Texas basketball loses to UTA

[Chitownhorn]

Begs the question why did he not recruit a point guard in this year's class.

Yes it does. 

 

[Bear19]

Maybe he did but didn't get the one(s) he wanted and he didn't want to waste a schollie on someone he didn't believe in?

That begs another question. Why could he not successfully recruit one he liked?

 

[DMAC]

Jesssss, can't we have at least ONE or our big sports programs be half way decent at minimum!?!?! I really don't want to walk around chest out with pride because of our Crew Team or the Quidich "program" (all do respect). To DMACs point, I don't want to see one damn hipe video about baseball this season.

 

[83Dee]

I believe Young is supposed to be a point guard.... and Roach starts at the position. 

Their skills right now would more accurately place one as an incredibly small shooting guard and the other an incredibly small, small forward (IMO). 

This isn't an insult to either of them.... one was recruited primarily for his excellent ability to shoot; the other because he is a freak athlete.... haven't seen anyone jump like Roach since Carlton Cooper!  Neither shows point guard skills (at this point and IMO). 

 

[tejasrulz]

Edit note: Young is supposed to be our PG. Was ranked very high by all and was considered a big get. Maybe he just needs some additional time to play at this level.

 

[longhorn_mig]

Edit note: Young is supposed to be our PG. Was ranked very high by all and was considered a big get. Maybe he just needs some additional time to play at this level.

Both Young and Jones were recruited as PG. Young strikes me as more of an "irrational confidence, points in bunches" kind of player. Also, it seems like Shaka doesn't trust Young yet.

I still think it's only a matter of time before Shaka turns the keys over to Jones. I'm still waiting for the Jones-Roach-Davis-Allen-Banks starting lineup.

 

[83Dee]

Young was a three star - but supposed to be a big find.  He looks like a 5'10" shooting guard to me.... 6'2" (on the roster) may be a bit generous. 

Allen (a rare five star?) looks to me like he's incredibly uncomfortable and hesitant right now.  Thinking too much perhaps? 

I agree that point guard is an issue - but the bigger issue is that there are no scorers.  Their best "go to" guy is Roach on the drive.  Nobody can shoot (although I think Young may have that in him).  We will see how good of a coach Shaka is, if he can turn this thing around.  His reputation as a talent evaluator may have taken a slight hit? 

 

[Bear19]

Except for centers how is any basketball player rated four stars or better if they can't shoot worth a shit.

 

[BudreauReye]

So now it's Texas fans' fault the Horns laid an egg at home against a supposedly inferior opponent? Okay...

What are the excuses for B2B losses in Brooklyn?

I don't think I said that.  We obviously are not a very good team right now ... lots of room for improvement.  Texas basketball fans, on the other hand, have been found lacking as far back as I can remember.

Last time I checked, my understanding was that we are going to get a new venue.  Time to get your requests in for your preferred venue specifications.  My guess is that the University has grown accustomed to the extra income that can come from a multi use facility, but that is not my call.

No matter how spiffy the new facility will be, my guess is that we will have the same old Texas basketball fan behavior.  Maybe we will see a change if Shaka has a break through season, but my guess is that as soon as there is a string of losses, which there will be at some time, the same old basketball fan disinterest will rear its' ugly head.

Seems to be the nature of the beast.

 

[BudreauReye]

BudreauReye,

I just read your post.... GOOD STUFF!  Allow me to comment piece by piece:

Let's face it, as basketball fans, we (UT) stink.  I agree with what you said above, but this is not an anomaly for a pre-conference game against an opponent like UTA, it's the norm .  What makes it worse is the Frank Irwin Center (Is that what it's still called?) 

I was serious when I said above (slight hyperbole) that they should build a 9000 seat arena.  In all honesty they should only be thinking about downsizing.  The only thing worse than a comatose crowd is one that is seated in one out of every 10 seats! 

Here is another idea that has been discussed and I think it is time to actually do something drastic about it.  Before I say this, let me say that by this sentiment's standards, I am old.  I am 49 years old and qualify for what I am about to say..... STOP selling so many season tickets right down by the court to people with thick wallets (usually "old" people).  They sit there, don't cheer, work on their computers during the game and half the time don't show up!  If you want to have an exciting atmosphere and recruit good players... then GIVE half of those tickets to students who might not whine if they have to stand for awhile, and know that cheering is something more than polite golf course clapping!!  Out.

83Dee, I agree with your sentiments ... though I laugh in the face of your comment that you think you are old.  You do not know old ... why, I bet you resperate at least twice a day !!!

A 9,000 seat arena would be great for basketball if you could get 9,000 people to fill it on a semi regular basis.  The problem is that the Texas athletic department takes pride in being self sufficient financially.  Will they be happy giving up the income from a multi use facility?  Will they be happy giving up season ticket sales and the donations that go with them so they can provide several rows of seats next to the court for students who do not pay season ticket prices and provide the generous donations that go with them?

Hell !!!  Will students attend games at all unless we are playing Kansas or Oklahoma in a good year?  I have lost count of the games where my wife and I have encountered students leaving the Drum eight abreast, only to find out when asking why they were leaving that they could not get seats sitting with their friends ... and to find out when we got to our seats that more than half of the student seats were empty ... this is pretty typical.

We have season tickets upstairs on the first row.  It took us years to move up to those choice seats, because we refuse to make additional donations.  If and when they build that 9,000 seat arena, we will probably be out of luck because donations will probably be required to purchase any season tickets anywhere in the arena.

The good thing is that when we get priced out of our tickets in the next few years, it looks more and more like most of the games will be available on TV or streaming somewhere.  Hell !!!  I might even have to go to a sports bar for a game or two for a season ... if they will let me in !!!

Oh yeah!  Before I forget ... GET OFF MY LAWN !!!  

 

[BudreauReye]

I will go you one better, it is quite possible to compete at a very high level with one recruiting class.  I know the one Shaka just brought in were four stars, I think even a five star, and maybe a three thrown in there.... but at this point, I would say they are highly over-rated.  They may very well have been that good in high school, but it is not translating.  They look to me (right now) like a bunch of guys who may be solid role players some day, but I don't see anyone who really wants the ball. 

This is not an overreaction to one game either.  I have watched this team, I don't see where the offense is going to come from this year. 

Your comments here get at some of the things I peripherally but incompletely addressed in my originally post in this thread.  We definitely have some pretty good "parts" on the roster, some of which are probably overrated to some extent ... time will tell how they will turn out.

The current "parts" are not only recruited by different coaches, but were also recruited for different systems.  Shaka's system is a lot different from Rick's.  I am amazed that Shaka's team did as well as they did last season, and to me, it seems to be little wonder that they are having the problems that they are having so far this year.  Not only is Shaka's system markedly different, but he now has access to a quality of player that he might not have had access to before.  Furthermore, no matter how good his teams were at VCU, he now has to recruit to and coach to playing in the Big 12 in conference play.  It seems to me that THAT is a world of difference from VCU.

Not only are the players he recruits going to be different, but his system is going to have to evolve to adjust to the circumstances.  Some posters have intimated that a basketball team can turn on a dime from one season to the next with ONE recruiting class ... well, that IS true, but I think that it is a bit more complicated than that.  This may happen at Kansas, North Carolina or Kentucky, but it rarely happens with a team like Texas.

Shaka has tended to run an offense that relied on more ball handlers than the one POINT GUARD that we may have been accustomed to here.  Perhaps this has been because of his system, but it probably was because of his system AND the type of players he could recruit.

Somebody intimated that it was unconscionable that Shaka did not recruit a POINT GUARD in this last class ... perhaps I am being a bit harsh, but please let me assume that just for arguments sake, that perhaps he was recruiting the best parts that he could for the FUTURE of his evolving system with the knowledge that He has a lot invested in the recruitment of Matt Coleman from Oak Hill Academy who was one of Shaka's players on this last summer's under 18 international championship team along with "parts" extraordinaire Jarrett Allen and James Banks.  BTW, Coleman is considered a heavy lean to Texas and he is thought to be making an announcement in the next week or so.

So, the point of my meandering, probably rather obvious, rant, is that we all should just sit back and relax.  The best is yet to come and will proly be coming in the next couple of seasons, not necessarily this year, as much as we would like that to be so.

Of course, 83Dee, I appreciate your comments as point of departure for my latest rather obvious ruminations.