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Only one of the fantastic freshmen appears likely to start as the season gets underway. What should we make of it?

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Txtwstr7: It's been a while since we've talked hoops.  I thought we could hold off on another roundtable until closer to tip-off, but the news trickling out over the probable starting line-up has forced our hand.  It appears that things aren't exactly as we thought, and many Longhorns fans might need to recalibrate their expectations over which players we will see trotting onto the floor during the early non-conference season.   Based on the heavy circulated tweets by Andy Katz, it appears that the starting line-up will be Ward-Bradley-Mason-James-Pittman.  Naturally, this means that J'Covan Brown and Jordan Hamilton-both presumed starters-will open the season on the bench.  This is pretty jarring and its full ramifications need to be fleshed out.

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Two weeks from today, Texas will have vanquished an overmatched opponent in front of thousands of fans.  And I'm not talking about Baylor.  While it seems like only yesterday that BON'ers were saying "TOO SOON" about talking about UT Basketball, the reality is that tip-off is nearly upon us.  In only two short weeks, Rick Barnes and company will have thoroughly and soundly defeated the Anteaters of UC-Irvine at the Erwin Center.

Despite promises and guarantees to the contrary, no Stampede tickets have been sold for the game.  The e-mail was *supposed* to come out last Monday.  But it didnt.  The e-mail was supposed to come out on Tuesday.  But it didnt.  The e-mail was supposed to come out "by the end of the week."  But it didnt.  As I sit here and type this post tonight, I'm still unable to purchase a Stampede pass for my final year on the Forty Acres. 

While some of you will merely repeat the often stated "Texas is a FOOTBALL school" line and shrug your shoulders about this, that's the exact type of attitude that allowed this inaction to occur in the first place.  The idea that student season tickets for football would be unsold less than two weeks prior to kickoff is simply inconceivable.  I feel the same way about this delay for the Stampede tickets. For those of you who contacted me about this--I feel your pain, and this isnt ok. 

But this isnt just a post about the Stampede.  It's a post about how the Stampede e-mail situation simply represents the latest step in an impotent offseason of marketing the upcoming basketball season.  Once again, this isn't ok.

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...since losses is plural, then you've probably already realized that this post will be about basketball.  Last season, Texas went 23-12, which was their most losses since the 2001-2 season, when the team went 22-12.  In fact, over Rick Barnes' eleven year career at Texas, the Longhorns have never lost more than 13 games in a season.  By and large, last year's team was written off as a disappointment, especially considering the lofty preseason rankings and expectations.

After the jump, we take a closer look at the relative tightness of each of the Longhorns 12 losses last season, which includes some surprising numbers.  More importantly, we look at the contributions of the two departing seniors in each of the "close" games from last season.

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...when the football team takes the field for the Showdown in Stillwater, we will officially be two weeks (and one day) away from the start of the UT Basketball season.  Rather than wait until Friday to put up something else about the team, we wanted to provide some links, notes, and articles from the last few weeks and then repost an item that might have flown under the radar a few weeks ago. 

If you still aren't feeling the hoops team, we'll cut you some slack, but only for one more week...

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...a few years ago, I was lucky enough to be selected to attend the 2006 Student Leadership Conference, held at the LBJ School of Public Affairs.  The conference is run by Dr. Howard Prince, who is perhaps the best American I've ever met.  After retiring from the Army as a Brigadier General, Dr. Prince has dedicated a large portion of his life to developing and teaching ethical leadership to the current generation of students. 

As part of the conference, all students were required to read a leadership book before arriving.  For the life of me, I cant remember the name of the book, but I've never forgotten its core message.  The book talked about the potential downfalls of seeking to become more well-rounded.  In focusing on improving a weakness, a leader can wind up inadvertently diminishing their greatest strengths.  By neglecting the further development of traits that made them successful in the first place, a leader can wind up losing more than they gain by working on their weaknesses. The book advised that--in some cases--leaders should try to make their strengths even stronger instead of watering down their strengths to solidify a perceived weakness.  The book advised seeking other ways to address these perceived weaknesses or finding ways to minimize their overall effect.

After the jump, I explain why I think this principle perfectly applies to the current marketing of the UT Men's Basketball team.  By inextricably connecting the Men's and Women's teams together, I believe the overall effect is creating the exact situation the book cautioned against.

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...on the heels of the BON Roundball Roundtable, I wanted to provide a quick follow-up and allow each of you to play "Devils Advocate", which was nicely done in the comments.  After the jump, a quick scan of some of the recent UT Basketball-related articles and an invitation to "HATE HATE HATE HATE" on the sunshiny sentiments from the Roundtable.

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Within my confession post last week, I made a promise that the BON Basketball Headshed would be cranking out a massive roundtable at the beginning of this week.  Tonight, that promise is officially fulfilled.  Myself, PB, Wiggo, and Big Roy each took our turns addressing some of the major issues facing this team as it potentially enters "the" season for UT Basketball.

If I made a confession last week, then I'm issuing a challenge this week.  I challenge each and every reader of this website to read this article and deny feeling a flood of excitement about the possibilities for the basketball team this season.  Honestly, I've already read through this discussion--and prepare yourself, because it's long--five times already, and it has me worked up into a tizzy.

After the jump, I invite each of you to read what is probably my favorite post in my time here at BON...

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