Basically we have one true shooter, AJ who unfortunately has been down of late.
Outside of him we have a bunch of “big men” who aren’t sure what postition they play.

-Pittman has improved, but still has shoddy footwork and poor conditioning. He’s also a foul machine. He bites on fakes and gets caught in the air way too often. As tall as he is, he never needs to jump to contest a shot.

-Gary Johnson has been impressive all year. His work down low is generally good, but is more finess than bruising, taking fade aways and high jumpers. He is high energy and an asset in regards to rebounding.

-Connor Atchley, who has never played like a big man has really fallen off since last year. Without DJ’s playmaking ability, Atchley is reduced to a decent shotblocker/rebounder.

-Justin Mason has been decent at PG, but has never been a weapon on offense outside of an occasional drive to the hoop. He’s probably the best passer on the team, but he (as well as everyone else) can’t consistently make an entry pass. He’s very good on defense an usually comes to play.

-Dogus Balbay can’t shoot. He just can’t. Not only can’t he shoot, he refuses too. He is very fast and fluid moving with the ball but rarely drives to the basket. When he does he is looking to dish. He’s made some layups but just doesn’t seem to have confidence shooting or driving inside. He’s a good passer and above average defender.

-Varez Ward looks a lot like Mason as far as his gameplay. He defendes well and seems to be a smooth passer and dribbler. His shooting is limited. He drives but is often caught for the charge foul. This is sort of a rookie trait, but still, he’s 16 games in.

-Damion James is good and I still believe he has a pro future but it’s been 3 years in the program and I think we’ve seen his ceiling. A lot of us had visions of a driving penetrating force taking it too the hoop and finding ways to get his own shot. As it is he’s a sketchy perimeter shooter and good but not dominating inside the paint. He is a good finisher at the hoop but his passing is absolutely atrocious as it has been since he’s been a longhorn. When he gets the ball on the perimeter and has no shot, you can bet his pass is getting picked off unless AJ, Justin or Dogus come to bail him out.

-Matt Hill is roster filler at this point, offering nothing on offense and fouls to give on defense. At least he ditched the fro.

-Harrison Smith is a "volumeshooter " apparently because he never gets PT. Why is he even on scholarship if we were never gonna use him.

This team is disjointed. The defense is good no doubt about it, but the offense is hit or miss. We have lots of big bodies who like to play finesse, and we have guards who can’t shoot a high % or have no self confidence. This team can still grow but the passion just isnt apparent. Im not looking for Tim Tebow chest pounding but leadership seems to be a problem.

Their is a lack of cohesiveness and the offensive game plan seems to be:
-Mason/Balbay bring up the ball
-look for the man in the post
-give up on the post man because he doesn’t move his body well enough
-make some perimeter passes in hopes of get something open inside
-try to drive but retreat back to the perimeter
-let AJ chuck a three and hope he makes it

so i don’t have too much insight to add.

But one thing that I kept thinking when I was watching the early part of the game when we had something like…10 turnovers and no basket for 5 minutes? Yeah, well I don’t remember the specifics, but I remember being so amazed that we were only down by like 8-11 points during this stretch. Couldn’t really believe how OU didn’t run away with this one right from the beginning lol. I mean, I wasn’t able to watch the whole game but we apparently got within 4 points?

Anyways, for a while now I had been feeling that our team was ranked too high. There have been flashes of greatness and we’ve picked up some really nice wins with UCLA, Villanova, and Wisconsin was it? But at the same time, there has been absolutely no consistency.

Oh well, good thing about basketball is that there are a lot of games to be played. We get a shot at redemption against the Sooners a little bit down the line; might work out better for us this way as we all know by now, you get screwed more when you lose later in the season! :P

They don’t have an identity. On one side of the coin is a big bold imprint of defense; on the other it’s blank. Nada.

Like busting in on a bunch of kids raising a ruckus, I wanna scream “What in the fuck is going on, you little two-bit fartknockers?”

We’re half way through the season and fans are getting more disgusted by the minute. We seem a long, long way from UCLA. Our #1 shooter can’t shoot, our #2 shooter can’t shoot, our de facto point guard can’t shoot, our center misses unbelievable shots and the one guy who really helped us last year is missing in action. WTF.

I’d rather have Chief Broom and four loonies…at least I’d know what I have.

So, switch DaMo back to a 2; he can play that. Put Connor at three, but with plenty of bench time. Tell GJ he must have a 2:1 shot to pass ratio or else. Tell Dex to jam everything regardless. Put Dogus on the point and tell him he must score 10+ a game or we’re shipping him to Greece. Put Mason back at SG and forget about him, like last year. Put AJ on the bench til he beat his shooting devil; this is his senior year and there’s no shooting your way out of a slump,he’s had his 50+ shots. Tell him when he’s in, you hit or else.

Seeing how Rick didn’t Install a semblance of an offense this year, install next years offense in July.

rant over.

I’m not as down on the horns as most. I know they work their asses off (you don’t play great D without working hard) and all I expect from a player is effort.

The offensive scheme is poor but I know coaching offense is not Barnes’ strong point (nobody is perfect) and there is no experienced point guard on the team, so I was prepared for some ragged play this season. My hope is that the offensive scheme improves as the season progresses. Barnes should hire an offensive coordinator. He does great at most things (winning, scheduling, running a class program, recruiting, physical development of players, honesty, etc) but he is not so great as an offensive schemer.

Selecting the point guard is a tough choice for Barnes. He has 3 contenders who are pretty close to one another in ability and experience. Balbay played pretty well against OU, maybe he is the one. It is going to be tough to bench Mason but his outside shot (even a free throw) is just terrible. Mason has the college experience but not much experience as a PG. Balbay has the PG experience but not much experience in college ball. Ward is pretty good, too, but is not standing head and shoulders above Mason and Balbay.

What I predict is that Mason gets one more start but is pulled quickly for Balbay if Mason’s play does not improve.