2018-19 Texas Longhorns thread

[ztejas 43,418]

Shaka should have been fired the minute the tourney ended. Anyone that thinks otherwise is an apologist. This isn't football where you have to get your recruits in the system. He has recruited and failed to win. He is not an elite coach even though he had the nation fooled with one nice run at VCU. 

[Goo Punch 4,275]

based on the last several years the game will go like this: Texas shoots better than they have all year and our athletes enjoy the up and down action as we play up to our competition, only to crumble in the last 4 minutes. Texas manages to somehow cover (+7) in a game they could have won. 

 

That said if we start skow slow again we will we down 30-14 at the U8 TO.

[UTDD 362]

On 11/20/2018 at 7:27 AM, Goo Punch said:

i agree with what you're saying, 100%. It's a major part of the reason that Rick Barnes is no longer our coach. What I don't agree with is the contention that I'm advocating for or pining for this polar opposite, menacing, snarling, hard-ass authoritarian who throws his players under the bus. There is a ton of gray area between "everyone is great" and "my players are all terrible".What I'm looking for resides in that gray area, and leans much closer to the "everyone is great" end of the spectrum then the opposite.

Also, an important distinction that I've mentioned every time I've brought this up is that I see a correlation between coaches who comport themselves this way and a certain level of underachieving/lack of supreme achievement, whereas I also see a correlation between coaches who don't hold punches and who do reach the highest peaks of their respective sport. It's by no means a prerequisite, but what I take from it is that the always positive, sort of coddling nature of these coaches doesn't end up serving anyone at the end of the day. If I didn't believe that this kind of coaching style could potentially hold a team and/or its players back, then I wouldn't put myself through hassle of dealing w the typical responses that I know I'm going to get when I post these things. I'd just leave it.

That said, I'm certain that my lifetime as a Texas fan has shaped this opinion. I think that Mack would have been better served being a bit more demanding/realistic/honest with/about several of his coaches, players, and teams, and I personally know a whole slew of guys who LOVE  Coach Barnes- butted heads with him, got upset with him, got dogged out by him, sure- but who LOVE him for "challenging me as a man and getting more out of me than I ever thought possible" as one former player put it. Based on a lifetime of being fairly close to both major UT sports programs I believe that major college athletes are already too coddled, too celebrated, and too slurped, to be blunt, as it stands, and that being humbled, and challenged, and treated more like a grown person than a collegiate demigod can do them a lot of good. I think that many of them need a healthy dose of that, a dose somewhere between the two opposite ends of the spectrum.

So again, it's not that I want Shaka to criticize his players; I just don't agree with the "everyone/everything is just so great" public persona of our coach. I don't think that "we need to be better at the start of games", or "our guys need to hit their open shots when they have them" is all that uncalled for. Is that extremely different from "we've had a lot of good looks that just haven't fallen"? maybe not to you. But in my opinion, when it's perpetually reinforced that "we're doing good things and results *will* get better", that sometimes the bottom line message of "our guys need to step up/improve/play better" (aka taking ownership of the situation), can get lost, and your entire team can spend the entire season just sort of waiting for/expecting/assuming that things will get better/correct themselves.

 

I think this is all basically what I agree with but I would add that sometimes what a coach can say in a public setting can greatly differ in clarity and tone than what a coach may be saying even in front of his teammates/coaches only and then only in front of that player himself.  A really great coach might give vague praise to the press and ensure his player is not criticized in public very much but then add a little more detail to the team about a player's performance/game, and then individually might do quite a bit more in challenging that player in a solo setting.  I don't know how Shaka challenges and develops his players in private so I can't fairly comment on that at all other than to look at the current player development trajectories as some sort of metric of success on some level.   

[Goo Punch 4,275]

It will come as no surprise to you to find that a Shaka Smart practice is way different from a Rick Barnes practice. They are polar opposites. One believes in positive reinforcement and is very encouraging, the other guy will literally stop practice to make a walk-on repeat something until he gets it right, even though he doesn't even play. One style isn't inherently better than the other, but from my observation the uber positive camp counselor, "everybody's best friend" type of coach doesn't win at the highest levels, and in this case he doesn't win at some of the more realistic levels either. 

[realgreggym 835]

Being the camp counselor doesn't work? Exactly how many practices have you participated in to come up with that?

[Goo Punch 4,275]

23 minutes ago, realgreggym said:

Being the camp counselor doesn't work? Exactly how many practices have you participated in to come up with that?

47.

[realgreggym 835]

Wow. Thats a lot of experience.

[Underdog 28,611]

3 hours ago, ztejas said:

Can someone explain to me why Texas is playing UNC on Thanksgiving? I liked following them almost upset Duke last Thanksgiving Saturday. Who the fuck is going to watch a college basketball game on Thanksgiving outside of each fanbase?

<—— raises hand. 

[texasstrong12 4,668]

Arkansas looks like a tournament team. They look the part. Glad we played them early in the year because they are probably going to get better. 

[texasstrong12 4,668]

Nobody can stop Gafford. Continues to look like our bigs did a good job on him. 

Daniel Gafford vs UC Davis, Indiana, and Montana State: 21/24 from the field (87.5%)

vs Texas: 8/15 (53.3%)

Edited November 22, 2018 by texasstrong12

[vin2basketball 10]

9 hours ago, Goo Punch said:

based on the last several years the game will go like this: Texas shoots better than they have all year and our athletes enjoy the up and down action as we play up to our competition, only to crumble in the last 4 minutes. Texas manages to somehow cover (+7) in a game they could have won. 

 

That said if we start skow slow again we will we down 30-14 at the U8 TO.

Sadly I think this is 100% right. The offense is not bad structurally, but unless the shots fall and Matt gets right, it won't matter one iota.

I think this team looks like another 19-20 win (pre-NCAA) team that sweats it out on the bubble. We'll go 10-3 OOC, 9-9 or 10-8 in the big 12, and then finish the season losing a close game in the first round of the NCAAs. Rinse, repeat

[Fozzz 152]

I can’t imagine how pissed this board will be if Texas manages to win tonight. 

[vin2basketball 10]

58 minutes ago, Fozzz said:

I can’t imagine how pissed this board will be if Texas manages to win tonight. 

Don't mistake pessimism for a lack of love for the team - I would be overjoyed to be proven wrong

[Dbeasy 15,047]

I’m actually feeling okay about the team so far. While we aren’t beating teams by as much as we should, we are at least winning the games with a lot of freshmen.

[Goo Punch 4,275]

1 hour ago, Fozzz said:

I can’t imagine how pissed this board will be if Texas manages to win tonight. 

yeah, we all spend our time and energy following, researching, and talking about the program because we hate it. good call. do you even understand *why* people are negative/pessimistic/in favor of firing the coach?

[Goo Punch 4,275]

40 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

I’m actually feeling okay about the team so far. While we aren’t beating teams by as much as we should, we are at least winning the games with a lot of freshmen.

i'm kind of over this team until our best players get bigger/starting roles. simply meaning that i'm not going to invest a whole bunch of expectation or even hope into a team that's being poorly coached and mismanaged with no eye towards the future. this team has a relatively low ceiling, but the future still looks pretty good. The roster as it stands today could be a much better team with better coaching and player management, and i'm hoping that the program gets that shit in order sooner than later, because we could be legitimately pretty good as early as next year if we were to start starting/featuring our best players (most of whom are first and second year players), along with some better coaching.

The talent on the roster hasn't been the problem during Shaka's tenure, but with Andrew Jones still not really a member of the actual playing squad the basketball talent of this team is somewhat lacking and needs a better coaching staff to maximize its potential. These early season struggles would be easier to swallow if we weren't wasting so much PT/starting time on guys like DO and Sims who will have little/nothing to offer the program going forward. The more experience and game time we get for Sims, Long, Ramey, and Hepa the better. Next year's team would be a legit top 25 squad with the right coaching staff. 

Edited November 22, 2018 by Goo Punch

[Pam Cummings 9,640]

Of what i've seen this season, Mitrou-Long is constantly making stuff happen. Hayes seems better than Sims as well.

 

And keep getting Febres those open looks in the corner, and really from anywhere, because that dude's shot is straight up beautiful.

Edited November 22, 2018 by Pam Cummings

[Fozzz 152]

1 hour ago, Goo Punch said:

yeah, we all spend our time and energy following, researching, and talking about the program because we hate it. good call. do you even understand *why* people are negative/pessimistic/in favor of firing the coach?

I never said that.  Learn to read better.  

 

[Machinator 32,099]

1 hour ago, Goo Punch said:

These early season struggles would be easier to swallow if we weren't wasting so much PT/starting time on guys like DO and Sims who will have little/nothing to offer the program going forward. The more experience and game time we get for Sims, Long, Ramey, and Hepa the better.

Huh?

[Goo Punch 4,275]

Hayes. Hayes needs to be taking Sims' playing time and starting role. Been saying the two names together so frequently lately i switched em.

[Goo Punch 4,275]

The line has moved to UNC -8.5, which is somewhat expected. 

[Catdaddyhorn 3,444]

The line has moved to UNC -8.5, which is somewhat expected. 

Doesn't UNC have a starter out?

[Goo Punch 4,275]

It's criminal if Jaxson Hayes isn't starting tomorrow. 

[taybo20 2,825]

1 hour ago, Goo Punch said:

It's criminal if Jaxson Hayes isn't starting tomorrow. 

I would agree. 

[RichUT 1,832]

Statement win tonight. It’s November so it doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things, but it’s bound to give the guys some much needed confidence.

[texasstrong12 4,668]

We might already have two quad 1 wins 5 games into the season. Quite the start. Go get another quality win tomorrow. 

[RabidM 2,666]

10 hours ago, Pam Cummings said:

Hayes seems better than Sims as well.

Hayes seems like a basketball player who's is long, bouncy and super athletic.  Sims seems like a very good athlete trying to learn to be a basketball player.  

I just hope Hayes doesn't turn himself into a 1 year wonder for us.  He keeps getting better.  

[texasstrong12 4,668]

 

[pacman 7,355]

On the area of improvement, need more on the boards from dylan and sims

[Js1 85,310]

12 hours ago, Fozzz said:

I can’t imagine how pissed this board will be if Texas manages to win tonight. 

I ain’t mad 

[LTtxfan 49,170]

18 minutes ago, RabidM said:

Hayes seems like a basketball player who's is long, bouncy and super athletic.  Sims seems like a very good athlete trying to learn to be a basketball player.  

I just hope Hayes doesn't turn himself into a 1 year wonder for us.  He keeps getting better.  

Some Scouts think by end of his freshman year........

Hayes could be the 2nd best one -and-done prospect ever from TEXAS...... only Durant rated higher

Edited November 23, 2018 by LTtxfan

[EZ$ 2,104]

What’s the deal with Andrew Jones?  Saw that he played in one of the early games, but haven’t seen him since.  Are they limiting his minutes or is he just not fully back yet?

[texasstrong12 4,668]

12 hours ago, Fozzz said:

I can’t imagine how pissed this board will be if Texas manages to win tonight. 

I’m just shocked we were able to win after all the platitudes and coach speak from a few days ago. I was told that was antithetical to winning. 

[Machinator 32,099]

We are elite against UNC.

We aren't an elite team, but it doesn't matter how good a squad Roy brings against us, we can beat them.

[Cameltoe 114]

On 11/21/2018 at 3:53 PM, ztejas said:

Shaka should have been fired the minute the tourney ended. Anyone that thinks otherwise is an apologist. This isn't football where you have to get your recruits in the system. He has recruited and failed to win. He is not an elite coach even though he had the nation fooled with one nice run at VCU. 

Go back to the football board. You know jack fuck-all about hoops.

[Guest Lobo]

That stat at the end that said that this was Shaka's 8th win over an AP Top 10 team.  Is that just at Texas in the last 3+ seasons, or his career?  Doesn't seem like we have that many recently, particularly when you take into account we haven't played much in March.  But I could be wrong.  I am assuming it was Shaka's career.  

Anyway, great win tonight.  I gotta admit, I did not see it coming.  Thought we'd be playing at 3:00p tomorrow, so gotta cancel some family shit and host a game-watch party in the backyard.  This is big for the program.  Congrats to the team.  

[Machinator 32,099]

Just now, Lobo said:

That stat at the end that said that this was Shaka's 8th win over an AP Top 10 team.  Is that just at Texas in the last 3+ seasons, or his career?  Doesn't seem like we have that many recently, particularly when you take into account we haven't played much in March.  But I could be wrong.  I am assuming it was Shaka's career.  

Anyway, great win tonight.  I gotta admit, I did not see it coming.  Thought we'd be playing at 3:00p tomorrow, so gotta cancel some family shit and host a game-watch party in the backyard.  This is big for the program.  Congrats to the team.  

In his career.

[Cameltoe 114]

On 11/20/2018 at 8:21 PM, immortal13 said:

Derka, please. You aren't the only one critical of Shaka on this board. I think the should've already been fired

Yeah the program would be doing SO MUCH BETTER now if we'd fired Shaka! You are such a luminary douchebag when it comes to CBB. Please keep enlightening us, we can't wait to hear more of your wisdom!

[Machinator 32,099]

Just now, Cameltoe said:

Yeah the program would be doing SO MUCH BETTER now if we'd fired Shaka! You are such a luminary douchebag when it comes to CBB. Please keep enlightening us, we can't wait to hear more of your wisdom!

Wait for us to string together some wins before doing this.

We own UNC historically, now I'd like to see consistency against other quality teams.

[vin2basketball 10]

5 minutes ago, Machinator said:

Wait for us to string together some wins before doing this.

We own UNC historically, now I'd like to see consistency against other quality teams.

Agreed - tonight was a great win but I'd really like to see us score consistently against a team playing a zone before we start sucking our own dicks. 

[taybo20 2,825]

We will likely see a lot of zone in conference 

[RabidM 2,666]

We'll have lots of opportunities to show we can beat zone.  We're going to see a lot of it this year.  I think we'll shoot the 3 better this year.  That will help.  

[vin2basketball 10]

9 minutes ago, Machinator said:

In his career.

At Texas he won 4 his first year:

#3 UNC
@ #6 WVU
#10 WVU
#3 Oklahoma

Last year we beat #8 TTU

So 6 here
 

[Machinator 32,099]

11 minutes ago, vin2basketball said:

Agreed - tonight was a great win but I'd really like to see us score consistently against a team playing a zone before we start sucking our own dicks. 

We're fundamentally the same team we always were. Long, athletic, energetic, prone to stagnancy in half-court games (especially against the zone), erratic in free throw shooting. Consistently stout in defense. We still went into a shell way too early while sitting on a lead. One relatively skilled big, and a healthy serving of athletes who are still learning how to play basketball. Run hot and cold in situational basketball.

What has changed? We're deeper and more experienced in the backcourt than we've ever been under Shaka, and we made 3s against a quality opponent for once. We might have a legit stretch 4, but he needs to develop physically. We can go 8-deep against good teams instead of 6- or 7-deep.

That should buy us a few more wins compared to last year. Will it be enough to take a step back towards where we used to be as a program? We'll see.

Edited November 23, 2018 by Machinator

[texasstrong12 4,668]

I've been saying this but it looks like we are elite defensively. Offense is probably still a work in progress. 

UNC scored 89 tonight but we generated a lot of offense off turnovers and at least 3/4 of UNC's points were contested Coby White jumpers/offensive rebounds. 

If not for Coby White being unconscious this game likely isn't even close. 

Edited November 23, 2018 by texasstrong12

[txhorns 2,409]

33 minutes ago, EZ$ said:

What’s the deal with Andrew Jones?  Saw that he played in one of the early games, but haven’t seen him since.  Are they limiting his minutes or is he just not fully back yet?

He's just not ready for this type of play.  He played in a blowout in the 1st game.  He was clearly not ready for any meaningful minutes.  Plus he has some more cancer treatments coming up in December.

[immortal13 4,059]

15 minutes ago, Cameltoe said:

Yeah the program would be doing SO MUCH BETTER now if we'd fired Shaka! You are such a luminary douchebag when it comes to CBB. Please keep enlightening us, we can't wait to hear more of your wisdom!

Fuck off, bitch. One win doesn't mean we wouldn't be better off now without Shaka's incompetent coaching. We barely made the tourney last year with a lottery pic on the team. I am ecstatic about the win tonight and I wish it were the case that Shaka has turned things around, but we all know he is in over his head. Well everyone but you, anyway

[Valmy77 13,226]

So....Roach for Naismith?

[Catdaddyhorn 3,444]

1 hour ago, pacman said:

On the area of improvement, need more on the boards from dylan and sims

It would help if he would dive to the basket or slip a screen every now and then instead of flailing out to the 3pt line all the time.

[Catdaddyhorn 3,444]

36 minutes ago, immortal13 said:

Fuck off, bitch. One win doesn't mean we wouldn't be better off now without Shaka's incompetent coaching. We barely made the tourney last year with a lottery pic on the team. I am ecstatic about the win tonight and I wish it were the case that Shaka has turned things around, but we all know he is in over his head. Well everyone but you, anyway

I think the idea that he’s in over his head is just as stupid and hyperbolic as cameltoe’s comments. The main problem with Shaka’s tenure here is his mismanagement of the roster, especially wrt to our guards, and running a guard reliant offensive system without a high number of adequately skill guards. All of the above made his margin for error super tight, too tight to overcome a healthy dosage of ill-timed injuries/suspensions. Our defense has been elite to well above average his entire time here, but the game is moving in the other direction so he needs to really improve on the other end of the court if he hopes to ever overcome our current malaise. We’re way too easy to guard. More movement on the offensive end not only forces the defense to exert more energy,  but it also increases the likelihood of confusion and mistakes by our opponents. Hopefully we continue to get better in this area as the season progresses.