Texas basketball 2020-21: Not even Shaka can fuck this up...right?

[shadow_operative 15,932]

11 minutes ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

And Kentucky isn't?????

uh, i don't believe i said that. you might want to save your five-question-mark level of incredulity for something other than a factual, not-at-all controversial statement. 

[Catdaddyhorn 3,466]

You implied that Tennessee finishing near the top of their conference may be part of the reason that they haven't been matched up against us. I merely pointed out that the same supposed protocol would've prevented Kentucky from being matched up against us as well. 

Edited October 21, 2020 by Catdaddyhorn

[shadow_operative 15,932]

12 minutes ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

You implied that Tennessee finishing near the top of their conference may be part of the reason that they haven't been matched up against us. I merely pointed out that the same supposed protocol would've prevented Kentucky from being matched up against us as well. 

i did not imply anything, i out and out described the process they use to select the matchups for this event. that's why the bottom 4 SEC teams are playing in an altogether different tournament against some AAC teams for something like that. they match the teams up based and previous conference standings. 

[Catdaddyhorn 3,466]

Kentucky literally won the SEC last year and LSU won it the year prior to that.  Yet we're playing the SEC champions 2 years in a row. 

Edited October 21, 2020 by Catdaddyhorn

[shadow_operative 15,932]

there's been speculation as to why this year's bracket has not followed the traditional formula (i've read that they're going off of the 17-18 standings for this year for some reason), but traditionally they make the pairings by conference standings. but please don't let that get in the way of you being all upset over nothing again. 

[Underdog 29,165]

Hawks/Vols get the primetime slot?  

Have advocated that this should be a H&H setup, Tech should visit Rupp just like UK should've gone to Austin after the Horns trip to LexVegas. 

[Catdaddyhorn 3,466]

2 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

there's been speculation as to why this year's bracket has not followed the traditional formula (i've read that they're going off of the 17-18 standings for this year for some reason), but traditionally they make the pairings by conference standings. but please don't let that get in the way of you being all upset over nothing again. 

We played LSU last year. What was the reason for that? I'm not upset I just don't think your theory with respect to Tennessee holds weight given it hasn't for the past 2 seasons. It's much more likely that either Shaka or Rick specifically made it known that they don't want to play each other. 

[Horny Bull 2,766]

 

[shadow_operative 15,932]

BU, KU, WVU, and TTU as four of our first six games. Gonna be an interesting start to conference play.

[Js1 87,175]

Look how we end it - WV, KU and @ Tech. 

Ouch. 

[Catdaddyhorn 3,466]

13 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

BU, KU, WVU, and TTU as four of our first six games. Gonna be an interesting start to conference play.

In this conference, unless there's a rule change and you could start the season with 4 games against TCU, any combination of opening opponents is going to be interesting.

[Steamboat1874 4,321]

15 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

BU, KU, WVU, and TTU as four of our first six games. Gonna be an interesting start to conference play.

0-2 at least to start.

[LTtxfan 49,991]

[Bitterwhiteguy 153]

5 hours ago, Steamboat1874 said:

0-2 at least to start.

A reason why I have a small amount of hope about the game in Lawrence: it's during break so the students aren't around and Kansas emailed their season ticket holders that capacity is likely capped around 1,500 this year. (There's a tweet from a Kansas beat writer talking about this I retweeted last night, but I don't have it in front of me.) So they're going to The Phog, but it won't exactly be The Phog.

Texas will be the underdog, and given the Longhorns' record in Lawrence it's entirely reasonable to believe a win when you'll see it and not a moment before. This just might not be quite the normal circumstances.

Edited October 27, 2020 by Bitterwhiteguy

[A’Dam Psycho 1,499]

On 4/24/2020 at 6:56 PM, Goo Punch said:

 

I'll say it right now: Roy Williams would win 25-30 games and go to the EE or Final Four with this roster. It's built for speed, and we may honestly have the most athletic lineup in America. Hamm, Sims, Kai Jones, Donovan Williams, and GB III is as athletic a fivesome as any team in country has, and that's not even considering that Andrew Jones was once a pretty damn athlete before cancer and chemo ravaged his body, so let's not count him all the way out of this list either. Shaka is an absolute moron if he doesn't run up and down like every game is a track meet with this team, and the days of Texas being painfully slow and low scoring *should* be a thing of the past, if only for one year. This is by far the best team Shaka Smart has ever coached. Anything less than a summarily satisfying season should result in his immediate termination. Good luck Shaka- you seriously shouldn't need it.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

We’ve been running up and down ever since Barnes. Our problem is when teams slow us down and make us run a half court set. We have four players ball watching with an occasional half ass screen. I’m not taking the bait with this team.

[Steamboat1874 4,321]

1 hour ago, Bitterwhiteguy said:

A reason why I have a small amount of hope about the game in Lawrence: it's during break so the students aren't around and Kansas emailed their season ticket holders that capacity is likely capped around 1,500 this year. (There's a tweet from a Kansas beat writer talking about this I retweeted last night, but I don't have it in front of me.) So they're going to The Phog, but it won't exactly be The Phog.

Texas will be the underdog, and given the Longhorns' record in Lawrence it's entirely reasonable to believe a win when you'll see it and not a moment before. This just might not be quite the normal circumstances.

Man I hope you are right.

[Blotto 24,011]

6 hours ago, Steamboat1874 said:

0-2 at least to start.

Well our 2nd conference game is actually OSU at home, so no reason to assume 0-2 although it's certainly possible.

Bottom line is we have 100% of our team back from last year and added greg brown. Shaka should be competing for the conference championship. If he cant beat the Baylors and KU's of the conference this year, with this roster, it wont happen. My guess is 11-7 or 10-8, cause Shaka.

Edited October 27, 2020 by Blotto

[Js1 87,175]

57 minutes ago, Blotto said:

Well our 2nd conference game is actually OSU at home, so no reason to assume 0-2 although it's certainly possible.

Bottom line is we have 100% of our team back from last year and added greg brown. Shaka should be competing for the conference championship. If he cant beat the Baylors and KU's of the conference this year, with this roster, it wont happen. My guess is 11-7 or 10-8, cause Shaka.

Oh we aren't beating Baylor.  They are basically returning their entire team that was one of the favorites to win it all last year.  We are returning out entire team and just adding one player from one of the favorites to be in the First Four last year. 

Womp womp. 

[Blotto 24,011]

It will be interesting to see how the home/away records trend this year since presumably home court advantage shouldnt be as large of a factor this year with social distancing. 

[shadow_operative 15,932]

8 hours ago, A’Dam Psycho said:

We’ve been running up and down ever since Barnes. Our problem is when teams slow us down and make us run a half court set. We have four players ball watching with an occasional half ass screen. I’m not taking the bait with this team.

we've been one of the slowest teams in America since Barnes left. Barnes and Penders used to run up and down here, but under Shaka all we do is slow it down. you don't score 64 ppg by running up and down. 

edit:

Average possession length national rankings for Texas under Shaka Smart:

2020- 271st nationally

2019- 284

2018- 252

2017- 137

2016- 235

Edited October 28, 2020 by shadow_operative

[Bitterwhiteguy 153]

16 hours ago, Blotto said:

It will be interesting to see how the home/away records trend this year since presumably home court advantage shouldnt be as large of a factor this year with social distancing. 

If there's one team that's prepared to play in front of 2,000 fans no matter the location, it's Texas.

[Js1 87,175]

Gonna be awkward when we finish 6th

 

[Blotto 24,011]

53 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Gonna be awkward when we finish 6th

But first in core values.

[Revolution512 1,517]

4 hours ago, Js1 said:

Gonna be awkward when we finish 6th

 

Decent shot at 6th if we shoot well

[LTtxfan 49,991]

We're #4... We're #4... We're #4...

In the B12 😁

 

[Guest Lobo]

That actually sounds about right.  Maybe a spot too high, but who the fuck knows in 2020?  We can't get any worse.  Or maybe.  Who the fuck knows?  Who the fuck cares?  

But we've got a salty schedule, the team has got a lot of great young men on it, so let's play ball.  

[FORTY NINE TO ZERO 2,651]

Guessing Herman suckage buys Shaka another year?

[CurlyDumps 4,652]

On 10/28/2020 at 3:44 PM, Revolution512 said:

Decent shot at 6th if we shoot well

“Big if” doesn’t begin to describe the size of that “if.”

[shadow_operative 15,932]

1 hour ago, Xian said:

Guessing Herman suckage buys Shaka another year?

our talent, depth, and athleticism buys him another year. then, when we go 10-21 in 2021, THEN Shaka Smart might finally be on the hot seat. 

[Blotto 24,011]

4 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

our talent, depth, and athleticism buys him another year. then, when we go 10-21 in 2021, THEN Shaka Smart might finally be on the hot seat. 

I struggle to see how this team doesn't perform well enough to buy Shaka another year, but then again Shaka has exceeded my pessimism routinely in the past. 

[shadow_operative 15,932]

i should have typed 2021-22. that's when we'll go 10-21

[shadow_operative 15,932]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHEX7bDFzwv/?igshid=s4ngz23qry0f 

Edited November 2, 2020 by shadow_operative

[SwanderedTalent 5,761]

On 10/31/2020 at 4:57 PM, Blotto said:

I struggle to see how this team doesn't perform well enough to buy Shaka another year, but then again Shaka has exceeded my pessimism routinely in the past. 

Esp since "well enough" means "win 20 games and make the NCAA Tournament". He doesn't have to win the Big 12 or make a deep post-season run over even put together a 27-win season w post-season flameout. He just has to go 20-10 or thereabouts and make the tournament. We can finish 6th in the conference, even.

[UTDD 362]

On 10/31/2020 at 10:35 AM, Xian said:

Guessing Herman suckage buys Shaka another year?

I don't think it hurts that the football program is in crisis mode right now, but I think Shaka had this year pretty much no matter what anyway.  I think the following year might be a different story.  

[shadow_operative 15,932]

y'all we are going to be the worst team in the league and finish dead last while scoring about 60 ppg next season when we lose essentially this year's entire roster. just as this year should easily be Shaka's best year at Texas, next season should be his worst, which is obviously saying something. and what's fucked up about that is that when we do fire this loser we will be facing a full rebuild, something we were *not* facing when we hired this assclown.

the 21-22 roster will be embarrassingly thin and devoid of talent, and whoever takes over next is going to have to un-fuck this situation from square one. point being, Shaka will survive this season, but he won't survive the next one. barring some idiot AD hiring him away after this campaign, we should have exactly two more years of this joke of a coach before finally and mercifully being able to move on. 

[shadow_operative 15,932]

edit for the above post- it's unfair to shit all over the 2022 roster of players. i should say that the 2022 roster being coached by Shaka Smart will be the worst team in the league and struggling to score more than 60 ppg.

Edited November 2, 2020 by shadow_operative

[shadow_operative 15,932]

projected 2022 roster at this point:

Starting Five:

Courtney Ramey, Sr

Donovan Williams, Jr

Kai Jones, Jr

Brock Cunningham, Jr

Will Baker, Jr

Bench players:

Kamaka Hepa, Jr

Tamar Bates, Fr

Emarion Ellis, Fr

David Joplin, Fr

Keeyan Itejere, Fr
 

a good coach could probably get that squad on the verge of playing in the tournament; with Shaka running the show we'll be lucky to go 6-12 in league play. although i will say that it would really be something to see a team attempt 28 3PA/gm with nobody shooting over 30%.

Edited November 2, 2020 by shadow_operative

[hornfromdallas 334]

stop capping on shaka this team look vastly improved from teams past 

i was told by someone at the team scrimmages that texas looks legit 

Edited November 2, 2020 by hornfromdallas

[Bitterwhiteguy 153]

8 hours ago, SwanderedTalent said:

Esp since "well enough" means "win 20 games and make the NCAA Tournament". He doesn't have to win the Big 12 or make a deep post-season run over even put together a 27-win season w post-season flameout. He just has to go 20-10 or thereabouts and make the tournament. We can finish 6th in the conference, even.

Downgrade that to whatever the 25-game equivalent is (16-9? 17-8?) because everybody's non-con is basically cut in half this year.

[Bitterwhiteguy 153]

^^Make that 26 games, they just announced Texas State.

[SwanderedTalent 5,761]

20 minutes ago, Bitterwhiteguy said:

^^Make that 26 games, they just announced Texas State.

you're right, I meant it more like a .667 year 

Edited November 2, 2020 by SwanderedTalent

[shadow_operative 15,932]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CHG9h40JAl9/?igshid=1mhkfdip3z8mf

 

if anyone can get this site to work correctly then go ahead and embed that 

[shadow_operative 15,932]

GB III looking ready for D-1 ball:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHJ5FhbFag6/?igshid=1anllsgk8tn3o

[LTtxfan 49,991]

[shadow_operative 15,932]

we finished #61 in Kenpom last year, added Greg Brown, and now start the year #9. shows how much talent was wasted last year. 

[Blotto 24,011]

5 out of the top 10 teams from the BigXII.....pretty stout. 

[Steamboat1874 4,321]

20 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

we finished #61 in Kenpom last year, added Greg Brown, and now start the year #9. shows how much talent was wasted last year. 

Or maybe Kenpom is fucking meaningless.......which is more likely.

[shadow_operative 15,932]

uh, nah. Kenpom is the most widely referenced and trusted analytics site for college hoops, meanwhile Shaka Smart sucks sucks for quarters as a basketball coach, so, yeah. i'm gonna stick with the wasted talent angle. 

[Catdaddyhorn 3,466]

We're going to be rated pretty freaking high in the preseason by any rating system that uses experience and high school rankings as their initial ingredients to rank teams at the start of the year. As the season progresses our actual performance on the court will become more of a factor. 

[shadow_operative 15,932]

that Karen Hudy hire looking better and better. all of our players are jacked. that's something we've been missing since Shaka arrived, but i'll give him this- he made probably the best hire he could in that department.