Texas Basketball Report, v 2.7

by Peter Bean on Feb 26, 2009 9:51 AM CST in Basketball Comment 20 comments

In this week's report:

Texas Tech game recap
A macro look at Texas' defensive struggles
Race for the Big 12 postseason

(1) TEXAS HOLDS OFF TECH, 87-81

Though Texas Tech (12-16, 2-11) led the Longhorns 43-38 at half and battled Texas right down to the wire, we're moving into that time of the year when all wins -- even particularly sloppy ones -- are happy results. The win improves Rick Barnes' squad to 19-8 on the season and 8-5 in conference play, now a full game ahead of Kansas State (74-94 losers at Missouri tonight) for fourth place in the standings. (The Big 12's top four regular season finishers receive a first-round bye in the post-season tournament.)

While Texas will gladly pocket the victory, tonight the team's defensive struggles continued. The Red Raiders managed 43 first half points thanks to 6-10 three point shooting, and shot nearly 50% on field goals for the game. The Longhorns did a poor job stopping John Roberson's penetration, were frequently slow closing out on Tech's perimeter shooters, and flirted with a single game NCAA record for most head fake-induced fly-bys. Credit to the Red Raiders, who from the opening tip made clear they intended to compete, building the halftime lead behind a truly impressive performance by junior guard Nick Okorie.

Though in the second half Texas didn't fully stomp out the Red Raiders, the Longhorns aggressively amped up their intensity on both ends of the floor. Defensively, there were still lapses in transition defense and a frustrating number of loose balls which the Longhorns failed to snag, but Texas did a markedly better job playing man-to-man against Tech's halfcourt sets, staying with and in front of their backourt players. The 'Horns adjustments on offense were even more stark, with exceptional results. After a disheartening and seemingly directionless first half on offense, Texas emerged from halftime with clear purpose: After shooting 9 first-half three point shots (making only 2), Texas cut the attempts down to 5 in the second half, as each and every player made concerted efforts to attack the Red Raiders off the dribble and around the rim. The physically outmatched Raiders couldn't stop Texas without fouling and the 'Horns secured for themselves 25 second half free throw attempts, of which they made 19.

Of particular importance, for the second straight game Damion James put his freakish athleticism to productive use down on the post blocks. With his long range jump shot MIA all year and mid-range game too inconsistent to overuse, James has of late returned to the small forward position with which he's most comfortable. Tonight, James finished just 4-10 from the field, bu he racked upt a whopping 15 free throws (12 made) en route to an outstanding 20 point, 11 rebound, 3 assist, 0 turnover, 3 block, 1 steal game.

Elsewhere, Dogus Balbay turned in his second-straight career high in points, his 11 points one better than the 10 scored Saturday versus Oklahoma. And AJ Abrams (24 points, 4-9 on threes), though decidedly cooler tonight than when we last saw him, for the most part did a good job taking scoring looks that were available, with only two or three truly regrettable shot selections from long-range. For the cherry on top, Clint Chapman -- who logged a career high 22 minutes with Gary Johnson out on a bad ankle -- played once again with improved intensity and confidence, chipping in 7 points on the evening.

All told, while the win fell somewhere well short of impressive, the Longhorns on offense accomplished something they could not just three weeks ago against Nebraska -- win a game by asserting themselves consistently and coherently against a physically outmatched opponent. More on that below.

(2) HERE COMES THE OFFENSE! (THERE GOES THE DEFENSE)

In hindsight, Texas' 78-72 road win over Baylor created something of a mirage. Dogus Balbay for the first time impacted a game with sustained contributions and the Longhorns' offense exploded for 50 second half points (many coming in transition). Despite no-shows from Gary Johnson (fouls) and Damion James (wretched shooting), Texas managed to pick up what looked like a potentially corner-turning win on the road over what we thought was a very solid Baylor team.

Wrong. Way, way wrong. As it turned out, Baylor proved to be embarking on a season-ending nosedive, while the Longhorns immediately dropped three straight contests of their own -- back-to-back home games against Kansas State and Missouri, followed by a road tilt at Nebraska. What I prematurely characterized as Balbay's Baylor breakout turned out to be a one-hit wonder, with forgettable encores against KSU (14 minutes, 1 point, 1 assist), Missouri (2 minutes, 0 points, 0 assists), and Nebraska (26 minutes, 1 point, 2 assists). When the final buzzer sounded in Lincoln, the Texas team which walked off the court had managed an embarrassing 26 points of second half offense. Losers of three straight, the team suddenly seemed as vulnerable to total collapse as it had two weeks prior seemed poised for a surge. Sitting down to write the preview for the team's next game against Oklahoma State felt like trying to take seriously a film review session for a youth tee ball league. The Longhorns appeared to be that lost -- certainly on offense.

What did the Longhorns do next? As has been the hallmark of this team, they completely reversed course, running Oklahoma State out of the Erwin Center behind a 99-point offensive outburst. Dogus Balbay got the starting nod and started attacking the rim with newfound purpose, racking up 10 points and 7 assists, his dribble penetration creating lay ups for himself or open space in which his teammates could thrive. So welcome a surprise was Texas' offensive explosion, we all but ignored the team's merely adequate defense. And later in the week, when the 'Horns barely escaped Boulder with an overtime win, there simply wasn't much hand-wringing about Texas' second-straight mediocre defensive performance. It wasn't until two days later, following Texas' dismal performance on Big Monday in College Station, that we began to notice and pay attention to the sudden devolution in defense.

Fast forward to today, and this season has produced yet another layer of discontinuity atop an already up-and-down season. To get an idea of the complete 180 that's taken place, take a look at Texas' advanced stats since the Baylor game:

Data courtesy KenPom.com					Offense					Defense
Date	Opponent	Result	Site	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TO%	OR%	FTR	Eff.	eFG%	TO%	OR%	FTR
Sat Jan 31	Kansas St. (sked)	L, 85-81	H	76	94.7	44.4	23.4	35.9	61.9	99.3	45.6	18.7	36.2	51.5
Wed Feb 4	Missouri (sked)	L, 69-65	H	69	94.5	44.9	21.8	35.3	33.9	100.3	48.4	10.2	28.2	31.1
Sat Feb 7	Nebraska (sked)	L, 58-55	A	59	93.5	45.9	27.2	39.1	28.6	98.6	45.0	17.0	32.8	38.0
Tue Feb 10	Oklahoma St. (sked)	W, 99-74	H	72	137.9	62.9	9.8	28.6	53.5	103.1	59.8	23.7	12.0	54.4
Sat Feb 14	Colorado (sked)	W, 85-76	A	61	124.5	63.0	16.1	34.4	51.9	111.3	54.3	22.0	27.4	61.7
Mon Feb 16	Texas A&M (sked)	L, 81-66	A	63	104.8	46.5	23.8	52.9	32.8	128.6	55.3	15.9	48.4	36.8
Sat Feb 21	Oklahoma (sked)	W, 73-68	H	66	111.4	50.8	12.2	35.7	13.8	103.8	50.8	21.4	34.7	13.1
Wed Feb 25	Texas Tech (sked)	W, 87-81	H	69	126.2	48.3	14.5	52.0	74.1	117.5	56.9	17.4	36.1	36.2

Bizarre, isn't it? No sooner does Texas turn a corner with the offense, when the defense falls apart. (At this point, the only consistent thing about this season has been the inconsistency, to such a degree that I'm having to strain not to conclude fatefully about Texas' upcoming game in Stillwater: "unwatchable collapse.")

Moving beyond fears of this season producing still more warning-less pendulum swings, I don't think it unreasonable to view optimistically Texas' recent trend. The biggest concern about this Texas team has been that there never would arrive an offensive breakthrough. Though the players are both athletic and (until recently) defensive-minded enough to make the team a good one (even a dangerous one, in any given game), the offense has been so prone to prolonged periods of ineptitude so as to preclude realistically hoping for postseason success.

At long last, not only is this team demonstrating meaningful signs of offensive progress, but I don't believe the accompanying slip on defense should be seen equally troubling as were/are protracted offensive slumps. For starters, I suspect some of the recent defensive slippage is a direct result of the all-hands-on-deck emergency that was the Texas offense after Lincoln. Not only do I imagine Rick Barnes was spending most of his practice capital on offensive issues, but also that urgency to rescue the offense could have carried over with the players a bit to the games. Second, though at the collegiate level a lot goes into excellent team defense, it remains the case that a significant part of the equation is good ol' hard work, hustle, and concentration. To the extent players are better able to "turn it on" defensively than offensively, a lapse in the former is easier to cure. And finally, it is a different, more navigable challenge to reclaim an old skill than to learn a new one. Texas has been an above-average defensive team for most of the season, a fact which only assuages my concerns.

The offense, of course, is a ways from proving anything just yet, but the improvement is real. Should Texas continue to maintain and improve upon its recent elevated offensive play, while kicking things back up a notch on defense....

We'll see.

(3) BIG 12 STANDINGS AND RACE FOR THE BYES

TEAM	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3
1. Kansas (12-1)	MU	@ TECH	TX
2. Oklahoma (11-2)	@ TECH	@ MU	OSU
3. Missouri (11-2)	@ KU	OU	@ A&M
4. Texas (8-5)	@ OSU	BU	@ KU
5. Kansas St (7-6)	NEB	@ OSU	CU
6. Oklahoma St (7-6)	TX	KSU	@ OU
7. Texas A&M (6-7)	ISU	@ CU	MU
8. Nebraska (6-7)	@ KSU	ISU	@ BU
9. Baylor (4-9)	CU	@ TX	NEB
10. Iowa St (3-10)	@ A&M	@ NEB	TECH
11. Texas Tech (2-11	OU	KU	@ ISU
12. Colorado (1--12)	@ BU	A&M	@ KSU

If before now you were unsure just how big a game is Texas' Saturday trip to Stillwater, you are now. Assuming Texas can hold serve against Baylor next Monday, the path to 10 conference wins includes a win at either Gallagher-Iba or Allen Fieldhouse, two of the nastiest places in the entire country for opposing teams to win.

Looking at the schedule, nine wins probably won't cut it for Texas: Kansas State, with seven wins and two winnable home games to come, should get to 9-7 and own the tiebreak with Texas thanks to their head-to-head win. With a win Saturday, Oklahoma State's chance of getting to nine wins also look good, potentially throwing Texas into a tiebreak scenario. It's not inconceivable that A&M or Nebraska could get to nine, as well. A nine-win Texas team would win tiebreaks with A&M and OSU, but not Nebraska or Kansas State. A win Saturday against the surging Cowboys would make me feel a whole lot better.

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Comments

James definitely neesd to post up more

but I’m guessing we’re not going to see much of it once Johnson comes back.

I probably overrated our defense. It’s sickening to see guards have career games against us over and over again. I thought Mason and Ward could be shut-down defenders, but they’re not. They’re decent defenders that work hard. In general, we have to stop going for every damn shot fake.

by goingforthecorner on Feb 26, 2009 10:08 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Offensive/Defensive efficiency

Looking at the numbers on KenPom’s website, offensive efficiency is much more highly correlated with winning games for Texas this season than is defensive efficiency. Six of our eight losses have been in the six worst offensive efficiency games of the season and only twice have we played decently on offense and lost (Notre Dame and at A&M). We played with mediocre to bad defense all season long and still won many of those games (namely, Okie State, OU, at Wisconsin, at Colorado, Texas Southern, and Texas Tech). We’ve actually won three of our four worst defensive efficiency games this season.

Thus it makes sense that the turnaround happened when the offense picked it up, even though it came at the expense of some defensive efficiency. That’s a tradeoff I’m willing to take. But of course, this team can’t get far if they’re incapable of playing both offense and defense in the same game. And I’m afraid that I don’t completely share your optimism, PB, about it getting better this season and the reason, sadly, is Balbay.

The problem with having Balbay and Abrams on the court on defense is the inverse problem of having both Mason and Ward on the floor on offense. Neither Mason nor Ward is particularly productive on the offensive end, often leaving the other team playing 5 on 3. On defense, however, those two make the team much better. Balbay is not nearly as good a defender as either one of those guys, despite his obvious athleticism. Him being on the floor with Abrams means we have 2 very mediocre defenders on the perimeter so we can’t just hide them somewhere. The team is better with Balbay and Abrams on the floor, however, because the two of them have such different roles on the offensive end and they complement each other so well, whereas Ward and Mason have more or less the same role. That, I think, is why the added offensive efficiency brought by Balbay being on the floor has resulted in this winning trend despite the fact that his presence has a negative effect on the defensive end.

But unless Balbay becomes a much better defender in the next few weeks, I don’t see this team improving enough on defense (while maintaining this heightened level of offense) to make any sort of a run. If the personnel was still the same, I would agree with your assessment that it’s just been a renewed focus on offense and that these guys could regain their defensive swagger from earlier in the season. But the personnel has changed (for the better overall) and I don’t see this team regaining its earlier defensive presence this year.

by billyzane on Feb 26, 2009 10:37 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Balbay

Is he not good at playing team defense? Because to me it has always seemed that his quickness has allowed him to stay with most people. I always thought he was a great defender, but my basketball IQ is nowhere near anyone else here

by Egonz on Feb 26, 2009 12:06 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

He's good at staying in front of his man off the dribble.

Because he’s very athletic and quick. He does that better than either Ward or especially Mason. He just either has mental lapses on the defensive end or helps inside way too much, to the detriment of his perimeter defense. Whenever I watch him defending off the ball, he’s always lagging off of his man looking for a steal or something. Then, when his man gets a pass on the perimeter, he’s not in position to do anything. He’s also not good at staying with his man off the ball because he’s always looking around at where the ball is and often loses a step because of that.

So I should have been more specific and said that he’s a good on-ball defender and a bad off-ball defender. Mason has the exact opposite strengths, though he’s a better on-ball defender than Balbay is an off-ball defender. Ward seems to be pretty well balanced.

by billyzane on Feb 26, 2009 12:34 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I agree with your point on Balbay

the defensive recognition just isn’t there and he compounds that with fouling far, far from the basket by consistently doing small stupid things to draw whistles. As for Abrams, he is much improved defensively and has a tough assignment chasing the opponents’ best off-the-ball player. He did have a couple of lapses last night against Tech, but overall he has been far and away better than the player who, as a freshman and sophomore, defended about as well as could a wisp of smoke.

by GhostofBigRoy on Feb 26, 2009 3:53 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

A few replies

1) I’m not the least bit surprised the turnaround came when the offense came to life, as intimated in the post. Our continued discomfort with this team wasn’t going to cease unless/until the offense elevated a notch or two. (Thus my Balbay manifesto, starting all the way back in November.)

2) If I’m reading you right (and Jimmer as well below), it sounds like you’re saying that it’s not accidental that Texas’ defense has slipped as Balbay’s minutes have increased. That’s entirely plausible and you may be right. And the timing roughly works, making it as tidy an explanation as we could hope for. But I have to confess that prior to your note I only briefly considered (and maybe too hastily dismissed) the theory, at least as you seem to be offering it (i.e. Balbay himself isn’t playing very good defense). I did consider a bit more whether something in the way that Balbay plays offensively has a net-negative effect on the team’s defense — it’s night and day having someone who can and does fly around the court with the ball as soon as possession changes.

I won’t pretend I can say definitively whether either or both of those theories is correct. My feeling, though, is that neither is quite right. As for Balbay himself, I think he’s a much better defender than you’re giving him credit for, though I have to admit that I’ve been so tuned in to watching closely our offense that my evaluation is more an impression than firm analysis. But my impression is different than yours. I’ll be watching closely heading forward, both as to Balbay’s actual defense and any possible effects his presence might have on the team defense as a whole. In the meantime, after just glancing at the season box score, I see some statistical confirmation of my general impressions. Balbay leads the team in steals per minute and is up there with Damion James (both behind Atchley) in blocks per minute. The KenPom scouting report page cofirms on a per-possession basis (more than double V-Ward’s steal rate, and 50% better block rate).

Anyway, the box score can’t tell us the whole story, but I wanted to respond with my impression of Balbay’s defense, which is that he’s been good — not great or anything, but certainly good enough that I don’t share your take on the explanation for the dip in DE.

3) Though I did spend some time discussing why I preferred the struggling defense problem to the struggling offense, I will note for the record that I’m somewhere short of “optimistic” that this team is going to put things together in the way that it would take to be Sweet 16 team. My big point today was that there was no chance at all Texas could get there with the offense lagging behind; if it’s now the defense, however… well, that’s not the same nail in the coffin. For the reasons I laid out, as well as what you said so well in your comment above.

Unfortunately, though the team truly appears to be turning the corner on offense, I see a pretty wide gap still between where we are and where we’ll need to be to beat a team that locks down AJ Abrams. It’s gonna happen, and either we develop to the point where the offense runs very smoothly without AJ as a factor, or we’re going to wind up alternating between awkward halfcourt droughts and, when he gets frustrated, poor AJ shot selection.

Winning on the road Saturday would be a real sign that we’re in striking distance of something formidable. Gonna be fun to watch.

--PB--

by Peter Bean on Feb 26, 2009 12:34 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

The “Balbay offense has a negative effect on the defense even though Balbay himself is playing good defense” theory is entirely viable depending on what you think of Balbay’s defense, but it ultimately leads to the same result as my theory, which is that previous defensive efficiency cannot be regained because the team itself has changed, not just the team’s focus. I know you realize this, but I just wanted to spell it out a bit more. I suppose learning to play good team defense along with this new offense is possible, but (as you say) it’s harder to learn a new skill than to regain an old one.

As I said in my reply to Egonz’s comment above, my thoughts on Balbay’s defense are a bit more nuanced than I presented them in my initial comment. He defends well on-the-ball, but he’s constantly out of position off the ball. From watching him when his man doesn’t have the ball, it always seems like he’s lagging off of him to try to make a play on the ball, whether it be a steal or a block. And that observation fits in well with the statistics showing how good he is at getting steals and blocks. The question is whether those statistics are a net positive for the defense given how out of position they seem to make him on the perimeter. I tend to think not. But it’s entirely reasonable to think so.

by billyzane on Feb 26, 2009 12:49 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Who knows how many points we've given up due to Balbay's defense

But I don’t think it’s as bad as you might be suggesting. I think the recent bad defensive performances is more about the whole team’s mentality than one single player. If we decided to start Mason from here on out, I don’t see our overall defensive efficiency changing that much, so that’s why I don’t think starting Balbay had a big effect on that.

Compared to non-conference, we don’t force as many turnovers and we are poor in transition. I agree with PB in that perhaps Barnes is paying much more attention to offense in practices, which leads to a more lax attitude on D. I think come tournament time, I expect our D to step it up a notch.

by goingforthecorner on Feb 26, 2009 2:12 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

What I don't understand is why/how the defense is magically going to reappear.

Something fundamental changed with this team several games ago that made them better on offense and simultaneously worse on defense. This coincided with Balbay starting and getting a lot more playing time. That’s not necessarily a causal relationship, but it’s certainly correlative. I don’t know for sure whether it’s Balbay’s defense or the pace of the offense or Barnes focusing more on offense in practice, but something fundamental changed. It wasn’t just the team practicing offense more; Balbay happened, which was a fundamental change in personnel.

And I don’t understand how exactly you get the defense back without simultaneously giving back the offensive gains. If the defense does turn around, I think it’s going to have to be by learning to play with the new personnel and scheme, not by regaining whatever defensive prowess we had earlier this year when they were playing with different players and a different scheme on the other end of the floor. And as PB said, the former is harder to do than the latter.

by billyzane on Feb 26, 2009 2:28 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Agree 100%

Unless some other factor is involved that hasn’t been mentioned (and it may well be), the offensive improvement and drop in defensive efficiency has coincided with Balbay’s increase in minutes. The eFG% of the last five opponents all top 50% which isn’t Rick Barnes basketball and it’s not like Tech, A&M, and Colorado have all-world offenses.

And I also agree with your analysis about why that’s the case. It’s less his individual ability and more of how he fits in with the team defense, which isn’t very well.

by DoubleB on Feb 26, 2009 3:03 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

It's a lack of understanding

Players who get hot aren’t being run off the three-point line because their defenders aren’t aware enough of how they have been shooting. For some reason, the team has been giving up more dribble penetration, which I partly attribute to the continued ankle problems that Justin Mason suffers from. How many times has he had to limp off the court since he tweaked it against K-State? In my recollection, nearly every game. Remember the blow by from who-the-f-was-it at the end of the Nebraska game? That shouldn’t happen and I blame it on the ankle. Mason just hasn’t been himself defensively and that has a huge impact.

by GhostofBigRoy on Feb 26, 2009 3:58 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Remember the K-State game?

Frank Martin took Clemente off the ball and started running him off screens and about that time Balbay did exactly what BZ was saying — he helped off Clemente for some reason and he got an open look. Then Clemente starting using those screens and hit another two shots with Balbay on him. That was a huge swing and had Balbay been aware of slowing Clemente down, it might have helped limit the offensive explosion that followed, as Clemente had no reason to feel poorly about anything.

by GhostofBigRoy on Feb 26, 2009 3:56 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I'll be watching

And hoping not to see that our offensive kingmaker isn’t precipitating a defensive downfall.

That would… suck.

--PB--

by Peter Bean on Feb 26, 2009 2:16 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

2" change

I think Balbay’s defense is solid, except that he closes out late sometimes. His fouls that are far from the basket can be fixed.

I just thought our average height changed with the personnel swap and that could have something to do with the shift in defensive efficiency. That length could be the difference between hands in the face on a jumpshot or giving up a couple extra offensive rebounds a game.

Average Height
6’ 2.8" (AJ, Mason, James, Gary, Dogus)
vs.
6’ 4.8" (AJ, Mason, James, Gary, Dexy/Atch)

Whatever the cause, it needs to improve.

by jimmer on Feb 26, 2009 4:06 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Balbay starting

Balbay starting, consequently moving James to the 4, gives us a lot smaller line-up, no? We now have 3 defenders 6’2" or under for our oponents to shoot over or post up inside (AJ, Mason, Ward, Balbay). We still go big sometimes, but maybe our smaller line-up offers up easier shots for our opponents whose eFG% has been quite high, b/c of the 3-pt. basket I assume.

Nice to see Chappy with back-to-back solid performances.

I sure hope we can beat OSU this weekend. Having to get a win @Kansas to get to 10 wins just sounds awful.

Hook ’em!

by jimmer on Feb 26, 2009 11:41 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Agree

I agree with Jimmer and BZ. Balbay’s insertion into the starting lineup has made Texas a lot smaller. Connor and Gary were our starting frontline with Dexter in there as well. Now, we are starting Gary (when healthy) and Damion. The shot blocking ability is diminished as is our defensive rebounding presence.

I also agree with BZ’s more descriptive analysis of Balbay’s defense. On the ball, he is very good and uses his quickness and strength to disrupt the rhythm of perimeter players. However, he does gamble a lot and tries to block too many jump shots. Consequently, he picks up fouls—way too many fouls for a starting point guard in my opinion. For as much as it might be nice to block a 15 ft jump shot, the risk/reward is not there. If he gets called for a foul, our defense sends our opponents to the line and our offense falls apart—think at Texas A&M. Balbay is one of many Longhorns who needs to work on playing defense without fouling. And, as can be argued by our recent offensive improvements, his presence on the court is maybe the most important on the team moving forward.

--AW--

by awiggo on Feb 26, 2009 5:39 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Chapman with back to back solid performances?

I don’t know what career you are in or will be in, but please hire me to work for you.

-rBr-

by run Bevo run on Feb 26, 2009 5:59 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

it's relative

i would say he played a lot better in the last two games than he has. he gave us important minutes in the OU game.

by jimmer on Feb 26, 2009 9:18 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Chapman’s performance in the Texas Tech game was perhaps the most consistently solid of his career. It’s not exactly a secret that Chapman struggles to do anything consistently well on the basketball court, or even string together several different skills to form a solid performance. The only blatant mistake that he had was when he was matched up against Singletary and got taken to the basket. Ricky B was pretty quick at that point to let him now that he has to beat Singletary to a spot and that spot isn’t the free throw line. Other than that, Chapman was surprisingly effective, with a steal and finish, an and-one finish topped by…a made free throw! An incredible play that raised his percentage on the year to 17.6, up from 12.5. So, in one play, Chapman raised his free throw percentage ten points and also raised his field goal percentage from 31.9% to 34%. That’s a solid two tenths for a shot late in the season. During that time, Chapman scored 5 of 7 points for the Longhorns in a matter of three possessions, reaching his season high at that point of four. Chapman was so hot that he took a mid-range jump shot and had it rim out on him, as at least four balls did on that goal, which seemed to have kind of a loose rim — makes sense when it’s the basket the opponent will use in the second half. Anyway, my point in all of this is that for the exceedingly low expectations that Chapman has managed to set for himself, he performed incredibly well. It was, indeed, his best performance of the season. This whole making layups and free throws thing could really help get him some PT.

by GhostofBigRoy on Feb 27, 2009 12:13 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Even if Balbay is the prime reason for our recent defensive struggles

I’ll take it. Our adjusted offensive efficiency is now in the top 50 in the country. Before it wasn’t even in the top 100. Adjusted defensive efficiency is still solid at #30.

by goingforthecorner on Feb 26, 2009 3:29 PM CST reply actions 0 recs