Saturday, January 29th, 2022- Rick Barnes returns. Texas hosts Tennessee

[Cairn Horn88 8148]

sec is counting the S.Carolina win over aggy as a sec W, B12 loss!

[dcar00 14023]

OK that's the last time I post about how nice it is that we shoot FT's well this year.  figured KSU was an anomaly but looks not to be.  

[RabidM 2664]

Man, the extended scoring droughts from this team seem to transcend coaches. WTF?  It's still better than a loss. 

Also, FUCK THEM REFS.  Seriously, that was some bullshit down the stretch.  If you're going to call a tight game, call it both ways. Don't let one team commit fouls and the other not. 

[Revolution512 1479]

6 minutes ago, SDG said:

You missed the point.  
 

I absolutely watch the game. How many game threads have you been apart of?  

All of them. I guess you’re as forgettable as me

[TotallyLegit 3050]

22 minutes ago, Pam Cummings said:

 

Jesus fuckin christ i forgot this is the internet where evrything is taken literally. You cant just say something and people get the damn jist. Yes, it was enthralling to win. It was not fun blowing a huge lead by playing shitty.

He doesn't mean that you're a literal pussy.

Edited January 30, 2022 by TotallyLegit

[In10se 175]

2 minutes ago, RabidM said:

Man, the extended scoring droughts from this team seem to transcend coaches. WTF?  It's still better than a loss. 

Also, FUCK THEM REFS.  Seriously, that was some bullshit down the stretch.  If you're going to call a tight game, call it both ways. Don't let one team commit fouls and the other not. 

Not sure I saw it that way. Ramey got 2 shots on a call and blew them both. Allen got 2 on the last possession for the game winner. I didn't see them lopsided much at all

[westexhorn 2006]

Vols sucked dick for 35 mins.  They certainly didnt deserve to win.  I will take the win.

[RabidM 2664]

4 minutes ago, In10se said:

Not sure I saw it that way. Ramey got 2 shots on a call and blew them both. Allen got 2 on the last possession for the game winner. I didn't see them lopsided much at all

I saw a lot of body check fouls that they got calls on that we didn't.  They were grabbing arms and getting away with it.  They blew the Allen charge.  Tennessee got the ball when their player touched it last.  It was one sided to them. 

[Burt Macklin 18988]

17 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

I'm happy Texas won the game for a multitude of reasons. 

But I'll be honest in that a big one is this board would have been slightly more miserable to click on if they'd lost.

FIFY

[SL Xpress 7504]

BTW, things don’t really work this way, but in retrospect think about how important that terrible play was to end the half where the Vol player fouled on the half court at the buzzer shot? Made two of three free throws off of that for the winning margin of the game. 
 

Again, it’s not actually that simple, but it’s still interesting. 

[HookEm 2441]

Beard calling timeout before Allen’s 2nd free throw probably won us the game. No way he makes it if he didn’t step away and calm down.

[SL Xpress 7504]

2 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

FIFY

Lol. Got me there. 
 

I don’t know at what point I get more than one reaction to a post per week, but when I do I’ll make up for lost time. 

[HookEm 2441]

We really miss Coleman BTW. He had way better chemistry with Ramey and Jones in my opinion.  He also was a competitive mofo.

[LTtxfan 48928]

For this Texas team, finding a way to still win this game tonight was important. 

Still a fragile team, but there were stretches tonight where they played a lot better and hopefully can build on that...  🤘

[westexhorn 2006]

8 minutes ago, HookEm said:

We really miss Coleman BTW. He had way better chemistry with Ramey and Jones in my opinion.  He also was a competitive mofo.

Fully agree on this.  He was also decently clutch.  We probably win 2 games more with Coleman in the team.

[dcar00 14023]

1 minute ago, westexhorn said:

Fully agree on this.  He was also decently clutch.  We probably win 2 games more with Coleman in the team.

mainly he would have been the one player we could count on to blow by his defender much of the time. We have no one with his quickness with the ball on this team.

[Knoxtnhorn 5928]

1 hour ago, GreenspointTexas said:

Almost worst loss in program history

Well, except for that I was at the game in Knoxville when we had Durant and blew something like a 20 point halftime lead.  We gave up an NBA 3 at the buzzer to put it into overtime.

[Knoxtnhorn 5928]

1 hour ago, Gut Wagon said:

I'm too upset with our lack of poise to be happy. I'm too happy with the win to be upset. Or something. 

LOL.  I told my wife that we managed to watch a game where both of us walked out kind of pissed.  Don't get me wrong.  I'll take a win any day, but JC.  Was the officiating as bad on TV as it seemed in person?  Obviously we don't get replays while at the game.

[shadow_operative 15931]

On 1/27/2022 at 11:54 PM, shadow_operative said:

doesn't this game just feel like it's coming down to the very end? like 61-61 at the u4 TO type of a game. 

well, I got this part about halfway right. Man, that got a lot closer than I ever wanted it to at the end there. as ugly as it was i'll take that W all day. 

 

[Knoxtnhorn 5928]

Probably already mentioned, but we shot 53% in the first half and had 25 points.

Quick question.  On the play with about 2-3 minutes left.  Vol guy is diving out of bounds for the ball.  The refs gave it to TN.  Was that a bad call?  Our section about rioted.

[shadow_operative 15931]

Oh yeah, it may have been mentioned already, but I saw Bijan Robinson hosting some recruits at the game. Hopefully they had a hell of a time.

Also. I told Aaron Nixon about the Clutch Nixon nickname I've been using for him based on the character from the far cry video game, and he and his teammates in particular seemed to love it. So hopefully it's a nickname that he's able to take with him moving forward. it's damn sure an accurate and appropriate nickname, i'll tell you that.

[brakeman 28214]

[Harvdog 2275]

10 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

LOL.  I told my wife that we managed to watch a game where both of us walked out kind of pissed.  Don't get me wrong.  I'll take a win any day, but JC.  Was the officiating as bad on TV as it seemed in person?  Obviously we don't get replays while at the game.

Yes. On the tie up late in the game, there were at least 3 fouls not called on the rebound and subsequent tie up.  They called a travel on Carr when his feet were set and he made his move.  Bad call.  They never called 3 seconds on the big post for Tennessee.  Dude set up a tent in the paint.  The officials were terrible. It was a hard fought win.  This team is strong on defense and if we can get some guys scoring, will be a deep team in the tournament. 

[HtownHorn 14446]

1 hour ago, Pam Cummings said:

When Bishop missed the 2 FTs knew this was coming. Fucking trash man.

Yep. This team is just too fucking streaky, including at the FT line. Of course, the other team compounds the misses by going and hitting a huge shot to give them all the momentum.

[Harvdog 2275]

7 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

Probably already mentioned, but we shot 53% in the first half and had 25 points.

Quick question.  On the play with about 2-3 minutes left.  Vol guy is diving out of bounds for the ball.  The refs gave it to TN.  Was that a bad call?  Our section about rioted.

No. He didn’t touch it.  The call was correct 

[The Earl of Texas 3131]

That was an insanely Rick Barnes way to lose a game. So fitting it’s almost hard to believe it’s not scripted.

[Knoxtnhorn 5928]

Funny.  According to Volnation, the refs cost them the game.

[CurlyDumps 4439]

1 hour ago, Cairn Horn88 said:

sec is counting the S.Carolina win over aggy as a sec W, B12 loss!

Just got home from the game. What a delightful way to learn the news!

[WBT 20397]

8 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

Funny.  According to Volnation, the refs cost them the game.

It's almost like fans see what they want to see

[texasstrong12 4668]

6 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

We shot 54% for the game, held Tennessee to 35%, and somehow only won by 1 point.   The “somehow”, btw, is that we had 18 turnovers, allowed Tennessee to beat us on offensive rebounds 15 to 4 (Tennessee got 16 more shot attempts than us), and we shot 42% on FTs.

Beard’s defense seems remarkably consistent game to game, year to year, school to school, etc.   If that continues, he’s going to have a juggernaut team at some point when he gets a group that doesn’t give the other team so many extra possessions.  

Yeah, it's kind of remarkable Texas is top 10 in adjusted defense based on the defensive rebounding issues. 

If Texas was just an average rebounding team this is probably one of the top 3 defenses in the country. 

 

[RabidM 2664]

In replay, it sure looked like that diving Vol touched the ball before out of bounds.  It was really close, but his finger grazed it and changed the trajectory slightly. 

[shadow_operative 15931]

 

 

[Steel Shank 9405]

The second half was.....

 

[texasstrong12 4668]

It was a trash finish to the game but Beard did a good job on the last 2 plays. 

1) Put Timmy Allen in isolation which is probably our best offense. 

2) This is smart defense. Helped off the 25% 3 point shooter and let him jack a 3 when they only needed 2 points. 

 

[HookEm 2441]

How we won the game won’t matter at all on Selection Sunday.

[Js1 85056]

2 hours ago, HookEm said:

We really miss Coleman BTW. He had way better chemistry with Ramey and Jones in my opinion.  He also was a competitive mofo.

Well yeah he played with them for years, compared to like 6-8 months for the new guys 

[MidTexHorn 822]

Win and move on

[shadow_operative 15931]

neither my dad nor i seemed to think the officiating was as one-sided as many of you did (they were fucking terrible though, that is a fact), but that 10 second call is truly one of the all time worst calls i've ever seen. it didn't mean as much, but that call was *much* more egregious than the 5 second call on Cory Joseph in 2011. it was truly an unbelievable call. a call that no professional could possibly ever make, and yet they made that call.

they actually changed the rules of CBB to make this call easier- no more waving your own stupid arm and just guessing how much time has elapsed, just look at the shot clock. keep in mind, the 10 second violation doesn't occur until the shot clock shows NINETEEN seconds. Marcus Carr passed the ball into the front court at 21.5 and they called a 10 second violation on us with the game in the balance. if there were ANY accountability for officials that dude would legitimately face a suspension for that call. that call is absolutely unacceptable.

[shadow_operative 15931]

clock on this link and read this story. i promise you it's worth your five minutes. it's just a great story about people being awesome to each other. it's a story about Rick Barnes and an unlikely friendship with an entire family of Aggies. definitely worth the read, and a great example of the man that Rick Barnes is. 

 

 

[shadow_operative 15931]

on a totally different note, holy shit i have never in my life seen so many smoking hot certified slammin' hotties at a UT basketball game. shit was crazy. it was a cornucopia of slammin hotties. the recruits in the house definitely had to take notice of that. the UT hotties definitely showed out tonight. 

[SL Xpress 7504]

 

 

[SL Xpress 7504]

There's a lot to unpack there with the two press conferences, but if you watch these things on a regular basis there's a huge rinse and repeat aspect to them.

I realize different people constantly want to focus on the offense and what they see as deficiencies, but watch what Beard talks about publicly when discussing his offense. It's never about "people not moving" or "taking better shots" or "I felt like we pounded the ball too much" or "needing to get more talented" or "who or who shouldn't be handling the ball" or "need to improve post entry passes" or "more scoring from the front court" or "need to be better in transition" or anything else that me or other posters want to complain about. I am NOT trying to delegitimize those complaints, nor am I trying to act as some kind of powerless posting tzar that tells people what they can and can't complain about. I'm simply trying to give those of us who actually read threads and follow the program closely on this board an invitation to set their expectations accordingly.

What Beard values is being efficient on offense. Which Texas, despite how it looks, is. He values not turning over the ball. Which, sometimes they do well, others, not so much. What is obvious is that this team doesn't handle full court pressure well. So that is going to absolutely have to improve. He'd like his players to be aggressive and force officials to call fouls, but I'm not sure how you do that with this group. At least more than they are right now. It's not really a "drive to the hoop" back court or "go strong to the hoop" front court. It's a bunch of jump shooters and pivot your feet post men. Nor do they focus on offensive rebounding as a team (more about getting back on defense). So not much of a chance for a foul on a second chance opportunity. Also, when talking about front court players he constantly talks about them playing facing the basket. I am absolutely positive this is a huge part of his recruiting pitch for big men, at least skilled ones.

He REALLY values his defense. He brought up how good the defense played, noting that as good as it was statistically, the half court defense was even better than that because so many of the Vol points were off of turnovers turned into transition points, which he thought was the real story of the game in terms of it being close. 

Beard is virtually always positive. He's ridiculously effusive about the fans during every press conference. EVERY press conference. It's pretty much always the first thing he brings up. I've never seen any coach talk about fans as much as Chris Beard does. He's practically going to will a strong basketball fan base into existence. He never lets up. He never deviates from his message. He also has a seemingly Svengali effect on the players where every single one parrots his message about the fans ad infinitum. Compare that to Barnes, who's almost dismissive of them. He doesn't mean anything by it, but Beard is constantly in salesman mode, while Barnes is simply trying to be genuine in his responses. Beard is who we need at Texas (not a shot at Barnes, simply compared to any other coach) because Texas needs a gifted salesman to boost fan and student participation to a higher level. He's extraordinarily passionate about it. Which you have to have. Otherwise the ennui could get to you.

This is not a guy who's changing. He's convicted in his message and his approach. So fans either find a way to accommodate him in some way, or they're going to be frustrated with the Chris Beard Era, which would be a shame, because I think it's going to be special. 

He also tends to do a good job game planning for the other team's best scorer. Not saying it's going to work every time, but consistently I see Texas make the other team's best scorer uncomfortable, and then you see opposing coaches talk about it, including Barnes here. 

Anyway, this is a great win. I value conference victories at this point over the nonconference (really need to be .500 or above), but this is by far the best resume builder win on UT's season so far. And because it was a special game with Barnes there, it made the victory mean more.

 

 

 

[SL Xpress 7504]

I'm not going to go into too much detail about the Barnes press conference. I don't see Barnes that emotional that often. As he says, he's good about being locked in. But he was really at his most charming self even with the loss (and he's a really charming SOB in general). Loved hearing him mention all the Texas players he brings up, and how much it meant to him to see their families and see them become great husbands and fathers. The rapport he had with the press corps covering Texas basketball (I'm growing old with you guys, too). Mentioning Darrell Royal and Augie. Just the identity he build up over 17 years. Then you see Beard talk about whatever things Barnes did behind the scenes to help Beard get situated at UT. This was such a right thing to do. I'm glad Barnes waited to come back, because no way this is like this with Smart as the coach. Also, talking about his grandson Caleb was really neat.

I can't see how any of this goes over well with Volunteer fans. I hope Barnes is able to finish out this season on a high note and get Tennessee to the Sweet Sixteen this year. I don't see it, but I hope for it. The Vols fans cannot be happy making comparisons between Barnes and Pearl right now, whether fair or not.

[SL Xpress 7504]

1 hour ago, shadow_operative said:

clock on this link and read this story. i promise you it's worth your five minutes. it's just a great story about people being awesome to each other. it's a story about Rick Barnes and an unlikely friendship with an entire family of Aggies. definitely worth the read, and a great example of the man that Rick Barnes is. 

 

 

 

Great article. I'll give a reaction to this post next week when I get my next one.

[shadow_operative 15931]

1 hour ago, SL Xpress said:

 

 

i cannot emphasize enough what a breath of fresh air Coach Beard is on the mic, after six years if Shaka's cryptic, disingenuous bullshit. Beard talks multiple times about guys missing FTs late, and guys missing block outs late. i cannot even imagine our previous coach saying something that honest or substantive. zero joke, i am getting more joy from Chris Beard press conferences than i did from many of Shaka Smart's wins.

you absolutely cannot win at the highest level when your head coach fundamentally does not believe in being honest, direct, realistic, and open with expectations, and as well with holding your players accountable, not just privately, but publicly. again, because of stuff like this we *knew* we would never win anything important under Shaka. Beard is the anti-Shaka in this regard, and i am absolutely thrilled, and filled with optimism for the first time in five or so years. 

Edited January 30, 2022 by shadow_operative

[shadow_operative 15931]

1 hour ago, SL Xpress said:

 

 

 

LOL, and then for Rick:

"We had some guys turn down some shots, for what reason I don't know. I eventually told our guys that the next guy who passes up a shot is coming out of the game."

that's the greatest/winningest coach in UT history there. y'all- i cannot stress enough how deeply i believe in the importance of your HC being this open and honest in public. we know all about Shaka's on-court shortcomings, but this press conference shit matters. it really really matters. it is for us, as fans, our glimpse into the personality and mindset of our coach. when our coach comes out in front of all the cameras and holds his players accountable, or even takes them to task when it's needed, you know that that's a coach who is trying to turn boys into men, and men into champions.

i cannot express enough how much i love the candor of Beard and Barnes, and how important it is to me. you cannot win with a coach like our last guy. you just can't. the fact that we're back to having a straight shooter who publicly holds his players accountable means the world to me. it means we have a chance.

[shadow_operative 15931]

1 hour ago, SL Xpress said:

Beard is virtually always positive. He's ridiculously effusive about the fans during every press conference. EVERY press conference. It's pretty much always the first thing he brings up. I've never seen any coach talk about fans as much as Chris Beard does. He's practically going to will a strong basketball fan base into existence. He never lets up. He never deviates from his message. He also has a seemingly Svengali effect on the players where every single one parrots his message about the fans ad infinitum. 

100%. cannot be stated enough. i've never seen anything like it. those of you who know me, know that i, along with a couple of my friends, used to make Hawaiian shirt guy and Banana Man look like blue hairs who sit on their hands. for those who don't know:

that was me, and a couple of my close friends, for nearly two decades. we knew the opposing players names, we knew their hometowns, we figured out which celebrities they looked like and called them out on it, and most importantly, we used the mausoleum atmosphere to make our voices heard by everyone on the court and at least in the lower bowl. we gave it to the refs just as he's if not harder than the opposing players. we was roofless. hawaiian shirt guy? he's the dollar-store-in-the-hood version of my friends and me. a poor mama replica; not even close.

and yet- Chris Beard has exalted this dude like he's Hoops Fan Jesus. can you imagine what Beard would think about BostonRC?!? our fans stil suuuuccckkk, and yet to hear Beard tell it our fans are basically the Cameron Crazies. i have crazy respect for his work ethic and his commitment to, as you said, just willing a great fan base into existence.

 

Edited January 30, 2022 by shadow_operative

[Wally Pryor 5240]

I know the game was a "sellout" but what was the actual attendance (est.) from those who attended? Lower bowl looked pretty much full. No idea on the upper.

[shadow_operative 15931]

29 minutes ago, Wally Pryor said:

I know the game was a "sellout" but what was the actual attendance (est.) from those who attended? Lower bowl looked pretty much full. No idea on the upper.

man i'd guess 13-14,000. definitely not an actual sellout. the crowd was honestly a bit disappointing to me. this wasn't a 6pm game on a february tuesday, this was ESPN's prime time game on CBB Xmas/Rick Barnes's return. there were empty pockets of seats in every section. the atmosphere fell well short of what i had anticipated. it wasn't anything special. 

Edited January 30, 2022 by shadow_operative

[South Austin 52037]

2 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

 

 

I’ve never seen that. Thank you for your service!