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Daniels Makes Four
by GhostofBigRoy
on Jul 3, 2009 12:31 PM CDT
in Recruiting
1 comment
On Thursday, coach Rick Barnes and company received a fourth commitment for the 2011 class -- DeAndre Daniels, a 6-7.5, long, lanky combo forward from Woodland Hills, CA. Once again, Rick Barnes gains another commitment from a talented wing player and takes a further step in assuring that Texas basketball will keep opposing coaches awake at nigh attempting to deal with the match-up nightmare that will be created on the perimeter.
Once again, the one year that Kevin Durant spent playing basketball at Texas pays dividends in recruiting, as it has for almost every wing that has committed since KD was sinking buckets on the 40 Acres. Durant helped set the stage for a new Longhorn era of long, versatile frontcourt perimeter athletes that will include Jordan Hamilton, Daniel Bejarano, Tristan Thompson, Sheldon McClellan, and, now, Daniels, who was pursued by many of the top programs in the country, including Kentucky (how did Worldwide Wes not get to him?).
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2011 B-Ball Recruit Commits ($)
According to Orangebloods, Rick Barnes and Co. picked up a commitment from 2011 prospect, DeAndre Daniels who attends Taft High School in Woodland Hills, CA. Daniels is listed as a small forward at 6-8
Rivals ranks him #41 on their 2011 prosect list.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pYeodW8m-8
1 day ago
Hookem4life84
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Morning Coffee Hits the Ground Running
by GhostofBigRoy
on Jul 2, 2009 7:00 AM CDT
in Recruiting
20 comments
Breaking into the film room: Malcolm Brown. Two interesting facts about the Malcolm Brown video on Rivals. One, even though the film is broken into two sections, both videos show the same play. Redundant. Second, the free video on YouTube begins with two incredible plays that Rivals doesn't have at all. Do they put any effort into acquiring film for their paying members? It appears not. End rant.
Brown is often noted for his physical style of running, actually quite similar to the punishment Vondrell McGee used to mete out to defenders while at Longview that earned him the nickname of "Bulldozer." Perhaps Brown is "Bulldozer Redux" then, or "Bulldozer Deuce." I think I like the second one better. In any case, the *free* YouTube video(see below) provides ample demonstration of Brown's physicality with the football, while Rivals shows little of it (guess I wasn't totally done with my Rivals rant). Listed at an even six feet, Brown is probably closer to 5-10 or 5-11 and honestly appeared shorter than me (I'm 5-11) when I walked by him at the spring game. How tall he really is doesn't matter that much, especially for a running back -- the important part is that he has a low center of gravity and runs with excellent pad level, both attributes that make him difficult to tackle.
In fact, arm tackles simply don't seem to do the trick with Brown, who slips right through them easily. It's truly hard to overemphasize his uncanny ability to break tackles. As mentioned before, it's his center of gravity and pad level that help him break all those tackles, but his balance and the strength of his legs are equally impressive -- there's little doubt from his film that he can already put up some impressive weight on the squat. He fights hard to extra yardage and finishes his runs extremely well -- Brown possesses more than a little of the Marion Barber desire to turn the insides of defenders into mush.
The main rap on Brown is that he doesn't have the explosive breakaway speed of Lache Seastrunk or Aaron Green. Of course, when making those comparisons it's easy to forget that few players possess the elite speed of the two aforementioned athletes. When considered as his own player, Brown has plenty of speed and explosiveness, certainly enough to run in the 4.5 range, though 40 times are hard to come by for Brown. He certainly doesn't get caught by anyone from behind in any of his video, which is somewhat to be expected for a player as highly-regarded as Brown, but still speaks to his speed being far from a weakness.
Perhaps most impressive is that he's not the type of speedster willing to give up momentum in an effort to juke defenders. A true between-the-tackles runner, Brown doesn't want to break everything outside, the major criticism of Lache Seastrunk -- he makes only the necessary cuts at speed and has very good feet, taking the yardage available, then gaining a few more by refusing to go down easily on first contact. When he needs a little extra burst, it's available and if he continues to work hard on his speed and explosiveness over his next two years of high school, there might be some improvement left to make.
(Video after the jump...)
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Bevo's Daily Roundup - July 2, 2009
by dimecoverage
on Jul 1, 2009 8:48 PM CDT
in News
16 comments
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Further 2010 Texas Baseball Thoughts
by GhostofBigRoy
on Jul 1, 2009 10:00 AM CDT
in Baseball
10 comments
In further contemplating my thoughts from the other day about next year's version of the Texas baseball Longhorns, some notable absences and glaring omissions became apparent. The purpose of this post is to tie up some of those loose ends as much as possible -- of course, all of this is pure speculation and many of these questions will not satisfactorily be answered until the deadline for drafted players signing contracts passes, fall baseball, and, for most of them, until the season starts many months from now.
Even though it is so long until the next baseball season, the pure potential of the team is extremely exciting, and, hey, it's the off-season, so why not talk about it...
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Morning Coffee Tries To Help You Through the Off-season
by GhostofBigRoy
on Jun 30, 2009 7:00 AM CDT
in Recruiting
5 comments
Pleasant-ly surprising. Power forwards who are 6-5 and can throw down thunderous dunks in traffic aren't exactly a dime a dozen, but that one skill alone isn't enough to draw the attention of major-college programs around the country, especially being undersized for the position. Football players who are 6-5 and can run 4.56 40s, on the other hand, are pretty rare and sure to draw the attention of coaches all over the country. They are also far from undersized.
Atascocita's Everett Pleasant loves basketball, but is quickly realizing just how valuable his talents on the football field make him. He attended the second Texas summer camp ($) and wowed coaches with his speed while lining up at tight end. Kid is the second coming of Jermichael Finley and even though he needs to add weight to his 215-pound frame to play tight end in college, he's a prototypical tight end for the Texas offense. If Atascocita struggles to throw the ball again this season as much as they did last year, Pleasant may not put up eye-popping numbers, but his recruitment will be more about talent and projection than pure numbers.
Considering the recent dearth of talent at the position in Texas, Pleasant is a virtual lock to receive an offer and may end up being one of the top targets in the class. In fact, there are few potential game-changers at tight end in 2011 once again and the current top tight end in the state, Chris Barnett, doesn't seem particularly interested in the Longhorns, even though his older brother Eryon will play football at Texas. That means that the lack of other options makes Pleasant even more valuable and the good news for the Longhorns is that Pleasant loves the football program ($) and has no other current gridiron favorites. He would love to play basketball at UConn, but it's becoming increasingly apparent that football is the sport with the tremendously bright future for Pleasant.
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BON Exclusive: PL Lindley Interview
by GhostofBigRoy
on Jun 29, 2009 3:09 PM CDT
in Recruiting
11 comments
In doing research for my early looks at the top players in the 2011 class, I noticed that there wasn't a lot of information out there about Round Rock Stony Point linebacker PL Lindley. His father came across the website and was nice enough to link to more information about his son. After viewing his impressive film and hearing about his strong performance at the second Texas summer camp, I decided to request an interview to get more information out there about the talented junior-to-be and PL was kind enough to take the time.
Lindley started every game at linebacker for state semi-finalist Stony Point, an impressive feat for the 6-3, 210-pound sophomore. During that campaign he made 61 tackles, including 43 solo, along with three sacks, three quarterback pressures, and three pass break-ups, good enough for second-team All-District and a spot on the 5A Texas Football All-Sophomore Defense team. His sophomore season was strong enough to earn Lindley an early verbal offer from SMU. Possessing prototypical outside linebacker size and speed, Lindley has been timed in the 4.5s in the 40 and has a 35-inch vertical. Besides looking the part of a collegiate linebacker, Lindley is also a Mack Brown-type of student-athlete, earning a 3.8 GPA and plans to major in Computer Technology.
My conversation with PL Lindley is after the jump.
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Bevo's Daily Roundup - June 29, 2009
by dimecoverage
on Jun 28, 2009 8:23 PM CDT
in News
62 comments
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Big Twelve Conference Standings
(updated 4.2.2009 at 9:13 PM CDT)
| Conf | Overall | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
Kansas Jayhawks
|
14 | 2 | 27 | 8 |
|
Oklahoma Sooners
|
13 | 3 | 30 | 6 |
|
Missouri Tigers
|
12 | 4 | 31 | 7 |
|
Texas A&M Aggies
|
9 | 7 | 24 | 10 |
|
Texas Longhorns
|
9 | 7 | 23 | 12 |
| Oklahoma St. Cowboys | 9 | 7 | 23 | 12 |
|
Kansas St. Wildcats
|
9 | 7 | 22 | 12 |
|
Nebraska Cornhuskers
|
8 | 8 | 18 | 13 |
| Baylor Bears | 5 | 11 | 24 | 15 |
|
Iowa St. Cyclones
|
4 | 12 | 15 | 17 |
|
Texas Tech Red Raiders
|
3 | 13 | 14 | 19 |
|
Colorado Buffaloes
|
1 | 15 | 9 | 22 |
Certain photos copyright © 2009 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
