Texas basketball '21-'22: Welcome Chris Beard

[realgreggym 835]

12 minutes ago, Machinator said:

 

Thanks Mac. I think its time to get my season ticket. lol

[MuellerHorn 4230]

FCB 247 - Today's Insider

Spoiler

The Insider: A look inside Chris Beard's inner circle

By Chip Brown

Welcome to new Texas basketball coach Chris Beard's burnt orange inner circle, where we have Beard's assistant coaches — Rodney Terry, Jerrance Howard and Ulric Maligi — serving as living proof of just how focused Beard is in bringing a national championship to Austin - sooner rather than later.

If that sounds like some lazy cliche or the same ol’ coach speak you’ve heard from every coach hired in all sports at Texas the last 30 years, Terry explained why it isn’t.

“He (Beard) knows what it’s like to coach on Monday night (for the national championship). He’s already done it,” Terry said.

After spending nine years as an assistant to Rick Barnes at Texas from 2002-11, Terry was the head coach at Fresno State for seven years and spent the last three years as the head coach at UTEP. But Terry walked away from running the show and returned to Austin to become Beard’s associate head coach.

“These opportunities don’t present themselves very often in terms of working with a guy who has such a bright future,” Terry said.

Terry had that opportunity at Texas previously as an assistant to Barnes. In Terry’s first year with Barnes, Texas went to the Final Four (2003) and then reached the Elite Eight in 2006 (barely losing to LSU in overtime) and in 2008 (when UT was blown out by Memphis).

“We had a lot of success here previously and probably had a couple teams capable of winning a national championship,” Terry said of his unfinished business in Austin.

“Like those (Texas) teams, Coach Beard is about playing hard and playing hard-nosed defense. That’s how you get to Monday night - by competing really hard and defending. Some nights the shots might not fall, but your defense will give you a chance to win.”

In talking with Terry, Howard and Maligi on Wednesday, I was compelled by Howard’s answer as to why he would leave the staff of national championship coach Bill Self at Kansas for Texas and Chris Beard.

“The time was right to step out on faith and take on a new challenge at a place that hasn’t won a national championship,” Howard said. “What Coach Beard has done the last five years is elite.”

I mean Howard didn’t just leave a job. In leaving Kansas, he left the man (Self) who coached him as a player at Illinois, where Howard was a captain alongside All-Americans Frank Williams, Dee Brown and Derron Williams, winning three Big Ten championships and reaching the Elite Eight in 2001.

“Coach Self blessed the situation, which helped make it so attractive,” Howard said. “Coach Beard and Coach Self are so similar. They’re both all about discipline, playing hard all the time and toughness.

“One is just a little big younger,” Howard laughed, referring to the 48-year-old Beard and the 58-year-old Self.

The bottom line is Howard knows - after spending eight seasons at Kansas - that if he can help Beard bring a national championship to Texas, his stock as a potential head coach goes up. Howard has also worked under Billy Gillispie at Texas A&M and Kentucky as well as Larry Brown at SMU.

“Some people might say it’s crazy (to leave Kansas),” Howard said. “But I think this is the next step for me in becoming a head coach. Coach Self has worked hard to get Kansas where the program kind of runs itself.

“Now, we want to win and win big at Texas. And we don’t want to wait.

“Our motto since we’ve gotten to Texas is, ‘We’re doing this!’” Howard said. “We’re all in this together in a quest to bring Texas a national championship.”

Maligi has worked with Beard the last two years at Texas Tech and pulled back the curtain on some of Beard’s keys to success.

“We play positionless basketball,” Maligi said. “Every player needs to be able to dribble, pass and shoot, and we switch a lot defensively. So players need to be able to guard every position.”

Maligi, who was also an assistant at Texas A&M under Billy Kennedy and at SMU under Larry Brown, has strong recruiting ties in Dallas-Fort Worth. Maligi said Beard’s biggest key to success is his relentless passion for the game and commitment to developing players.

“Coach Beard is elite as a teacher,” Maligi said. “He’s super diligent, but he’s also an everyday guy. He’s a developer of people, and I mean that. He expects excellence from his players, from his assistants - from his sports information director. But he’s a real person. That’s why he connects.”

The reason Beard came right out and said Year 1 at Texas won’t be about transition or rebuilding is because the guy has been mining gold in the transfer market since his days as a junior college coach at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas and Seminole State Junior College in Oklahoma - long before the transfer portal’s arrival in 2018.

In his first Division I coaching job at Arkansas-Little Rock, Beard signed four transfers and took a team that went 14-18 the previous year to 30-5 in 2015-16, upsetting fifth-seeded Purdue as a No. 12 seed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

That success helped Beard get the Texas Tech job, where he lost four starters from an Elite Eight team in Year 2 (2018), brought in transfers to help fill those voids and reached the national championship game in Year 3 (2019) - losing in overtime to Virginia.

“As a junior college coach, you’re sort of conditioned to keep an eye on transfer talent,” Maligi said.

In less than a month on the job in Austin, Beard and his staff have already reeled in four of the top transfers available in the transfer portal - Utah first-team All-Pac 12 small forward Timmy Allen; Vanderbilt forward Dylan Disu, a Pflugerville Hendrickson product who led the SEC in rebounding last season; Creighton small forward Christian Bishop, who led the Big East in field goal percentage (.681) last season; and Kentucky point guard Devin Askew of - as well as signed four-star guard/forward Jaylon Tyson of Plano John Paul II.

As Texas waits for an official announcement about the future plans of senior forward Jericho Sims and freshman forward Greg Brown, Beard and Co. aren’t done scouring the transfer portal to ensure Beard’s first Longhorns' team has a fighting chance to compete in the Big 12.

The 6-foot-6 Allen averaged 17.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game while being named first-team All-Pac 12 last season at Utah.

Allen entered the portal on March 26, just hours before Utah announced the hiring of Craig Smith to replace Larry Krystkowiak following seasons of 12-13 in 2020-21; 16-15 in 2019-20; and 17-14 in 2018-19.

Plain and simple, Allen was tired of playing his ass off for a team that didn’t win. He wants to play his ass off for a team that has a chance to win big.

The same goes for the 6-foot-9 Disu (15.0 points, 9.2 rebounds in 2020-21) and the 6-foot-7 Bishop (11.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.1 blocks in 2020-21).

“In Timmy Allen, Dylan Disu and Christian Bishop, you’re getting proven guys who have already done it - already put it in the books,” Terry said. “All of them are athletic, versatile, play defense and are great team guys.”

Texas senior point guard Matt Coleman announced he’s turning pro with an agent. But Beard had already signed

Askew, who averaged 6.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists as a freshman this past season for Kentucky.

Askew was considered one of the top point guards in the country in the 2021 recruiting class and will have four years of eligibility at UT due to the NCAA awarding student-athletes a COVID-19 pandemic redshirt this past season.

Beard recruited Askew out of high school at Texas Tech, but Askew chose Kentucky.

Now, with Beard’s pedigree combined with the Texas brand, Askew is headed to Austin.

“Coach Beard has had great success with transfers, and we’ve had a chance to use that in recruiting,” Maligi said. “But he’s had just as much success with kids recruited out of high school.”

Maligi points to Beard having three straight NBA Draft picks at Texas Tech involving underclassmen recruited out of high school - Zhaire Smith in 2018; Jarrett Culver in 2019; and Jahmi’us Ramsey in 2020.

Tech sophomore Terrence Shannon has announced he’s entering the 2021 NBA Draft without an agent.

Jaylon Tyson, a 6-foot-6 guard/forward whose range extends to the 3-point line, is Beard’s first high school recruit to sign with Texas. Beard has called Tyson’s versatility and shooting ability “special.”

Maligi hinted that Texas could be signing another high school recruit in the 2021 class.

That's what Beard does: He recruits high school talent and complements any significant voids on his teams by filling those holes with experienced talent via transfer, thus Beard's teams are able to "stay old" with experience and keep from having true "rebuilding" years filled with inconsistency as young players learn on the fly.

Terry, Howard and Maligi said they have a lot to sell in recruiting thanks to strong, unified leadership at Texas from athletic director Chris Del Conte to president Jay Hartzell to regents chairman Kevin Eltife.

That includes the new, $388 million Moody Center, set to open in March 2022, as well as a new $60 million hoops practice facility.

“That’s one of the biggest selling points with the 2022 and 2023 kids,” Howard said of UT’s new basketball arena. “Anytime you get a chance to open a place as special as the Moody Center, it’s an exciting time for Texas basketball.”

Terry said with so much positive momentum, it’s good to be back in Austin.

“I’ve had a great run and a great journey, and I’m back to help win a national championship,” Terry said. “And Chris Beard is the right guy to do it.”

 

[texifornia 56943]

lolwut - it's not like given time things improved

 

[formermav43 4606]

1 hour ago, texifornia said:

lolwut - it's not like given time things improved

 

I think that's the point. 

[Goodman 3273]

2 hours ago, texifornia said:

lolwut - it's not like given time things improved

 

Idiots like Eberts do not understand leadership. He sees Shaka as a great leader because he was nice, kind and a feel good story.

[CurlyDumps 4471]

I see ole Wescott finally changed his horrifically cringey Twitter bio. Used to end with something like, "If you haven't earned my respect, I don't care about your opinion." 

Still cracks me the hell up.

[shadow_operative 15932]

the single biggest mistake that Shaka Smart made was trying to implement a long term plan? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wescott you uninformed, know-nothing, turbodouche. yeah, Shaka sucked ass at every non-recruiting aspect of coaching for six straight years because his plans were too long term. fuck outta here. idiot.

[Funk Doctor Spock 12190]

If this team gels (and I believe they will) we're gonna be nasty and no one is gonna want to play us (minus Baylor). Beard is taking us back to the FF in due time. For once I'm actually positive we hired the right coaches in CFB, CBB, WCBB, softball. 

[maninblack 7974]

There's telephone poles smarter than that douchebag.

[Rockethorn1978 6077]

Who is webscott earbets?

[Machinator 32099]

 

[shadow_operative 15932]

 

lmao. Shaka played Will Baker like he was Klay Thompon, he played Kerwin Roach like he was Kyrie Irving, he let Courtney Ramey shoot like he was Trae Young. he fielded teams full of athletes who weren't great basketball players and went slow tempo/half court. what didn't he do that was totally backwards and fucked up?

[Machinator 32099]

 

[Pancho 44766]

Sims, from yesterday 

Spoiler

Sims is currently in Phoenix working out. Very minimal contact at this point. 

Apologies for being the grim reaper. Doesn't mean things can't change. Sims is a different dude in terms of this process than others the staff has communicated w

 

[Machinator 32099]

The transfer guard from Utah (Larsson) committed to Arizona.

[Napoleon 8676]

I really would like an informal/semi-formal intrastate summer basketball schedule for June & July to allow transfers all over the country to get to know their new teammates AND to get me through the heart of the summer before I start getting my preseason football fix. 

All colleges can play other colleges, but only in their state, to reduce travel costs and yada-yada-yada. It just so happens that there would be a lot of options for Texas & California colleges. (The city of Boston could have a league of its own.)

Games would be in school gyms rather than arenas and could be shown on the Longhorn Network and such. 

No instant replay, no trophy, possible ref training opportunities, but not even required. No time outs for the coaches, just set timeouts at points in the game for rest & commercials. 

I wanna see it and I want it now!!

[OB3 3608]

Greg brown declared

[Guest Lobo]

'twas expected.  Best of luck to him.  His potential next year was going to be massive.  Replacing his production from last year via the transfer portal will not be difficult at all.  

[Js1 85319]

Yeah, pretty much expected.  Go get paid, dude. 

[BurntOrangeBlooded15 1566]

On 5/10/2021 at 6:46 PM, Napoleon said:

I really would like an informal/semi-formal intrastate summer basketball schedule for June & July to allow transfers all over the country to get to know their new teammates AND to get me through the heart of the summer before I start getting my preseason football fix. 

All colleges can play other colleges, but only in their state, to reduce travel costs and yada-yada-yada. It just so happens that there would be a lot of options for Texas & California colleges. (The city of Boston could have a league of its own.)

Games would be in school gyms rather than arenas and could be shown on the Longhorn Network and such. 

No instant replay, no trophy, possible ref training opportunities, but not even required. No time outs for the coaches, just set timeouts at points in the game for rest & commercials. 

I wanna see it and I want it now!!

So NBA summer league but the college version

[CowtownHorn 5126]

1 hour ago, OB3 said:

Greg brown declared

Edited May 13, 2021 by CowtownHorn

[Lerka Lerka 1086]

So that begs the question: where does Sims stand?  Last thing I saw posted was by, I believe, Pancho saying he was in Phoenix working out and was a different car than the others about how he goes about his business. 

[Machinator 32099]

 

[Eskimohorn 5635]

'twas expected.  Best of luck to him.  His potential next year was going to be massive.  Replacing his production from last year via the transfer portal will not be difficult at all.  

Where are going to get those 7 minutes a game? Tommy Penders, Jr and Hank Dudek aren’t walking thru that door.

[Machinator 32099]

IT

Spoiler

The Texas staff will add a ‘big’ to the 2021-22 roster.

Two bigs the staff is recruiting currently are Jordan Brown (Arizona transfer) and Dusan Mahorcic (Illinois State transfer). The staff has Brown ahead of Mahorcic on the board, but it will be all about timing and whether or not the staff can get Brown to make a decision before Mahorcic.

Brown is a 6-foot-11 former top 25 ranked prospect out of Prolific Prep that was named the Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year last season after averaging a little over nine points and 5.4 rebounds per game. While Brown isn’t a rim protector, there is a belief that adding Brown would make Texas a legit top 10 team next season.

 

[Js1 85319]

Let’s go! 

[Burt Macklin 19022]

18 minutes ago, Machinator said:

IT

  Reveal hidden contents

The Texas staff will add a ‘big’ to the 2021-22 roster.

Two bigs the staff is recruiting currently are Jordan Brown (Arizona transfer) and Dusan Mahorcic (Illinois State transfer). The staff has Brown ahead of Mahorcic on the board, but it will be all about timing and whether or not the staff can get Brown to make a decision before Mahorcic.

Brown is a 6-foot-11 former top 25 ranked prospect out of Prolific Prep that was named the Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year last season after averaging a little over nine points and 5.4 rebounds per game. While Brown isn’t a rim protector, there is a belief that adding Brown would make Texas a legit top 10 team next season.

 

Got dam. Adding Brown would be crazy. This staff can recruit! 

[Js1 85319]

28 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

Got dam. Adding Brown would be crazy. This staff can recruit! 

Brown - 56% shooter, 60% FT (yack), 9.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 12 steals and second on the team in blocks (23 - Arizona only had 104 as a team and the leader was a 7'1 guy with 35). 

Dude took one three in the first game of the season and then never again.

First on the team in FG%
2nd in rebounds
2nd in blocks

[Snake Diggity 4622]

G Askew/TBD?

G Jones/Febres

G Ramey/Tyson

F Allen/Cunningham

F Bishop/Brown?

They’ll still need another G and 1-2 practice bodies but that’s easily a Top 10 roster.

[Machinator 32099]

 

[maninblack 7974]

[Machinator 32099]

Gerry

Spoiler

The Texas Longhorns already have a team that will be ranked among the top 15 in the country headed into the 2021-22 season, but this staff is aiming for the highest of goals.

Three of the top players remaining the transfer portal, all now have the Longhorns under serious contention.

Massachusetts big man Tre Mitchell released the six schools in contention for his signature. Texas, LSU, Illinois, Georgia, Florida State and Bryant made the cut and there is a feeling that the Longhorns have a legit shot here.

The same can be said for Remy Martin, as of today. The Texas staff is in full recruiting mode on both.

Texas also has serious interest in Arizona transfer big man Jordan Brown. Brown was a top 25 ranked prospect coming out of Prolific Prep in California in high school. The Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year last season is a skilled offensive big with an expanding offensive game.

The Texas 2021-22 roster currently consists of nine players with Timmy Allen having been named All-Pac-Pac 12 First Team, Andrew Jones All-Big 12 Second Team and Courtney Ramey All-Big 12 Third Team a season ago.

 

[Snake Diggity 4622]

Credentials of this roster are sick:

Askew: starting PG for Kentucky, former 5* recruit

Jones: All Big 12 2nd team

Ramey: All Big 12 3rd team

Allen: All Pac 12 1st team

Disu: 2 year starter at Vandy, SEC leading rebounder

Bishop: 2 year starter at Creighton, led conference in FG%

Brown: PAC-12 6th man of year, former MWC FOY, former 5* recruit

Tyson: 4* consensus Top 50 recruit

Febres: 62 career starts, former 4* recruit

Cunningham: gritty?  system fit?

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by Snake Diggity

[Guest Lobo]

I'm starting to read the heavy recruiting/list narrowing of J. Brown and Tre Mitchell as meaning Sims is no longer staying with the program?  

Do players that can return for a penalty-free 5th year from Covid-19...can they test the draft waters and pull out like underclassmen declaring?  Or is it different for them?

Or is Sims looking to join another school as a grad transfer and boost his draft stock as a roster standout instead of role player?  He's averaged 25 minutes for us the last two seasons.  I don't see him getting more than that, if even the same, if he returns to Texas.  But I'd love him to prove me wrong. It was fun watching him rack up 4 double-doubles to close out the season.  

[Machinator 32099]

People around Sims want him to go pro. He's more open to returning, but the odds are against it.

[Lerka Lerka 1086]

Conference championship and deep tourney run would polish up Sims resume, no doubt. He would be a double double dunk machine. Would love to see it. 

[Machinator 32099]

 

[LTtxfan 49184]

 

[LTtxfan 49184]

 

[Guest Lobo]

I don't get it.  Chandler Jackson isn't being recruited by Texas.  

[BornOrange 1441]

1 hour ago, Lobo said:

I don't get it.  Chandler Jackson isn't being recruited by Texas.  

It seems he received an offer yesterday.

[WJC88 97]

2 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

 

My first thought was- "when did they change the rule on coaches making public comments on unsigned prospects".  But that's not what happened here, right?  Jackson created this graphic and included what Beard said to him. 

[TrashMaster G 17553]

On 5/13/2021 at 10:38 PM, Machinator said:

 

Why do fans care about this?

[Blotto 23498]

5 hours ago, TrashMaster G said:

Why do fans care about this?

I'm not sure if you've been paying attention the last several years, but about 95% of people in this country are fucking morons.  

[Machinator 32099]

 

[Machinator 32099]

Gerry

Spoiler

Rim protector still wanted
The Texas basketball staff feels really good about the current roster headed into the 2021-22 season. And they should with multiple players having been named to All-Conference teams in 2020-21, and the feeling that four to five players on the current roster will play professionally - whether it’s NBA, G-league or overseas. And the staff is extremely high on freshman SG/W Jaylon Tyson. He’s seen in that same light after some development because he can really shoot it at 6-foot-6. Texas knows they are an NCAA Tournament team right now with the current roster, but the goal continues to be the same … compete to be in the Final Four in year one. For that to happen, Texas will have to add another big. Ideally the Longhorns want a rim protector, but it will only be the right fit. Texas will not just take a big. The difficult decision would be deciding to take Dusan Mahorcic, as he would add value as a key depth piece in the front court with more offensive skill to add. That would protect against injury and depth concerns, but then it could become a numbers game if a rim protector big that the staff wants becomes available. There will be more players jump in the portal, and it’s the unknown that makes decisions difficult right now.

 

[Machinator 32099]

 

[Texas Wahoo 3394]

I am an idiot....

 

Edited May 19, 2021 by Texas Wahoo

[Machinator 32099]

Just now, Texas Wahoo said:

 

 

Not sure how this is relevant to Texas.

[Machinator 32099]