Texas Loses To Baylor: Everyone Lose Their Minds NOW

Basketball is a game of matchups. That is what makes march madness so great. On any given game, any team can lose and that is the beauty of it.

The my problem with this year’s team has to do with coaching and lack of leadership. I know we lack talent in this team and do not have the type of super stars who can carry us through tough games as Gibson, Aldridge, Tucker, Durant, DJ have done for us many many years.

Dont mistake me for Barnes hater. I love the guy and I thank him for all his has done for our program. However, throughout the year, I felt like there would be at least one game Barnes stepped up his coaching and will his team to victory in most of the games (I admit I did not watch all Texas games..being in a medical school makes that extremely difficult) You have to admit we have not put together a complete game against a good opponent.

In the second half, we were mostly trading baskets with Baylor and Barnes has to realize and dictate what needs to be done offensively and defensively. The shot selection was horrible at times (by failing to make extra pass) and defensive rebounding (especially box out was absolutely horrendous). They teach you to box out and not try to overjump ur opponent to get rebounds even at peewee league. Such failure to execute those simple concepts is what made me to prompt to declare that there were indeed poor effort by Texas.

I had an uber poopie day and was hoping the invisible sky wizard would ease the pain by granting a victory tonight…Ouch.

At different times throughout the contest, so many individual players contributed in their own way; AJ starting out like “AJ”, then Dexter picking up where he left off, Gary getting hot, the “white boys” Connor and Clint having a couple of moments, some exciting Euro movements from Balbay and most of all the very exciting performance Varez (who has the energy and passion I would love to see become contagious), plus that extremely awesome block by Damion, etc.

This was a good game tonight. Absolutely minimal disappointment (of course I wish we had won). This year’s model has so much diverse talent and I think tonight’s game put it on its best display. We have the pieces of the puzzle because of the brilliance of Coach Barnes et al. Let’s make a representative run in the national tournament.

p.s. Congrats to the Bears. No matter our disappointment, how can you not be happy for them?

I guess the streak had to end some time. Have we ever won 3 games in 3 consecutive days? I don’t think so, considering we’ve never won a Big 12 tournament.

I hope you guys are right about us getting a 7 seed. I’m still worried about being stuck in the awful 8/9 matchup.

I didn’t like some of the calls made today, especially Pittman’s 3rd foul. Even though Pittman wasn’t playing that well to begin with because of obvious fatigue, we were still better when he was on the court. Once he left after the 3rd foul, the comeback started.

Kind of reminded me of the KU game where we got off to a big lead but they came back. The things that have haunted us all year came back today. Missed free throws, turnovers, and giving up offensive rebounds.

On top of that, the bad AJ made an appearance at the worst time possible. Mason was horrible today and wasn’t driving. Ward took his spot and outplayed him. Not enough penetration from Balbay, and he was left wide open. Not much from Connor again. Both James and Johnson were settling for jumpshots. I just hate how we’re not learning from the same mistakes.

Who knows which round we will lose in, but we saw today exactly how we’re going to lose.

Pittman is still my MVP of the tournament.

Wasted chance. The losses by OU and KU, UT had a much improved chance to take this tournament. Ah well.

I thought we were in fine shape and then AJ starts jacking up shots like it’s February. Down two and he takes a quick three instead of working it inside. Dexter needs to be the go to guy down the stretch, and he can look to kick it back out.

So, Rick has decided to take Dogus out of the game with <5 minutes left b/c he is a free throw liability? I guess. I don’t like the decision b/c then we have someone who is not our best ball handler or distributor controlling the offense. Maybe under a minute that would make sense, but who is going to start fouling Dogus with 4 minutes left in the game? Come on!

We had control of this game and just couldn’t finish it. Overall we played a great game until the last 3 or 4 minutes and then we just fell apart. Next game will be in madness. All you got to do is win 6 in a row. No problem.

that as he struggling with penetration late in the game, balbay was seen wide open with mouthwatering open shots, and not a glance his way?

I’m new here and not one to complain about officiating especially when they didn’t lose the game, BUT how can you not call the moving pick on Jarrels against Abrams that allowed Baylor to hit that last 3? Look at the replay and Jarrels is literally shuffling to his right to pick off Abrams.

Otherwise congrats to Baylor. They were deserving of the win and Drew deserves to keep his job. Now, Barnes on the other hand…..

I’ve got to say, that block of Dunn by Damion James was probably the best blocked shot I’ve seen all year. Too bad Dunn ended up hitting a three right after the inbounds play.

At one point we were up 65-62 and had the ball under 2 minutes. What did we do? We spent just 10 seconds on the shot clock and Gary Johnson decided to jack up a shot that might have been a three pointer last season. WTF!? Jesus Gary has got to get smarter than that.

Since the violent collision, Pittman did not enter until 1 minute left in the game. You wonder if we should’ve just shut him down? He was clearly gassed.

In that possession, it ended with Abrams taking a wild shot. Forget Allen Iverson, Abrams thinks he’s freaking Tracy McGrady or Reggie Miller. Taking a bunch of off-balance shots from 25 feet. Thank God I’ll only have to see this shit 1 or 2 more times.

After AJ hits the floater on the next possession, he makes a terribly dumb decision. Baylor inbounds and AJ fouls immediately. It was clear that Barnes wanted us to press and try to get a steal, and THEN foul if no success. For whatever reason, AJ fouled immediately.

How do you not rebound a missed free throw? That’s the last straw right there. We put in Connor specifically to help us get the rebound in case a miss. What happens? Connor takes his guy out, but no one boxed out Jerrels!

Ward misses another layup. He played well late but missed two gimmes late. Pittman tried to follow but was called for a pathetic over the back call. I have this on DVR and saw it multiple times. Pittman barely touched him and Dunn literally flopped to the ground like he got sniped. A definite epic, Youtube worthy flop by Dunn. 76-70 we lost to Baylor.

but it definitely applied in this game. We had no business getting outrebounded by Baylor. Just embarrassing.

At least the team will have at least 5 full days of rest before the first round.

I’m still not very optimistic that we got out of the 8/9 seed area.

wow wow wow

Out of the last 6 or 7 years of Texas B Ball, I would say this is the worst loss we have ever had….. to Baylor…. when we actually had a good chance to win a Big 12 Championship and salvage what is left of the season. This is also the worst team Barnes has fielded since I was in high school. Ya ya ya, losing superstars, leadership, “but we played with heart!” yada yada yada. All that matters is a W

Not so mad anymore, but just gonna offer up some thoughts… hate em or love em, I dont care, its just how I feel. (So what if im negative most of the time about our B ball team this season, get over it). We cant all feel good about Longhorn Sports all the time, jeesh.

Quick hits:

- Dear God what an HORRIBLE coaching job by Barnes. Usually love the guy, but damn, PUT IN SOME PEOPLE THAT CAN SCORE. the lineup with Ward/Mason, Mason/Balbay, Ward/Balbay, Chapman/Ward/Balbay, Balbay/Johnson/Mason/Smith/Abrams, etc should NEVER happen….. its like Barnes doesnt want this team to score points! It boggles my mind….

- Yes I know Mason/Ward/Chapman hustle, play good defense, are garbage dogs or w/e, but damn their slightly better defense is not worth them playing any minutes over Pittman, Johnson, James, Abrams, Atchley. Every once in a while they make a good hustle play, but thats about it. THeir lack of an outside shot ruins our offense.

- We have one above average player on this team (Abrams), 2 pretty darn good players when they wanna be (Pittman and James), and a crap load of average players. This team lacks talent and transition D. 2 biggest problems right there. Imma step out on a limb and say that Abrams is definately without a doubt the best player on this team. No, not the best NBA prospect or has the best potential, but the best player right now on this team. The Horns live and die with him each game. Hell, I dont blame the guy for trying to carry this team on his back sometimes.

- Mark it down now, of all the players starting for Texas this year, only ONE will be a starter next year, Dexter Pittman (maybe Damion…… if he decides to stay, which he prolly wont). Balbay, Johnson, definately Smith, Mason and Ward, are gonna have a lotta splinters next year from riding the pine.

- I was counting, and we scored 9, yes 9 points! between the 9 45 mark of the second half, alllllllll the way to the 47.5 second mark…. wow…. its not our defense that sucks guys, the offense is what is gonna win us games.

- Why the heck were Chapman and Smith seeing playing time in a game so important as this?

- Myself and about 10 other Longhorns got laughed out of Buffalo Wild Wings by some Baylor fans after the game……1st time in my life a Baylor fan gloated on me… it hurt.

- Rockets are on a mean hot streak right now…. 7 of last 8!

- Good luck to all my roommates who are running for UT at the NCAA Track and Field National Championships tomorrow!

this resembled our early nonconference games.

Abrams took 17 shots. No one else took more than 7. SEVEN. And despite taking 17 shots, Abrams has 0 free throws attempted.

But when you think about it, who is the best player on the team???

AJ – Great player but he can be shut down easy
Damo – Athletic, but not consistent enough
Mason- Offensive game lacks an outside shot
Balbay- See mason
Dex- He could be it, but he relies on other players to get him the ball.

When Texas needs a big bucket who did they go to last season, DJ. That includes late in games and right before half. Explains why they struggle some much in crunch time.

There are a bunch of good players on this team, and when they are surrounded by a player that can be that go to guy this team can be really good because they can beat you in many ways. AJ was that guy early, but teams started face guarding him not allowing him to get many open shots.

If they can somehow figure a way to get everyone on the same page and everyone show up for a few games in a row this team has potential. They have the talent to beat any team that will be in the tourney, only problem is they also have the ability to lose to any team in the tourney.

….errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, nevermind!

I thought a nights rest would make things better, it hasn’t. I guess I’ll just hope next year’s team is as promising as it looks for now with the incoming calvary.

Baylor is still a great story to watch for today. hook em’

Texas at its best is a team that can beat most any team in the field, and Texas at its worst can lose to most any team in the field. If you think the latter is a matter of “heart” or “effort” or some unacceptable (non-)manifestation of “We’re Texas,” I encourage you to register for an account at TexAgs and chat amongst your peers.

Sigh, if you change Texas to Michigan and TexAgs to ND Nation, you have adequately described the never ending battle still facing Michigan football.

Texas will do alright in the tourney. They have a shot at the sweet 16, but I really can’t see them making it to the elite 8 unless they put a little bit more consistency together against good/hot teams. Good luck in the tourney. Hook’em.

I feel terrible saying it, given what he has done for us over the last four years, but I think we will be a much better basketball team without Abrams. I say this not entirely based on our most recent disappointing loss, but just observing how he has played over the last two years.

Abrams, like Iverson, is a wildly inefficient, volume shooter (redundant?) who inexplicably cannot set people up. People will say Iverson was a great player in taking a terrible 76ers team to the Finals, but what they fail to notice is how many times he absolutely KILLED his team. I don’t want to point out his stint with the Detroit Pistons because that may be a bit unfair, but…look what he did to the Pistons (and the Nuggets, for that matter).

Abrams is similar in many ways. Yes, he’ll save you sometimes but how many times did he choose an absolutely terrible shot. And look at his percentages this year: less than 40% from the field and less than 40% from beyond the arc. For, dare I say, a one-trick pony, that is hurting more than it is helping in many situations. We had such a size advantage, yet we were just chucking it up at the end.

I think there is some cognitive dissonance because he has hit some big shots and put up great numbers ON OCCASION, but rolling back tape, I can only imagine, would reveal he has cost us more than a game.

Just my two cents.

Though we were decent (for us) shooting 12-18 (67), Baylor shot well with 19-22 (86), which was the margin of difference. Baylor committed one more foul (21) than we did (20).

They lost the game because Baylor had too many second and third opportunities and they are too explosive to allow that. Plus, the 4 misses at the line by Dex just killed them.

Took 24 hours away from the computer and basketball to just shut it all down. I feel a little better.

Probably didn’t need to lash out at the game commenters as I did, but that helped a little, too. SHOUT ALL CAPS LEAVE ME ALONE BAYLOR LOSS WHY!

We’ll be fine. Regular posting can resume now.