Texas basketball '21-'22: Welcome Chris Beard

[Guest Lobo]

He also just got his grades, which helped expedite the inevitable decision that would have been made anyway based on PT in April/May.  

In other news, Longhorns holding at #17 in new AP Poll. Conference foes---Baylor #1, Kansas #6, Iowa State #8, Texas Tech #25, and last OOC team---Tennessee at #14.  

Literally just outside Top 25 are Oklahoma and WVU.  gonna be a very challenging 12 weeks.

[texasstrong12 4668]

16 minutes ago, Shinesintx said:

In Beards defense, the new transfer portal rules make it extremely difficult for freshman to get playing time. So many teams adding top talent with experience…kinda hard for a recent high schooler to find playing time at top 25 programs. 

Tyson isn't even a guy in the top 10 of the rotation (he's 11th in minutes). 

Top 50ish recruits aren't about that life. This transfer isn't even surprising to me. 

[Catdaddyhorn 3444]

13 minutes ago, texasstrong12 said:

Tyson isn't even a guy in the top 10 of the rotation (he's 11th in minutes). 

Top 50ish recruits aren't about that life. This transfer isn't even surprising to me. 

Totally agree.  I was actually surprised we didn't hear reports about his discontent prior to this.  

[shadow_operative 15932]

kids are so damn weak minded these days. where are the parents telling them to stick it out? he was going to be all up in the rotation next year. oh well. don't want kids like that on the roster in the first place. i don't think he's built to be a "monday night player". 

[texasstrong12 4668]

Speaking of this discussion, Vic Schaefer had some good comments on the portal people might be interested in. You can tell he's not a fan of the portal at all but he knows you have to play that game these days. 

Start at 13:10. 

 

[Rickylovesweed 14262]

11 minutes ago, texasstrong12 said:

Speaking of this discussion, Vic Schaefer had some good comments on the portal people might be interested in. You can tell he's not a fan of the portal at all but he knows you have to play that game these days. 

Start at 13:10. 

 

"I can't control the outside noise.  It's impossible. I can't control who is answering the phone and telling them man you only played 10 snaps Saturday when you should be playing 50 snaps. I can't control that. You only played 14 minutes last night but you should have played 28. That's the part of being a coach that's so frustrating because you know what that ain't important. If you could get rid of the noise, just do your job, and focus on you the rest will take care of itself. But today's world is really hard ya'll."

Nailed it. 

[texasstrong12 4668]

It's also going to be interesting what happens with Cunningham moving forward. It's a little different with Cunningham because he bleeds orange but he only played 6 minutes against Seton Hall and 1 minute against Stanford. 

Moving forward against better competition I don't think Cunningham is going to get many minutes if any at all. 

 

 

[jimmyjazz 45891]

I don't think this program needs Brock Cunningham.  We all hit our ceilings, sooner or later.  I love his motor, but if he feels the need to move on, then I get it and applaud him for doing what he could do when he was here.

[texasstrong12 4668]

Cunningham would get more minutes next season but I don't think you're going very far if he's anything more than an energy guy off the bench for like 10 to 15 minutes. 

I would prefer he stick it out so there's some roster continuity next season but I wouldn't lose much sleep over it. 

[HookEm 2463]

Brock would be well served to hang in there and get his free UT education. He can still improve his game quite a bit. And don’t discount how important players like him are in practice. He is exactly the kind of player Beard likes to have on the team in some capacity.

[texasstrong12 4668]

This has to be Wescott. 11 games into year 1 and ranked #17 in the country and you see tweets like this. This is why some people mock Texas fans. 

 

[HtownHorn 14670]

1 hour ago, texasstrong12 said:

It's also going to be interesting what happens with Cunningham moving forward. It's a little different with Cunningham because he bleeds orange but he only played 6 minutes against Seton Hall and 1 minute against Stanford. 

Moving forward against better competition I don't think Cunningham is going to get many minutes if any at all. 

 

 

They way it should be, Cunningham is a JAG and shouldn't keep Disu, Allen, Bishop, and Mitchell off the court.

[shadow_operative 15932]

@Bitterwhiteguy is gloating on reddit about the Jaylon Tyson transfer. more "proof" that he's been right all along about what a shitty hire Beard was. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

funny how running off talent wasn't a concern for BWG when Shaka was running off:

players who have transferred out of Shaka's program over the last four years:

 

Jacob Young (Rutgers)- 14.1 pts, 3.4 ast, 1.7 stl, 77% FT, 38% 3P

 

James Banks (Georgia Tech)- 10.5 pts, 7.7 reb, 2.8 OREB, 2.5 blk

 

Jordan Barnett (Mizzou)- 13.7 pts, 5.9 reb, 1.3 stocks, 42% 3P (6 3PA/gm), 89% FT

 

Tevin Mack (Clemson)- 12.2 pts, 5.2 reb, 1.7 stocks

 

Elijah Mitrou-Long (UNLV)- 12.6 pts, 3.4 ast, 3.3 reb, 1.7 stl, 75% FT 

 

Gerald Liddell- TBD

Will Baker- TBD

Royce Hamm- TBD

 

(copy/pasted from a post from March 23rd)

[texasstrong12 4668]

8 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

@Bitterwhiteguy is gloating on reddit about the Jaylon Tyson transfer. more "proof" that he's been right all along about what a shitty hire Beard was. 

What a loser. He's such a hypocrite because he wouldn't shut up about "culture" and "transfers happen" when Mack transferred. 

Only this idiot would try to spin a narrative of a guy 11th in minutes on the team as some huge indictment of Beard. Most talented FR that don't play will transfer no matter the school or coach. 

[texasstrong12 4668]

BWG is going to have more time to hate on Beard because Shaka has lost 4 of 5. He has to move on from that love affair. I remember BWG saying Marquette had an outside shot of making the tournament. 

The guy has turned into an absolute jackass. 

[texasstrong12 4668]

 

This next 10 game stretch is interesting because there are opportunities for good wins but not sure Texas is really playing a dominant team either. I only see 4 tournament teams in the next 10 and 3 are at home. 

Incarnate Word: #352 Kenpom. One of the worst teams in the country. 

West Virginia: #41 Kenpom. Mid tier tournament seed type team. 

@ K-State: #68 Kenpom. Lost to every good team they've played and they won't make the tournament. 

@ Oklahoma State: #51 in Kenpom. I don't think they're a tournament team. 7-4 and just barely escaped against Oral Roberts and Cleveland State. 

OU: #34 in Kenpom. Mid to low tier tournament seed type team. 

@ Iowa State: #45 in Kenpom. They're better than what Kenpom indicates. They're better than both OU and WV even though Kenpom indicates otherwise. 

K-State: See above

Oklahoma State: See above

@ TCU: #59 in Kenpom. Good record but they haven't played anybody and I don't think they're a tournament team.  

Tennessee: #9 in Kenpom. Good team but not sure they're a top 10 team either. 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by texasstrong12

[jimmyjazz 45891]

Welcome to Austin online media cult of personality.  "Bitter White Guy" somehow has a voice.  So does @greggym.

[texasstrong12 4668]

The transfer argument is so dumb to begin with. If you have a negative perception of a coach because of transfers you don't know how the sport works anymore. 

Players transfer left and right. 

Vic Schaefer has already had a shit load of transfers in year 2 but he hits the portal and lands elite recruits. This is how college basketball works these days. You stack rosters, expect some of those players to transfer, and then you start the process over again. The idea you have the same roster for 2 or 3 years isn't how this works anymore. 

[Rickylovesweed 14262]

10 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

@Bitterwhiteguy is gloating on reddit about the Jaylon Tyson transfer. more "proof" that he's been right all along about what a shitty hire Beard was. 

He tweets more about Marquette and Shaka than Texas these days. I thought he hated Beard but I’ve come to the realization he’s a major Shaka fan that believes Shaka was mistreated at Texas. 

Even Herman was much better than Shaka. I don’t get it. Does he want Shaka to fuck him or something? 

[texasstrong12 4668]

9 hours ago, longhornmatt said:

When the guy who is 11th in your rotation transfers, that’s basically a feature rather than a bug.   It’s when the guy who is 1st in your rotation transfers that you have a problem.

Also, this was always a reality based on the roster this season. When you go 11 or 12 deep somebody isn't going to be happy. 

Unfortunately, it was one of the younger players that may have some upside but that's how it goes. The rotation is likely going to see fewer minutes for some other guys moving forward so it will be interesting how this plays out. 

Beard has the right approach. You stack the roster and if players transfer because of depth that's just how the system works these days. 

[Brian Fantana 6681]

A lot of Tech fans complained about how mercilessly Beard processed guys every year, but it always seemed to me to be the right thing to do from a roster strength standpoint. There is an argument to be made about program continuity being damaged between years, maintaining culture being much more difficult with that much roster churn etc. but it's probably a net positive calculus to just let the under-performers go in the short term rather than expending too much effort developing them if the talent just isn't there.

[Brian Fantana 6681]

14 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

@Bitterwhiteguy is gloating on reddit about the Jaylon Tyson transfer. more "proof" that he's been right all along about what a shitty hire Beard was. 

FWIW, I read through his tweets and the piece he wrote and it doesn't sound like gloating to me, just from an outside perspective. I think his concerns are legitimate even if some of you (and even myself, to a degree) might not agree with them. The list of guys he posted is a little iffy, a couple of those guys are doing well but guys like Nimari Burnett were clearly not nearly as good as advertised and were never going to contribute meaningfully.

[texasstrong12 4668]

Since the Gonzaga game, the defense is definitely starting to click. Interested to see how this translates to better competition. 

Teams during this 9 game stretch are averaging 68.7 points per game and Texas has held them to 49.8 points per game. Nearly 20 points below their average. The slow tempo doesn't make it very enjoyable basketball to watch but it's difficult to score on Texas. 

Northern Colorado (71 points per game): Texas held them to 49

SJSU (68.8 points per game): Texas held them to 45

Cal Baptist (70.8 points per game): Texas held them to 44

Sam Houston (63.6 points per game): Texas held them to 57

UTRGV (72.2 points per game): Texas held them to 58

Seton Hall (76.4 points per game): Texas held them to 64

Arkansas Pine Bluff (59.4 points per game: Texas held them 31

Stanford (70.5 points per game): Texas held them to 53

Alabama St (65.9 points per game): Texas held them 48

 

[Rockethorn1978 6072]

When you have that bad of a OOC schedule I don’t pay any attention to stats no matter how good they look. Our schedule is complete trash and our two toughest opponents we lost too and the next best we won but not impressively. So we will see nothing till conference play next week.

[texasstrong12 4668]

3 minutes ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

When you have that bad of a OOC schedule I don’t pay any attention to stats no matter how good they look. Our schedule is complete trash and our two toughest opponents we lost too and the next best we won but not impressively. So we will see nothing till conference play next week.

Seton Hall and Stanford are both decent to good offensive teams. Not elite but a top 40 and another top 100 offensive team. 

Holding Seton Hall to 12.4 points below their average on the road is a pretty good indicator this team is good defensively. It would be shocking if this team isn't good defensively as that's been Beard's calling card as a coach. The question is if Texas can figure out rebounding and offense. 

[jimmyjazz 45891]

Given the fact that Disu has only played in 3 games, averaging 15 minutes per, I'm gruntled.  Rebounding and offense should start to improve.

[shadow_operative 15932]

Still a ton of indecision and hesitancy on office, from essentially everyone. the chemistry/jelling issues are real. how much of that is on Beard and how much is on the players, i don't know. but i do feel very strongly that this issue will be the determining factor in how good this team can be and how far they can ultimately go. still too much over-passing; still too many passed up good looks; still too much deferring to teammates; just plain old too much thinking going on. our guys are proof positive that it takes a lot more than talent to win at a high level, and that chemistry (and coaching) is more important than we tend to act like it is. 

Edited December 29, 2021 by shadow_operative

[shadow_operative 15932]

that said, this defense has been awesome. ive been looking for (and witnessing) some of the stuff i had seen this these videos:

 

 

 

 

Chris Beard is a college basketball Buddy Ryan, Dick LeBeau, or Chuck Knoll. this guy knows how to coach defense, and he knows how to assemble a roster that can execute his defense. we are in very good hands with this foundation for our program. 

Edited December 29, 2021 by shadow_operative

[shadow_operative 15932]

by the way, that first video i posted is great, and the guy who makes those videos is also great, and definitely worth a sub on youtube. he even breaks down why we're able to draw so many charges this season with our guys running Beard's defense (keeping in mind that the video is two years old). really good stuff. 

Edited December 29, 2021 by shadow_operative

[Pato del Muerto 52487]

11 hours ago, texasstrong12 said:

Since the Gonzaga game, the defense is definitely starting to click. Interested to see how this translates to better competition. 

Teams during this 9 game stretch are averaging 68.7 points per game and Texas has held them to 49.8 points per game. Nearly 20 points below their average. The slow tempo doesn't make it very enjoyable basketball to watch but it's difficult to score on Texas. 

Northern Colorado (71 points per game): Texas held them to 49

SJSU (68.8 points per game): Texas held them to 45

Cal Baptist (70.8 points per game): Texas held them to 44

Sam Houston (63.6 points per game): Texas held them to 57

UTRGV (72.2 points per game): Texas held them to 58

Seton Hall (76.4 points per game): Texas held them to 64

Arkansas Pine Bluff (59.4 points per game: Texas held them 31

Stanford (70.5 points per game): Texas held them to 53

Alabama St (65.9 points per game): Texas held them 48

 

I assume iwu usually gets more than 33. They did so against Baylor. 

[texasstrong12 4668]

As expected, it was playing time. 
 

[ztejas 43412]

5 minutes ago, texasstrong12 said:

As expected, it was playing time. 
 

There are kids playing over him that I'd prefer wouldn't have playing time at Texas. The fact that Tyson followed Beard to Texas speaks to Beard's gravity as a recruiter and Texas' brand. This is nothing but a positive as far as Texas basketball is concerned. To put it bluntly: a kid that should never get minutes here came here because he loved our head coach and loved the brand. 

Let's get some phenoms and start putting some fucking numbers on the banners. 

[texasstrong12 4668]

1 hour ago, Pato del Muerto said:

I assume iwu usually gets more than 33. They did so against Baylor. 

They average 63.8 points a game. So 30 points under their average. 

[Brian Fantana 6681]

1 hour ago, texasstrong12 said:

As expected, it was playing time. 
 

He's saying he wants to visit Tech. Not sure how I feel about that.

[texasstrong12 4668]

Tyson has some upside but looks like he's a couple years away from being a major contributor. 

I was pretty shocked at how unathletic and unskilled Tyson looked in the limited minutes he played. I think Tyson will eventually be a good shooter which can have some value. 

 

[texasstrong12 4668]

The weird thing with Tyson is his body shape. I don't know if he's fat or just too muscular/stiff. It's really weird to watch him move. 

He's a 2 guard/SF but built like a PF or Center. It's odd. 

Edited December 29, 2021 by texasstrong12

[shadow_operative 15932]

14 hours ago, Brian Fantana said:

FWIW, I read through his tweets and the piece he wrote and it doesn't sound like gloating to me, 

 

that ^^^, followed by three self referential tweets/photos of BWG from last summer claiming that Chris Beard runs off all of the talented freshmen he gets isn't gloating? @Bitterwhiteguy is a sad, sad tool, who claims to be a Texas basketball fan, when in reality there's probably nobody in the country who wants Texas basketball to fail more then he does. 

[texasstrong12 4668]

The guy doesn't know how the transfer portal works. Highly ranked FR transfer when they do not get minutes. This happens almost everywhere. 

When Arterio Morris is starting next season there will be no risk of him transferring. 

It's hilarious that BWG's biggest criticism of Beard is that "he builds good rosters where most true FR do not get big minutes." This is a big reason Shaka failed at Texas. Was always too young and didn't add experience via the transfer portal. 

 

Edited December 29, 2021 by texasstrong12

[shadow_operative 15932]

we went from nearly two decades of Rick Barnes regularly scheduling some of the toughest non-con schedules in America, to Shaka Smart not only scheduling weaker teams but actually losing to said teams, at home, year after year. did BWG have a problem with the schedule or the results then? nope. and yet what consumes his mind these days?

 

shitting on Chris Beard's first ever OOC schedule. that tweet is from four hours ago. while Texas was actively playing a game. BWG is *literally* the most pathetic loser on any UT sports based forum. shit is so, so sad. 

[texasstrong12 4668]

The guy is a massive hypocrite. Here are the non-conference SOS rankings (per Kenpom) the last few seasons under Shaka: 

85th

187th

41st

99th

103rd

This year's non-conference schedule is terrible but I bet there won't be much difference from Shaka's non-conference scheduling over the long term. 

 

Edited December 29, 2021 by texasstrong12

[Revolution512 1487]

He was surprisingly complimentary of Texas’ play tonight. Although I found the tweet about this being the best Texas has looked since March, fucking hilarious. Texas hasn’t looked good since Isiah Taylor was a freshman and we’ve had some absolute freaks. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

as i tweeted to him, this is PEAK bitterwhiteguy. dude spent six years enthusiastically fellating Shaka Smart despite his brutal, ugly, losing brand of basketball, and yet now he's bitching about a 10-2 team because it took them too long to "look fun enough". i am officially declaring an internet-wide fatwa on BWG. he is the enemy of Texas basketball and its fans. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

so now his big crusade is that Texas Hoops isn't fun to watch??? after six years of going 6-31 from deep and winning zero tourney games??

 

 

seriously- i declare a fatwa and full-on jihad on this assclown. i'd rather host Baker Mayfield for a game than have to sit and watch Texas with this fool. 

Edited December 29, 2021 by shadow_operative

[texasstrong12 4668]

The big thing is this team is definitely better with Disu. He's our best player when healthy  (best rebounder and interior defender on the roster). 

I know it's speculation but we beat Seton Hall with Disu. 

 

[shadow_operative 15932]

THAN*
 

then/than is a huge pet peeve of mine 

[HookEm 2463]

I liked what Beard did with the nonconf games. We could have pushed the pace and won every game by 40. But instead he ground down the pace and forced our team to work on the half-court offense. Yes, it looked bad, but the practice will eventually pay off.  

It looked like for the end of the 1st half and first 10 min of the 2nd half, Beard gave them a green light to push the pace and take shots. Maybe this is him starting the engines a little before conference play.

Our defense is looking great on many levels.  If you can’t appreciate a smothering, frustrating defense, then you need to expand your horizons. I thought his defense was beautiful at Tech and it is getting prettier by the day here.  Imagine being the other team and scoring 35 points in a game. That is ugly. The fact we are causing it is beautiful.

[shadow_operative 15932]

of all the people i've ever seen with duck feet, Dylan Disu is by far the best athlete. i'm not even joking a little bit. i'm amazed by his athleticism when each of his feet points in different directions. 

[justhookit 4191]

^Incarnate Word sucks.  They probably wouldn’t beat my high school team. And I’m a Beard fan.

[shadow_operative 15932]

4 minutes ago, HookEm said:

I liked what Beard did with the nonconf games. We could have pushed the pace and won every game by 40. But instead he ground down the pace and forced our team to work on the half-court offense. Yes, it looked bad, but the practice will eventually pay off.  

It looked like for the end of the 1st half and first 10 min of the 2nd half, Beard gave them a green light to push the pace and take shots. Maybe this is him starting the engines a little before conference play.

Our defense is looking great on many levels.  If you can’t appreciate a smothering, frustrating defense, then you need to expand your horizons. I thought his defense was beautiful at Tech and it is getting prettier by the day here.  Imagine being the other team and scoring 35 points in a game. That is ugly. The fact we are causing it is beautiful.

seems like you, me, and yes, even BWG all noticed that the team looked different today. your second paragraph may very well be spot on. they were definitely getting out in transition more than they have in previous games.