I can't find much more than the Barnes quotes in today's Statesman, in which he speculates that the knee injury might be serious. Anyone have any inside info? Torn ACL? And any thoughts on what it means going forward if we do lose Balbay? My two cents is that Balbay, for all his offensive shortcomings, provided defense, toughness, and leadership, all things that many others on this team lack. I think his absence will really hurt.
Time for J'covan Brown to isolate his focus, play with effort on defense, and play with intelligent control on offense. This team still could be something other than a train wreck in the tournament, but three things need to happen: 1) Brown makes an effort on d and stays in control on o; 2) Pittman regains his lost energy(or overcomes physical problem--whatever it may be), gets more active yet less foul prone; and 3) Hamilton waits for the right shot instead of forcing any shot. Asking for all three may be a stretch, but they aren't impossibilities by any means.
Well, i guess the people that have been bitching about Balbay's minutes have to find something else to ***** about.
Hate to see that happen. At his best, Balbay negated other teams' star player with his great defense. That's two starting guards out for the season.
Technically, we're really out a starter and his substitute, but I get your point. Balbay started starting after Ward's injury.
I wish speedy recovery for Balbay, too. In his absence, we'll probably resort to more zone defense. I think the starting lineup should be Mason Bradley Hamilton James Johnson Hamilton may still be a question mark, but lately he seems to be making genuine efforts to become the player his coach wants him to be. Brown and Pittman need to earn their playing time from the bench.
"he is nowhere near the defender Mason and Bradley are" - Wow, just wow. The reverse is true. Mason and Bradley play with very good effort, but Balbay plays with great effort the entire time on the court. Bradley will turn into a great defender, however he gets picked way too easy (i.e. he doesn't fight over the top) and spends too much time just chasing his man. Balbay virtually never gets picked b/c he beats the offensive player to the spot over the pick. Mason is a good on the ball defender but gets beat off the dribble by quicker guards and is lost away from the ball. Balbay doesn't get lost off the ball. Huge loss defensively, but your right his O is awful.
His O is awful, but the times we can get enough offense at the other 4 positions (ie Mason and usually sadly Pittman too are on the bench), he's the best offensive option because he turns the ball over the least of all our PGs, so he can let the scorers do their job without screwing things up. Maybe Barnes needs to pull a Mack Brown and (when Balbay is healthy again) show him tapes of the OU game in Austin a year ago and say "This is who you really are" - he didn't have any offensive explosion but he took the ball at the rim and finished well when he needed to, and got the whole team on track with his passing. For some reason since that game he's not able to finish when he goes at the hoop and the pass isn't there.
I have been a critic of Dogus this season. I don't believe that it serves Texas well to have to play offense with 4 guys vs 5. The advantage of knowing that he's not going to hurt you outside of 10 feet of the bucket is huge. BUT, God, I don't ever want to see an athlete blow an ACL. Dogus, if used properly in the flow of the game, is a defender primarily and when we are trying to protect a 5 or 6 point lead or need someone to neutralize a hot opponent, he did very well in that role. Hope he gets well quickly.
Balbay was by far the best defender on the team. He was a weapon we could use against teams with dominant scorers and he will be missed. I was banking on him guarding Anderson on Wed., I hope Bradley and Mason can slow him down a little. Without Balbay's defensive performance in the second half on Anderson we don't win that game. He was also a big reason we won against Mich. St. by shutting down Lucas.
Several analysts and coaches throughout the season have talked about the presence Dogus has on the court defensively. They need to check some of the posts about him not being that good before they look at game tape since it is their profession and something some have done all of their lives to include play and coach the game at a very high level. They are not to the level of our fans. Good heavens people. You may not like him and you may have a very legit beef about him not being great offensively. But stout defense and tenacious work effort are two things that, imho, cannot even be debated.
I for one will sorely miss Dogus. He personifies what it means to be a Longhorn: selfless team-first attitude, relentless effort on defense and a never say die spirit. Speaking of being a true Longhorn, I have to call out Mr. Brown, who despite his ample physical skills, doesn't even come close on the mental side of this great game. How often have you seen Mr. Brown dive on the floor for a loose ball? He's quick to pat a ref on the backside as if he'd been around for a long time and were a veteran. He struts around as if he were an all american, but in truth he's done nothing to warrant his sense of entitlement and aire of superiority.. In general he puts on aires left and right, but when it comes time to deliver for his team he's no where to be found. I know he put up big numbers against KU, but that was after the game was over and Self, with an adequate lead, was happy to trade baskets until the final buzzer and told his team not to foul. Brown is basically ineffective at crunch time when we need him most. It's sad, because I had really hoped that despite his bad reputation in high school, that he would turn out to be the solid, reliable point guard that all successful Barnes teams so desperately need. So far, he's basically a delusional turn-over machine with no work ethic. A successful team at this level must be greater than the sum of its parts and the 2009 edition of Longhorns has not managed to attain that. The chemistry is not right, but why is that? Well, my theory is that someone has poisoned the well. I'm hoping things fall into place for nice run into March. It could happen, but not until these boys start playing like a band of brothers. I desperately want to like Mr. Brown, but he makes it very hard to do so. I remain hopeful, Mr. Brown, if you're listening, prove me wrong. Step up and be a Longhorn.
I think you misinterpreted what Gottlieb said. By the way, there is more to offense than just scoring such as facilitating other players scoring and taking care of the ball. Granted, Balbay was deficient at scoring, but he was the team leader in assists and the league leader in assist/turnover ratio. He also was our best player at pushing the pace, which prevents us from relying solely on our half court offense. And, I'm going to have to disagree with you about Balbay's defense. He was by far our best defender. It is not even close.
The video that plays for me is a recap of the Texas Tech game. It does not really matter. I would just be surprised if he said we will be better off now without Balbay, but maybe he did. Granted, there are some advantages to having JCB at the point, but to go from that, to we are now better off without Balbay, is just absurd.
Here is a quote by Gottlieb earlier in the season, which expresses well Barnes' struggles with this team.
^ Well, that didn't happen so far as our 3 other PGs or part-time PGs didn't make a single shot from the field. 0 for 12 on FGs, 3 for 6 on FTs, 5 assists, 3 turnovers. But, hey, we won.
