2018-19 Texas Longhorns thread

[Rockethorn1978 6153]

Texas winning and teams like UNC winning will also help so go unc, fuck duke and Hook Em!

[Pancho 45478]

Oh shits, we are getting votes in both the AP and coaches polls too.  

 

[texasstrong12 4668]

https://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2019/02/11/monday-overreactions-kansas-states-rise-jack-whites-demise-justin-robinsons-absence/

"I know you hear this every year, and I have been trying to avoid writing this for as long as possible, but I can’t do it anymore.

The bubble is just absolutely atrocious this year, as bad as it has ever been.

The reason I am bringing it up now is because two more at-large spots opened up in our latest bracket projection — the team in first place in the league standings is granted the auto-bid, and with VCU and Buffalo moving back into first place, the Atlantic 10 and MAC once again morphed into one-bid leagues.

This is where we stand: Georgetown, who ranks 78th in the NET, who has beaten just a single top 50 team (St. John’s, who is 49th, on the road) and who has three Q1 wins, a 7-7 record against Q1 and Q2 and two Q3 losses, is our first team out. UCF, who is 0-2 against Q1 teams and whose best win is Alabama (43) at home, is an at-large team. Oklahoma, who is 15-9 overall, 3-8 in the Big 12 and has lost four in a row and six of eight, is in the tournament largely due to the fact that a home win over Wofford is a Q1 win.

Indiana, Providence, Florida, Creighton. These teams are all somehow still in the tournament conversation, and it is baffling.

We have to get to 68 teams somehow.

And it is going to get ugly."

[texasstrong12 4668]

Texas basketball rankings:

KPI 25th

Kenpom 23rd

NET 33rd

RPI 37th

Sagarin 24th

BPI 27th

[texasstrong12 4668]

Something that's obvious about the NCAA committee is they really value nonconference strength of schedule. 

 

St Mary's (#296 NCSOS) Penn State (#322) ND (#203) Louisville (#234) Baylor (#282) USC (#120)

Texas currently has the #39 NCSOS for perspective. 

[dcar00 14609]

its good that we play teams like VCU, Radford, Providence, in our out of conf schedules, along with the the few heavyweights, instead of complete tomato cans. problem is they should be wins at home.  the fact that we are an 8 to 9 seed right now is, well, comical.  I'm guessing we could get in at 8-10 and might not even have to win a tourney game.

[texasstrong12 4668]

I wish we could have the Providence game back. We would have won that with Roach but no excuse for the Radford loss. VCU is actually pretty good though. 

[Js1 85759]

3 minutes ago, dcar00 said:

its good that we play teams like VCU, Radford, Providence, in our out of conf schedules, along with the the few heavyweights, instead of complete tomato cans. problem is they should be wins at home.  the fact that we are an 8 to 9 seed right now is, well, comical.  I'm guessing we could get in at 8-10 and might not even have to win a tourney game.

We're clearly being rewarded for playing them (even if we lost to them).  The Texas team we've seen the past 10 days or so would have won at least 2 of those games and we're the 6/7 seed territory instead of 8/9.  

But fuck, I'd rather finish strong at the end of our schedule than fizzle out in February like so many previous Texas teams.

Compared to Baylor having more cupcakes than a 2nd grade birthday party. That is an embarrassing NCSOS for a P5 program from one of the best conferences. 

[Machinator 32099]

The committee is very generous about rewarding programs that play real teams in the nonconference. You could argue that they put too much importance on the scheduling and not enough on results, but it works in our favor.

[dcar00 14609]

29 minutes ago, Machinator said:

The committee is very generous about rewarding programs that play real teams in the nonconference. You could argue that they put too much importance on the scheduling and not enough on results, but it works in our favor.

I'm glad they are.  surprised we are getting much credit when we lost at home vs. a road loss but great none the less.  maybe Shaka can pull this thing out of the dumpster fire.  I just don't trust him or this team in a pressure packed tournament game. My hope is we get UNC Roach for a couple of games.   I'd rather be a 10 than an 8/9 any day.

[Catdaddyhorn 3448]

52 minutes ago, dcar00 said:

its good that we play teams like VCU, Radford, Providence, in our out of conf schedules, along with the the few heavyweights, instead of complete tomato cans. problem is they should be wins at home.  the fact that we are an 8 to 9 seed right now is, well, comical.  I'm guessing we could get in at 8-10 and might not even have to win a tourney game.

Exactly at the very worst we should've been 3-1 against Radford, VCU, Providence, and Georgia. A 17-7 record at this point in the season with a real shot at being a top 5 or 6 seed.  And this doesn't even factor in the loss to Okla St.

[Catdaddyhorn 3448]

15 minutes ago, dcar00 said:

I'm glad they are.  surprised we are getting much credit when we lost at home vs. a road loss but great none the less.  maybe Shaka can pull this thing out of the dumpster fire.  I just don't trust him or this team in a pressure packed tournament game. My hope is we get UNC Roach for a couple of games.   I'd rather be a 10 than an 8/9 any day.

The to Roach's play is having a viable offensive threat, on the opposite wing which is why Ramey's play has been so important. I can't emphasize enough how easy it was for Roach to get into the lane against WVU. And it was all predicated on having Ramey's gravitational pull draw in his defender a bit closer than he'd otherwise be.  Makes me wonder what having a healthy Andrew Jones for the last year and a half would've done for Roach's NBA prospects.  

[Burt Macklin 19099]

32 minutes ago, Jhawk said:

Here is a list of the injuries in the big12 this year, I'm unsure about tech and Oklahoma injuries.

  Reveal hidden contents

K-State: 
Dean Wade - 6 games 
Kamau Stokes - 1 game 
Cartier Diarra - 8 games

Kansas: 
Lagerald Vick - 2+ games - personal reasons 
Udoka Azubuike - 22 games 
Marcus Garrett - 4 games 
Silvio De Sousa - Season - Ineligible

Iowa State: 
Solomon Young - Season 
Cameron Lard - 9 games 
Lindell Wigginton - 10 games

Baylor: 
Tristan Clark - 17 games 
King McClure - 2+ games 
Makai Mason - 4 games 
Mario Kegler - 6 games - suspension

TCU: 
Jaylen Fisher - 22 games 
Kouat Noi - 4 games

Oklahoma State: 
Michael Weathers - 14 games - dismissed 
Maurice Calloo - 14 games - dismissed 
Kentrevious Jones - 14 games - dismissed

West Virginia: 
Esa Ahmad - 7 games - dismissed 
Wes Harris - 7 games - dismissed 
Derek Culver - 10 games - suspension 
Sagaba Konate - 22 games

Texas: 
Andrew Jones - 29 games

 

Cross-posting this from the Big 12 b-ball thread. 

The fact that we’re still likely not going to be any better than an 8 seed and have been basically the only team to be injury free all year really doesn’t make me feel better about Shaka even if we’re playing much better ball right now.

we’re getting a huge gift in never facing KSU at full strength. Our final 4 games could be rough. It’ll be interesting to see if we can keep up this level of play to close out the season.

[Machinator 32099]

1 minute ago, Burt Macklin said:

Cross-posting this from the Big 12 b-ball thread. 

The fact that we’re still likely not going to be any better than an 8 seed and have been basically the only team to be injury free all year really doesn’t make me feel better about Shaka even if we’re playing much better ball right now.

we’re getting a huge gift in never facing KSU at full strength. Our final 4 games could be rough. It’ll be interesting to see if we can keep up this level of play to close out the season.

If we can sustain this level of play into March, I think we might have something.

That's a gigantic if, though.

[Burt Macklin 19099]

6 minutes ago, Machinator said:

If we can sustain this level of play into March, I think we might have something.

That's a gigantic if, though.

Yep. I’ll say this is probably the most promising stretch of basketball we’ve ever seen under Shaka but it’s only 4 games. If he keeps it up, he’ll guarantee himself at least another year to show it wasn’t a blip. I’m still pretty skeptical, but Shaka’s last two classes (2018 and 2019) are by far his best in terms of long-term team building and they specifically add more shooting. The offense this year generates open 3s, we just haven’t had guys in the right position to make them until recently

Edited February 12, 2019 by Burt Macklin

[Jhawk 1075]

3 minutes ago, Machinator said:

If we can sustain this level of play into March, I think we might have something.

That's a gigantic if, though.

I don't want to be an ass, but I wouldn't bet on it.  I haven't watched all of your games, but you've got 3 quality wins in the last 10 games.  That's not exactly a high level of play, especially when you look at the remaining schedule:

KSU

OSu

@OU

@Baylor

ISU

@tech

TCU

If you play at the level you have during the last 2 games and your opponents play at the level they have, you really only have 3 wins left on the schedule.  KSU is an unknown for the next 2-3 games so there might be a win there (I hope so), but you guys might have the toughest schedule left in the league.

[Machinator 32099]

2 minutes ago, Jhawk said:

I don't want to be an ass, but I wouldn't bet on it.  I haven't watched all of your games, but you've got 3 quality wins in the last 10 games.  That's not exactly a high level of play, especially when you look at the remaining schedule:

KSU

OSu

@OU

@Baylor

ISU

@tech

TCU

If you play at the level you have during the last 2 games and your opponents play at the level they have, you really only have 3 wins left on the schedule.  KSU is an unknown for the next 2-3 games so there might be a win there (I hope so), but you guys might have the toughest schedule left in the league.

If we play at the level we have the last two games, we can beat anyone in the league right now aside from Iowa State and maybe @Tech. If you haven't been watching our games, why comment?

[Braff Zacklin 13672]

2 minutes ago, Jhawk said:

If you play at the level you have during the last 2 games and your opponents play at the level they have, you really only have 3 wins left on the schedule.

Are you trolling? If Texas played the final seven regular season games at the level it has played the past two, it would win at least five of them.

We're not crowing about our 'Horns making a bid for the conference title or predicting a deep tourney run. We're just saying the bubble is weak and the team has been playing much better of late. Doesn't mean they can't slide back into old and familiar habits, however.

[Catdaddyhorn 3448]

14 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

Cross-posting this from the Big 12 b-ball thread. 

The fact that we’re still likely not going to be any better than an 8 seed and have been basically the only team to be injury free all year really doesn’t make me feel better about Shaka even if we’re playing much better ball right now.

we’re getting a huge gift in never facing KSU at full strength. Our final 4 games could be rough. It’ll be interesting to see if we can keep up this level of play to close out the season.

Lol at the notion we're injury free despite literally our best player missing the entire season.

[Burt Macklin 19099]

Just now, Catdaddyhorn said:

Lol at the notion we're injury free despite literally our best player missing the entire season.

Is this a joke? If Jones doesn’t get cancer, then he declares after last year. Counting him as being injured all this year is pretty silly. 

[Catdaddyhorn 3448]

Our best player hasn't played a minute of consequence the entire year.  No level of rationalization negates this fact.  Had he not gotten cancer we're a hell of a lot better last year as well.  

Edited February 12, 2019 by Catdaddyhorn

[HtownHorn 14923]

1 minute ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

Our best player hasn't played a minute of onsequence the entire year.  No level of rationalization negates this fact.  Had he not gotten cancer we're a hell of a lot better last year as well.  

And had he not gotten cancer he would have already left for the NBA.

[Burt Macklin 19099]

4 minutes ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

Our best player hasn't played a minute of consequence the entire year.  No level of rationalization negates this fact.  Had he not gotten cancer we're a hell of a lot better last year as well.  

Lulz. Can you not see that you’re double-counting his injury for both last year and this year? This is dumb. Our team was hit hard by his injury last year, but saying we missed his contributions last year AND this year is disengenuous. Had he been healthy, he only would’ve contributed to the team for one year, which would’ve been last year.

[Machinator 32099]

And if we're being honest, if (and this is a huge if) Jones comes back even at 70% of the player he was pre-cancer, that would be an even bigger boost to next year's squad than it would have been for this season.

[Jhawk 1075]

31 minutes ago, Machinator said:

If we play at the level we have the last two games, we can beat anyone in the league right now aside from Iowa State and maybe @Tech. If you haven't been watching our games, why comment?

I tend to believe in regressing to the mean. Did Shaka become a good coach in the last two games? Did your team become a top 3-4 in the conference team the last two games? Or is it more likely you had two good games and your opponents had two bad games? Everyone on here was saying Texas is just a bad matchup for Ku. Sometimes that just means it’s a bad matchup, not that a team has turned a corner. 

[Catdaddyhorn 3448]

23 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

Lulz. Can you not see that you’re double-counting his injury for both last year and this year? This is dumb. Our team was hit hard by his injury last year, but saying we missed his contributions last year AND this year is disengenuous. Had he been healthy, he only would’ve contributed to the team for one year, which would’ve been last year.

A better performance last season (which a healthy Jones no doubt would have helped) means everyone's view of this season's performance would be much different in context of the overall health of the program.  Additionally given the strength of last season's draft class I'm not sure it's a foregone certainty that Jones would've received a high enough to grade to enter.  That being said I wasn't double counting. I was more or less saying that our overall view of the program would be different with Jones being healthy for one of the past 2 seasons.  And to not mention that he literally hasn't been 100% healthy for nearly 2 seasons (does anyone really believe Jones only started feeling the effects of leukemia right before his diagnosis. Even during his draft combine I was shocked by how mediocre his athletic performance was. Who's to say,  unbeknownst to him,  he wasn't feeling the effects even way back then) seems negligent when giving an analysis of our squad.  He is a scholarship player afterall, who hasn't contributed fully since halftime of VCU last year.  And arguably wasn't even full strength before that as well. 

Edited February 12, 2019 by Catdaddyhorn

[Machinator 32099]

3 minutes ago, Jhawk said:

I tend to believe in regressing to the mean. Did Shaka become a good coach in the last two games? Did your team become a top 3-4 in the conference team the last two games? Or is it more likely you had two good games and your opponents had two bad games? Everyone on here was saying Texas is just a bad matchup for Ku. Sometimes that just means it’s a bad matchup, not that a team has turned a corner. 

I think what happened is that Courtney Ramey is coming into his own as a player, we've seen a step down in competition, and the team is playing with renewed focus knowing that a tourney bid is on the line.

Edited February 12, 2019 by Machinator

[Jhawk 1075]

Certainly possible. I don’t think Shaka is a different coach so any improvement would be on the players. 

[Catdaddyhorn 3448]

re evidence of Andrew feeling the effects of leukemia long before anyone knew:

He only had a 27 inch standing vertical at the NBA combine.  

Edited February 12, 2019 by Catdaddyhorn

[Bitterwhiteguy 153]

2 hours ago, Burt Macklin said:

Cross-posting this from the Big 12 b-ball thread. 

The fact that we’re still likely not going to be any better than an 8 seed and have been basically the only team to be injury free all year really doesn’t make me feel better about Shaka even if we’re playing much better ball right now.

we’re getting a huge gift in never facing KSU at full strength. Our final 4 games could be rough. It’ll be interesting to see if we can keep up this level of play to close out the season.

He's forgetting Jake Lindsey, who was likely going to be the best or second-best player on Baylor but has been out the whole year.

[Bitterwhiteguy 153]

2 hours ago, HtownHorn said:

And had he not gotten cancer he would have already left for the NBA.

The irony of the situation is that cancer doomed last year but might end up sending the next two seasons into the stratosphere.

[Jhawk 1075]

50 minutes ago, Bitterwhiteguy said:

He's forgetting Jake Lindsey, who was likely going to be the best or second-best player on Baylor but has been out the whole year.

I stole this from a KU board so obviously it wasn't made by someone who followed every team.  My apologies for some bad information.

[Goo Punch 4275]

1 hour ago, Bitterwhiteguy said:

The irony of the situation is that cancer doomed last year but might end up sending the next two seasons into the stratosphere.

if Jordan Shipley doesn't lose his first two seasons to injury then 2008 and 2009 Texas don't approach the heights they reached. If Chris Owens doesn't tear his ACL then JT isn't forced into a starring role as a freshman, which could have totally changed our final four run the following year. Shit do be like that sometimes. 

Edited February 12, 2019 by Goo Punch

[Jhawk 1075]

26 minutes ago, Goo Punch said:

if Jordan Shipley doesn't lose his first two seasons to injury then 2008 and 2009 Texas don't approach the heights they reached. If Chris Owens doesn't tear his ACL then JT isn't forced into a starring role as a freshman, which could have totally changed our final four run the following year. Shit do be like that sometimes. 

Yep... Fuck just look at KU.  A few things here and there and we're going to have 100% of our team back next year potentially.

[SwanderedTalent 5761]

3 hours ago, Machinator said:

we've seen a step down in competition

It's 98% this

[texasstrong12 4668]

Texas can't lose on Saturday to a bad Oklahoma State team. K-State type losses won't keep you out of the tournament but losing at home to Oklahoma State will. 

[Braff Zacklin 13672]

3 minutes ago, texasstrong12 said:

Texas can't lose on Saturday to a bad Oklahoma State team. K-State type losses won't keep you out of the tournament but losing at home to Oklahoma State will. 

That would be definitely qualify as the worst loss of the season, even more so than previous home losses to Radford, VCU, and Providence.

Furk, it'd be worse than losing last month in Athens to a Georgia team that I believe is 1-10 in the SEC?

Hopefully, they'll put tonight behind them and bounce back.

[VirginiaLonghorn 4808]

Just now, Braff Zacklin said:

That would be definitely qualify as the worst loss of the season, even more so than previous home losses to Radford, VCU, and Providence.

Furk, it'd be worse than losing last month in Athens to a Georgia team that I believe is 1-10 in the SEC?

Hopefully, they'll put tonight behind them and bounce back.

Aggy hammered UGA tonight if that gives some perspective. 

[Js1 85759]

6 minutes ago, texasstrong12 said:

Texas can't lose on Saturday to a bad Oklahoma State team. K-State type losses won't keep you out of the tournament but losing at home to Oklahoma State will. 

If we get swept by this OSU team, fire him before the buzzer. I’m not even joking. 

[Braff Zacklin 13672]

2 minutes ago, VirginiaLonghorn said:

Aggy hammered UGA tonight if that gives some perspective. 

Yeah, it was an across-the-board terrible loss. Road or not, just an embarrassing performance.

[texasstrong12 4668]

6 minutes ago, Js1 said:

If we get swept by this OSU team, fire him before the buzzer. I’m not even joking. 

Yeah, we don't deserve to make the tournament if we lose to Oklahoma State at home. Especially given the circumstances. Regardless, splitting results each week is probably going to be good enough to get Texas in the tournament. Just look at tonight. Every  bubble team lost.

Arkansas with a bad loss to Missouri

Bama lost to Miss State

Butler lost to ST. Johns (granted both are bubble teams). 

[Goo Punch 4275]

This is more about the 2020 team, but it's probably a bit early to start that thread. I went out tonight to watch Texas commit Will Baker and Texas recruit (and a former student of mine who i'm close with) KJ Adams as Westlake took on Austin High in their season finale. Baker and KJ dominated the game from start to finish, and KJ was actually the best player on the court despite being a sophomore. Here are the highlights:

 

[Catdaddyhorn 3448]

@Goo Punch What position does KJ play on his AAU team? And how tall is he? 

[Goo Punch 4275]

6 minutes ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

@Goo Punch What position does KJ play on his AAU team? And how tall is he? 

He plays as a wing/forward. He reminds me of Julius Randle. Also it's hard for me to guess exactly how tall he is because he just keeps growing. I'm looking at a photo we took tonight, and I'm 6'1" and my head is even with the bottom of his nose, so he's at least 6'6" at this point. 

[Catdaddyhorn 3448]

You're right about dude dominating the game. I love his aggression. 

[Goo Punch 4275]

1 hour ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

You're right about dude dominating the game. I love his aggression. 

I try not to hype him up too much, but the truth is I've never been around a kid like him- an athlete with his gifts who legitimately works harder and takes his game more seriously than anyone around him. And he manages to stay humble. I believe that KJ has known what he's wanted to be for a long time, and he's consistently put in the work required to achieve his goals- every year he adds more to his game. His 8th grade team was unbelievable, probably five or six D-1 players on it in a parochial school league, and even back then he was head and shoulders above the rest in both physical gifts and work ethic. I'm really rooting for him and looking forward to his future as a basketball player. 

[satyanash 14780]

 

[Goo Punch 4275]

I really don't know what all the fuss is about. We are still way in the tourney. WAY in. We still have a lot of bed shitting to do before we start feeling the heat. I don't think some people understand what it means to play in the Big XII, not to mention having beaten Carolina and Purdue in non conference. I will be shocked if we miss the tournament, and I think that Shaka could fuck up just about anything. For real y'all- it's too early to panic. Right now we need to be worried about how badly UVA/UK/Duke/Michigan/Tennesee is going to beat us if we happen to win our first round game. 

[George Clooney 378]

I don't think Michigan will belong with those other four once the regular season concludes. I'm sure the advanced stats disagree, but it's just a hunch.

[LTtxfan 49405]

Must Win for Shacka-Lacka vs Okie Lite Saturday

Okie Lite last night:   "This is the story of the second-largest loss in 81 seasons at home, a 78-50 defeat at the hands of No. 15 Texas Tech that sealed Oklahoma State’s sixth consecutive season of .500 or worse in Big 12 play. It was the Cowboys’ (9-15, 2-9 Big 12) seventh consecutive Big 12 loss, tying a program low."