Texas Basketball 2023-24

[HtownHorn 14678]

1 hour ago, LTtxfan said:

It's kinda funny that with Disu, Mitchell, Hunter, Cunningham and Weaver all returning there seemed to be a lot of early season talk about how this team would be at least a "Sweet 16" team especially when Abmas & Shedrick were added...

Hmmm...  now not so much.  Why is that? 

Obviously missing a true penetrating ball handling point guard is one reason.  What else??

Weaver returning? This is an interesting dilemma for derka. On this thread is claims the coaching staff is horrible, but on the Weaver thread he is in love with the guy that the coaching scouted, recruited, and developed over the season. It's almost like derka is a fucking idiot that likes to argue.

Edited March 4 by HtownHorn

[closetohumping 17440]

1 hour ago, shadow_operative said:

we returned a lot of guys from the elite 8 run and then we brought in a good transfer class headlined by one of the all time leading scorers in the history of the sport. there are good reasons that everyone from pollsters, to the computers, to the coaches in the league, to our fan base saw this team as a top ~15 team heading into the year. the question is not “why was that the case?”, the question is why haven’t we lived up to expectations. 

some answers: abmas isn’t as good as we thought he’d be, mitchell has barely improved, tyrese hunter is disappearing before our eyes like a person from a time travel movie, shedrick is always hurt, and oh yeah, we have a subpar coaching staff this year whose team has no identity and mercurial as hell.

Beards first team was preseason top five?

[Snake Diggity 4622]

Coaching standard this year seems pretty straightforward:

Miss the tourney, you’re on the hot seat and anything short of round of 32 next season and you’re fired

Round of 64, disappointing season but ok, you get another year and your seat is warm but not hot.

Round of 32, fine.  Nothing changes, let’s keep playing your contract.

Round of 16, good job.  Nothing changes, but we are happy.

Round of 8, great job.  Let’s discuss parameters of a raise/extension.

Final Four, here’s your raise/extension.

Championship game appearance, here’s your top 10 among all coaches raise/extension.

Championship, congrats, you are now among the top 3 highest paid coaches in your field.

[Pancho 44771]

4 hours ago, Hermanator said:

It would be a failure since their expectation is what they've accomplished recently. Hurley would be the first to tell you this I'm sure. 

You people seem to be getting hung up on the word failure and putting a connotation that doesn't belong there. Your at best rudimentary understanding of the word failure apparently has you believing a failure can only be catastrophic. That black and white misunderstanding is what seems very juvenile in nature. 

It could be that or it could be your logic is flawed

[shadow_operative 15932]

15 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

Beards first team was preseason top five?

according to the AP poll, yes. are you suggesting that was a realistic expectation for that team? a team which we all know lacked size, depth, shooting, athleticism, and chemistry? come on. 

edit: here’s the roster of that “top 5 team” when beard took over just a months before that poll was released: 

Andrew Jones, Courtney Ramey, Jase Febres, Brock Cunningham. that’s it. that’s the team he inherited in april for a season that started in november. come on man. be better.

Edited March 4 by shadow_operative

[Reality Check 137]

3 hours ago, MotownHorn said:

They truly think that WV and Texas are rivals. Upside down Longhorns flags flying all over that shitty Motown. The students do Horns Down 24/7/365.

I think it's hilarious that they've spent a decade+ convincing themselves that we're rivals and now we will never play them ever again.

Not the impression I got and I was at that game. Fans I sat with were excited about the win -- mainly because Noah Farrakhan was finally eligible -- but it didn't mean more or less than any other Big 12 game. They'd also pretty much resigned themselves to a down year in the wake of Huggins' situation developing so late. 

Also, Kaden Shedrick's absence -- he played four minutes -- was everything in that game. They consistently worked the ball around the perimeter for 25 seconds and then drove into the paint. There was just no presence there to stop it. 

[closetohumping 17440]

14 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

according to the AP poll, yes. are you suggesting that was a realistic expectation for that team? a team which we all know lacked size, depth, shooting, athleticism, and chemistry? come on. 

edit: here’s the roster of that “top 5 team” when beard took over just a months before that poll was released: 

Andrew Jones, Courtney Ramey, Jase Febres, Brock Cunningham. that’s it. that’s the team he inherited in april for a season that started in november. come on man. be better.

But he did such a great job recruiting that we were preseason top five.   You said in a prior post that this 2024 team was top 15 for a reason?   Why isn’t that the same for Chris’s first team?  The media overhyped both teams like they do a lot of Texas teams. 

[HookEm 2467]

1 hour ago, shadow_operative said:

Beard basically had to play with 5-6 guys for the entire second half of that year, none of whom were even all conference talents.

Come on man.  Beard had FIVE dudes on the 21-22 team who were All-Conference the year before playing for him.  The team was talented AF to be a one and done in the tourney:

• Marcus Car - 20-21 3rd Team All Big 10 and on the late-season Wooden Award List
• Timmy Allen - 20-21 1st Team All-Pac10
• Andre Jones - 20-21 2nd Team All-Big 12
• Courtney Ramey - 20-21 3rd Team All-Big 12
• Tre Mitchell - 20-21 1st Team All A10

[Reality Check 137]

"Top 15 expectations" not met as team is No. 27 NET/No. 23 BPI with two regular-season games to play. 

In ither words, bitch and moan that your picnic was flooded out when the reality is you expected the temperature to be 78 and it's only 71 with occasional wind gusts.  

[MotownHorn 1762]

32 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

Beards first team was preseason top five?

Thats Saint Chris Beard, Tourney Dynamo to you, my friend 

[closetohumping 17440]

2 minutes ago, HookEm said:

Come on man.  Beard had FIVE dudes on the 21-22 team who were All-Conference the year before playing for him.  The team was talented AF to be a one and done in the tourney:

• Marcus Car - 20-21 3rd Team All Big 10 and on the late-season Wooden Award List
• Timmy Allen - 20-21 1st Team All-Pac10
• Andre Jones - 20-21 2nd Team All-Big 12
• Courtney Ramey - 20-21 3rd Team All-Big 12
• Tre Mitchell - 20-21 1st Team All A10

He crushed the portal his first year.  If he didn’t have enough size, shooters, athletes, camel jockeys, beekeepers,etc that was on him.   He dominated the portal and rightfully so. He was a very good recruiter

Just now, MotownHorn said:

Thats Saint Chris Beard, Tourney Dynamo to you, my friend 

[MotownHorn 1762]

15 minutes ago, Reality Check said:

Not the impression I got and I was at that game. Fans I sat with were excited about the win -- mainly because Noah Farrakhan was finally eligible -- but it didn't mean more or less than any other Big 12 game. They'd also pretty much resigned themselves to a down year in the wake of Huggins' situation developing so late. 

Also, Kaden Shedrick's absence -- he played four minutes -- was everything in that game. They consistently worked the ball around the perimeter for 25 seconds and then drove into the paint. There was just no presence there to stop it. 

Pretty sure the game took place before WVUs semester started, right? 

The students certainly consider Texas a rival. Which is funny.

[closetohumping 17440]

6 minutes ago, MotownHorn said:

Pretty sure the game took place before WVUs semester started, right? 

The students certainly consider Texas a rival. Which is funny.

[HookEm 2467]

18 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

edit: here’s the roster of that “top 5 team” when beard took over just a months before that poll was released:  Andrew Jones, Courtney Ramey, Jase Febres, Brock Cunningham

This is also misleading.  Chris Beard was announced April 1...  AFTER Beard was announced, we lost all of the following at the end of April / early May:

• Donovan Williams (National #66), who went on to average 12.7 pts, 3.3 reb for UNLV (and is currently on the Atlanta Hawks)
• Kemaka Hepa (National #55), who had played in 50+ games and would go on to average 11 & 6 over two years at Hawaii
• Gerald Liddell (National #44), who went on to average 12 pts, 7.6 reb for Alabama State & Detroit
• Royce Hamm, left and averaged 8.6 pts, 9.3 reb for UNLV

Matt Coleman still had a year of eligibility left and could have come back. He ended up undrafted.  Greg Brown cost himself a lot of money by going pro and went from a potential lottery pick to being drafted 43rd overall. 

Beard didn't inherit just four dudes, he had eight... and then forced out four of them and replaced them with better players.  At least get the narrative right. Do better.  lol.

[ztejas 43420]

13 minutes ago, Reality Check said:

"Top 15 expectations" not met as team is No. 27 NET/No. 23 BPI with two regular-season games to play. 

In ither words, bitch and moan that your picnic was flooded out when the reality is you expected the temperature to be 78 and it's only 71 with occasional wind gusts.  

Yeah I thought this team could be a little better than they have been so far, but if you told me that Hunter is going to be the same player, Mitchell won't improve his shooting at all and that Abmas is smaller than I think and bad on D the results so far seem about right. 

[Braff Zacklin 13562]

16 minutes ago, HookEm said:

This is also misleading.  Chris Beard was announced April 1...  AFTER Beard was announced, we lost all of the following at the end of April / early May:

• Donovan Williams (National #66), who went on to average 12.7 pts, 3.3 reb for UNLV (and is currently on the Atlanta Hawks)
• Kemaka Hepa (National #55), who had played in 50+ games and would go on to average 11 & 6 over two years at Hawaii
• Gerald Liddell (National #44), who went on to average 12 pts, 7.6 reb for Alabama State & Detroit
• Royce Hamm, left and averaged 8.6 pts, 9.3 reb for UNLV

Matt Coleman still had a year of eligibility left and could have come back. He ended up undrafted.  Greg Brown cost himself a lot of money by going pro and went from a potential lottery pick to being drafted 43rd overall. 

Beard didn't inherit just four dudes, he had eight... and then forced out four of them and replaced them with better players.  At least get the narrative right. Do better.  lol.

Do you know they were forced out, or are you just making shit up?

I have not once heard or read from any source that Beard pushed away any of those guys. In fact, I imagine he would've done back flips to have someone of Hamm's hustle and ability return, not to mention Coleman.

[HookEm 2467]

I was making shit up. I recall that being the story at the time, but who knows.  My bad.  Really all four of those guys would have done very well to stay and play under Beard.

I'm sure Coleman wasn't forced out, or even hinted at that he should move on.

[shadow_operative 15932]

1 minute ago, closetohumping said:

But he did such a great job recruiting that we were preseason top five.   You said in a prior post that this 2024 team was top 15 for a reason?   Why isn’t that the same for Chris’s first team?  The media overhyped both teams like they do a lot of Texas teams. 

 

its just such a disingenuous argument. the two situations are not analogous, and you know that, especially being that you’re one of the people around here who wants to give rodney terry credit for the elite 8 run last year. beard’s first team being top 5 preseason = texas being overhyped; this Texas team being preseason top 15 = completely reasonable, and you know that. but if we’re really going to pretend like you don’t know this, let’s break down how different the two situations are/were:

 

chris beard year one:

takes over this roster in april: andrew jones, courtney ramey, jase febres, brock cunningham. 

the program hasn’t won a tourney game since 2014, the previous coach was just let go for failing to perform, the team lost three nba draft picks and its senior leader PG, and the cupboard was haplessly bare. had shaka remained as HC we were looking at an even worse season than his 2017 catastrophe. that’s what chris beard was stepping into during april of 2021 when he took over this program. 

beard had just a few months to build a team via the transfer portal and get it ready for his inaugural season, and while he did sign a very good class considering everything he had working against him, the guys he signed (carr, allen, bishop) were guys who all had serious limitations, and who were five-year college players because they are nowhere close to being nba level talents. he also signed tre mitchell who we all know turned out to be a bitch made flake who left the team mid year. so that’s what chris beard was working with heading into his first season here. are you seriously the argument that calling that team a preseason top 5 is just as bad as calling this team a preseason top 15 team? come on man.

 

now let’s compare that with RT’s situation from this year.

RT this year:

returns four key players from an Elite 8 team, HIS OWN team, a team whose success you and several others here credit to RT and his coaching. RT returns Dylan Disu and signs Max Abmas, two players better than anyone that chris beard had on his patchwork team which he assembled in ~90 days. RT starts off his first full season as HC with a bunch of experience on the job and cohesion in binding. he also starts it off with his second best player on the naismith award watch list (abmas also made the mid season naismith watch list as one of the top 25 players in america, and again, he’s our second best player). nobody who was lost from last year’s team was an nba draft pick, and only one of them is even playing in the g league. 

we lost those five year, non-nba players from last year, and then RT signed a really good transfer class of his own, and found himself with a deeper, more experienced, more athletic, MUCH better shooting team than what beard had, a team that already has chemistry from the previous year’s Elite 8 run and which is being led by the same coaching staff from the year prior. and you’re seriously going to sit here and make this argument? again, stop it.

 

the AP poll ranked chris beard’s first team in the top 5, and that was nonsensical and dumb. none of the computers agreed with that ranking, and no rational fan did either. this year, all of the computers, all of the polls, all of the coaches, and all of the fans agreed that this Texas team was a top ~15 preseason team, because it deserved to be, ESPECIALLY when it’s being led by the great rodney terry who just single handedly led last year’s team to the Elite 8. and i really have to sit here and lay all of this out to make this argument? really?

ftr, kenpom had Texas at #14 preseason in 2021 (we finished 15th (lowest we fell was #21) with the aforementioned 6-man rotation), while kenpom had Texas at #16 going into this season, where we currently sit at #26 with a low-point ranking of #48. 

so yeah, in conclusion, the two situations have nothing in common, and to argue otherwise is wildly disingenuous, particularly from the pro-RT crowd.

[shadow_operative 15932]

40 minutes ago, HookEm said:

Come on man.  Beard had FIVE dudes on the 21-22 team who were All-Conference the year before playing for him.  The team was talented AF to be a one and done in the tourney:

• Marcus Car - 20-21 3rd Team All Big 10 and on the late-season Wooden Award List
• Timmy Allen - 20-21 1st Team All-Pac10
• Andre Jones - 20-21 2nd Team All-Big 12
• Courtney Ramey - 20-21 3rd Team All-Big 12
• Tre Mitchell - 20-21 1st Team All A10

i meant to say *first-team* all conference talents, and as it pertains to the specific team in question none of them were. timmy allen was second team all league and carr was third team. 

Edited March 4 by shadow_operative

[shadow_operative 15932]

10 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

ftr, kenpom had Texas at #14 preseason in 2021 (we finished 15th (lowest we fell was #21) with the aforementioned 6-man rotation), while kenpom had Texas at #16 going into this season, where we currently sit at #26 with a low-point ranking of #48. 

for the tl;dr crowd, as well as the crowd that’s currently making the, “we were supposed to be top 15, instead we’re 25, you people are bitching just to bitch” crowd. y’all act as if we’ve been a top 25 team all year long. we haven’t. we’re up to no.26 in kenpom in large part because we play badass teams every single time out, so every win/good performance really matters. that said this season has been far from smooth sailing.

•got as high as no.12 in the 12/4 AP poll

•were last ranked on 1/8 when were #25, haven’t been ranked since then.

•what our league schedule looked like a week ago:

so no, it’s not as if we’ve slightly underperformed this year. we’ve been up and down and unreliable all year, we’re one of the more volatile teams in the country, and this season has been a let down to this point. we may be turning a corner and we may have our best basketball in front of us, but in keeping with the theme of the thread, this argument, like all arguments currently coming from the pro-RT camp, is totally disingenuous.

[HtownHorn 14678]

1 hour ago, closetohumping said:

But he did such a great job recruiting that we were preseason top five.   You said in a prior post that this 2024 team was top 15 for a reason?   Why isn’t that the same for Chris’s first team?  The media overhyped both teams like they do a lot of Texas teams. 

Except Texas wasn't a preseason Top 15, they were 18. I mean if derka is going to go out of his way to make everything a negative against Terry, he should at least be accurate.

[ztejas 43420]

18 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

returns four key players from an Elite 8 team

 

18 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

nobody who was lost from last year’s team was an nba draft pick, and only one of them is even playing in the g league. 

This is an interesting way of saying we lost 3 of the best 4 players from an elite eight team, returned a 3rd year guy that Beard recruited that we still can't get consistent minutes from, a six-year role-guy that has no shot of playing in the NBA, Mitchell and Disu. 

And who gives a fuck who can play in the league or not? That has very little to do with who the best college players are in 2024.

I think this team is a bit better talent-wise than the '21 team but they both pale in comparison to last year's squad. 

 

[closetohumping 17440]

2 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

Except Texas wasn't a preseason Top 15, they were 18. I mean if derka is going to go out of his way to make everything a negative against Terry, he should at least be accurate.

Chris beard the dynamo recruiter who’s first team here was short, unathletic and couldn’t shoot worth shit.  That’s what he gets for having RT as his lead recruiters!!!!

[HtownHorn 14678]

3 minutes ago, ztejas said:

 

This is an interesting way of saying we lost 3 of the best 4 players from an elite eight team, returned a 3rd year guy that Beard recruited that we still can't get consistent minutes from, a six-year role-guy that has no shot of playing in the NBA, Mitchell and Disu. 

And who gives a fuck who can play in the league or not? That has very little to do with who the best college players are in 2024.

I think this team is a bit better talent-wise than the '21 team but they both pale in comparison to last year's squad. 

 

derka is now talking himself into circles. When you lie and make up shit all the time it's hard to keep everything straight. Soon, derka will start an argument with derka's other personalities.

[closetohumping 17440]

4 minutes ago, ztejas said:

 

This is an interesting way of saying we lost 3 of the best 4 players from an elite eight team, returned a 3rd year guy that Beard recruited that we still can't get consistent minutes from, a six-year role-guy that has no shot of playing in the NBA, Mitchell and Disu. 

And who gives a fuck who can play in the league or not? That has very little to do with who the best college players are in 2024.

I think this team is a bit better talent-wise than the '21 team but they both pale in comparison to last year's squad. 

 

Agreed. The nba shit should be thrown out after last years final four

[shadow_operative 15932]

6 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

When you lie and make up shit all the time

lulz. you’re literally lying and making shit up right now.

Edited March 5 by shadow_operative

[Braff Zacklin 13562]

Boys, boys, boys, BOYS ... can we PLEASE all agree on at least one thing????
 

FUCK.

BAYLOR.

[Js1 85320]

Don’t we have a game in 2 hours?

[HtownHorn 14678]

Season is likely over with Disu's knee injury.

[LTtxfan 49184]

30 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

Season is likely over with Disu's knee injury.

Hoping Disu sits for blOU and B12 tourney and then is 100% healthy and ready to play.

If so, hopefully RT makes sure committee knows Disu will return for March Madness.  

[Hermanator 7042]

Unfortunately I see this as the best case scenario for this team in March:

Win the 8-9 game and play a game a lot like tonight against the #1 seed. If Abmas is hot and the team is shooting well they can build a first half and early 2nd half lead on a 1 seed. But inevitably they will fold and blow it in the final 10-15 minutes. They did against Miami after Carr went out last year and they did it tonight after Disu went out. 

I just don't think they're put together nor coached well enough to upset a 1 seed. Just won't happen, and barring a big time run to a Big 12 tournament title they'll be an 8 seed most likely. 

[LonghornSean 3994]

 

[TxTower 651]

Looked worse than sprain. Whatever it is, the question is how long before he can return?

Time for Shedrick and Mitchell to stand up.

[closetojumping 62688]

8 hours ago, LonghornSean said:

 

I feel like this is what you say when you know injuries are taken into account when they name the field of 68. Just get past OU and the Big 12 tournament claiming a sprain and then, whoops, turns out it’s an ACL. 

2 hours ago, TxTower said:

Looked worse than sprain. Whatever it is, the question is how long before he can return?

Time for Shedrick and Mitchell to stand up.

What time is that? It feels like the kind of time that runs into infinity without materializing but hopefully you’re right. 

[Hermanator 7042]

3 hours ago, TxTower said:

Time for Shedrick and Mitchell to stand up.

[kevwun 15782]

Seems like minimal/no contact knee injuries where the player drops like he was shot are rarely no big deal.

[Newdoc 3439]

4 hours ago, TxTower said:

Time for Shedrick and Mitchell to stand up.

The lack of development of Mitchell’s offensive game is mind boggling. I really don’t know who is to blame on this one? Love that he is a team player and seems to enjoy playing at Texas but even not expecting a three point shooter, I would think his game would have resembled someone like Sochan at this point in his career.

[Js1 85320]

1 minute ago, Newdoc said:

The lack of development of Mitchell’s offensive game is mind boggling. I really don’t know who is to blame on this one? Love that he is a team player and seems to enjoy playing at Texas but even not expecting a three point shooter, I would think his game would have resembled someone like Sochan at this point in his career.

Never forget how we got gaslit during the NBA workouts that his shot had improved dramatically 

[ztejas 43420]

10 minutes ago, Newdoc said:

I really don’t know who is to blame on this one?

First and foremost, Dillon Mitchell.

[Red Five 40857]

The lack of development of Mitchell’s offensive game is mind boggling. I really don’t know who is to blame on this one? Love that he is a team player and seems to enjoy playing at Texas but even not expecting a three point shooter, I would think his game would have resembled someone like Sochan at this point in his career.

We would benefit greatly from Mitchell being able to hit a wide open 10 footer. He had a handful of those opportunities last night and isn’t even attempting them.

[Gale Snoats 242]

30 minutes ago, Red Five said:

We would benefit greatly from Mitchell being able to hit a wide open 10 footer. He had a handful of those opportunities last night and isn’t even attempting them.

half the time his teammates don't even pass to him in those situations.  several times last night he'd be wide open 10 - 15 foot out and we don't even pass him the ball.  like playing with 4 on offense. crazy that you can spend that much time on a craft and just have no shot at all.  and his free throw shooting is horrible -- 50% either don't make it or barely make it to the basket. crazy. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

41 minutes ago, Red Five said:

We would benefit greatly from Mitchell being able to hit a wide open 10 footer. He had a handful of those opportunities last night and isn’t even attempting them.

his shot chart resembles that of shaq or ben wallace. 

[BurntOrangeBlooded15 1566]

1 hour ago, Red Five said:

We would benefit greatly from Mitchell being able to hit a wide open 10 footer. He had a handful of those opportunities last night and isn’t even attempting them.

I’ve said it before and I stand by it, that in 5-6 years, Mitchell will look like Jerami Grant in the league.  Super similar career paths so far 

[ztejas 43420]

4 minutes ago, BurntOrangeBlooded15 said:

I’ve said it before and I stand by it, that in 5-6 years, Mitchell will look like Jerami Grant in the league.  Super similar career paths so far 

He'll be overpaid cap filler?

Edited March 5 by ztejas

[shadow_operative 15932]

9 minutes ago, BurntOrangeBlooded15 said:

I’ve said it before and I stand by it, that in 5-6 years, Mitchell will look like Jerami Grant in the league.  Super similar career paths so far 

dillon mitchell will play the same number of nba games as i do.

[Pancho 44771]

1 hour ago, shadow_operative said:

dillon mitchell will play the same number of nba games as i do.

-9?

[closetohumping 17440]

[6th Street 6392]

Spot on

[Hookem2147 21217]

29 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

Greg Davis 3rd and 5 graphic with Chendall Weaver as DJ Monroe on the sideline

[realgreggym 835]

2 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

dillon mitchell will play the same number of nba games as i do.

Well, he's playing as a scholarship athlete in college and is a student at UT so that's already 2 things that he has accomplished that you haven't.