SB Nation - Dexter Pittman

Post-UNC Praise For Longhorns Keeps Rolling In

Peter Bean — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:06:03 -0000

Let's start with John Gasaway over at Basketball Prospectus, who promised me a couple weeks ago he'd talk Texas, but only after he got a chance to see 'em take on the Tar Heels. John delivered on that promise today (read the whole thing):

Weekend in Hoops: No One Looks Better Than Texas

This year I’ve seen Carolina outplayed and schematically frustrated by Syracuse, and I’ve even seen them matched athletically by Kentucky. But I literally can’t remember the last time I found myself bestowing mid-major-variety "You poor overmatched dears" pity upon a Tar Heel team. Next to a physical specimen like Dexter Pittman, Ed Davis looked like John Henson. (Don’t ask me what Henson looked like.) To see a Roy Williams team operate at a clear horespower deficit is, to say the least, rare.

[...]Give Pittman most of the credit for UT’s stellar showing on the offensive glass. The big guy recorded 12 offensive boards in just 26 minutes of playing time. From my chair Pittman’s performance in this game (he recorded a 23-15 double-double) marked something of a return to 2008-09 form. I realize he’s been garnering headlines this year for his unbelievable shooting (he is making 79 percent of his twos on the season), but what had interested me about that shooting was that these are not just put-backs he’s recording. Before he saw Carolina blue, Pittman’s offensive rebounding was actually down from last year. But after what I saw him do Saturday against a frontline stocked with future NBA players, I know that Pittman has the potential to achieve DeJuan Blair-level domination in any game against any team, up to and including Kansas.

More praise for Texas after the jump.

From Gary Parrish at CBSSports.com:

Sure, it's early... but 'Horns have that championship look

On this day, [Texas' frontcourt] ranked off the charts. As did Texas in general. And that's why Barnes, though guarded and careful like any coach, is no longer hiding from the reality that this might be the best team he's ever assembled, might well be better than the team he took to the 2003 Final Four.

"Could it be?" Barnes said. "Yeah, maybe, possibly. ... But we're not there yet."

No, they aren't.

It's still December, after all.

But after watching the Longhorns Saturday, it sure looks like they're on their way.

And finally, from ESPN.com's Jay Bilas' weekly wrap:

Nobody Played Harder Than: Damion James, Texas
James now has 41 career double-doubles, which is remarkable. The versatile and voracious rebounder is simply relentless, and he scored 25 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and had four steals against North Carolina. He was the toughest dude in Cowboys Stadium this weekend, and would have been even if the Cowboys had been playing at home.

Most Impressive Conference: Hands down, the Big 12
Whatever questions there were about the top and middle of the league have been answered in the affirmative. Kansas is the best team, although the Jayhawks' schedule has let them down. Who would have thought a road game against UCLA and a matchup with Michigan would have provided as much resistance as a Chihuahua pulling on its leash? KU played poorly against both and was never threatened. Texas got its first test against North Carolina and got an A-plus, while Kansas State proved it is for real by beating UNLV and Alabama away from home. I thought the Big Ten would have shown better, but the Big 12 has proven to be the best league.

Best Win: Texas out-toughing North Carolina
The Longhorns were not only tougher, but they were also more explosive and skilled on the perimeter and bigger and stronger in the post. Texas outrebounded North Carolina by 20, and by a whopping 17 on the offensive glass. This is Rick Barnes' best offensive team since he has been in Austin, and there is room for improvement.

Preview: Michigan State Spartans vs. Texas Longhorns

KJ@theonlycolors — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:55:10 -0000

More photos » by Michael Thomas - AP

Another ~~large~~ sun-blocking-out man who's got some ups.

Browse more photos »

Your MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY SPARTANS vs.

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS LONGHORNS

THE FRANK ERWIN CENTER, AUSTIN, TEXAS
7:00 P.M. (ET), TUESDAY
TV: ESPN2 (Jay Bilas!)

Longhorn bullets:

2008-09: Overall record of 23-12, 9-7 in Big 12 play, lost to Duke 74-69 in second round of NCAA Tournament, KenPom ranking of #23.
Returned 3 of 5 starters; A.J. Abrams and Connor Atchley graduated. But 7 of top 9 players by minutes played last season returned, and 3-4 freshmen are making significant contributions. This is a very deep team.
Plus they now have 5'10" guard Jai Lucas (a transfer from Florida) lurking on the bench.
Record of 10-0 to date this season. Average margin of victory of 29.8 points/game. Coming off 103-90 win over North Carolina (in a stupendous 88-possession game). Other quasi-quality win is a 16-point victory over Pitt on a neutral court.
MSU leads all-time series 3-2, having beaten Texas in each of the last three nonconference seasons. (Heroes: Neitzel, Lucas, Summers. Final entry on the list displayed in Youtube gloriousness in Fanshot below.)

In case you skimmed past the part about how deep this Texas team is:

Pos	Player	Height	Year	Min/G	Pts/G	2pt%	3pt%	FT%	Reb/G	Ast/G
G	Dogus Balbay	6'1"	Jr	23.0	4.3	0.586	0.111	0.429	4.1	4.9
G	Avery Bradley	6'2"	Fr	24.5	11.9	0.493	0.407	0.519	1.4	2.2
G	J'Covan Brown	6'1"	Fr	23.1	13.1	0.529	0.348	0.971	3.0	2.4
F	Damion James	6'7"	Sr	26.7	16.4	0.549	0.370	0.677	10.6	1.0
C	Dexter Pittman	6'10"	Sr	19.6	14.6	0.734	--	0.545	7.1	0.6

G	Justin Mason	6'2"	Sr	17.5	2.6	0.467	0.143	0.563	2.1	1.6
G	Varez Ward	6'2"	So	23.0	6.7	0.500	0.167	0.500	3.0	0.7
G/F	Jordan Hamilton	6'7"	Fr	19.1	9.8	0.469	0.341	0.636	4.3	1.6
F	Gary Johnson	6'6"	Jr	17.2	6.3	0.605	1.000	0.778	4.0	0.6
F/C	Alexis Wangmene	6'7"	So	11.6	3.8	0.615	0.000	0.600	2.9	0.2

(Notes: Ward has only played 3 games since returning from injury. Gary Johnson has only attempted one 3-pointer.)

The Longhorns' depth ratio through 10 games is 1.78--which is sort of the functional equivalent of having two starting lineups.

Beyond fawning all over the length of Rick Barnes' bench, I'm going to keep the non-bulleted portion of this game preview relatively short. A lot of ground has already been covered in the questions and answers that Peter Bean and I exchanged.

When I look at Texas' tempo-free profile, I feel a lot like I did ahead of the two games vs. North Carolina last season: They're like us--but even more so. They're deep, play at the kind of break-neck pace Kalin Lucas and Korie Lucious dream of, score very efficiently around the basket, and crash the glass. On defense, they've been downright stingy, holding opponents to an effective field goal percentage of just 36.9%. Even controlling for a fairly pedestrian pre-UNC nonconference slate, the Longhorns rank #1 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency.

And I've only scratched the surface here. Texas actually ranks in the top 50 nationally in 7 of the 8 four factor categories (everything but defensive turnover percentage, although they've got a healthy defensive steal percentage of 13.9%--so they do have some disruptive ability).

If you're going to pin your hopes on anything on the Texas side of the statistical equation, it's that they've improved in 6 of those 7 top-50 categories over their performance from last season. (I'd speculate that this phenomenon may be partially driven by the same thing that happened when Drew Neitzel graduated in 2008. As great as A.J. Abrams was, working so hard to get him open jumpshots--something Travis Walton put a stop to for most of last year's game--may have detracted from using the team's other weapons in a more cohesive and effective manner.)

Given that this is a pretty young Texas team (particularly in terms of perimeter scoring), a reversion to/past the mean resulting from a couple shaky underclassmen performances isn't out of the realm of possibilities. Oh, and they don't shoot free throws well (62.5%)--although that's kind of hard to build a defensive game plan around.

Offensively, I think we need a lot of pieces to come together. Delvon Roe has to make Dexter Pittman work on the defensive end. Raymar Morgan has to play confidently but intelligently. He doesn't need to outscore Damion James; he just needs to make it a fair fight. Oh, and we need more than one guard knocking down 3-pointers.

OK, I'm basically repeating myself. So I'll just go ahead and finish by being explicitly repetitive:

Frankly, I think a lot of things are going to have to go right for MSU to win this game. It sure looks to me like Texas can match our team speed and has two players in Pittman and James that will give us fits around the basket on both ends of the court. This game represents MSU's last chance to post a big nonconference win away from home. If such a win is achieved, it will have been fully earned.

P.S. KenPom says Texas wins 85-66 in 77 possessions. But who cares what some fancy arithmetic says, right? Players play. Tough players win.

Conversations with the Enemy: Talking Texas with Burnt Orange Nation

KJ@theonlycolors — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:01:45 -0000

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

Damion James rising from a sea of Carolina blue.

Browse more photos »

Peter Bean of the excellent Texas Longhorns blog Burnt Orange Nation (a fellow SB Nation site) exchanged questions and answers about Tuesday night's big showdown. His responses to my queries are below. I'm in bold.

Texas was one of the few tournament-level teams as reluctant to shoot the three-pointer as MSU was last season. How have the Longhorns dealt with the departure of the designated sharp-shooter A.J. Abrams? Where are the points coming from so far this season (starting perhaps with the 103 points the team dumped on the Tarheels on Saturday)?

You hit the nail on the head in terms of the problem last season: Texas had no one who could punish teams with the three ball, which meant you could just stay tight on AJ Abrams, who struggles to create on his own, and collapse the rest of the defense on the interior. This year, Texas can score in a variety of ways.

In the half court, Texas preferred first option will be to work inside-out through Dexter Pittman. If he gets the ball down low in good position, he's looking to score if he's one-on-one, and if the double arrives, he's passing out of it. Depending where the double comes from, Texas is getting a good look from Damion James on the weakside block, a cutting guard, or an open jump shooter. Secondarily, Texas' halfcourt offense is much more potent this year with three guards who can break down the defense with penetration -- Dogus Balbay, Avery Bradley, and J'Covan Brown. And finally, this team is grabbing 39% of its own misses, which go a long way to keeping the scoring moving, whether or not Texas is having a good shooting day.

Beyond that, this is a terrific team in open space, and Rick Barnes is appropriately looking to push the tempo (75.4 possessions per 40 minutes, 9th fastest nationally). What's really exciting (or frightening, depending on your perspective) is how much better this team is going to be by season's end. The supremely talented freshman Jordan Hamilton is playing pretty bad basketball right now. Avery Bradley and J'Covan Brown are beginning to play high-elite basketball, and they too are just freshmen.

Damion James was a pretty scary player last season. He looks to be even better this season. Tell us about the development of his game. Does he have a glaring weakness left at this point?

I'll be honest: James is playing at a higher level than I thought he had in him. He worked out for NBA teams last summer who told him he needed to work on his leadership and assertiveness, and he apparently took the message to heart. He was a very strong player last year, but he's taken things up a notch this year, to my surprise. His mid-range game and spot-up shooting are still merely solid, but he's doing a much better job parlaying his athleticism into scoring chances near the rim, as reflected in his 6.7 fouls drawn per 40 minutes. (It'd be nice if he could make more of those FTs, but...)

His glaring weakness is still his dribbling, which makes me laugh in a proud parent sort of way. It's great seeing him succeed as he is, because he's not a natural basketball freak like a Kevin Durant. He's an athletic freak who has humbly busted his ass to become a great basketball player.

The Longhorns have been downright stingy on defense this season, holding opponents to a 2-point FG% of .371 and a 3-point FG% of .243 and ranking #1 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency. How are they doing it? Related: How much is Rick Barnes deploying the 2-3 zone this year?

For the most part, Texas is playing straight man defense, which has always been his preference. His zones have never been particularly effective, even when we've had the personnel to seemingly deploy a good one. This group is playing outstanding help/team defense, whether it's guards switching on screens, forwards showing on screens, or targeted double-teaming. We've seen a little bit of press from this group, and I suspect Rick would like to do more of it as the year goes on. I don't think Michigan State's the team we'll see it against, though.

Texas is off to a great start this season: 10-0 with an average margin of victory of 29.8 points (!!!). A #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament looks like a very obtainable goal. How big do you see the game vs. MSU being for the team's long-term prospects?

If Texas had lost to North Carolina on Saturday, I'd be very anxious about a second loss to Michigan State. As it is, winning this one will just be validation; a poor performance wouldn't be a major setback. At this point, the focus starts to be big picture, with no one game being make-or-break. Given what we've seen so far, a #1 seed looks like the appropriate goal, and there appear to be three games which will determine whether they deserve it: Tuesday vs MSU, January 23 at UCONN, and February 8 vs Kansas. Win two out of three and I'll be ecstatic.

Give us four signs--two positive, two negative--that, upon seeing them develop in the game, will make you cackle with delight / cringe in fear about the outcome.

Cackle catalysts: (1) Texas looks to the inside-out offense, be that through passes to Pittman or guard penetration. (2) No foul or injury issues that keep either Pittman or James from playing 25+ minutes.

Cringe creators: (1) Michigan State's excellent perimeter defenders choking off Texas' penetration and post-passing, leading to setting for jump shots. (2) Hot three point shooting early from Michigan State, forcing the defense out and giving the Spartans much more space to maneuver offensively.

Thanks, Peter. Here's to a great game Tuesday night--culminating in a Spartan upset.

'Horns Stars Shine Bright in 103-90 Victory over Heels

txtwstr7 — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 01:17:35 -0000

In one of the more entertaining basketball games of the past few years, 39,000 fans watched the Texas Longhorns run away from the talented UNC Tar Heels in a 103-90 victory at JerryWorld. While this recap is technically supposed to analyze this game by itself, I'd prefer to look at this game in the larger picture of the overall season. We've talked a lot about how the ultimate goal is to get this talented roster playing to its potential by the end of the season. While today's game wasn't a total virtuoso performance--especially on the defensive end--Texas demonstrated a lot of the qualities that made this team a preseason favorite to reach the Final Four. With the exception of Jordan Hamilton, our best players shined under the spotlight of today's match-up and showcased the strengths of their respective talent sets. Negating another potential concern, Texas didn't show any stage fright and took it to the Heels from the tip-off until the final whistle. This didn't look like the team that sleepwalked their way through the the first half of games against some cupcakes. Not at all.

Along those same lines, one of the more fascinating parts of today's victory represents its validation of the significant steps taken forward by J'Covan Brown and Avery Bradley. The calm, cool, and collected performances from the two freshmen stand in stark contrast to their out-of-control (Brown) and tepid (Bradley) offensive performances from earlier in the season. Brown and Bradley each poured in over 20 points today, and both of them could have easily gone for 25 apiece. Unfortunately, as we'll discuss in detail below, Jordan Hamilton had perhaps his worst game of the season and represents the current enigma on the roster.

After the jump, we provide a quick recap of the game before breaking down some of the individual efforts...this was a lot of fun.

Game Recap: Despite coming out of the gate with a lot of gusto, Texas started off cold from the field and fell into an early 8-4 hole at the first TV timeout. Starting off 2-9 from the field, Texas--and especially Avery Bradley--missed some open looks, leading some fans to immediately speculate that the potential depth perception issues might cause problems today for the 'Horns. Buoyed by a spark from J'Covan Brown off the bench, Texas corrected its shooting woes and started killing the Tar Heels on the offensive glass, which continued for the rest of the game. In one of the more remarkable stats from today's game, Texas had TWENTY-SIX offensive rebounds that led to 27 second-chance points. Leading into the final TV timeout, the first half turned into an up-tempo, see-saw battle between two highly-talented teams. I got several text-messages during the game admiring the talent of both teams, and the athleticism, length, and (insert Jay Bilas made-up adjective here) for both rosters was pretty remarkable.

With 2:43 left in the first half, the Horns were up 41-37, but then ran away from UNC during one of their best stretches of basketball of this season. During a 13-4 run to close the first half--since when does THAT happen--Texas grabbed five offensive rebounds, forced three turnovers, and got an unexpected line-drive 3-pointer from Gary Johnson. In one of the more memorable plays of the season, Avery Bradley stole an inbounds pass with 2 seconds left and laid it in right before the final buzzer. Despite facing the formidable frontcourt of UNC, Texas outscored the Tar Heels 32-20 in the paint and appeared poised to blow the game wide open.

At the start of the second half, it appeared that was exactly what was going to happen. After a few quick baskets, Texas pushed its lead out to 65-48 and looked to be in complete control of the game. Despite making some headway into the big lead, UNC couldnt get within closer than 8 points, as Texas always was able to respond. Then, after Rick Barnes took out Damion James and Dexter Pittman, UNC went on a quick 5-0 run to cut the lead down to 6. The two seniors were immediately inserted back into the game. After another UNC basket, Texas was only up 82-78 and appeared to be holding on for dear life with 7:00 to go. During the middle stretch of the second half, Texas gave up a ton of easy looks to the Tar Heels, who shot nearly 60% in the second half to keep the game close. I would love to see one of GoBR's patented columns over the defensive breakdowns in the second half.

Faced with true adversity against a top-flight opponent for the first time this season, the veteran leadership of Texas helped salt the game away. Over the next three minutes, Pittman and James scored 9 of our next 11 points to put us up 93-82. The defense was bailed out by several silly UNC turnovers, but, when it mattered most, they were able to hold UNC to 7 points from the 7:00 mark until the 2:00 mark. Closing the game in style, Texas got a final rim-rocking dunk from Sexy Dexy to push the final margin to 103-90.

The outcome was: invigorating. Win or lose, that was a fun game to watch. Both teams were incredibly talented, played hard, and pushed the tempo to an incredible pace. Players for both teams often resorted to putting their hands on their knees in trying to catch a breather during the natural breaks in the game. But, regardless of the aesthetic value of the game, this was a true statement from the Texas Longhorns to the college basketball world. Four years ago, in their first true test of the season, second-ranked Texas was humiliated by the Duke Blue Devils in the infamous "black jersey" game. Regardless of how much this team can still improve--and it's quite a bit--they passed their first true test with flying colors.

Additionally, what a difference a year makes. We just threw down 103 points on North Carolina and have scored over 100 points in three of our last four games. And, as we'll discuss below, Texas *still* hasn't gotten consistent outside shooting. This team is piling up incredible amounts of points and has been able to use their incredible depth and rapid substitution rates to make the necessary adjustments. After today, is anyone still pontificating over our offensive woes from last year?

Stat of the Game: TWENTY SIX offensive rebounds: Despite facing a UNC team chock full of 6-10 robots, Texas grabbed a staggering 26 offensive rebounds during the game. In only 26 minutes, Dexter Pittman grabbed 12 offensive rebounds (15 total) to complement--and largely fuel--his 23 point night. Since I'm going to shortchange him in the next section, I want to highlight Sexy Dexy's line. Against his best competition of the season, Sexy Dex went 23-15 today, along with 2 highlight reel blocks. Pittman's 12 offensive boards were three more than UNC's entire team put together. But Dexy wasn't the only Longhorn who assisted on the offensive glass. Texas got offensive rebounds from EIGHT different players tonight, which is simply a staggering number and accurately reflects the effort from the team today.

The offensive MVP was: J'Covan Brown. Some of you may quibble with this decision, and I admit that it's a bit of a stretch. Unlike some of Texas' previous games where tons of players scored in double-digits, today's game was largely our best players putting the team on their back. Brown, James, Pittman, and Avery Bradley each went over 20 points tonight, while no one else scored more than 25 points. James and Pittman did exactly what we've come to expect them to do, as the two seniors dominated the paint, threw down 13 combined dunks and layups, and combined to make 14 free throws. That's exactly what we want/need them to do. Bradley struggled a bit with his shot, but still finished with 20 points and his usual assortment of rebounds, steals, and assists--he's a keeper.

The reason I'm giving this to J'Covan is because he filled a great void for the team today. With Balbay struggling, Ward injured, and Lucas only being allowed to dip his toes in the water today, Brown stepped up with his best performance of the season. J'Covan did a little bit of everything today. J'Covan nailed 3 three-pointers (with his bunny hop release), grabbed 5 rebounds, and delivered some beautiful passes to streaking teammates. Most importantly, he only turned the ball over twice today, which demonstrates his tremendous growth over the first month of the season. When he plays like he did today, he renders the deficiencies of Balbay and Lucas pretty much irrelevant. Here's to hoping he keeps it up.

The defensive MVP was: Our rebounding effort. This might also be a controversial decision, but I can't find myself to give this award to any of the individual players. Texas' overall dominance on the glass limited UNC to only 11 second-chance points and only 8 fast break points. By getting second and third opportunities on the offensive end--while gobbling up the UNC misses--Texas was able to prevent the UNC racehorses from dominating the game in transition. While I keep bringing it up, it was really, really impressive to watch this team outwork UNC on the glass.

The Curious Case of Jordan Hamilton: Currently the most enigmatic player on the roster, Jordan Hamilton laid a complete egg today. I think the best way to summarize his game today compared to Bradley's came from PB in the game thread.

Jordan...is a truly elite talent. Avery Bradley is a rarely special basketball player.

Jordan had several facepalm moments today, including several ill-advised drives to the basket. Overall, in only 17 minutes, he went 2-10 from the field and turned the ball over twice. I'm starting to think that developing Hamilton is going to become Rick Barnes' biggest challenge for the rest of the season. Without Hamilton being able to lock down the SF spot, we have to start juggling three-guard lineups, mixing in Gary Johnson, or sliding Damion James down to the spot. I drank the Jordan Hamilton Kool-aid during the off-season, and I've been very disappointed with his performance so far.

A Method to the Dexy Substitution Madness?: Everyone has been wondering whether or not Dexy's stamina would hold up in big games. A cursory glance at the box score would only show that he played 27 minutes. What the box score doesn't show is that Dexter played the last 7:41 of today's game. In taking a closer look at Barnes' substitutions today, it appears that the strategy for Dexter involves using TV timeouts to give Dexter extra rest at selected moments.

Check out his substitutions today:

First Half	Second Half
17:41 Out	17:54 Out
15:47 In	16:29 In
13:01 Out	13:21 Out
11:43 In	10:52 In
10:06 Out	9:19 Out
9:26 In	7:41 In
8:01 Out
7:51 In
4:39 Out
2:40 In
2:19 Out

As you can see, Dexter was subbed in immediately after most of the automatic TV timeouts. Dexter was visibly winded at several points in the game today, but I think his substitution pattern allowed him to play the final 7:41. Kudos to Barnes for making this work.

Mason Watch: I gotta give PB some props here. While I was freaking out over Mason being a starter and getting huge minutes in early season games, he has maintained the "wait-and-see" approach. Today proved the prudence of his patience. Mason got a season-low 7 minutes today, which was--by far--his lowest total of the season.

Final Thoughts: Today was a statement game for a team on the rise. While it helps validate the early season ranking and optimism from the team, it must only be analyzed for what it encompasses--one game. Texas has no time to celebrate this big win, as they must immediately prepare for Tuesday Night's showdown against the Michigan State Spartans. I cannot, cannot, cannot give a higher endorsement for the game against Michigan State. If you are a student, do whatever it takes to attend the game. If you want, come find me in the North O-Zone.

We'll know more about this team in 72 hours, but, right now, you have to feel pretty damn good about this basketball team. They may not get the campus hype until we get done with our business in Pasadena, but, after today's win, they officially deserve it.

Hook 'Em!

Texas 103, UNC 90

T.H. — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:36:43 -0000

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

2 days ago: Fans and media look on as Texas guard Damion James (5) shoots in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against North Carolina, Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009, in Arlington, Texas. The teams played on a basketball court that was raised roughly two feet off the ground in the first event basketball event at the stadium. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Browse more photos »

In the Kentucky game it was three points. Today it was four. That's the margin in each game that UNC had fought back to after being down by double-digit margins for most of the second half. They cut it to four (or three) have the ball and all of the momentum... and the Heels just go stupid. Here are the possessions immediately following UNC cutting the score to 82-78: a missed Larry Drew three that shouldn't have been taken, a Will Graves turnover, a Tyler Zeller layup, a Marcus Ginyard turnover before crossing midcourt, and a Larry Drew turnover. Two minutes and fifteen seconds of clock, and all of a sudden the core is 91-80, Texas. The Heels wouldn't get closer than nine the rest of the way. Pathetic.

Of course, that one stretch isn't what cost Carolina game. It was quite simply the Texas players under the basket snatching rebounds right and left. John Gasaway may not like rebounding margin, but here it tells the entire story. UNC had 37. Texas had 54. 25 of those were offensive rebounds; Dexter Pittman alone had 12 of those (27 overall), more offensive boards than the entire UNC team. The Heels were pushed around like they weren't even there. It doesn't do any good to hold Texas to 41 percent shooting if they just get to keep trying until the ball goes in, and forty percent of their misses found their way back into Longhorn hands.

It's especially frustrating since Carolina was doing so well elsewhere on the court. They had nine blocks and were a remarkable 7 for 13 in three pointers. It was possibly the best game of Dexter Strickland's and Tyler Zeller's young careers. But the turnovers were still there (17, with 11 Texas steals, and Texas doesn't typically steal the ball) , Deon Thompson was a complete no-factor, and every rebound seemed to find its way into Dexter Pittman's hands. Roy Williams can't be happy with this performance, which goes against everything he likes to see in a performance. The team can't be happy, especially Marcus Ginyard, who seemed to have the weight of the entire team on his back at the end. It's another brutal loss against a really good team, but it has to grate knowing that a good performance on the boards would have easily flipped this into the win column. Carolina is left with a long Christmas break with a few cupcakes sprinkled here and there on the schedule. I can hope they'll learn from this, and use it come ACC season, but right now the Heels are failing on the national stage more often than they're winning. That's going to have to change.

The Stars Are Bright, the Opponents Not: Deep in the Heart of Texas

T.H. — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:37:11 -0000

More photos » by Jack Plunkett - AP

9 days ago: Texas' Damion James brings down a rebound against Texas State during an NCAA college basketball game in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009. Texas won 87-54. (AP Photo/Jack Plunkett)

Browse more photos »

There are two schools of thought on how to introduce a young team to the rigors of college basketball. Roy Williams has chosen one way, to throw a series of quality opponents at his team and hope they improve against the stiff competition. It appears Texas tried to do the same, signing up for the CBE Classic that had them facing Iowa and Pittsburgh, and scheduling Southern California a week later. Their opponents haven't provided the necessary challenge, though – only Pittsburgh (and also rans Long Beach St. and Western Carolina) cracked Ken Pomeroy's Top 100. The Longhorns haven't payed down to their competition, winning their nine games by an average of 31 points, and having no game end closer than 16. They've got the most efficient defense in the country, and a top 15 offense. How good are they really?

Pretty good. The defense is built around two senior big men, Dexter Pittman and Damion James. Pittman is a shotblocker the Heels rarely see outside of practice, currently 15th in the country in possession adjusted blocks. (For comparison, DeMarcus Cousins is 17th, and Ed Davis 58th.) The two are also good for most of the team's rebounds, but it's defensing the ball where they excel. No team is better at defending the two. For that matter, only Florida is better at defending the three. It is extremely difficult to score against the Longhorns.

There are only two bright sides for the Heels when they have the ball. The first is their height. After Pittman (6'10') and James (6'7"), only a pair of 6'7" underclassmen get a significant playing time in the paint. The Heels have a big height advantage that Texas will counter with the typical Rick Barnes rough style of play, but UNC can rotate quite a few people in the paint and run them hard. Taking Pittman out of the game through fouls or exhaustion will go along way for getting Carolina the lead.

The other glimmer of hope is that the Texas defense is focused more on shot defense and rebounding than turnover generation. Getting the ball inside to Carolina's scorers will still be very difficult, and it's a task that the Heels will often screw up for large stretches of the game, but there won't be the pressure on the perimeter ball handlers UNC had to battle at Kentucky and Syracuse.

On offense, Texas isn't big on the three, although point guard J'Covan Brown is prone to launch the three, and big men James and Jordan Hamilton will also drift out occasionally for the long shot. The true shooting guards, Avery Bradley and Douglas Balbay, are more likely to drive to the hoop than pull up from behind the arc. I have mixed opinions on how well this will succeed. Carolina's big men alter a lot of driving shots simply by virtue of being teheir and being tall; Ohio State was absolutely destroyed in this manner, when combined with poor outside shooting. On the other hand, a quick player used to slicing through giants can make life difficult for the Heels, as we saw in Kentucky. It doesn't help that Rick Barnes likes the same up-tempo style of play as Roy Williams; the Texas defense can get back quickly and force UNC into a half-court set, while a quick offense can get the ball to the hoop before the Heels are fully back in position. Not that positioning is everything. I'd expecting a few more blocks on the run from Davis and Henson today.

It's Davis and Henson I'm most curious about in this game. Davis has yet to truly go off and have a Hansbroughesque performance, and he's due. Henson finally clicked and was a rebound away from his first double-double in seventeen minutes against Presbyterian, but is still a slender newbie in desperate need of a sandwich. If those two and Thompson can step up and play their games against the Texas front line, I have faith that the Heels backcourt, even sans Dexter Strickland, can handle the Longhorns' smaller guards. That's a tall order for a young front line, however, and I'm not fully convinced the Heels can pull it off.

The other X-factor, of course, is Jerry Jones' Taj MaTexas, a cavernous dome hosting it's first basketball game. Anyone watching the Heels' struggles in the Final Fours of the nineties knows how badly a football stadium can throw off an outside shooter. Neither team has a lot of experience in the backcourt. Whichever team solves the riddle of outside shooting in a dome is going to have a significant advantage. (Also whichever team scores more points will most likely win. I swear the insights I have on this game are unbelievably penetrating.)

Texas Basketball Report 3.01 [Texas-UNC Analysis]

Peter Bean — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 13:38:54 -0000

More photos » by Michael Thomas - AP

AB must continue his recent trend of increased assertiveness.

Browse more photos »

These three years of law school in the middle of nowhere have made for tough November-Decembers for my Texas basketball fandom. Each year, the same story: enter the school year with a grand plan to keep up with school as the semester progresses, only to spend the entirety of September, October, and November feeding my addiction to college football, such that the week after Thanksgiving I have no choice but to retreat from sports to allow for a full sprint to the semester's finish.

And this year, the Texas Basketball Report makes its latest debut so far, after a full 9 games are in the books. Perhaps no big deal, what with the season getting serious just now, but even this seemingly terrific bit of timing (I completed my last exam 24 hours before today's tip) is warted--my flight home necessitating I get in a cab at 3:30 CT, right as the second half of the game starts heating up. And if you've ever had the displeasure of flying through the South Bend "airport," you know there won't be any catching the tail end on either of the two TV's in the entire building, both of which will be tuned to Fox News.

In any case, the late debut of the TBR is just a symptom of the underlying problem, which is that I love Texas basketball nearly as much, if not equal to, Texas football. You have to understand that my earliest memory as a human being is as a toddler at the Drum; my Pops took his two sons to every home game, every year, even when that meant having to listen to Tom Penders post-game excuses after a loss to Stephen F. Austin. (Seriously. My brother and I still crack jokes about it to this day, adding as a caveat to any personal failure, "Well, you know, the Lumberjacks are gonna be there in March.") In all, I'm sure I attended roughly 15 games every year, from age 5 through 22 (excepting two years when I wasn't living in Austin). I love this stuff. A lot.

So while I'm sure I'll be frustrated this afternoon when I miss the tail end of the game, it won't snuff out the excitement and relief I feel to be thinking and talking about Texas hoops. Best of all, next December I'll be able to join Wiggo among the 5,000 who turn out for a stomping of UT-Pan Am.

The season's first TBR begins after the jump, an abbreviated version serving mostly as a UNC preview, for obvious reasons.

Before the first test. Having caught Pitt, Iowa, and Southern Cal in down years, it's been a particularly manageable opening stretch for the Horns, who through 9 games have faced just three Top 100 opponents (Pitt, Long Beach State, and Western Carolina, who are now 10-1 after beating Louisville last week). While what Texas does in the next three days is more important, the opening run of blowouts isn't to be disregarded as meaningless. It matters much less whether Texas' first 9 manageable games come in succession to open the year or (as in every other Rick Barnes year) sometime after the 11th game, and more how the team disposes of those beatable squads.

The fact is that Texas is walloping lesser teams like no Rick Barnes team ever has, with the possible exception of the Gibson-Aldridge-Tucker 2005-06 squad. There's a reason that when Texas takes the hardwood this afternoon, it will be for their 34th consecutive day atop Ken Pomeroy's Ratings. To put that in perspective, consider, first of all, that--as far as I know, and I've been a religious devotee of KP's work since its inception--Texas has never been the #1-rated team. And second, though the manageable schedule has helped Texas maintain astronomical ratings, consider that they've thus far managed to outperform Kansas, whose own schedule has been even softer than Texas's.

All of which is to say that regardless of what happens in the next two games, the manner by which Texas is throttling lesser teams tells us important things, as well. Hopefully they'll do better with their December tests than did the 2005-06 squad (Black Saturday in East Rutheford and the disastrous loss in Austin a week later, to Chris Lofton and Tennesse).

Okay, so yeah: now it's on. Nice as it is to see Texas killing the weak, it's still anyone's guess how this group will perform against a team that can match them in size, depth, and athleticism. And whereas UNC will represent the first test of Texas's season, today's contest will be the Tar Heels' fourth against Top 50 competition. Both teams are young, but at this point in the season, Texas is decidedly greener.

Of most concern will be the team's performance in the half court offense, which has yet to face resistance as meaningful as it will today. If Texas is settling for long, contested jump shots early and often, we'll have a good idea about the answer to the question of whether the team still has a steep learning curve in front of it.

Battle of the bigs. Last week when I was sending over questions to Carolina March, I made a sloppy error and wound up asking him a question about whether UNC would struggle at all to bang with Texas physically. The Tar Heels are, of course, as physically imposing a squad as there is in the country, with a small army of Ents to patrol the paint, including five players 6-10 or taller. None may be quite as Sexy as Pittman (who is?), but he's flying solo into this battle, creating what could very well be a potentially determinative factor in the game: The easiest Texas win to envision involves 25-30 minutes of Sexy basketball, while the easiest loss to picture foresees long stretches on the bench with foul trouble. (I certainly agree it's as critical a factor as there is in this game, but as I'll discuss in a bit, I'm at least as interested in whether two different Texas players show up with their A-games.)

What strategic approach do you take if you're coaching this game? If I'm Rick Barnes I want to get the best of both worlds--effective half court possessions when we need them (running things through Pittman), and as much up-tempo full-court play as UNC allows. I want Brown, Bradley, Hamilton, and Balbay operating in space, and I'm worried about how well they'll perform against the Heels' length in a half court game.

On the flipside, then, it'll be interesting to see whether Roy Williams intends to make us "prove it" in a controlled, half court game. UNC likes to get out and run on the secondary break, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but would mitigate substantially their potential advantage in the paint.

The name of the game is distribution. Finally, if there's a second big worry I have about this match up it's that I could see Texas floundering haphazardly from a domino effect of poor distribution. It could happen any number of ways, but here's one: Imagine that Dogus neutralizes himself with hesitation to penetrate, and Pittman is either unavailable with fouls or smothered by UNC's defensive focus on him. What's the offense? With this group, there definitely exist other approaches Texas could emphasize and thrive in, but at least as likely the bad dominoes could continue falling, starting with Damion James trying to do more on his own, which not only would marginalize the tremendous value James produces from his targeted game, but would prevent Texas from settling into any of the healthy approaches that put the young scorers in positions to succeed. Before long--with at this point Texas almost assuredly behind in the game--there's no coherent operation at all and we start to see a lot of individual attempts to get a shot off. Most would be bad shots. And the train is off the tracks.

Implicit in the example I gave is concern that Texas will have a plan for this game and the young guys will defer too much to it if that plan goes south for any reason. My focus here will be on Dogus and Bradley, who if hesitant and passive have the capacity to severely hamstring our offense. Inversely, of course, I see in good games from them precisely the kind of perimeter attackers you need to get out in front of the Tar Heels. I'll just call it now and hope for the best (or that I'm wrong): If Balbay and Bradley are assertive, forceful creators--pushing the full court at any good opportunity and, in half court sets, attacking the paint with purpose--Texas wins, and feasibly by a comfortable margin. If they both struggle and hesitate, I expect other dominoes will fall and they aren't the kind a Rick Barnes team is great at correcting mid-game--UNC wins it.

PREDICTION: Texas 77 UNC 71

Ask The Enemy: Texas vs North Carolina

Peter Bean — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 02:50:26 -0000

More photos » by Michael Thomas - AP

He is big. He is sexy. Dexter Pittman is Big Sexy.

Browse more photos »

Texas faces by far their stiffest of the season on Saturday when they travel to Jerryworld to battle North Carolina on the hardwood (1:00 CT, ESPN). I asked Carolina March to help prep us on the Tar Heels. Our Q&A is below.

We'll get to the game momentarily, but first: In 2007-08, had no one defected early to the NBA, Texas could have sent out the following starting line up:

PG: DJ Augustin (Sophomore)
SG: Daniel Gibson (Senior)
G/F: Kevin Durant (Sophomore)
F: PJ Tucker (Senior)
C: LaMarcus Aldridge (Senior)

I'm certain early attrition has prevented North Carolina from fielding an equally jaw-dropping line up. Give us the Tar Heels' equivalent (from the last 10 years or so), and give us your take on the match up with our Dream Team.

Carolina March: One of the keys to UNC's success the past couple of year's is that they've kept players for three to four years, so the ideal, nobody-defects teams aren't that much different from what you actually saw on the court. So yeah, a 2006 team that kept the core of the previous year's national championship squad (Sean May, Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton and Marvin Williams) and added Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green and Marcus Ginyard would be pretty awesome. As would the 2007 and 2008 squads, which would take Hansbrough, Green, Ginyard and Williams and add Brandan Wright, Ty Lawson, and Wayne Ellington. If nobody graduates, there's a solid three years where UNC fields a team with six or more NBA players.

But Carolina fans have also lived through seasons like 1993-1994, where a championship team returned everybody but George Lynch and then added freshmen Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, and Jeff McInnis, only to have the team deliver the earliest NCAA tournament exit in fifteen-plus years. So I'll take what we got, two national championships in five years and a host of good performances in between.

UNC has played three Top 40 teams already, defeating Ohio State (77-73) and Michigan State (89-82), while dropping a pair to Syracuse (87-71) and Kentucky (68-66). The Longhorns, meanwhile, haven't even played a Top 50 team yet. Two related questions, then: First, it has appeared to me that UNC has been improving along the way -- is that fair to say? And second, do you expect the tougher competition (and improvement along the way) to be a meaningful advantage for UNC?

Carolina March: The team has definitely improved, and I do think the level of competition has played a big part in that. With a team as young as this one – at least five freshman get significant playing time – I don't think sheltering them for the first half of the season with a diet of cupcakes would have been very helpful. How it will help them over the entire season is debatable; it may only gain them a couple of early wins in the ACC as they're more up to speed, or it may have no effect whatsoever. Even if it's the latter, I'd still prefer this type of scheduling, as games against Kentucky and Texas are much more fun to watch as a fan than having the team be undefeated and higher ranked at the end of December.

How this scheduling will help against Texas is less clear. I'd like to think that the Longhorns inexperience coupled with Carolina's scheduling gives them a great opportunity to come out strong, put Texas on their heels and watch them self-destruct as they've failed to encounter serious competition so far this season. But I thought the same thing about Kentucky, and they handled an early UNC barrage without batting an eye, and went on to win. Rick Barnes seems pretty good at keeping his players focused.

How good is Ed Davis? Like, does his badassage make you snicker a little when you think about other teams not having Ed Davis? And most importantly, is he as Sexy as Dexter Pittman? Thoughts on this match up? Does he have the strength at 225 to deal with Big Sexy?

Carolina March: First of all, please never use the words "Big" and "Sexy" in conjunction in an e-mail to me again. [No deal. --ed] Now, the baddassage of Ed Davis has for the most part been hidden under a bushel this season. He's played well, but there's an expectation that he'll completely take over a game, and so far that hasn't been the case. Some of that's due to the fact that the current system makes it difficult to put everything in the hands of one big man, and there's also the fact that in following Tyler Hansborough, the fans' expectations may be a little to high for any sophomore to live up to. Either way, it feels like he's on the cusp of truly destroying a big-name opponent, and everyone's on the edge of their seats waiting for that to happen, rather than just enjoying the moment.

The interesting thing about matching up with Pittman is that it probably won't be Ed Davis on him most of the time. Deon Thompson is the bigger body, and there's a string of players 6'10" and taller coming off the bench, all with different strengths. I'd expect the Heels to keep throwing different bodies at Pittman on both ends of the court to keep him off guard and hopefully push him into foul trouble early.

We know that UNC plays fast, but at the moment it seems to be coming at the expense of a pretty poor turnover rate. Tell us about UNC's tempo and style of play, and the turnovers issue?

Carolina March: Rapid play has always lead to more turnovers, and it's a trade-off for the most part that Roy Willams has been willing to expect. An errant pass on a fast break is no worse than failing to get an offensive rebound on a set play, and as long as it doesn't lead to fast break in the opposite direction, there's little harm done. That being said, UNC has given up more steals than I would like, which was particularly deadly against Syracuse and Kentucky. They're a young team still working out some kinks, but a good defensive team can take advantage of that pretty easily.

There's no question that the Tar Heels have more than enough speed and athleticism to play with Texas, but I wonder about whether they're prepared for Texas' exceptionally physical style of play. We're not talking Big East Brute-icism here, but the Longhorns don't mind banging and play intense, physical defense. Does UNC neutralize that with their speed? How did you think they fared against a similarly physical and defensive-minded Kentucky squad?

Carolina March: I don't think the speed really does neutralize anything, especially since Carolina likes to run off of defensive rebounds. If Texs beats them up enough inside that they can't get those rebounds, the Heels are in trouble. What you may be underestimating is the sheer number of players Carolina can rotate into the post. They've got six players who can legitimately play center (Thompson, Davis, Zeller, Henson, and the two Wear brothers) and although many of them are young and not all that muscular - Henson in particular could use a couple hundred sandwiches - their height and fresh legs could draw the Texas big men into serious foul trouble. Don't forget, Rick Barnes once had to finish a game against UNC with only four players on the court the foul situation was so dire.

[You're absolutely right that I underestimated the Tar Heels size (and by a lot), although equally to blame was writing questions for UNC and MSU at the same time, during which I completely mixed up the size of UNC. In any case, it makes all the difference in the world for how UNC can, and perhaps should, play Texas. --ed]

Give us four signs -- two positive, two negative -- that, upon seeing them develop in the game, will make you cackle with delight / cringe in fear about the outcome.

Carolina March: Early frustration on the faces of Texas players will be the most promising sign, whether by denying them rebounds, dragging them into foul trouble early, or just altering shots with height the Longhorns aren't used to seeing. Couple that with good outside shooting early to prevent Texas from collapsing on the inside on defense, and I'll be thrilled right off the bat. On the other hand, if UNC can't get the ball inside without putting in the opposing teams' hands, I'll begin to cringe. And if they go into full-out panic mode, with rushed shots, poor ball movement, and the stretches of play that killed them against Syracuse and Kentucky, well, I'll be hiding my head under a pillow by the second half.

Friday Afternoon Big12Hoops.com Link Dump - 12.11.2009

Evan Pfaff — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:00:24 -0000

The goal of the Friday Afternoon Big12Hoops.com Link Dump is to help you ease into the weekend by giving you things to occupy your time at work until the clock strikes 5pm.

All the links available after the Jump

Big 12 North

Colorado Boulder Daily Camera - CU`s Smith has no reservations in reserve role (Lady Buffs)

Kansas Lawrence Journal World - Off to a fast start

Kansas St Manhattan Mercury - Manbeck: Martin used Fort Hays game as teaching point

Iowa St GoCyclones.com - Tempo key for ISU men against Iowa

Missouri Columbia Daily Tribune - MU’s Taylor transforms from role player to leading man

Nebraska Lincoln Journal Star - Sadler wants better rebounding from NU

Big 12 South

Baylor Baylor University Lariat - Mulkey's emphasis on defense defines team success (Lady Bears)

Oklahoma Norman Transcript - Gallon growing into new role

Oklahoma St Stillwater NewsPress - Oklahoma State getting eyeful of nation's hottest (Cowgirls)

Texas Austin American-Statesman - Horns' Dexter Pittman has improved his all-around game

Texas A&M AggieSports.com - Another victory for A&M

Texas Tech RedRaiders.com - Forwards learning to play with less depth after Ray’s injury

Non Big 12 Links

SBNation.com Tracy McGrady Doing Well In All-Star Voting Despite Not Playing [NBA]

TMZ.com TMZ.com homepage [Golf]

ESPN.com Cincinnati confirms Kelly to coach Notre Dame [College Football]

ESPN.com Ranking the Bowls from Best to Worst [College Football]

DenverStiffs.com Are NBA Games Fixed?... [NBA]

DanShanoff.com Feeling Good About Journalism's Future [Journalism]

Fantasy Football Projections - CBSSports.com | ESPN.com [Fantasy Football]

Texas vs. Pittsburgh Gameflow

GhostofBigRoy — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:40:38 -0000

Player	+/- (game)	+/- (per minute)
Gary Johnson	+23	+1.04
Dexter Pittman	+20	+1.11
Avery Bradley	+19	+.65
Damion James	+13	+.41
Jordan Hamilton	+12	+1.09
Dogus Balbay	+10	+.36
Alexis Wangmene	+6	+.35
Justin Mason	+5	+.29
J'Covan Brown	+5	+.22
Matt Hill	-6	-3

Previous Gameflows:

UC-Irvine

Western Carolina

Rice

A few thoughts after the jump, as well as the Four Factors, Gameflow, and Player Impact charts...

NCAA Basketball Stats

Barnes substituted much less frequently in this game than he did in the following game against Rice, particularly in the second half. It's hard to say that doing so less frequently resulted in the strong second-half performance, as it most likely had more to do with the team locking defensively and Pittsburgh getting fatigued, leading to easy transition opportunities for Texas.
Strange things happen with an unadjusted +/- rating and Gary Johnson is a perfect example -- looking at his four points and three rebounds, it's hard to say that he had a great game in any traditionally measurable way, except the team played extremely well when he was on the court.
In looking at the Four Factors chart, it's clear that the Longhorns had the biggest advantage in their eFG%, which adjusts for the higher value of three pointers. In looking at the box score, it's easy to see why -- the Longhorns shot over 65% in the second half, while also knocking down four of six from distance, good for 67%. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, shot only 37% in the second half and missed all eight of their three-point attempts.
Besides the strange +/- from Gary Johnson, Dexter Pittman had the strongest game by that metric even though he didn't score during the stretch in the middle of the second half when the Longhorns broke open the close game. Jordan Hamilton scored five points (showing the impact he can have on a game), James had an And 1, and Justin Mason had a layup -- the most important play Pittman made during that stretch was to set a crushing screen to free up Mason for his transition layup.
Though Mason and Balbay did reasonably well when on the court together in the Rice game, they were not good, as the Longhorns were -8 during the stretch at the end of the first half when they were on the court together. In that respect, the loss of Avery Bradley to fouls early in the game really hurt because he had only three negative stretches in the game, each of only one point. Damion James may have been the real culprit though, as he allowed his man to knock down two three pointers, turned the ball over once, and took a bad jumper in that period of time.
Alexis Wangmene had a pretty poor game, turning the ball over twice and fouling out of the game. In fact, he probably had the single worst second in the history of +/- in basketball -- checking into the game and promptly fouling Gary McGhee, who made both free throws, then checking out. Three of Wangemene's fouls resulted in free throws for Pittsburgh, of which they made five of six.
It would be nice to see the adjusted +/- numbers that they use for the NBA, but I don't have the available information to do that. Where are the college basketball sabermetricians?!?