Well, length is one thing they lack. They don't play anyone over 6'7" for any significant minutes. They have a pair of 7 footers that control the bench, the senior plays about 4 minutes a game and the freshmen about 5 minutes all season. They do have a couple of guys who are very active on the boards, especially Phelps on the offensive glass, and T.J. Robinson (10 rbd/gm). Texas will have to keep Phelps off the offensive glass. He tends to pick up a lot of fouls They do tend to force a lot of turnovers and get a lot of steals. Ware uses his quickness (he's 5'9") and Anderson uses his reach. They shoot ft horribly. Under 61%. This team lost to ND by 20, lost to Clemson by 8 (was within 1 point with 8:30 to go), and lost to WV by 23, but they beat UCLA by 11. UCLA is BAD, but that was similar to the KU margin of victory. This game shouldn't be too much of a test, but look what transpired against USC for the first 30 minutes.
I don't think UCLA is as dreadful as they showed in Anaheim, but doesn't look like a tournament team either. So this is still about Texas, I'm afraid. Three more shakedowns before UNC-MSU. And then more shakedowns before conference, and more in conference. Just the way I foresee it...
Pretty good game overall, with some improvement on the offensive end, but plenty to work on. Brown sure has a sweet shot, but he is a wild man with the pass at times and of course team FT shooting is business as usual. Balbay becoming very solid at the point with 11 assists and no turnovers.
Brown makes the occasional bad pass but tonight at least 2 of those (and probably more) bounced off Damion's hands. Damion has the worst hands on the team and that's most likely why he might not stick in the NBA.
There appeared on the one hand to be lots of defensive breakdowns that game, but Texas played a much more gambling, pressure defense to force turnovers. LBSU shot better than any team Texas has faced so far, but Texas forced 23 turnovers and picked up 15 steals, making for a fast, fast game. That's a trade off I'll take pretty much any day. Nice to see so many people contribute. Balbay--this guy has to be on the floor, even if he never makes a jump shot in his entire life. He's just too active on defense, too skilled with the ball on offense, too quick to get to the hoop, and too leaping. On one occasion, he dashed into the lane to box out LBSU's tallest player on the floor and elevated to control the rebound with the LBSU player on his back. No foul, but damn. Brown--looks good as a shooting option, but some of his passes are utter crap. I don't fault him for wanting to make passes to teammates, but some of the things he was throwing were ridiculous. Dude has to ratchet it down a notch. Bradley--best offensive game of the year for him. He hit 6 jumpers, including a pair of three pointers. Watching him and Balbay trap an opposing guard is always a joy. Pittman--unstoppable against smaller lineups except in his own exuberance. Don't swing down when attempting to block the shot of a driving guard. Three fouls in just 12 minutes. Johnson--solid all-around. Great finishing around the basket. James--pretty steady effort for 14 pts and 6 rebs in just 19 minutes. Nice play in the first half when he missed from fairly close, got the tip out, missed again, and followed it to get the rebound and score. Chapman--there was a Clint Chapman sighting, and it started off with a bang. Gets position underneath, wasn't fed the ball, came out to set a screen, rolled to the basket, took the pass, and went up and did the almost jam two handed lay in over the rim. Then, he ran down the court while the rest of the defense was napping to cut off a LBSU guy who took a long pass and would have had a layup. Nice hustle there. Unfortunately, on his next two touches he 1) spun left to the glass and lost control of the ball out of bounds, and 2) had the rim block him while he was going up for another quasi-dunk. His last touch he did have a nice touch from about 4 feet out. He looks active and ready to contribute on both ends. Hamilton--probably his best game so far, getting 26 minutes, showing a lot of offensive moves with drives for buckets and the defensive wow play of the game in chasing down a breakaway and blocking the layup from behind. Guy got way up there. (Which reminded me of the earlier game, I forget which one, in which Balbay bought a fake, went for the block, but wasn't called for the foul because he jumped over the guy.) Huge improvement from the USC game. I really think going with more pressure and gambles on defense is the way to play this team. Net result tonight, 24 layups and 6 dunks. Yes, a lot of that came from the half court offense and against a smaller opponent, but still, great work tonight for the most part.
Best game of the year so far. LBSU is a decent team and I can't remember the last time Texas scores 107. Glimpses of a brilliant future. If Brown and Bradley get comfortable shooting the ball the sky is the limit for this team. Hamilton is huge mismatch for almost any team. Too many guys who can drive and shoot and lots of tough defending role players, plus a dominant big man is going to equal a great season. It's going to be unpolished at times, but they are really coming together.
Pittman needs to work on his shot blocking if he is going to continue to try to block shots. He takes some bad angles and swinging down on the shooter is begging for fouls He also needs to realize that some guard under 6' is looking for the foul. Brown had a few bad passes but I can understand what he was trying to do, a couple plays he got caught unsure of how he wanted to pass it and it looked ugly. (pass off the backboard for example) I also saw a few kick out to wide open guards who passed on open shots from the 3-point range. I know Balbay won't take it but a couple times they dribbled into the defense. Hill got into the game pretty early, I wonder if he has been showing something in practice.
Brown made a few really crappy passes. I was actually encouraged by the fact that Barnes didn't immediately pull him out of the game and let him work through it. This was an encouraging game-- all the freshmen seemed to play with much more confidence.
I like scoring 107 points and having a leading scorer with 17. Six players with double digit points, eleven different players scored.
Very encouraged to see Avery shooting the ball and making a few. Hamilton driving to the basket was a very nice sight. He has a great little floater. But I do hope that shot is part of his regular repertoire and he just was not throwing it up there (as it appeared to be the case a few times). Balbay is the perfect PG for this team. Unselfish and never stops. Lucas and Balbay will be a nice combination at that position. The defense will be easliy confused and will have to run different defenses depending on who is in the game. And when they are in together, it will be a nice pace. Pittman needs to continue to work hard on the boards and work on making good fouls and staying away from bad ones. Glad to see Gary Johnson letting the offense come to him instead of forcing it. I am also glad I have not gone off the deep end prior to the LBS game. I see some real improvement and hope it continues.
I don't know, Puddle/Cruiser, MSU isn't exactly a slow it down and grind it out kind of team. They're averaging almost 84 poitns a game.
The Link Not sure if this will lead exactly where I want, but right now, among Texas, UNC and MSU, Texas is playing the fastest... 76 possessions per game, with UNC at 72 and MSU 71...
I hope Barnes is getting on them for the behind the back passes. We are a much better team when we aren't trying to showboat. Right now, Balbay is the best point guard. It will be interesting to see if he keeps the job by late January. Rotating 3 point guards might be a little much. Hopefully Bradley and Hamilton keep progressing. They both played well, much better than in some of the earlier games. Pittman played well but got in foul trouble by not keeping his arms straight up. Johnson also had a good game. Overall, I would like to see our defense gamble a little less and give up fewer easier buckets. If we were playing more sound defense, we would have had a bigger cushion at halftime. Nice to see improvement from USC and Rice, though.
so where will J Lucas fit into this array of talent....then, what about next year with the loss of some key performers
If Lucas can avoid turnovers, he will eat into Brown's minutes much more than Balbay's. Of all the guards, Balbay is the one who need to be on the floor as much as possible. He can't shoot worth a damn, but he plays great defense, he hustles after everything, will fight a guy a foot taller than he is for a rebound, and does not make dumb passes. Simply put, good things happen when he is on the court. Brown, however, is great to have on the floor late in games when the other team starts fouling. He's apparently the only player on the team who can make 2 free throws in a row. And he's deadly from 3 when he has time to spot up.
