We are #1.  Send a letter to the AP and whoever else runs a B-Ball poll.  We are #1.  Tell them.  Let them know, because they probably didn't see.  #1.  #1.  #1 in something!

When Texas schooled Tennessee, I really enjoyed it. And I thought, "Wow, even if they don't look like this again all season, this was sure a great game."

I wanted to be a True Believer, but I was wary.

Now, I'm not just on the bandwagon like before. I'm the driver.

What A Game! And wow, James and Mason. Just wow. What magic was worked on them over the off-season? Same for Conner.

Can't wait til Gary hits the hardwood. My goodness, is there even more upside to this team?!?!?!

I am shocked, but extremely pleased.  This is a HUGE win for the basketball team this year.  It seems as if every single player has improved in the off-season and its paying off.  Great win.  My only concern is that we're peaking too soon.  Every year there's one team who starts scorching hot and gets some big wins but then fades as the season wears on.  I just hope that's not us, and after the way we won tonight I don't think it is.

Congrats to the guys on a fantastic win.  Way to represent the school and the state.

Your dad is totally right, even if AJ isn't in the flow of the offense he is constantly drawing attention.  When he did get the ball UCLA was cheating off a Horn down low to take away AJs drive and allow the defender to only play the three ball. AJ made his one three and had that nice layin in the second half. While he is out there, he is getting attention which helps our offense as a whole.  I firmly believe the second they lay off AJ he drops at least two 3s on the opponent.

There is not bad Connor. There has been 8 months for Barnes to get rid of bad Connor. Just like Connor's development, you see it in Damion also.

We just aren't used to the caliber of freshman that we brought in last year. Yeah we lost one, but we retained three of our starters last year each of whom were freshman.  I would think you would see a huge improvement from Fresh to Soph, and we are seeing it now.  Thank you Kelvin Sampson, seriously.

There is no quicker starting five. In the first half we took every UCLA player off the dribble at well.  You have to give Howland credit for the adjustment, but honestly, we just shot really really poorly in the second half. Normally we make 3-4 more of those shots and hold the lead throughout. As the year progresses, hopefully we don't see that drop off in field goals, granted it's gonna happen, but we missed some wide open shots in the second half.

Yeah...rebounding. We just worked harder, wanted it more, and the ball bounced our way. It was also clear that we were focusing on the boards. We knew that is where UCLA would give us the problem, and we focused on blocking out. They didn't get their first offensive rebound til the second half. On most defensive possesions there were 3-4 Horns under the basket rebounding, and then somehow beating the Bruins down the floor at the same time, at least in the first half.

I knew this was going to be much more of a team, but I was terrified about this game. I was thinking Duke MSG blowout for worst case, but I couldn't be happier with how we handled ourselves. Even if we ended up losing this game, we had a lot to be happy about and learn from.

Bigger teams beware, we can rebound and exploit the matchups. And seriously, we had a poor shooting night, you don't want to get us on an average night. Totally convinced we have a complete team. Kansas, are you nervous?

Great recaps. I was wondering if anybody has heard any recent news about Gary's availability. Everybody seems to be assuming he'll be available soon, but I haven't heard anything "official" in a while.

... I think the most exciting thing about this game was: it was NOT the "perfect game."

For a while, I feared Tennessee was a fluke. Every shot seemed to go in. Rebounds bounced the right way. Etc.

But the UCLA game was different. Texas had a long dry spell. They missed a lot of shots that have been going in so far this year. They missed free throws. And while they did rebound much better than I expected, they gave up some on the offensive glass in the second half.

And they still won.

More than the Tenn. blowout, this tells me that this team is very special.

anyone know where i can watch highlights?

What I'm most amazed about, and was mentioned above, is that the Horns didn't play flawlessly.  They had a stellar first half, withstood the inevitable UCLA comeback, and needed a late mini-rally to win.

But what sticks out to me is that in the second half, Texas was forced to play UCLA-style basketball.  And they did it successfully.  They are best in the run-and-gun stuff, but it's SO relieving to see that Texas can play physical and can get rebounds amongst bigger opponents and can pull out a win in a grind-it-out game.

Hey Turgeon, you peeing your pants yet?

Please! I agree that his presence alone can contribute to things like rebounding, but not much IMO. A guard is going to guard him, and guards don't usually rebound a lot. Most of the credit for the +6 in rebounding should go to James and the rest of the big guys.

Meanwhile, Abrams is useless when he's not making his shots! He's still a defensive liability. Let him come off the bench for instant scoring.

For right now, I would go big:

C - Wangmene
PF - Atchley
F - James
G - Mason
PG - Augustin

We'd be MUCH better defensively, and we'd still be decent offensively with James, Mason, and Atchley all possessing much improved offensive games.

And then once Johnson gets here, that should put Abrams on the bench for sure.

I like this big lineup of:

C - Wangmene
PF - Atchley
F - Johnson
F - James
PG - Augustin

Deadly combo of defense, speed, rebounding, size, and athleticism. Not many three point shooters, but we didn't shoot well from three and we still beat UCLA. Abrams/Mason can come off the bench to give us threes instantly.

honestly, there was a glimpse of KD in James' ability to rise up and shoot that mid range jumper.  i'm impressed with how far he's come as a scoring threat.  no doubt he carried us through stretches of that 2nd half where UCLA had made all the right adjustments defensively.

i was also impressed by how well Rick had these kids prepared for this game.  Howland lived up to his reputation of making halftime adjustments, but Barnes lived up to his reputation of doing his best coaching at the practices leading up to the game.  His team was prepared to beat the bigger, more physical Bruins, and do it with their superior quickness and tenacity and even though they blew their big 1st half lead, he was still able to exploit what UCLA was giving him and come out with the W.

i think this is just the beginning for this team though.  they still look like they're working on some things, trying to incorporate some more low post offense, trying to figure out how to get Dex and the frosh involved more.  i think DJ and James are only going to get better.  honestly, my impression of the ceiling for this team just shot right up to the final four.  they look like they could play with anybody in the country right now.

it's great to be excited about the Longhorns again.

BON should send a big thank you to Kelvin Sampson for taking his cheatin', whinin', land-thievin' butt to Indiana!   Without that we don't get Damion James and lose that game last night.  Also, as they mentioned in the game, how scary is ousucks with Damion James and Scotty Reynolds??  Don't have to worry.

Good Connor! Good Connor!  

Laser Love!?! OMG they must've been getting paid to use that phrase.  Yeah, it was a nice pass, but the man-love for Love was a bit overdone.  If Raftery catches on to that phrase I just might die.

1 - Barnes is the man.  Look at it this way, since he's been here, we've lost some games that perhaps we should have and some people have complained about his strategy and ability.  But I know this - his teams play hard.  Anybody remember any games in the Barnes era remotely resembling the dispassionate, listless efforts that the football team puts forth occasionally?

2 - Barnes is the man, part 2.  One of the things that I think Barnes is best at is developing marginal (for a big time program), flawed players into very solid role-players.  Royal Ivey, Klotz, etc and now Conner.  Barnes is just great at identifying "average" players with potential and getting them to blossom.  It is these players

Enjoy DJ Augustin while you can guys. He's got about 25 games left as a Longhorn.

I asked AW why Connor was getting so much attention on BON a week or so ago. I argued it was unlikely Connor would really do more than in years past. Looks like I'm wrong about that one, and that's a good thing.

This team will only reach its big goals if Damien James is an integral part of our offensive sets in the half court. Other than Augustin, nobody can get their own shot off the dribble or get to the line with any sort of regularity. James is a 1st Round NBA pick, and we'd be foolish not to make him second in command on offense rather than AJ Abrams.

If we do fixate on getting Abrams his shots, we'll lose some games we shouldn't. I'm fine with him gunning in transition.

Yes, the rebounding was impressive last night, but the Horns will lose a couple of conference games on the road this year because of rebounding. Connor was solid, but he's still got to do a better job holding onto the rock on the defensive backboard. He misses too many opportunities in traffic. Last night his buddies were there to help out. Might not always be that way down the road.

Chapman will turn out to be the best of the tall, white, big guys that Barnes has brought to Austin. Same tough nose for the ball as Boddicker, better strength and conditioning than Connor, and better quickness and skill set than the lumbering Klotz.