Sure this team is young... But what has Rick Barnes done in the last 5 years to warrant him keeping his job at the Head Coach of Texas basketball? Yes I'm going there. I understand he elevated the program to a new level, and that's great. We all thank him for that. But this program should be playing at the next level and it hasn't been at the next level for some time now.
Anyways, watching this team play makes me want to pull my hair out a lot of the times. It's like the Longhorns play with 1 hand tied behind their back. They are frustrating because they show flashes of making plays at both ends of the floor but they shoot themselves in the foot by turning the ball over and not rebounding well.
My thoughts:
-First and foremost Texas needs to rebound better, especially when they are on defense. I've never seen a Longhorn team give up this many offensive boards. There is too much jumping and not enough boxing out. I also woud like to see two hands on the ball more. Sloppy rebounding is leading to balls turned over out of bounds. Rebounding is an effort stat/play. There's no excuse why Texas should be losing that battle each game.
-In my mind, it's the same as stopping the run in football... Texas has to have better interior defense. Ridley shows up at times with blocks but protecting the rim needs to be a focus for this team. It was tough today against ISU because the Cyclones did their damage from beyond the arc. But protecting the rim makes teams more one dimensional. And with the height UT has there should be no reason why that's an issue. Inexperience definitely is playing a factor because Ridley, Ibeh, and the other young posts definitely look lost at times around the rim. This will improve as they adjust to game speed. But it needs to get better quick.
-Turn overs are still very much a problem. I honestly do not trust the ball-handling ability of any guard other than Felix. (And Kabongo when he returns). But the Longhorns also make sloppy passes.
-The flow of the offense still isn't there. One reason why is because there really isn't any who can create their own shot, other than Felix (who doesn't have the best shot in general). Felix is the only player that can drive in consistently and either get to the rim or pull up for a mid-range shot (I've been impressed with his improvement in his mid-range jumper). So without anyone else creating any offense, the Longhorns often jack up a bunch of contested shots and live and die by the jump shot. This could also be fixed if the Horns had more offense from the post players. The ball could be fed down low and the post player would either try to score the ball down low or kick it out to a guard. But there isn't any post player who is polished enough on offense for that to be an option right now. So once again the Longhorns are forced to some how find more open jumpers for the guards. Their best offensive play is a jump shot off of a curl from a screen on a lower block... When that's your best offensive play you will have issues on offense.
-There isn't a "go-to" guy. We really saw this problem late in the Baylor and WVU games. Texas really doesn't have anyone to turn to in order to finish games or make a play when they need one. This ties back into the fact that the guards are mainly jump shooters and no one really can create any offense. Again, Felix is the only guy who really can create anything off the dribble, which is why he was big in the Baylor game. But he still isn't that "go-to" guy yet either. Hopefully Kabongo can help with that issue.
-The identity and chemistry on both ends of the floor are still a work in progress. Texas has been beat by a team that played well inside (Baylor), a less-than-average offensive team (WVU) that grinded it out and fought for a lot of offensive boards, and a team that made a living off of three's (ISU). So although Texas had some good stats in the defensive category, the stats are not translating to wins and they don't matter. I do like how the guards get after the ball at times, but the team defense is still poor.
-Since Texas doesn't have strong post play on offense and since they really don't have any players that consistently take it to the rim, they will undoubtedly continue to lose the free throw battle as well. Do not be surprised to see other teams attempting a lot more free throws than Texas right now. It's just how they play at the moment.
There's still more Texas could work on but right now those are some thoughts running through my head. This team is frustrating to follow because they have a lot of depth but it isn't good depth right now. We have to remember this team is young, one of the youngest teams in the NCAA. And each player shows flashes that he can be good. But it could be some time before we see this team actually make any serious noise. Like I said earlier, it just feels like they play with 1 arm tied behind their back.
Anyways, watching this team play makes me want to pull my hair out a lot of the times. It's like the Longhorns play with 1 hand tied behind their back. They are frustrating because they show flashes of making plays at both ends of the floor but they shoot themselves in the foot by turning the ball over and not rebounding well.
My thoughts:
-First and foremost Texas needs to rebound better, especially when they are on defense. I've never seen a Longhorn team give up this many offensive boards. There is too much jumping and not enough boxing out. I also woud like to see two hands on the ball more. Sloppy rebounding is leading to balls turned over out of bounds. Rebounding is an effort stat/play. There's no excuse why Texas should be losing that battle each game.
-In my mind, it's the same as stopping the run in football... Texas has to have better interior defense. Ridley shows up at times with blocks but protecting the rim needs to be a focus for this team. It was tough today against ISU because the Cyclones did their damage from beyond the arc. But protecting the rim makes teams more one dimensional. And with the height UT has there should be no reason why that's an issue. Inexperience definitely is playing a factor because Ridley, Ibeh, and the other young posts definitely look lost at times around the rim. This will improve as they adjust to game speed. But it needs to get better quick.
-Turn overs are still very much a problem. I honestly do not trust the ball-handling ability of any guard other than Felix. (And Kabongo when he returns). But the Longhorns also make sloppy passes.
-The flow of the offense still isn't there. One reason why is because there really isn't any who can create their own shot, other than Felix (who doesn't have the best shot in general). Felix is the only player that can drive in consistently and either get to the rim or pull up for a mid-range shot (I've been impressed with his improvement in his mid-range jumper). So without anyone else creating any offense, the Longhorns often jack up a bunch of contested shots and live and die by the jump shot. This could also be fixed if the Horns had more offense from the post players. The ball could be fed down low and the post player would either try to score the ball down low or kick it out to a guard. But there isn't any post player who is polished enough on offense for that to be an option right now. So once again the Longhorns are forced to some how find more open jumpers for the guards. Their best offensive play is a jump shot off of a curl from a screen on a lower block... When that's your best offensive play you will have issues on offense.
-There isn't a "go-to" guy. We really saw this problem late in the Baylor and WVU games. Texas really doesn't have anyone to turn to in order to finish games or make a play when they need one. This ties back into the fact that the guards are mainly jump shooters and no one really can create any offense. Again, Felix is the only guy who really can create anything off the dribble, which is why he was big in the Baylor game. But he still isn't that "go-to" guy yet either. Hopefully Kabongo can help with that issue.
-The identity and chemistry on both ends of the floor are still a work in progress. Texas has been beat by a team that played well inside (Baylor), a less-than-average offensive team (WVU) that grinded it out and fought for a lot of offensive boards, and a team that made a living off of three's (ISU). So although Texas had some good stats in the defensive category, the stats are not translating to wins and they don't matter. I do like how the guards get after the ball at times, but the team defense is still poor.
-Since Texas doesn't have strong post play on offense and since they really don't have any players that consistently take it to the rim, they will undoubtedly continue to lose the free throw battle as well. Do not be surprised to see other teams attempting a lot more free throws than Texas right now. It's just how they play at the moment.
There's still more Texas could work on but right now those are some thoughts running through my head. This team is frustrating to follow because they have a lot of depth but it isn't good depth right now. We have to remember this team is young, one of the youngest teams in the NCAA. And each player shows flashes that he can be good. But it could be some time before we see this team actually make any serious noise. Like I said earlier, it just feels like they play with 1 arm tied behind their back.
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