We all know by now that our lead in the computers is .06.  I thought I'd break it out, poll by poll, to see what we're really working with.  I'm sure PB and others have copious amounts of data and analysis en route, but here is a (hopefully) good primer on each of the polls and our lead/deficit.  For my conclusion as to probable change in each poll, I'm assuming all favorites hold serve, which is the only way any of this matters anyway.  If you haven't seen it yet, the BCS site has a nice lil PDF with all the computer rankings shown individually.  Linky

Wolfe

Alabama 10.173

Texas 10.128

Tech 9.889

OU (sucks) 9.888

Conclusion:  OU (sucks) picks up at least one point here next week.

Billingsley (Billyzane's BFF)

Alabama 320.349

OU (sucks) 314.425

Texas 311.780

Tech 309.763

Conclusion:  Probably stays as is, too much ground for OU to make up on Bama, and Tech is not passing us with Baylor.

Anderson & Hester

Alabama .819

Utah .805

Texas .803

OU (sucks) .786

Tech .785

Conclusion:  A little hope here, as we have a substantial lead over OU (sucks), and are oh so close to Utah.  I'm gonna (wistfully) say that we pick up a point here.

Jeff Sagarin

Texas 93.53

Tech 92.59

Alabama 92.38

OU (sucks) 92.32

Conclusion:  He's our buddy now, but I think he's going to hurt us next week.  I think OU (sucks) picks up 2 points here, jumping Bama and Tech.

Colley

Texas .9446

Alabama .9160

Utah .9058

Florida .9021

OU (sucks) .8939

Conclusion:  Incomplete.  Although, since the highest and lowest computer rankings are tossed, I think he may be tossed from both Texas and OU's standings, as he is this week.

UPDATE:  OU should be far enough out that they can't pass Utah.  As long as they don't move into third, Colley is still a throw out.

Massey

Is as lazy as Colley, and has not updated his site either.  Here are his rankings, per the BCS site.

OU (sucks) 2.56

Texas 2.532

Tech 2.513

Alabama 2.508

Conclusion:  Incomplete.  Hard to see any change here though.  I'll say that this one stays as is.

UPDATE: No change will be occcuring here, and Massey would be thrown out for OU, as he gives them their sole number 1 ranking.

Add 'em up!

Thrown out, Texas:  Colley (1st), Billingsley (3rd)

Thrown out, OU:  Massey (1st), Colley (4th)

OU (sucks) nets a +.02 in the computers.  If the polls hold as is (I know, I know) here is what you would get in the BCS...

Texas:  .9242

OU (sucks): .9225

but, if we don't pick up one in Anderson & Hester, then we drop to 

Texas:  .92086667

and OU (sucks) stays at .9225, and the land thieves are in KC.  Basically, just root against anyone that Utah played.  Game of inches indeed.

So there was not a Google Calendar for Texas Men's Basketball, so I went ahead and made a public one.  I don't know if anyone else out there is as big of a geek as me, but I need that info on my phone, computer, reminders, etc. 

Search for Texas Men's Basketball in "Public Calendars" if you want to subscribe.  Right now it's just times and locations, but I'll add TV info soon.  Let me know if there is anything else that might be helpful on there.

Cheers.  Hook em!

After the 38-14 victory over Colorado, I'm more worried about Red River.  While the defense has definitely improved over the last 5 weeks, I still don't think we have the answers necessary in the secondary. 

Colt has been amazing thus far, but he showed flashes of '07 Colt, forcing a couple of balls in the first game with a semblance of pressure.  Going in to ou, the Irby injury becomes all too relevant.  Shipley and Cosby have done all that anyone could ask for, but we don't have a third receiver.  We don't have a tight end who can catch.  We do have a solid outlet in Ogbonnaya, but we're not going to see him break anything for distance against a defense the likes of ou. If they are able to clamp down on the corners, our offense could be in for a long day at the fair.

The running game looks even more suspect after playing our first legitimate defense of the year.  Cody has promise in short yardage situations, but he isn't going to provide the ever elusive explosives.  If Fozzy doesn't play, who do we have that is capable of breaking one?  And for that matter, could Fozzy break one if he played?

I realize I'm dwelling on the negative after our 5th consecutive blowout, and if anyone would lke to portray this glass as half full, it would be most welcomed.

Fellow BON'ers,

I just got up and came to BON as I usually do, first thing in the morning.  I see that the Tebow thread is continuing to grow longer and longer as Beergut baits more and more of us into an fruitless discussion about the greatest player of all time based upon various ever-changing metrics, blah, blah, blah.  Let me save you the time folks. 

It is madness to have a discussion with someone who is going to distort facts, change the rules as he goes, and is impervious to reason.  While Beergut is clearly capable of bringing something interesting to the table, he is obviously more interested in provoking people.  He does so here, at Double T Nation, and other SBN blogs.  Meanwhile he hasn't commented at 12thmanchild in over a year.  This is not someone who wants to talk college football, this is someone who wants to argue. My own instinct upon reading some of his most recent nonsense is to dive back into the fray, as I have done numerous times before.

I'm not going to this time.

There are numerous blogs out there where we can argue with each other, walk each other into semantic traps, and engage in spiteful rhetoric.  As PB suggested, orangebloods is only a few keystrokes (and a subscription fee) away.  

What drew me to BON in the first place was the lack of bickering and the preponderance of high minded discourse about all things Longhorn.  I know that I have contributed to the watering-down of great content with petty arguments, and for that, I apologize. 

I guess I just wanted to say that while I will continue to actively read this blog, and regularly comment, for what it's worth, I personally am not going to engage in the "conversations" with everyone's favorite aggie.

Don't know if I am late to the party on this or not.  If so, sanction me!

It seems that Vince has a couple of new cross-trainers out with Reebok.  One pair is in the blue/light blue palette of the Tennessee Titans.  I'm not sure where the other color combo comes from...

Vince Young Cross Trainers

Just thought it was kinda cool.  I think that this program will continue to feel the effects of Vince (and KD to a slightly lesser extent) for years to come.  Here's to hoping that they both continue to be outstanding ambassadors for the Texas program.

KD scored 29 last night despite another poor shooting performance (7-21).  That was his last summer league game before going back to Vegas for US National Team practice.  I was trolling for articles and came across http://www.supersonicsoul.com (a nice Sonics blog, for what its worth.)  They had a link to a great article on Durant.  Here's the link

http://www.sltrib.com/sports/ci_6400987

(I apologize profusely for the lack of html embedding skills)

Anyway, most of the article is rehash, that we've all heard a thousand times.  Running the hill, he's driven, etc.  However, hearing him say that he almost cried because he couldn't work out around draft time...I just can't help but love the kid. Thought some of you might enjoy it.

Today EA Sports NCAA Football 08 is released to the public.  I know that quite a few of us will run out and buy it to get a vicarious football fix to help ease the "middle of july no sports at all when does football season get here" doldrums.  

Personally, I have to name the entire Texas roster (I hate seeing QB #12, RB #25, etc.)  Yes, I understand that I am anal-rententive and could probably find a better way to spend my time than pulling up the entire roster from mackbrown-texasfootball.com so that I spell Oduegwu correctly, but such is the state of my mid-20's.  The question is this...

Latest poll is out, and we are up to #15, our highest ranking of the year.  atm jumped to #6, and Kansas is #3.  

I think that much of the discussion about NCAA seeding has underestimated the nation's opinion of the Horns.  Yes, I realize that rankings don't necessarily translate to seeding, but with a split in the next two games, plus at least one win in the conference tourney, we should be ranked right about where we are now.  That should mean no worse than a 5 seed (sorry to disappoint BillyZane).  

That atm game looks positively HUGE right now.

to the good guys.

Continue reading this post »

I was bored waiting for the Super Bowl to start and decided to do a little research on Durant's place in history.  The announcers and analysts seem to mention several times a game how he is obliterating Big 12 records, but I was curious as to how his season stacks up against the all-time greats.  Well, it stacks up well.

Through his first 22 games, KD has 557 points and 252 rebounds.  If you project him at his current averages and say that the horns get 2 conference tournament games and 3 ncaa tournament games, he would have a total of 35 games.  (I know you can't take games for granted, but I think calling the horns a Sweet 16 team is not far from the expectations.  I tried to account for that by using his season averages, not his Big 12 averages.  If I use those numbers I start laughing giddily because they are preposterous.)

His totals through 35 games (at his SEASON averages) would be 886 points and 401 rebounds.  

Now for the context.  

The Big 12 record for points in a season is 844 (Marcus Fizer, ISU, 99-00).  The Big 12 record for rebounds in a season is 423 (Drew Gooden, KU, 01-02).

The NCAA freshman record for points is 965 (Chris Jackson, LSU, 1989).
The NCAA freshman record for rebounds in a season is 462 (Peter Padgett, Nevada, 1973).

Incidentally, Jackson is the only freshman to score over 900 points.  Padgett is the only freshman to go over 400 rebounds.

KD COULD DO BOTH.

The records that I can find couldn't give me a comprehensive list of the players to ever go over 900 and 400, but I know that there aren't many.  The only ones that I saw (and if anyone can find a better resource, please let me know) were...drumroll please...Hank Gathers and Larry Bird.  Gathers did it in 89 in that crazy Loyola scheme where they averaged 122 a game.  Larry Bird did it at Indiana State in 79.  Both were Juniors.

Folks, this is not just the greatest Texas player of all time.  This is not just the Big 12's greates player in its history (I know its only 11 years old, but still).  This is arguably the greatest freshman year ever recorded.  This is one of the top 25 (ish) seasons ever by ANY college player.  

I don't know if this will enhance anyone else's appreciation of KD, but it did for me.  I can't wait for the a&m game tomorrow, because we aren't just watching the Horns:  we're watching history.

(All stats are from the NCAA's site.  The link is below.)
http://www.ncaa.org/library/records/basketball/m_basketball_records_book/2006/2006_m_basketball_reco rds.pdf