Post-Beard Game 6: Ok State @ Texas, 8pm, LHN

[jimmyjazz 45963]

I don't have a crystal ball.  I can't predict what CDC et al would do with a given finish.

I mean, if Terry somehow were to win a national title, even I'd be in favor of keeping him.  I'm pretty sure that's not gonna happen.

Using weekly AP polls as a proxy for rankings, last year we were ranked #17 prior to conference play, and moved up to #14 after beating Incarnate Word and West Virginia (our first conference matchup).  From there on out (regular season) we went 10-8 and entered the Big 12 tournament ranked #22, where we promptly lost a 4/5 matchup to TCU.

My point in this is that a less than mind-blowing record in the Big 12 didn't penalize us very much (#14 -> #22, acknowledging that we had one conference win under our belt when we were #14).  We went 5-3 in our first 8 conference games; we're now 6-2, so a game up.  We're currently ranked #10, whereas last year we were unranked after 8 conference games.  We finished 6-5 (5-5 in conference), lost in the first game of the B12 conference tourney and moved up to #22.

My point in all of this is that our pre-NCAA ranking is probably close to baked in as long as we don't shit the bed.  This is partially because the Big 12 garners so much respect.  Texas Tech finished 3rd (12-6) last year and was a 3 seed.  If we go 5-5 in conference (11-7), I wouldn't be shocked with a 4 seed, and that my friends means the expectation is to reach the Sweet 16.

I really don't think that's the kind of finish that would land Terry the job.

[RockyMountainHighHorn 890]

Hmm do I feel like anyone could coach this team to the sweet 16?? Yeah I do. He would need to go further to really need to take a look then. 

[Hookem2147 21323]

44 minutes ago, RockyMountainHighHorn said:

Hmm do I feel like anyone could coach this team to the sweet 16?? Yeah I do.

This is funny considering we haven't been to the sweet 16 in 15 years.

"Anyone can coach this team with Kevin Durant to the sweet 16"

"Anyone can coach this team with Tristan Thompson and Corey Joseph to the sweet 16"

"Anyone can coach this team that was ranked #1 in the country with Jordan Hamilton, Damion James, Avery Bradley, Dexter Pittman and Gary Johnson to the sweet 16"

"Okay, THIS TEAM with 3 NBA players and matched up against Abilene Christian in the first round can surely be taken to the sweet 16 by anyone"

Winning games in the tournament is a lot harder than it appears. You would think we of all fan bases would understand that.

Edited January 26, 2023 by Hookem2147

[ztejas 43459]

10 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

This is funny considering we haven't been to the sweet 16 in 15 years.

"Anyone can coach this team with Kevin Durant to the sweet 16"

"Anyone can coach this team with Tristan Thompson and Corey Joseph to the sweet 16"

"Anyone can coach this team that was ranked #1 in the country with Jordan Hamilton, Damion James, Avery Bradley, Dexter Pittman and Gary Johnson to the sweet 16"

"Okay, THIS TEAM with 3 NBA players and matched up against Abilene Christian in the first round can surely be taken to the sweet 16 by anyone"

Winning games in the tournament is a lot harder than it appears. You would think we of all fan bases would understand that.

So you're advocating we lower expectations because other talented teams didn't make the sweet sixteen? 

Shit like that is exactly why Texas HASN'T been to the SS in 15 years. It's why a bum like Shaka got 6 fucking years here and why Rick was allowed to hang around for as long as he did. 

So sure - let's hire Rodney Terry if he wins 2 tournament games because winning tournament games is really, really hard. 

Or we could hire a real coach and quit being a wine and cheese show up late leave early basketball program that doesn't take winning seriously. 

Fortunately I don't think CDC is enough of a dipshit to think that making the SS with this roster is some sort of hang a banner type accomplishment. 

I actually will entertain a scenario in which Terry coaches this team next season but the bar for that needs to be higher than 3rd-4th place in the B12 and a SS appearance. 

[Hookem2147 21323]

15 minutes ago, ztejas said:

So you're advocating we lower expectations because other talented teams didn't make the sweet sixteen? 

Shit like that is exactly why Texas HASN'T been to the SS in 15 years. It's why a bum like Shaka got 6 fucking years here and why Rick was allowed to hang around for as long as he did. 

So sure - let's hire Rodney Terry if he wins 2 tournament games because winning tournament games is really, really hard. 

Or we could hire a real coach and quit being a wine and cheese show up late leave early basketball program that doesn't take winning seriously. 

Fortunately I don't think CDC is enough of a dipshit to think that making the SS with this roster is some sort of hang a banner type accomplishment. 

I actually will entertain a scenario in which Terry coaches this team next season but the bar for that needs to be higher than 3rd-4th place in the B12 and a SS appearance. 

I'm not advocating for anything and I made that comment independent of any type of opinion about Rodney Terry and what expectations should be for him. 

It's just funny to see people pencil in a sweet 16 appearance as a sure thing for any coach when this program that hasn't reached that point in 15 years. I would love for that to become the bare minimum standard, but how about we reach that point first before we say any coach can get there with one of our teams.

Edited January 26, 2023 by Hookem2147

[ztejas 43459]

21 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

It's just funny to see people pencil in a sweet 16 appearance as a sure thing for any coach

I don't see anyone doing that. There's a difference between having expectations and penciling results in. 

The reason this program hasn't done it in 15 years is mainly due to shitty coaching. Like - 95% due to shitty coaching. Barnes has made one SS in seven seasons at Tennessee. Shaka has made one in his career and it was a team that shouldn't have even made the tournament. 

The team's goal is to win a national championship this season. That was their goal when Beard was here and it's still their goal. Is that a realistic goal? Maybe, maybe not. Either way - I guarantee you they aren't going to think the job is finished if they make it to the 2nd weekend. 

[Js1 85353]

39 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

I'm not advocating for anything and I made that comment independent of any type of opinion about Rodney Terry and what expectations should be for him. 

It's just funny to see people pencil in a sweet 16 appearance as a sure thing for any coach when this program that hasn't reached that point in 15 years. I would love for that to become the bare minimum standard, but how about we reach that point first before we say any coach can get there with one of our teams.

I'm not penciling in anything.

This team has the talent and experience to get there.  We will see if the coaching can take them there.  Honestly, a first or second round loss wouldn't be a shock considering Texas MBB history is early flameouts.  Talent can only take you so far in the tournament - coaching matters way more. 

I think a lot about Vic Schaefer's first Texas team - it was a 6-seed and took down a 3-seed and a 2-seed with superior coaching and strategy. 

Edited January 26, 2023 by Js1

[Hookem2147 21323]

3 minutes ago, ztejas said:

I don't see anyone doing that. There's a difference between having expectations and penciling results in.

 

1 hour ago, RockyMountainHighHorn said:

Hmm do I feel like anyone could coach this team to the sweet 16?? Yeah I do. 

 

4 minutes ago, ztejas said:

The reason this program hasn't done it in 15 years is mainly due to shitty coaching. Like - 95% due to shitty coaching. Barnes has made one SS in seven seasons at Tennessee. Shaka has made one in his career and it was a team that shouldn't have even made the tournament. 

The team's goal is to win a national championship this season. That was their goal when Beard was here and it's still their goal. Is that a realistic goal? Maybe, maybe not. Either way - I guarantee you they aren't going to think the job is finished if they make it to the 2nd weekend. 

I don't disagree with any of that. I was simply pointing out the fact that saying that any coach could take this team to the second weekend is severely downplaying how hard it is to win in the NCAA tournament. The 1 and 2 seed in Texas' side of the bracket last year didn't even make it out of the first weekend and Saint freaking Peters was in the Elite 8.

[MotownHorn 1767]

19 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

I mean, how about some context? We’ve played 4 road games and are 3-1. You play the schedule you have and any road win in this conference is a good win. Obviously more opportunities are ahead.

Last years team won 4 road conference games (TCU, Kansas State, OU and WVU) and we are already at 3 this year with 5 more to play.

This is the shit that annoys me. Every loss or struggle in January or February last year was allegedly part of Chris Beards genius master plan for success in March.

Every time we struggle for 5 minutes this year our season is over because Terry sucks and we should have kept poor Saint Chris Beard because, hey, at least he didn’t kill her, right?

[SL Xpress 7516]

4 minutes ago, MotownHorn said:

This is the shit that annoys me. Every loss or struggle in January or February last year was allegedly part of Chris Beards genius master plan for success in March.

Every time we struggle for 5 minutes this year our season is over because Terry sucks and we should have kept poor Saint Chris Beard because, hey, at least he didn’t kill her, right?

Wow, that’s a stretch. 

There’s not any part of me that thinks we should have kept Beard. There’s also not any part of me that thinks this team is better off on the basketball court with him gone. 

Last year I felt Beard did a great job of maximizing the pieces he had. This year I felt like he had better pieces. In the future I feel like he was about to create some really special rosters. 

Rodney Terry doesn’t have that ability. He’s doing the best he can with what he has, and so far it’s been enough to put together a very good record. But the fact is the future isn’t as bright with Terry in charge. That’s not about wanting to keep Beard. That’s about being angry and bitter that Beard made all the choices he did which led to this. 

[Hookem2147 21323]

6 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

Last year I felt Beard did a great job of maximizing the pieces he had.

I was a huge Beard fan and he was 100% moving this thing in the right direction, but how soon do we forget that we were a preseason top 10 team last year.

[Hookem2147 21323]

12 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

Rodney Terry doesn’t have that ability. He’s doing the best he can with what he has, and so far it’s been enough to put together a very good record. But the fact is the future isn’t as bright with Terry in charge.

Again, I do not prefer to keep Terry either but how do we know this? What evidence is there that the future isn’t bright? It’s been what, 12 games? Roster turnover was happening regardless.

I definitely understand the opinions people have but let’s not push false narratives.

Edited January 26, 2023 by Hookem2147

[jimmyjazz 45963]

Well, Rodney has had 2 head coaching gigs and he didn't exactly set the world on fire (0.538 at Fresno State, 0.435 at UTEP).  You might argue that it would be difficult to do so at those schools and I probably wouldn't push back, but the fact remains that it's not the kind of pedigree that typically boosts coaches into the high D1 jobs.

[ztejas 43459]

36 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

I was a huge Beard fan and he was 100% moving this thing in the right direction, but how soon do we forget that we were a preseason top 10 team last year.

Beard did a good not great job last season if you're willing to concede that "what he had" was partially his own doing. Tre Mitchell was a miss. He never really figured out how to get AJ/Ramey/Carr to play well together (which I think mostly wasn't his fault). Disu just wasn't healthy. 

That roster was fine but ultimately very flawed and it showed at times. He still almost got us to the SS and I think would have against most teams in the ro32. It isn't Beard's fault we got overrated preseason but at the same time I'm not sure that team was ever firing at 100% of it's potential. 

[Hookem2147 21323]

22 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Well, Rodney has had 2 head coaching gigs and he didn't exactly set the world on fire (0.538 at Fresno State, 0.435 at UTEP).  You might argue that it would be difficult to do so at those schools and I probably wouldn't push back, but the fact remains that it's not the kind of pedigree that typically boosts coaches into the high D1 jobs.

It isn't. But the argument could also be made that life is often about timing and being in the right place at the right time.

Part of me does wonder if Terry has the desire to be a HC full time at a place like Texas. He look a 200k pay cut to come here as an assistant, he had the health scare a few years ago at UTEP and is seemingly most comfortable as an assistant/recruiter, which he has proven to be really good at.

There are a lot of things to consider. The AJ Johnson and Ron Holland stuff also looms large. I certainly wouldn't make the hire based solely off those recruitments, but they are two five stars who could build the foundation for the next year or two considering 75% of the current roster is likely about to be gone.

[Hookem2147 21323]

17 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Beard did a good not great job last season if you're willing to concede that "what he had" was partially his own doing. Tre Mitchell was a miss. He never really figured out how to get AJ/Ramey/Carr to play well together (which I think mostly wasn't his fault). Disu just wasn't healthy. 

That roster was fine but ultimately very flawed and it showed at times. He still almost got us to the SS and I think would have against most teams in the ro32. It isn't Beard's fault we got overrated preseason but at the same time I'm not sure that team was ever firing at 100% of it's potential. 

Correct. The team never really seemed to fully mesh and I don't think he had complete buy-in from a few Shaka holdovers and a few of the transfers he brought in. He probably could have won a few more games if he loosened the reins a bit but he held strong and I think we were about to be better for it this year.

[SL Xpress 7516]

14 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Beard did a good not great job last season if you're willing to concede that "what he had" was partially his own doing. Tre Mitchell was a miss. He never really figured out how to get AJ/Ramey/Carr to play well together (which I think mostly wasn't his fault). Disu just wasn't healthy. 

That roster was fine but ultimately very flawed and it showed at times. He still almost got us to the SS and I think would have against most teams in the ro32. It isn't Beard's fault we got overrated preseason but at the same time I'm not sure that team was ever firing at 100% of it's potential. 

I couldn't disagree more. It was an unathletic team with nobody who could take a defender off the dribble consistently and no reliable outside shooting. It's like we agree about the team but then you say it wasn't ever firing at 100% of its potential. I think it was. Beard got them to buy in to a slow down offense with virtually no fast break points and then be tough on defense and win the turnover battle. Given what Beard had when he walked on to campus it was incredible. That's not even counting what he did off the court in starting to create a home court advantage and a robust student section. 

Tre Mitchell wasn't used effectively. He's averaging 12.6/5.8 per game while hitting almost 40% of his 3 point shots on 56 attempts for West Virginia. Just wasn't a good fit for Beard. You could say something similar about Jaylon Tyson. He's always going to get a lot of those. 

[SL Xpress 7516]

1 hour ago, Hookem2147 said:

Again, I do not prefer to keep Terry either but how do we know this? What evidence is there that the future isn’t bright? It’s been what, 12 games? Roster turnover was happening regardless.

I definitely understand the opinions people have but let’s not push false narratives.

I don't think of it as a false narrative. 

Terry has been around the program for a long time. He was an assistant under Barnes during our great run from 2002-2008, finally leaving after the 2011 season for the Fresno State gig. I had this opinion of him as an assistant, and nothing he did at either Fresno State nor UTEP changed my mind. Not to mention what I'm seeing on the floor since he took over.

You are more than welcome to keep an open mind. I, on the other hand, already have a good feel for what we have in Terry, regardless of the eventual results of this season. If he wins enough, particularly a deep enough run in the tournament, you have to keep him. Certainly a Final Four run would cement things, but as has been alluded, even an Elite Eight or Sweet Sixteen run would be impressive for the program in its current state. But regardless of the reasons, I'm not going to be happy with Terry as our head coach moving forward. That's my prerogative. Everyone else, including you, are welcome to have a more open mind about it and push back against "false narratives" as you're putting it. 

I also am not in favor at all of keeping a guy just because of a recruiting class. Either he's the right guy or not. I'd rather get someone else in who could be the right guy, than to keep someone who most certainly isn't. Someone else posted a few days ago you keep him on a one or two year contract. That's not how it works. If we keep Terry he's going to get at least 4 years. 3 years even if things go completely sideways. I'd prefer to roll the dice now, rather than wait 4 years to roll it then. 

I want a hall of fame level coach here. I know they don't exactly grow on trees, but it's all we're really lacking (although actually Barnes has a good chance of making it in based on career win totals alone). We've taken the steps in my lifetime to get there. We just need that last missing piece. Terry is not that last missing piece. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

1 hour ago, MotownHorn said:

Every time we struggle for 5 minutes this year our season is over because Terry sucks and we should have kept poor Saint Chris Beard because, hey, at least he didn’t kill her, right?

good lord, give me a break. absolutely nobody here has said/done this. if you think they have then i invite to actually quote one of their posts, and cite something specific. this is just some twisted, bombastic take that is not based in reality and does nothing to further the discussion.

i should just leave my post at that, but against my better judgment i'll respond anyway. all anyone said s out chris beard's losses last year was that it's not i isualy for him to lose up to double digit regular season games, and that's a more than ok trade for the kind of postseason success that chris beard has historically had. 

this is not an analogous situation. rodney terry was an assistant coach for a reason, and he has no record of postseason (or regular season) success to speak of. chris beard's team last year WAY outperformed its talent level + issues with lack of chemistry, and they played at a consistent level with a verifiable identity. this year's team was playing at a top 5 national level under chris beard, and has visibly and statistically fallen off since rodney terry took over. his losses with this team are not similar to and have nothing to do with chris beard's losses last year, and your whiny, fabricated contention that people are holding rodney terry to a higher standard and/or saying we never should have fired beard is a stupid one.

[ztejas 43459]

14 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

I couldn't disagree more. It was an unathletic team with nobody who could take a defender off the dribble consistently and no reliable outside shooting. It's like we agree about the team but then you say it wasn't ever firing at 100% of its potential. I think it was. Beard got them to buy in to a slow down offense with virtually no fast break points and then be tough on defense and win the turnover battle.

I already said that it was a very flawed roster. That doesn't mean it was a bad roster. I do not think that that team's absolute ceiling was going 22-12, 10-8 in conference and winning one tournament game. They were ranked 5th in both preseason polls and picked to finish 2nd I the B12. 

That offense was fucking excruciating to watch at times. Maybe you've erased it from your memory. Part of that was due to personnel but part of it wasn't. Arguably the best offensive player in the B12 right now was on that team. 

I think Beard did a great job turning over the roster and starting to build a legitimate basketball culture last season. I don't think he led some Popovichesque coaching campaign from an xs and os standpoint. I'm not sure why anyone would need to pretend that he did. 

[ztejas 43459]

4 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

chris beard's team last year WAY outperformed its talent level + issues with lack of chemistry

No. This is total bullshit. 

UNLESS you're strictly talking about the two tournament games. Then I might agree. 

Edited January 27, 2023 by ztejas

[shadow_operative 15932]

1 hour ago, Hookem2147 said:

I was a huge Beard fan and he was 100% moving this thing in the right direction, but how soon do we forget that we were a preseason top 10 team last year.

those preseason expectations were totally unrealistic and in no way are an indication that the team underperformed. 

that is not a top 10 team, especially considering how much of the team were new players in a new conference playing a new system with a new HC/staff. no shooting, no athleticism, no size, no depth, and yet we had a pretty damn good season in the toughest league in america. if we face *any* team besides purdue then i'm convinced we make the S16 last year. with that roster? beard did a helluva job. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

49 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Beard did a good not great job last season if you're willing to concede that "what he had" was partially his own doing. 

 

Andrew Jones

Courtney Ramey

Jase Febres

Brock Cunningham 

 

that was the roster that Beard acquired 7.5 months before the start of his first season at Texas. he did better than any could coach ever have been expected to do in that situation. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

9 minutes ago, ztejas said:

No. This is total bullshit. 

UNLESS you're strictly talking about the two tournament games. Then I might agree. 

no shooters, no size, no point guard, no athleticism, no depth, with 2 out of every 3 players of consequence being brand new to the program. the number of coaches who could have formed a better roster and/or had a better season can be counted on one hand. 

[SL Xpress 7516]

5 minutes ago, ztejas said:

I already said that it was a very flawed roster. That doesn't mean it was a bad roster. I do not think that that team's absolute ceiling was going 22-12, 10-8 in conference and winning one tournament game. They were ranked 5th in both preseason polls and picked to finish 2nd I the B12. 

That offense was fucking excruciating to watch at times. Maybe you've erased it from your memory. Part of that was due to personnel but part of it wasn't. Arguably the best offensive player in the B12 right now was on that team. 

I think Beard did a great job turning over the roster and starting to build a legitimate basketball culture last season. I don't think he led some Popovichesque coaching campaign from an xs and os standpoint. I'm not sure why anyone would need to pretend that he did. 

 

On paper I thought they'd be a national championship contending team. Then I saw them on the court. Like I said before, if you're unathletic, you don't have anyone who can take their defender off the dribble, you don't have any kind of reliable 3 point shooting, you're not a good rebounding team, what's left? You slow the game down, win the turnover battle, and be more efficient on the offensive end than the opponent. Which is what Texas did. A la, maximizing their potential. 

Citing preseason accolades as a basis for them not reaching their potential is silly. It was all based on the transfers coming in and what they'd done at their previous school. Like I said last year, it's as if in the NBA you were able to form an all star team made up of the best players who had never made the playoffs. I'm not saying it couldn't be a really good team, but there's a reason their teams didn't make the playoffs. 

I can't even believe you're trying to bring up Marcus Fucking Carr as evidence last year's team underachieved. Part of the reason he's thriving this year is because of the work he put into his game under Beard. And this team would be WAAAAAAAAAY better if Hunter was still performing the role he had at the beginning of the season rather than the shell of himself he's become. I also feel like this team is way too dependent on Carr, just like Pittsburgh and especially Minnesota were. It's not a better team because Carr has been unleashed. In my opinion it's a worse team. 

I absolutely believe Beard was an Xs and Os wizard last year. I said as much on the regular throughout last year while most fans were loudly complaining, so it's not like this is coming from out of the blue. I also feel like he was doing more of the same this year prior to getting arrested and then fired. He's not a perfect coach, but he was a great fit for Texas and it's going to be tough to find a near equivalent. 

[ztejas 43459]

Just now, shadow_operative said:

no shooters, no size, no point guard, no athleticism, no depth, with 2 out of every 3 players of consequence being brand new to the program. the number of coaches who could have formed a better roster and/or had a better season can be counted on one hand. 

"No shooters" is completely false.

Carr and Ramey are both hitting 41% on over 6 attempts from 3 per game this season. Febres was like 38% on over 5 attempts per game from 2018-2021 before last season. AJ was like 36% on over 5 attempts per game in the prior two seasons before last season.

I don't think it's a coincidence that all of those guys just randomly had terrible seasons from BTA. 

I agree the size and athleticism was poor. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

1 minute ago, ztejas said:

"No shooters" is completely false.

Carr and Ramey are both hitting 41% on over 6 attempts from 3 per game this season. Febres was like 38% on over 5 attempts per game from 2018-2021 before last season. AJ was like 36% on over 5 attempts per game in the prior two seasons before last season.

I don't think it's a coincidence that all of those guys just randomly had terrible seasons from BTA. 

I agree the size and athleticism was poor. 

ramey and carr are in totally different/improved shooting situations this year than they were last year, hence both of them being better shooters this year. however, last year neither of them (nor anybody else on the team) was a co sister knockdown shooter. as a team we shot .330% from deep, 232nd in the country. we were also 258th in the country in 3PA due to this lack of perimeter shooting. a player from last year's team =/= this year's version of said player.

[ztejas 43459]

1 minute ago, SL Xpress said:

I absolutely believe Beard was an Xs and Os wizard last year.

Okay then there's nothing to discuss. Have a nice night. 

4 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

It's not a better team because Carr has been unleashed. In my opinion it's a worse team. 

This is a ridiculous take. Turn down the bitchassedness a couple notches. Maybe try enjoying watching him play because no one has been this good at Texas in at least a decade. 

[SL Xpress 7516]

Just now, ztejas said:

Okay then there's nothing to discuss. Have a nice night. 

This is a ridiculous take. Turn down the bitchassedness a couple notches. Maybe try enjoying watching him play because no one has been this good at Texas in at least a decade. 

You have a nice night as well. 

It's been a bad decade. Plenty of more talented players. Really crappy coaching. I'd like to see a different head coach than Rodney Terry in place at the end of the season, whatever that takes. 

Hey, enjoy the season. Maybe put me on ignore, either literally or figuratively. The bitchassedness isn't going away. My posting volume on this board has gone down considerably since the arrest. That's the best you're going to get. 

[ztejas 43459]

4 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

ramey and carr are in totally different/improved shooting situations this year than they were last year, hence both of them being better shooters this year. however, last year neither of them (nor anybody else on the team) was a co sister knockdown shooter. as a team we shot .330% from deep, 232nd in the country. we were also 258th in the country in 3PA due to this lack of perimeter shooting. a player from last year's team =/= this year's version of said player.

I agree the roster last season wasn't conducive to generating good looks from 3 - but the 3p offense should or could have been better than it was. 

Beard is a great coach but he isn't some offensive mastermind. Like I already said - bashing my head against a cactus would have been more pleasant than watching that offense operate at times last season. Some of that was due to personnel, some of it wasn't. 

[ztejas 43459]

Look on the brightside guys - Texas could have Rob Lanier calling the shots. 

[MotownHorn 1767]

31 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

I also feel like this team is way too dependent on Carr, just like Pittsburgh and especially Minnesota were. It's not a better team because Carr has been unleashed. In my opinion it's a worse team. 

I see where you're coming from, but the way he's been playing you have to unleash him.

The problem last year is he was unleashed and couldn't quite perform to that superstar level yet for whatever reason.

You want your top guy to be unleashed and playing freely while also playing very well. The question is how everybody else plays around that.

This year's ceiling is Carr is unleashed and everyone else is playing well. That's a very high potential ceiling if it can be achieved by tournament time. Any game where 3 of our guards are playing well we should win. If just 2 guards play well it's a tossup against the better teams.

We've put together very few complete team games this year imo. The big guys have played well but the guards have not gotten it all together. After Carr, Rice has carried the load for the guards so far this year. We're dominant in the games where Carr, Rice, and either Hunter or Morris has played well (just that one game for Morris, really).

Edited January 27, 2023 by MotownHorn

[VinyVango 694]

Andrew Jones
Courtney Ramey
Jase Febres
Brock Cunningham 
 
that was the roster that Beard acquired 7.5 months before the start of his first season at Texas. he did better than any could coach ever have been expected to do in that situation. 

The only real plus for last years team was game experience … there were a lot of puzzle pieces that needed to be forced into place … this years team is much more skilled and cohesive, but has very little size and no depth when it comes to big men … one guy taller than 6’7”

[jimmyjazz 45963]

2 hours ago, VinyVango said:

his years team is much more skilled and cohesive, but has very little size and no depth when it comes to big men … one guy taller than 6’7”

Fair enough, but at least according to our roster, both Disu and Mitchell are taller (6'9" and 6'8") and Bishop is 6'7".  We're not giants, for sure, but those 3 along with Timmy are credible in the front court.

[UTexasFight 9454]

On 1/24/2023 at 11:29 PM, UTexasFight said:

Except we’re 1-2 against the part of the big 12 that’s brutal.

5 of those 6 wins are against teams that are combined 6-24 in conference (and the bottom 4 teams in the conference).

I’d feel a lot better if we took care of baylor on our home court on Monday and split the games in Kansas. 

I feel a lot better 

[Js1 85353]

1 minute ago, UTexasFight said:

I feel a lot better 

Let’s fucking win on Monday