Texas Chokes Away Game To Wisconsin
by Peter Bean on Dec 29, 2007 1:23 PM CST
in Texas Longhorns Basketball
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PrintThere are losses, and there are bad losses. This qualifies as an atrocious one. Missed layups, missed free throws. Inconsistent defense. Terrible second half rebounding. Just... bad.
Kudos to Wisconsin for hanging in there and making the plays down the stretch. Honestly, we deserved to lose this one, all things considered. Still, this was painful - the 'Horns should have won that game by double digits.
My internet's been off all morning; thus, no preview or open thread. I'm spending the afternoon with my cousin before he heads home. Tonight we'll get into the details of this game, plus have some more fun with the Holiday Bowl.
--PB--
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I'm worried about Mason
He is quickly becoming the biggest disappointment of the season. Offensively, pretty much every player that's consistently in the rotation has progressed except him. His jumpshot is a nightmare. 0-7 shooting, and 0-2 FTs today. Wow. Pittman outscored him by 4.
Speaking of which, I think this game showed that Pittman can play a important role for this team. He obviously has to improve defensively. For one thing, feel free to stop going for every single shot fake. Against fast teams, he won't be playing, but against slow, big teams like Wisconsin, he's going to play and he needs to play well.
We can matchup with Wisconsin's size with a frontcourt of Pittman, Johnson, and James, with Connor starting and/or replacing Pittman/Johnson. That's four big guys to throw out there. Maybe add Wangmene if he improves his game. James and Johnson are technically undersized but both play bigger than their size.
by goingforthecorner on Dec 29, 2007 1:50 PM CST reply actions
Mason
Mason is the only guard UT has who can play good D and rebound (also the only backup at point guard for Augustin) so his offensive woes are a bit worrying. John Wooden designed his offenses so that players got shots at places on the court where they had proven they could hit the shot (i.e. built in good shot selection).
Mason needs to focus on mastering a few places on the court where he has confidence he will hit and then only shoot from those places. He needs to drive more to pick up some fouls (assuming he will solve his free throw woes). He also needs to use board more when possible. His problems are probably mainly psychological at this point.
It was encouraging to see Pittman get up and down the floor better. He still is not a leaper but now he can get off the floor the few inches he needs to stuff the ball. It is all about physical conditioning for him. It was sad to see him fall for the same fake over and over. When your opponent has not dribbled yet and fakes a shot before he dribbles, you have to stay down. that is why it is so good to fake a shot or shoot when you get the ball.
We still would have won
If not for that ridiculous charge call on DJ. That was garbage. And the referee who called it was garbage.
Highlight of the game:
"He's a man. An absolute man." -- Jay Bilas on DamJam
Gary Johnson officially cleared to play vs TCU!!
Some great news today.
I thought today's loss was instructive. finally a coach was non-stupid enough to attack Abrams and Augustin inside. At the end of the game Wisconsin was relentless in attacking Abrams and Augustin when UT was on D. If there was an offensive rebound, there was nothing Augustin and Abrams could do (they were quite close to the bucket but not jumping).
the final offensive rebound for Wisconsin showed Abrams being outhustled/outmuscled for the bound (that he should have had). I was very impressed with the Wisconsin coaching. to win on the road against UT immediately after losing their star player, was really impressive.
UT could probably have forced Wisconsin into a lot more turnovers if they pressed more but UT does not play enough players to press a lot (you can't play 37 minutes and press all game).
Gary Johnson is going to make a big difference to this team.
At the end of the game, Barnes needs to be able to make defensive substitutions to protect Augustin and Abrams but right now who would he bring in that can play great D? Not Pittman. Not Chapman. Probably Wingman. I did not see Wingman today but I missed a few minutes.
UT needs to be able to play somebody besides mason who can play some D at the guard position (at the end of the game when doing offensive/defensive tradeout at every clock stoppage).
AJ's defense
was atrocious. The last two Wisconsin baskets were on him (though Achtley should've shown more on that screen at the end).
i would've like for conner to trap
the man he was guarding wasn't gonna hit an open three
and conner had the pass back lane set
oh well
Re:
Hey BON, haven't commented in a while due to the holidays, but just wanted to put my three cents in about the game after waking up, realizing it was on (thanks to BONers!), and catching the last 13:43.
First off, as Augustin goes, so do the Longhorns. I felt this was the case last year as well (see the USC loss), and it has certainly proved more apt this year. While James was a beast, Augustin's (relative) lack of an effective dribble penetration and three point jump shot hurt.
Gary Johnson would've been perfect for this game. I'm actually surprised Barnes didn't use Pittman more; his size looked like a perfect fit when he was in. It's not like Wisconsin is a running team. Even a big body like Clint Chapman could've helped, as Connor was overpowered by Butch inside.
The lack of a bench also drew visible fatigue from the starters, something else Johnson will hopefully provide.
I thought the more egregious mistake by A.J. was going UNDER the high screen when a 3 wins the game, rather than the missed free throw.
I didn't understand the "absolute man" quote either, but I liked it.
For what it's worth, I also thought the Holiday Bowl was great. Kudos to the football team for a strong win to close out the season.
This one made me sick
Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy - we let an inferior team with a solid coach hang around and they found a way to win.
On a related subject, the officiating in this game represented everything I hate about basketball officiating. Wildly inconsistent from one end to the other, from one minute to the next. One time they're "ketting them play" as 4 players crumple into a heap on the floor, the next minute they're calling a touch foul 15 feet from the basket. The charge call on DJ was absolutely atrocious and a real game changer.
Luckily, there's no BCS in basketball. Get pissed, learn from it and move on.
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