2018-19 Texas Longhorns thread

[HookEm 2441]

If you want more people at the games, step 1 is to put a product on the court that doesn't make you want to gouge your eyes out.

I swear this is the most frustrating team I have ever watched play. Jacking up brick 3 after brick 3 is just such a beating to watch.

[Machinator 32097]

 

[Goo Punch 4275]

I've had three or four different people now tell me that "it doesn't matter who starts", and I need to address that: yes it does.

 

Texas is not Tennessee, a team that was in the top 10 last year and this year returns 14 players; Texas is a middling team with little depth, one that has struggled to put away crap teams and which has been plagued by slow starts for most of the year. We need our best players on the court as early and often as possible, particularly considering that the guys who should be starting are going to be our main guys going forward. Get them all of the experience they can get now, considering that we have a 0% shot at winning anything meaningful this year anyway, something which may actually change going forward assuming we hire a real coach.

 

So, let's be real about our starting lineup, using some recent player comps:

 

•Jericho Sims- he's Alexis Wangmene. Lex as a senior was actually better than Sims is now, so while the sophomore Sims still has time to grow, there is no justification for this Texas team to be starting someone who is inferior to Alexis Wangmene when we have Jaxson Hayes sitting on the bench. This is not up for debate.

 

•Dylan Osetkowski- he is worse than Connor Lammert. DO is a fifth year senior who is worse than Connor Lammert at every facet of the game. Meanwhile we have Kamaka Hepa, someone who looks to be a very very good wing/stretch 4 going forward, just riding the pine to start every game. Again, Dylan will be gone after this year, while Hepa has the talent to be a future All American. Hepa is so much more of a natural hooper than DO it's criminal. The idea that starting DO over Hepa "doesn't matter" is absurd. I would posit that Texas very well may not have gone to the Final Four in 2003 had James Thomas not been inserted into the starting lineup half way through 2002. Now he came in because of injury, and not because the guy in front of him got benched, but the bottom line is that that experience and PT for Thomas paid huge dividends going forward for Texas. Every start that DO gets over Hepa is a start that is doubly wasted.

 

•Jase Febres- He's a taller Javan Felix who can't shoot from inside the arc like Felix could. Jase's stats this year nearly mirror those from Javan Felix as a junior, except that Felix averaged a few more PPG. The rest of the stats are eerily similar- he shoots threes at around 39%, and he doesn't do much else. I would even say that Felix had a more well rounded game than Febres, and that Felix would have been an even better player if he had Febres' size. Meanwhile Eli Long and Courtney Ramey continue to come off the bench despite both already having much more well rounded games than Febres, with Long being particularly more savvy than Febres. Febres is a one trick pony who should be coming off the bench to provide some shooting and nothing more.

 

Texas has not been good this year. We've won the two games where we've shot well, but we've also struggled with and obviously lost home games to some real shit teams, and we've looked downright awful for huge stretches. This shit will not fly when league play starts. Three of our first five conference games include road trips to Manhattan and Lawrence, and a home game with a Texas Tech team that looks to have one of the best defenses in the country. Trotting out a starting lineup that features guys who are inferior to Wangmene, Lammert, and Felix is not going to cut it; in fact it's a recipe for getting steamrolled. The players on the bench not only are better than their starting counterparts, but they are the future of the program as well. Leaving them on the bench hurts the team now and hurts the program moving forward. Do not tell me that it doesn't matter who starts, when it very much does. 

 

 But hey, I can always look at the bright side- the longer our joke of a coach refuses to change this, the more likely he is to get fired. I guess we'll see how long it takes him to start playing his best players. It's not too late for this team to get its best players all used to starting and playing with one another, something that makes sense both for today and going forward. But come January every night will be a trial by fire, and I for one do not look forward to watching the likes of DO and Sims aimlessly bumbling around while we get our teeth kicked in by half the league.

[Cameltoe 114]

Yeah, I really wanna read a 4 paragraph Derka essay that starts with "Texas is not Tennessee."

Thanks, I thought since they were both orange they were the same team.

[Machinator 32097]

 

[RabidM 2664]

$10 a ticket and he thinks that will put people in the stands?  He needs to offer free food, drinks and anesthesia.  

[Dbeasy 14953]

I can understand the calls for changing the starting lineup. The one valid reason I could see for not doing that yet is a leadership tactic.

When significant change is required in any organization, it has to be ready to accept the change. Groundwork must be laid. Individuals must recognize that change is required.

There is a chance that Shaka is just going thru this process. Personally, I think he has waited too long, but maybe that is his thinking. If he hasn’t changed it by conference play, it is another indication he’s not the guy for the job.

[Cameltoe 114]

On 12/11/2018 at 1:48 PM, Dbeasy said:

I can understand the calls for changing the starting lineup. The one valid reason I could see for not doing that yet is a leadership tactic.

When significant change is required in any organization, it has to be ready to accept the change. Groundwork must be laid. Individuals must recognize that change is required.

There is a chance that Shaka is just going thru this process. Personally, I think he has waited too long, but maybe that is his thinking. If he hasn’t changed it by conference play, it is another indication he’s not the guy for the job.

It's reasonable to start the upperclassmen this season. I'm fine with subbing out Febres or subbing in Hayes, but it isn't that big of a deal.

[immortal13 4059]

On 12/11/2018 at 1:23 PM, RabidM said:

$10 a ticket and he thinks that will put people in the stands?  He needs to offer free food, drinks and anesthesia.  

Throw in some good bud and I'm in

[Cameltoe 114]

I haven't been to a game in a while. Are the bluehairs still infesting the courtside area where students should be?

[Machinator 32097]

 

[PantsTent 2002]

4 hours ago, Cameltoe said:

I haven't been to a game in a while. Are the bluehairs still infesting the courtside area where students should be?

To some degree, yes, but they haven't been showing up.  I've had upper deck season tickets for 15 years (it was a lot more fun in the early 2000's).  Used to sit there majority of games except holidays, etc.  Last year I only sat there for Kansas game.  Every other game is center court in the row 15 to 20 area.  So buy you a $5 ticket and find a nice spot right before tip and move over if somebody asks.  

 

[Machinator 32097]

 

[Machinator 32097]

 

 

[Machinator 32097]

 

[HookEm 2441]

Honestly I struggle to watch this team for free on TV. They can be just sooooooo frustrating when they are clanging 3 after 3.

That said, I like the effort to remove price as a barrier to attending the games.

[Goo Punch 4275]

8 hours ago, PantsTent said:

To some degree, yes, but they haven't been showing up.  I've had upper deck season tickets for 15 years (it was a lot more fun in the early 2000's).  Used to sit there majority of games except holidays, etc.  Last year I only sat there for Kansas game.  Every other game is center court in the row 15 to 20 area.  So buy you a $5 ticket and find a nice spot right before tip and move over if somebody asks.  

 

to really drive home how awful steve patterson was, and some may not remember and most probably don't know, but this idiot set up ushers at each section who tried to enforce people to sit in their own seats, despite the fact that that meant that the lower bowl would be 70% empty. The games were embarrassing to watch on TV with the lack of a crowd. 

I've known LonghornSean my entire life, and he was my boss for five years, and one day after work we were going to meet up at the game. I got there first, and used my season ticket (second row upper deck) to get in, and then was heading down to his badass seats because he had an extra. the usher tried to stop me going down there and kept trying to look at my ticket. "My ticket isn't down there, but that's where i'm sitting. I'm meeting my friend here and he has an extra ticket." She wasn't having it. "I've been sitting with him down there for 15 years, this has never been an issue." She wouldn't budge. I told her, "I'm literally just going to walk over to the next section, and you're gonna see me walk down there and take that seat", which I did. She then tried to get some upper management usher guy to move me, and I was having none of it. I mean goddamn Bill Powers and his wife used to sit down there and they thought those were my actual seats because I sat there with LonghornSean so often. They'd often chat me up and ask me i was going to give it to the refs that night, but meanwhile i've got Captain Usher over here trying to make sure I'm sitting in my seat up top. Ugh. Just thinking about how stupid all of that was has me all angry again. God damn Steve Patterson...

Edited December 14, 2018 by Goo Punch

[Goo Punch 4275]

not to mention that Patterson drove away so many of the blue hairs who sat down there by blasting rap music and using evey spare second to feature that cringey ass multi racial hip hop dance troupe making everyone feel super awkward. "Club Erwin." Jesus Christ what a mess that was. 

[PantsTent 2002]

Yep, that did happen.  Those ushers tried, but if you just ignored them and walked past as you said, they wouldn't make the effort to come get you.  Man Patterson was a shit show.  DJ is still there but you barely notice it now...just some songs during certain time outs.

[CurlyDumps 4439]

12 hours ago, Goo Punch said:

to really drive home how awful steve patterson was, and some may not remember and most probably don't know, but this idiot set up ushers at each section who tried to enforce people to sit in their own seats, despite the fact that that meant that the lower bowl would be 70% empty. The games were embarrassing to watch on TV with the lack of a crowd. 

I've known LonghornSean my entire life, and he was my boss for five years, and one day after work we were going to meet up at the game. I got there first, and used my season ticket (second row upper deck) to get in, and then was heading down to his badass seats because he had an extra. the usher tried to stop me going down there and kept trying to look at my ticket. "My ticket isn't down there, but that's where i'm sitting. I'm meeting my friend here and he has an extra ticket." She wasn't having it. "I've been sitting with him down there for 15 years, this has never been an issue." She wouldn't budge. I told her, "I'm literally just going to walk over to the next section, and you're gonna see me walk down there and take that seat", which I did. She then tried to get some upper management usher guy to move me, and I was having none of it. I mean goddamn Bill Powers and his wife used to sit down there and they thought those were my actual seats because I sat there with LonghornSean so often. They'd often chat me up and ask me i was going to give it to the refs that night, but meanwhile i've got Captain Usher over here trying to make sure I'm sitting in my seat up top. Ugh. Just thinking about how stupid all of that was has me all angry again. God damn Steve Patterson...

This is the soundtrack I envision playing over your story:

 

Edited December 14, 2018 by CurlyDumps

[Cameltoe 114]

Game is at 5:00 PM today. Grand Canyon is not a bad team. They are currently 1 spot higher in the Pomeroy rankings than Radford, who beat us 2 weeks ago.

[VaLonghorn99 340]

On 12/10/2018 at 4:29 PM, Goo Punch said:

I've had three or four different people now tell me that "it doesn't matter who starts", and I need to address that: yes it does.

 

Texas is not Tennessee, a team that was in the top 10 last year and this year returns 14 players; Texas is a middling team with little depth, one that has struggled to put away crap teams and which has been plagued by slow starts for most of the year. We need our best players on the court as early and often as possible, particularly considering that the guys who should be starting are going to be our main guys going forward. Get them all of the experience they can get now, considering that we have a 0% shot at winning anything meaningful this year anyway, something which may actually change going forward assuming we hire a real coach.

 

So, let's be real about our starting lineup, using some recent player comps:

 

•Jericho Sims- he's Alexis Wangmene. Lex as a senior was actually better than Sims is now, so while the sophomore Sims still has time to grow, there is no justification for this Texas team to be starting someone who is inferior to Alexis Wangmene when we have Jaxson Hayes sitting on the bench. This is not up for debate.

 

•Dylan Osetkowski- he is worse than Connor Lammert. DO is a fifth year senior who is worse than Connor Lammert at every facet of the game. Meanwhile we have Kamaka Hepa, someone who looks to be a very very good wing/stretch 4 going forward, just riding the pine to start every game. Again, Dylan will be gone after this year, while Hepa has the talent to be a future All American. Hepa is so much more of a natural hooper than DO it's criminal. The idea that starting DO over Hepa "doesn't matter" is absurd. I would posit that Texas very well may not have gone to the Final Four in 2003 had James Thomas not been inserted into the starting lineup half way through 2002. Now he came in because of injury, and not because the guy in front of him got benched, but the bottom line is that that experience and PT for Thomas paid huge dividends going forward for Texas. Every start that DO gets over Hepa is a start that is doubly wasted.

 

•Jase Febres- He's a taller Javan Felix who can't shoot from inside the arc like Felix could. Jase's stats this year nearly mirror those from Javan Felix as a junior, except that Felix averaged a few more PPG. The rest of the stats are eerily similar- he shoots threes at around 39%, and he doesn't do much else. I would even say that Felix had a more well rounded game than Febres, and that Felix would have been an even better player if he had Febres' size. Meanwhile Eli Long and Courtney Ramey continue to come off the bench despite both already having much more well rounded games than Febres, with Long being particularly more savvy than Febres. Febres is a one trick pony who should be coming off the bench to provide some shooting and nothing more.

 

Texas has not been good this year. We've won the two games where we've shot well, but we've also struggled with and obviously lost home games to some real shit teams, and we've looked downright awful for huge stretches. This shit will not fly when league play starts. Three of our first five conference games include road trips to Manhattan and Lawrence, and a home game with a Texas Tech team that looks to have one of the best defenses in the country. Trotting out a starting lineup that features guys who are inferior to Wangmene, Lammert, and Felix is not going to cut it; in fact it's a recipe for getting steamrolled. The players on the bench not only are better than their starting counterparts, but they are the future of the program as well. Leaving them on the bench hurts the team now and hurts the program moving forward. Do not tell me that it doesn't matter who starts, when it very much does. 

 

 But hey, I can always look at the bright side- the longer our joke of a coach refuses to change this, the more likely he is to get fired. I guess we'll see how long it takes him to start playing his best players. It's not too late for this team to get its best players all used to starting and playing with one another, something that makes sense both for today and going forward. But come January every night will be a trial by fire, and I for one do not look forward to watching the likes of DO and Sims aimlessly bumbling around while we get our teeth kicked in by half the league.

Haha Javan Felix - he won and lost a few games for us. 

Happy for Barnes and his top 10 team. Love all he did for us but he was stagnating here in his last few years. Just hope he didn't wish bad karma on us - like Mack 

 

 

[VaLonghorn99 340]

My predictions/expectations for the 2018 Horns

NOV 6 (TUE) 7 P.M. CT VS EASTERN ILLINOIS W, 71-59

NOV 9 (FRI) 6 P.M. CT ARKANSAS W, 73-71 (Thanks Horns! \m/)

NOV 12 (MON) 7 P.M. CT VS LOUISIANA MONROE W, 65-55

NOV 16 (FRI) 7 P.M. CT VS THE CITADEL W, 97-69

NOV 22 (THU) 6:30 P.M. CT VS NORTH CAROLINA W, 92-89 (We the kryptonite)

NOV 23 (FRI) 5:30 P.M. CT VS MICHIGAN STATE L, 68-78 (Back to reality, can't shoot sigh)

NOV 30 (FRI) 6 P.M. CT VS RADFORD L, 59-62 (WTF of the year)

DEC 5 (WED) 7 P.M. CT VS VCU L, 53-54 (let the little guys have something to cheer for, sigh)

DEC 9 (SUN) 5 P.M. CT VS PURDUE W, 72-68 (good W)

6-3 as of now

DEC 15 (SAT) 5 P.M. CT VS GRAND CANYON W

DEC 21 (FRI) 8 P.M. CT VS PROVIDENCE W (Horns grind out a tough win at home against a quality opponent)

DEC 28 (FRI) 7 P.M. CT VS UT ARLINGTON W (UTA has had some good team in the past few years, not this year though)

9-3 non-conf record

BIG 12

JAN 2 (WED) 8 P.M. CT AT KANSAS STATE L

JAN 5 (SAT) 8 P.M. CT VS WEST VIRGINIA W

JAN 8 (TUE) 6 P.M. CT AT OKLAHOMA STATE W (road win)

JAN 12 (SAT) 1 P.M. CT VS TEXAS TECH W

JAN 14 (MON) 8 P.M. CT AT KANSAS L

JAN 19 (SAT) 7 P.M. CT VS OKLAHOMA W

JAN 23 (WED) 6 P.M. CT AT TCU L

JAN 26 (SAT) 1 P.M. CT AT GEORGIA W (Big 12 / SEC)

JAN 29 (TUE) 6 P.M. CT VS KANSAS L

FEB 2 (SAT) 1 P.M. CT AT IOWA STATE L

FEB 6 (WED) 7 P.M. CT VS BAYLOR W

FEB 9 (SAT) 7 P.M. CT AT WEST VIRGINIA L

FEB 12 (TUE) 8 P.M. CT VS KANSAS STATE W 

FEB 16 (SAT) 12 P.M. CT VS OKLAHOMA STATE W

FEB 23 (SAT) 11 A.M. CT AT OKLAHOMA L

FEB 27 (WED) 8 P.M. CT AT BAYLOR W (road win)

MAR 2 (SAT) 1 P.M. CT VS IOWA STATE W

MAR 4 (MON) 8 P.M. CT AT TEXAS TECH L

MAR 9 (SAT) 11 A.M. CT VS TCU W

10 - 8 Conference

20 - 11 Overall Regular Season

[Dbeasy 14953]

I just want to confirm that everyone is prepared for Rick Barnes to win a national championship this year.

[Blotto 23418]

Barnes thread jack aborted.

Edited December 15, 2018 by Blotto
Machinator has a point.

[Machinator 32097]

We have a thread for Rick Barnes.

[Cameltoe 114]

So we finally have a good shooting night and stomp GCU by 38. Making 16 threes in one game is probably a record for the Shaka Smart era. We shot over 50% from deep in the end, were shooting 60-70% for most of the game. Yes you can live AND DIE by the 3-pt shot, but it's a good offensive look in today's game if you can spread the floor with shooters and we have 7 guys who are capable of launching form deep: Roach, Febres, Long, Coleman, Ramey, Osetkowski, and Hepa.

[Cameltoe 114]

We just jumped 6 spots up in Pomeroy from 38 to 32.

[Revolution512 1479]

8 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

I just want to confirm that everyone is prepared for Rick Barnes to win a national championship this year.

He’s gonna get a breeze to the Sweet 16. Will he still coach tight in those later rounds? He’s added the motion to his offense and they look great. They play D with great shooters. They will be very tough

[Goo Punch 4275]

1 minute ago, Revolution512 said:

He’s gonna get a breeze to the Sweet 16. Will he still coach tight in those later rounds? He’s added the motion to his offense and they look great. They play D with great shooters. They will be very tough

Of his ive best teams at Texas, three went beyond the S16, one got boned out of the Sweet 16 by an official, and there was a gas leak shin the other year and i don't remember what happened to that team. So history says that they should at least be playing in the second weekend: Matchups and shooting will determine how far they go after that imo. Last year they shot really well as a team but they didn't actually shoot a ton of jumpers and threes. This year they'll shoot more of them, and when they're falling they will be very tough to beat. I really like their team. Schofield and Williams are great college players. 

[Revolution512 1479]

The makeup of their team looks like March success. But it’s single elimination, you run into a hot team and you’re out. I feel like they’ll matchup with anyone. Not a real mis-Match you can put on them. They are so strong on the wing which usually means you March on

[Cameltoe 114]

We have a Rick Barnes thread.

[Dbeasy 14953]

NC beat Gonzaga. Gonzaga was number one earlier in the season. We beat NC. We are the best team in the country! Right?

[Catdaddyhorn 3444]

Best bit of ball and player movement I've seen from a Shaka Smart Longhorn team.  Hopefully we'll see more of this as we get into conference play. 

[Goo Punch 4275]

something that i think helped last night- Febres shot 10 theees, while nobody else attempted more than three. Guys were taking good shots in the flow of the offense and not forcing it. And aside from DO everyone looked confident with the ball in their hands. The backup unit is still better than the first unit, but that was a lot better than what we've been seeing.

Edited December 16, 2018 by Goo Punch

[Revolution512 1479]

10 hours ago, Cameltoe said:

We have a Rick Barnes thread.

You’re lucky to be here

[VinyVango 677]

I liked Roach coming off the bench vs. GC.  And Long played well starting.

Ramey is really starting to give Coleman a run for minutes... as Hayes has already done to Sims.  I like the competition and the fact that Shaka didn't hesitate to play Ramey and Hayes good minutes.

DO plays much better in the 4th or 5th option, outside the spotlight, role.

I think Hamm should get a few mins more the next couple games to see if he is a viable sub option, as Hepa is a currently liability on the boards and defense.

Hepa, bless his heart, needs to add 2nd layer to what he's doing.  I like him and his enthusiasm, and he has shown he can shoot an open three.  But, he is very poor on defense and plays like he is about 6'2" in the paint on offense and defense.  I'd like to see Shaka run a few plays (if they exist) to get Hepa a couple inside looks on pick and rolls or off ball screens since everyone is overplaying him at the 3 point line now.  He's still just a freshman.... patience.

[Machinator 32097]

 

[Machinator 32097]

 

[Machinator 32097]

 

[Machinator 32097]

 

[Machinator 32097]

 

[Machinator 32097]

 

[SwanderedTalent 5761]

12 minutes ago, Machinator said:

 

we changed a few things, namely making an acceptable-to-good % of our three points shots and free throws 

look, if our success the rest of the way is predicated on shooting as well as we did the last two games, it's going to be a long and unpleasant slog

[Cameltoe 114]

3 hours ago, SwanderedTalent said:

we changed a few things, namely making an acceptable-to-good % of our three points shots and free throws 

look, if our success the rest of the way is predicated on shooting as well as we did the last two games, it's going to be a long and unpleasant slog

It isn't really that simple. Shooting percentage is like an end product that comes out of several factors including ball movement, floor spacing, moving without the ball, getting open looks, having confidence, etc..

[Goo Punch 4275]

re: Shaka talking so much about areas we need to improve, there's one that's been a constant throughout his time here that I dont think he ever addresses- accurate passing. Guys like Roach, Ramey, and in the past EDJ, even sometimes guys like Coleman and Long will have a wide open teammate who has his feet set and is ready to shoot a three, and for one reason or another the pass doesn't come close to hitting the shooter in the shooting pocket, throwing off his rhythm. And with the way our team shoots, that's a big deal. Whether the guy does a no-look pass, a fancy pass, or whether he's just never been coached to hit the shooting pocket so even his two handed chest passes are off, it's been a problem. Look out for it if you haven't already noticed. 

[Goo Punch 4275]

This number is off by at least 5,000




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SwanderedTalent 5761]

18 hours ago, Cameltoe said:

It isn't really that simple. Shooting percentage is like an end product that comes out of several factors including ball movement, floor spacing, moving without the ball, getting open looks, having confidence, etc..

As usual you miss the point. We made a lot of shots against Purdue and Grand Canyon, so we won. As long as we shoot like that, we'll win. The odds of shooting like that are slim, so we're still on track for 20 wins and a 9-seed / first-round exit from the NCAAs.

EDIT-- unless you literally, credulously believe that Shaka has suddenly cold fusioned his way to a team that can reliably shoot 50% from three and 90% from the line. Meaning you think that he has been trying to crack this particular nut for four years and it's only just prior to the Purdue game that he got there.

I think it's far more likely that the team did what the team does and in consecutive games, the same open looks we've gotten all year long dropped instead of clanging, and Shaka Smart like most coaches wants credit for that (since he takes the blame when the shots don't fall), so he coachspoke his way to "the ball going through the rim was my idea". 

Edited December 18, 2018 by SwanderedTalent

[Cameltoe 114]

Oh I didn't miss anything about your point. When you say the odds of us shooting well are slim you are acting as though our shooting percentage is an immutable given, and that the law of averages means we will mostly have poor shooting nights because we are a poor shooting team. The problem with that argument is that our shooting percentage is not a constant, it is a variable that can change due to factors like better ball movement, spreading the floor, getting scoring from all positions, etc..

Edited December 18, 2018 by Cameltoe

[Dbeasy 14953]

As usual you miss the point. We made a lot of shots against Purdue and Grand Canyon, so we won. As long as we shoot like that, we'll win. The odds of shooting like that are slim, so we're still on track for 20 wins and a 9-seed / first-round exit from the NCAAs.
EDIT-- unless you literally, credulously believe that Shaka has suddenly cold fusioned his way to a team that can reliably shoot 50% from three and 90% from the line. Meaning you think that he has been trying to crack this particular nut for four years and it's only just prior to the Purdue game that he got there.
I think it's far more likely that the team did what the team does and in consecutive games, the same open looks we've gotten all year long dropped instead of clanging, and Shaka Smart like most coaches wants credit for that (since he takes the blame when the shots don't fall), so he coachspoke his way to "the ball going through the rim was my idea". 

This person writes like Derka.