Another Monday, another Longhorn PTI.
Texas got an early commitment from Tray Allen, bringing the total to 19 early commitments. What's going on here?
PB: This is nothing short of a historic recruiting effort by Mack Brown. He was always a great recruiter, but this is insane. No other coach in the country has locked up more than two early commitments. One coach actually said that other teams are pretty much sitting around waiting for Mack to pick who he wants before they scramble to sign the leftovers. When Richetti Jones and Lennon Creer sign with Texas (all indications are that they both will), the Horns will have locked up the best recruiting class in the last decade, easily. It's that impressive.
AW: Mack could stop now and easily have the best recruiting class in the country. You are right; once he locks up a few more we will be looking at one of the best classes ever. The Rose Bowl victory didn't have a significant impact on the class coming in this fall. Mack likes to get commitments after recruits' junior seasons. This will be the class brought in by the national championship. Just when we thought it couldn't get any better, Mack is positioning Texas for seasons to come.
Cat Osterman fired off her 20th career no-hitter to shut out Oklahoma. Is she the most dominant athlete in Texas sports?
AW: I actually caught the top of the first inning of this game on ESPN. Texas opened with a solo homer and later scored on a two out single. That meant Cat took the mound with a 2-0 lead. Game over. The fans should have left the stadium. The players should have just shook hands and saved everyone two hours. There was no chance Cat would blow a two run lead. She could have pitched all weekend without stopping and the Sooners would still have a goose egg on the scoreboard.
PB, I think I was the one who originally introduced you to Cat. Her stats speak for themselves. Cat is the single most dominating athlete in the history of UT athletics.
PB: You were indeed. In February of last year, you bugged me to check out her stats. She's not only the most dominant at her sport, but she's the most dominant Longhorn in -any- sport, with apologies to Mr. Young. Go back and read that old post. The stats are just silly. Cat is simply amazing.
You may be right, though, Wiggins: there might not have ever been a more dominant athlete in UT sports history.
UConn's Rudy Gay announced he'll forgo his final two years and join Lamarcus Aldridge in the NBA draft. Who would you rather draft?
PB: I'll take Aldridge, and not because he's a Longhorn. It -was- the right move for Gay, as the 2007 draft is going to be far, far deeper than this year's. That's one reason why we may see P.J. Tucker give it a shot this year. But for the long-term, while there's no questioning Gay's abilities, there are rumors of him not working particularly hard. Aldridge, meanwhile, is the hardest worker Barnes has ever coached. Both players have tremendous upside, but I'll take the harder worker any day.
AW: I may be banned from my own site by the end of the day, but I'll take Gay. He has freakish athletic skills even by NBA standards. He can hit the mid range jumper as well as the three ball. He's long, jumps out of the gym, and plays decent defense. Gay is at times lazy and can disappear but so can LA. Aldridge has as much potential as Gay but Gay has a better build for the next level. While Aldridge likes to avoid contact, Gay isn't afraid of taking the ball strong to the basket. Gay turned it off and on too often at UConn. If he can ever keep the switch on, he will be an NBA all star. Aldridge could be great but Gay has a game more suited for the NBA and will contribute faster.
The NBA playoffs are right around the corner. Are you interested?
AW: Not yet. I will tune in after a few rounds though. Way too many teams make the playoffs and rounds are way too long. The funky seeding system this year is also a deterrent. Are Dallas and San Antonio still going to face each other in round two? Last, the most exciting players (Dwayne Wade, Lebron, Kobe) are all on teams unlikely to make deep runs. Even with all those negatives, what else am I going to watch? American Idol? I don't think so.
PB: I appear to be the only person on the planet that thinks a Pistons-Spurs finals is ideal, but so be it. Still, you're completely right. When over half of the teams in the league make the playoffs, there's something wrong. It's why the NBA regular season isn't interesting, no matter how hard Bill Simmons tries to convince us otherwise. On that note, I was able to attend my first NBA game in quite some time this year when my girlfriend's father, who has a suite at the Palace in Detroit, took us. Naturally, they played the Washington Wizards. And naturally, the Wizards won a bizarre double-overtime game in which Chucky Atkins was the hero. It was fun, I should note, to see former Longhorn Maurice Evans contributing for the Pistons. What a strange, strange sports world we live in.
--BON--