When enough reader emails come in on topics worth exploring publicly, I'll put a post together for the site. This is one such time. As always, you can email me any time with questions or comments. I'll never use someone's full name in a post unless they explicitly okay it.

Lots of excellent points in here. First, I absolutely agree that Memphis' shine wasn't near as bright as it could (should?) have been. And I think it's interesting to wonder whether Texas prepares for this game differently if Memphis enters the Elite Eight undefeated. ESPN was already going bonkers with the undefeated jazz when Memphis played Tennessee; I can only assume the "Can Memphis run the table?" hype would have been off the charts if they'd been 37-0 heading into Sunday.

Perhaps even more interesting is the comment about Texas players apparently thinking that they could - as they had against UCLA, Kansas and Tennessee - "outrun and outgun any team in the country." As recently as Friday night, it was our ability to push the floor that eventually wore Stanford down. To whatever extent that fueled some of our strategic mistakes, it was absolutely relevant on Sunday afternoon.

With all that said, I hesitate to endorse this theory to its fullest extent for one simple reason: Memphis' utter annihilation of Michigan State on Friday night. Whatever ideas I had in my head about Texas' ability to win a track meet were completely and totally vanquished by what I saw the Tigers do on Friday night. And Andrew's live view from Reliant may have had him even more convinced than I that Texas would be in big trouble if it tried to beat Memphis at its own game.

And then think back, too, to Memphis' lone defeat on the season, to Tennessee. The Volunteers played a soft, sagging zone to protect the paint at all costs, essentially daring Memphis to beat them from three point range. Memphis hit just 8 of 27 three pointers, and the Vols survived. Add it all up and all the pregame chatter around here was centered on us not trying to Out-Memphis Memphis.

Which of course we tried to do. We inexplicably opened in man-to-man defense, we crashed the offensive boards, let Derrick Rose work the open floor, and comfortably assisted their dribble drive motion offense. Why?

Maybe you're right... maybe our big wins this season had convinced us we could.

That's actually a comment on the site, not an email, but Wells makes an excellent point that's worth discussing. And, I think, is a perfect follow up to the discussion above.

As backwards as I thought Rick's strategy was to open the game, adjustments did follow. And Memphis still controlled the Longhorns the rest of the way. Though I do think the poor start was fatal in its own way, what we saw from Memphis throughout the game was an ability to handle Texas in a variety of forms.

Even as Texas slowed Memphis from scoring at will, the struggles on offense for Texas continued. Like Kansas State and USC last season, Texas' two most important scorers (DJ and AJ) were severely disrupted by long, super-quick guards. With no real post presence to speak of, our fate rested on Augustin being able to break down Memphis with penetration. And Wells is right - that just never happened.

One more email, again from CC:

Yikes. I definitely didn't know the team missed The Eyes, and I'm with you all the way: totally unacceptable. Everyone was bitterly disappointed yesterday, but 25,000 fans came out in burnt orange to support the team on Sunday. This may be more disappointing than the loss itself.

--PB--