SB Nation User Blog: WacArnolds

Another Durant

WacArnolds — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:10:15 -0000

Seems like your boy (and mine also) has a brother who also happens to play D-1 basketball. Obviously not the same caliber of player that KD is, it is still interesting and something I knew nothing of.

Even though he's a sip, KD is by far my favorite NBA player since being drafted by my Sonics. I just hope Sam Presti knows what he is doing, and can build a winner around KD and Jeff Green. Should be a heck of a team in a couple more years. The more I learn about KD, the more I am impressed with him. He has not only the talent, but also the mindset and perspective to complement his God-given abilities.

Durant: AP POY

WacArnolds — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:43:08 -0000

As a diversion from my sticking up for the Ags, I wanna say congrats to KD for being named AP Player of the Year.

"Kevin Durant of Texas was selected Friday as The Associated Press' college basketball player of the year, the first freshman to receive the honor.

The 6-foot-9 swingman finished fourth in the country in scoring (25.8) and rebounding (11.1) while leading the Longhorns to a 25-10 record, the Big 12 tournament championship game and the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Durant received all but two votes for player of the year from the 72-member national media panel that selects the weekly Top 25. Senior forward Alando Tucker of Wisconsin, the Big Ten player of the year, got the other two votes."

for the 4 texans fans left

WacArnolds — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 20:24:31 -0000

Texans trade for QB Schaub.

Houston gets: Matt Schaub, 1st Rd. pick (10th overall) of 2007
Atlanta gets: 1st Rd. pick (8th overall), 2nd Rd. pick (39th overall) of 2007 and 2nd Rd. pick of 2008

I guess they should have gotten a QB, last year huh. I'm not a huge Texans fan, but living here in Houston, I guess its nice to have someone else under center. Hope it works out.

Secondary teams

WacArnolds — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 19:39:58 -0000

Just an idea to break the monotony - and make things more interesting this weekend - I thought it would be cool to share any information you have about any of the lesser known teams in the tournament. Maybe help out a fellow reader picking their brackets or give us a reason to root for them. I'll start with...

Texas A&M - Corpus Christi - not only are they in the A&M system, but the Islanders also represent my hometown of Corpus Christi. They have an excellent coach in Ronnie Arrow and a legitimate low-post player in Chris Daniels, who some scouts say has a chance in the NBA. They can play at a high pace with some legitimate athletes, something that contrasts greatly with Wisconsin's Big-10 grind'em out style; but if the Badgers make it a half-court game, A&M-Corpus can also feed the 7-ft Daniels in the post. This team is deep, senior dominated and led the nation in FG %.

15-over-2 upsets don't happen often but keep an eye on the Islanders. Just 8 years ago, the basketball program did not exist and 3 years ago, they were still ineligible for postseason play. This is their first year of eligibility and they ripped through the conference. Expect to hear from this team consistantly in the future.

If anyone else has ties to any of the lesser known teams, heres your chance to profess your allegiance and let us know who you're rooting for.

congrats

WacArnolds — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 21:15:28 -0000

i now know how you guys felt after the 3OT loss. although moral victories are lame in football, i truly believe in games like this, there are no losers. i am proud of the way A&M fought through foul trouble on the road and came back from multiple deficits. this game also showed that you guys are capable of winning tournament-type games.

as all of you are, i am really impressed with james' progression. for the longest time i wondered how he was mr. basketball of texas last year but his improvement has been staggering. it reminds me a lot of how josh carter progressed for us last year and i think he will be quite the player for you guys next year.

outstanding games like these really help the perception of the Big XII and hopefully we can have multiple teams go deep in the tourney. i believe that the conference might have the best first-tier teams out of all the conferences.

congrats on the win. i just hope for one more installment of the series, probably in KC but Atlanta would be so much sweeter.

A&M vs. UT vs. TTU

WacArnolds — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 16:47:43 -0000

It's really turned into a weird season between the 3 schools in our great state. Everyone seems to have everyone else's number, at least so far, for at least this year. Look at the results so far in football and basketball between A&M, UT and Texas Tech.

A&M vs. UT
FB: @ UT A&M
BB: @ A&M A&M
BB: @ UT ???
Results: A&M 2-0

A&M vs. Tech
FB: @ A&M TTU
BB: @ TT TTU
BB: @ A&M TTU
Results: Tech 3-0

UT vs. Tech
FB: @ TT UT
BB: @ TT UT
BB: @ UT ???
Results: UT 2-0

Note that all 3 teams won on the road in football (the road teams are a combined 5-2 this year so far, which has led to a ton of pissed off fans emptying out of stadiums).

We are just two games away (A&M over UT, UT over TTU) from 3 different sweeps. Didn't know if anyone else had noticed this and I wonder if this has ever happened before.

Honest Ag's take

WacArnolds — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 22:18:57 -0000

I know you have probably heard enough about this game but I just wanted to address a few things various posters have mentioned and give you my take - only because its the correct one.

I came away very impressed with both teams. I thought we performed a little better than I expected and thought. You guys seem one PJ Tucker away from a Big XII title this year.
The amount of youth, and very talented youth, was incredible. You guys ran out 5 or 6 freshmen that balled on one of the best defenses in the nation, scoring 82 pts when noone had even topped 70. A&M was also greatly helped out by multiple freshmen.
If UT was capable of winning a game like this, then they really blew their chance. Tremendous foul trouble, a lack of supposed 'home court advantage', a star player missing time with injury, desperation minutes from the unlikeliest of Aggie bench players. It was set up perfectly for you guys, you just couldn't make the plays. Including Durant
Durant is tremendously talented. I'm really pissed I couldn't get my ticket because seeing him in person would have been sweet. But at times, you come away wondering how in hell a 6-9 shooting guard doesn't have the ball in hands at the top of the key on every possession. The refs were allowing very little contact when the ball was in his hands (hell I got two fouls called on me watching the game is Houston), yet on numerous occasions, he did not do enough to command the ball. If he wants to be the next Melo, he needs to assert himself and act like the dominant person he is.
The lack of defense you guys play must be quite amusing for your opponents. Yeah, I know that A&M fouls alot and probably reaches in too often, but the amount of uncontested trips we had to the basket was incredible - and we hardly ever drive to the rim until the end of the game. I don't know how many times I saw Damien James just standing in the key as some guy blew past him all the way from the 3 pt. line. Even Durant allows this to happen too often, only he is suprisingly adept at blocking shots from behind. I thought Barnes was a defensive kind of guy. I would think somebody in that collection of orange jerseys you call a bench would be able to defend on the perimeter, in the paint, or anywhere else on a court, but I guess not.
The 'shot' - yea you guys think its dumb that a poster was made. But remember, this shot pretty much sealed our first NCAA tourney birth in practically forever. Some of you claim you don't remember it, but ESPN only showed it 100 freaking times in the past couple of days. If, and its a big IF, A&M somehow turned into a national program under Gillispie, this shot could be considered THE defining moment/turning point in our fate. I'm just really glad that it happened against a top-10 ranked longhorn team. It doesn't make the moment, it just makes the moment that much sweeter.
Running up the score - did NOT happen. We ran down the 35-second clock to 2, put the ball in the hands of a guy who has played about 3 minutes of Big XII basketball. If anything we tried to not score. Did you want us to take a shot clock violation because we were playing our rival. Barnes should have realized with a minute to go that the game was over and called off the fouls. You can thank him for the c-note that is plastered on various sports headlines.
I heard Barnes had some not-so kind words to say about A&M, including (not exact quotes):
[edit: ignore this next part, probably a little of base and definitely not agreed upon by UT faithful.]

"yea they have good players, we can't get everybody" like anyone would have the audacity to play for someone besides UT
and "the crowd sounded stupid, saying stuff we said in middle school" - what do you mean Rick, stuff like 'play defense', 'get the ball to the best player', 'the game is over, quit fouling or they're gonna score a 100'? You probably should have listened to them. Next time, how about a little respect for a rowdy home croud.

Other than that, you guys have a decent team. I just think you are the epitome of the saying 'with the way they play, this team could beat anybody, this team could lose to anybody.'

Good luck til we meet in Austin.