 billion in military aid. I genuinely appreciate McCaul as someone who has been consistent about his support for Ukraine. I've given up on Graham. He often says the right things regarding Ukraine, but he has the backbone of a jellyfish. I appreciate the wailing and gnashing of teeth of others on this thread. It's actually mildly cathartic. This is not some kind of hopeless cause, or a group of people who are looking for a hand out, It's a people deeply committed to some kind of democratic form of government - WAAAAAAAY more committed than many other members of Western civilization. I truly believe they could have won this thing if given consistent support with hand me down equipment that would have been FAR superior to what they faced on the battlefield, continuing a strong ongoing campaign to train units, and providing munitions (especially artillery shells) and a robust supply chain to support repair, maintenance, and replacement for donated equipment. The fact that the spigot has been cut off has been catastrophic, even against an incompetent enemy. I still think they can win. But it's hard to see what that path might be until US support is somehow restarted at a very high level.

I'm rooting for Merz. The message seems so obvious to me. It is very frustrating and depressing it's not quite as obvious to enough other people that we can't get the $60 billion package approved in Congress, and it seems like other than some kind of Hail Mary stratagem, it won't ever be approved until after the November election, and that's only if someone other than Trump wins the election. I can't even convince the people around me of its importance.

This is NOT the theme of this thread, sir. Also, onions. Still not a fan of pit bulls, but I was still affected by that segment from Jon Stewart.

I will personally be very happy when Ole Miss misses the tournament. I still think he's done a good job in year one, and I bet the Ole Miss fans think so, too. For one thing, the excitement on campus for the basketball team is much higher than it's been previously. Still, my dream is that he fails to make the tournament every year and is fired from his job. I don't think that's going to happen, but that's the dream.

I get what you're saying. But here you make it sound like bragging. It's also helpful to spend time on the thread. It doesn't take long to realize that InkaUtexas can be very humble, but he in fact knows quite a bit more than nearly all of the rest of us. It's not necessary to kiss his feet Rabban style, but if you're going to get into a factual argument with him, you'd best have an airtight understanding of exactly what you're saying.

Well, my Dad was in the silos as an Air Force officer back in the 60s in North Dakota, but that wouldn't describe him during a dinner conversation at all. He was one of the most interesting, charming, complicated people I ever met. While part of it could be because he was my Dad, it's the way a lot of people felt about him. He did tell me they ran a lot of drills that you didn't know whether they were drills or not, and if your fellow officer didn't put his key in you were ordered to shoot him. It's kind of part of the job description. The whole mutually assured destruction thing doesn't work if the people assigned to launch the missiles aren't willing to launch the missiles. It seems pretty natural to me you end up assigning people to the job who are willing to launch the missiles if ordered.

And we're getting cross with Germany about their security leaks. I mean, yes, we should be getting cross with Germany about their security leaks, but there is some splinter/log stuff going on here.

He didn't lose Springmann to a head coaching job.

Texas went 3-1. First set loss of the season. I think the first set was 25-16? Texas led 17-13 then made a run. 25-22 22-25 25-19.

Spring exhibition versus Houston today (Saturday, March 2) at 2pm at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Austin. Posts made by the volleyball social media team on Instagram and Facebook and then deleted. I don't think they want anyone there, lol.

A Texas fan on Volleytalk recorded the spring scrimmage against Texas A&M-CC and posted it on youtube.

Please Brian Fitzpatrick. And anyone else in the House sane enough to sign on to something like this. Or anything else that renews the aid to Ukraine at a substantial level. Save me from my Ukraine induced depression. I know it's not about me, but it is to me.

Byrd ended up playing some.

I don't think it's likely Texas would win a second round game, but that's not the same as saying it's impossible. I watched Penders make a couple of second weekend runs as a #10 seed. All I know is that it doesn't really matter what path is taken. All that matters is that the team gets there.

Regarding Shaka Smart, I have simple needs. I want more breathing exercises during the last timeout while going up against a Tom Izzo coached team in the tournament.

There's some hall of fame level cherry picking going on there. All I know is that after the thumping of Tech we have a good shot of making the tournament. Hopefully they can pull out a couple of wins that are a little more expected than beating the Red Raiders in Lubbock. Once in, this team is capable of anything in those first two rounds. I'd love to see Terry lead this year's team to the second weekend.

I don't think the Fire Rodney Terry thread is thematically geared towards optimism, sir.

Well, you and I are on the same page there. I'm just saying that's the criteria. Not 1, 2 and 3 seeds. And we don't know for sure until we know for sure, even when we think we do. I just know I'm rooting for him to be successful, regardless of my personal opinion of the likelihood of that happening.

Del Conte can say whatever he wants, and you can interpret it anyway you want, but the fact still stands coaches aren't fired after making it to the second weekend. They're fired for not making the tournament. And if they go on a long enough string of losing in the first or second round, that can do it as well. I'm not saying you have to be satisfied with making it to the Sweet 16 and nothing more. I'm simply saying it's enough to keep his job. I also believe college basketball is heading towards a future where we won't see many future star NBA players on college rosters. NBA role players, sure, but not star players. It's going to be more challenging to put together a loaded lineup. What will count for more is having a vision, being able to bring in the right players from the portal, add them to existing players brought in as freshmen and developed, and then getting players bought in to your vision. I feel like it's going to be easier to advance deeper in the tournament in the future than it has in the past. While last year may have been extreme, I don't think it's going to be an anomaly.