Bevo’s Daily Roundup: Will Baker was Texas basketball’s difference-maker against TCU

The Texas Longhorns men’s basketball team did it – they really did it.

They swept the TCU Horned Frogs this season, largely thanks to an impressive 20-point performance last night by Longhorns true freshman, giant 6-foot-11 center Will Baker.

“Some people questioned how good of a player he was early on,” head coach Shaka Smart said after the game. “Will has come a long way with getting in shape ... He hung in there.”

The only problem: No one was there to see it.

WHAT THE WISE MEN ARE SAYING ABOUT THE LONGHORNS

Austin American-Statesman: Bohls: Hot-shooting Baker provides bee-line for Texas victory

Austin American Statesman: The Dotted Line: Texas wants dynamic talent at the wide receiver, tight end positions

247Sports: Eyes of Texas: Pre-spring football nuggets galore

247Sports: Will Texas fire Shaka Smart after the season?

247Sports: Analysis of Texas commits in updated Top247 rankings

Associated Press: Will Baker records 20 points in breakout performance to help lift Texas over TCU

Associated Press: Former Highland Park standout, Texas ex Scottie Scheffler cracks WGC field and could play his way to Augusta

NEWS FROM ELSEWHERE IN LONGHORN LAND AND THE BIG 12

• Texas softball stayed perfect against the North Texas Mean Green, securing a 3-2 win with a walk-off single by senior center fielder Shannon Rhodes in the bottom of the ninth inning.

• Texas baseball went up by three runs in the second inning against the Lamar Cardinals yesterday and never looked back, later clinching the game 6-1. Texas is now 5-0 on the season so far and 2-0 at home. Their next test comes in the form of the Boise State Broncos, in which the Longhorns will start their first weekend series at 7 p.m. Central Friday.

• 2022 running back Jaydon Blue out of Klein Cain High School in Houston has narrowed his decision down to three programs (for now): Texas, the LSU Tigers and the Georgia Bulldogs. Notably, the 5-foot-9, 192-pound high school sophomore has nixed other Big 12 offers so far, such as those from the Oklahoma State Cowboys and Gary Patterson’s program at TCU.

• Here’s a semi-controversial, but righteous, take: What if San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon replaced Shaka Smart next season? The folks at 104.9 The Horn think it could happen. Also, here’s how Pau Gasol described Hammon in a 2018 essay in The Players’ Tribune: “I’ve played with some of the best players of this generation … and I’ve played under two of the sharpest minds in the history of sports, in Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich. And I’m telling you: Becky Hammon can coach. I’m not saying she can coach pretty well. I’m not saying she can coach enough to get by. I’m not saying she can coach almost at the level of the NBA’s male coaches. I’m saying: Becky Hammon can coach NBA basketball. Period.” By that logic, we reckon, she could coach the Longhorns, too.

• Speaking of what comes after Smart, Las Vegas is putting its money on recently let-go Cleveland Cavaliers head coach John Beilein, who has 40 (plus) years at the collegiate level.