How many point difference is having an experienced coach like Lon working the refs all game vs Turner filling in for Shaka. I think 5-6 pts easy.
We've been talented but undisciplined most of the year, it became more obvious once Ramey and Sims weren't around.
I am not worried at all. Lost by 1 point to the 24th ranked team in the nation without important players or the coach at the game. We have a great team and coach and losing one or two close games to really good teams will not change my mind especially when the team is far from full strength.
I've been a student/fan/alum for 40+ years and I can't think of a Longhorn loss where I was more proud. The way that team scrapped and overcame last night will be much more valuable to their post-season ego than some random win. There was plenty of opportunities to quit last night and blame it on missing players, coach or a 3:2 disadvantage of calls, but the team just kept fighting.
No mention of the inbound pass at the end? Or maybe I missed it. Anyways, smart play is to throw the ball in to midcourt, there was plenty of time to set a screen and take a shot that has a chance at going in. Instead, we had a walk-on launch a ball 90 ft that lands in the middle of 4 OU players and zero UT players. That’s where Shaka would’ve made a difference. The 5th foul on Brown was awful and pretty much decided the game in my opinion. Ref should be suspended. Last thing, Febres needs to be riding pine. All he does is jack up 3s. About as hot or cold of a player as I’ve seen. Like Jerry Glanville once said (about Randy Moss funny enough): “he’ll win you one game but lose you two”.
Agreed. The problem with one-and-dones is when they get the ball I often feel like they are "putting together their NBA tape" and who wants to see passes? It felt like several players took this mentality last night - that if they passed the ball, they weren't getting it back. Donovan Williams has nice upside for the 5th or 6th guy off the bench, but he's looking to put up a shot every time he gets the ball. He needs more patience.
That’s what’s so frustrating....we’re a very good team, obviously, but too many bad decisions and late adjustments. Hopefully we get it together come tournament time.
We need team at full strength quickly. Time to start building momentum for March madness. I will confess that losses like Tech and OU do not concern me in January, but 2 losses like that are of great concern after February 15.
Missing 3 impact players and the head coach they should have canceled the game. Because of the protocols I heard they never even got to practice as a unit last week.
I'm going to have to disagree on this one. I'd rather have the extra real-game time and experience for the backups, even if it means taking a loss. The entire regular season boils down to gearing up for the conference and national tournaments. I think the game time for the backups makes us a better team. Getting pushed from a 1 seed to a 2 seed, or a 2 seed to a 3 seed, etc. does not concern me as much as getting our players more game experience leading up to the tournaments. Having to play a Villanova instead of an Iowa in the Regional is close to a wash. I'd rather us improve our depth with game time for the backups. On a related note, does anyone else notice that often, a Senior, who was a backup and didn't make much noise all year, catches fire in the tournaments and becomes a key player. Royce Hamm is a possibility of that this year. Same with Hepa (though not a Senior obviously).
Hamm is a gifted athlete, very tough. He has a tendency lately to make the untimely foul. He needs to rein that in. If he can quickly learn how to defend without fouling the sky’s the limit for him. Hepa is a good, if streaky, shooter; really smart and great young man. He’s a bit slow afoot, but his ability to get hot can be a game changer.
I agree they needed the experience. Without Shaka there to push the buttons I'm not sure what they actually learned from that mess other than even as disjointed and shorthanded as that team was they still nearly won. I'm surprised to see so many mentioning things like "improve before the tournament" when that game really didn't represent anything about how this team is really built.
