SB Nation User Blog: txtwstr7

Update Stampede = Up (Kinda)

txtwstr7 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:31:46 -0000

Update Stampede = Up (Kinda)

While it wasnt there last night, an option to purchase student season tickets magically appeared on texasboxoffice.com this morning. There hasnt been an announcement, and the e-mail to all students still hasnt gone out.

However, I encourage our student readers to get the headstart on everyone else by purchasing your tickets before they actually decide to announce this development. My tickets are bought, and the Watchmen are still being watched...

Watching the Watchmen: The Sad Story of UT Basketball

txtwstr7 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:32:29 -0000

Two weeks from today, Texas will have vanquished an overmatched opponent in front of thousands of fans. And I'm not talking about Baylor. While it seems like only yesterday that BON'ers were saying "TOO SOON" about talking about UT Basketball, the reality is that tip-off is nearly upon us. In only two short weeks, Rick Barnes and company will have thoroughly and soundly defeated the Anteaters of UC-Irvine at the Erwin Center.

Despite promises and guarantees to the contrary, no Stampede tickets have been sold for the game. The e-mail was *supposed* to come out last Monday. But it didnt. The e-mail was supposed to come out on Tuesday. But it didnt. The e-mail was supposed to come out "by the end of the week." But it didnt. As I sit here and type this post tonight, I'm still unable to purchase a Stampede pass for my final year on the Forty Acres.

While some of you will merely repeat the often stated "Texas is a FOOTBALL school" line and shrug your shoulders about this, that's the exact type of attitude that allowed this inaction to occur in the first place. The idea that student season tickets for football would be unsold less than two weeks prior to kickoff is simply inconceivable. I feel the same way about this delay for the Stampede tickets. For those of you who contacted me about this--I feel your pain, and this isnt ok.

But this isnt just a post about the Stampede. It's a post about how the Stampede e-mail situation simply represents the latest step in an impotent offseason of marketing the upcoming basketball season. Once again, this isn't ok.

This e-mail, which I received on Friday, represents the entire UT Basketball off-season in a nutshell.

I keep hearing this is the "best recruiting class ever" and I said "where are you hearing these things?" because I really haven’t heard any news other than Jai Lucas and the J'Covan (however you spell it) kid. For those of us who don’t listen to sports radio all the time, there is NO news about the team anywhere! Stupid.

Some of my friends have been far less charitable over describing the lack of news over the team. Let me reiterate that, as of right now, students are unable to buy student season tickets for basketball. For a point of comparison, last year's Stampede e-mail went out on October 8th. And yet, here we are in November, and no one at the Box Office can give a straight answer over what's going on. A systemic breakdown has occurred, and, in the fourth year of the system, it shouldnt be this hard.

Less I be mistaken, I dont mean to suggest this offseason would have been all sunshine and puppy dogs if the Stampede e-mail would have been sent out four weeks ago. The delay over the e-mail this year has served as a catalyst to expose the fecklessness of the entire promotional scheme over UT Basketball. While the e-mail itself didnt make everything ok, the lack of an e-mail has spotlighted the fact that NOTHING has happened towards marketing this team to the campus. That key fact remains the central thrust of this post.

For the diehards, we'll be there regardless, but I've been polling students about their knowledge of basketball right now. As of now, the average UT student has absolutely no idea about two key items:

1) The season starts in two weeks

2) This will be THE storybook season for UT Basketball

That's not good. And even though Texas is a "football school," this doesnt mean that all efforts to drum up support for basketball during the Fall Semester should be abandoned.. Especially not this season. Just like the new $100 million dollar movie, "This Is It" for UT Basketball. And, if you were going to market this team, there is no shortage of possibilities:

1) Dexter is officially a "star" around campus. He's the biggest non-football star on campus, and he's probably the third most "recognizable" athlete on campus, behind only Colt and Shipley.

2) While not on the level of Dexter, Damion James and Justin Mason are longtime stalwarts of the program who are pretty well-known.

3) In case you haven't heard, we have a pretty good recruiting class coming in.

In fact, considering that Texas is a football school, it would seem to be pretty important to build momentum for this storybook season before it starts, using any of the paint-by-numbers methods listed above. Instead, there has been NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. Nothing about Pittman. Nothing about the other seniors. Nothing about any of the recruits. There has been nothing. And that's not ok.

What's even more frustrating is the utter lack of creativity relating to any type of student promotions, prizes, giveaways, incentives, etc. I've previously criticized the Varsity Rewards Program, but the problems run even deeper. The idea that wristbands and Crocs will encourage students to go to games is laughable, but the more frustrating concepts relate to the ideas and promotions that arent even on the table.

For example, Texas has a major non-conference showdown against UNC on December 19th. I see tickets for this game advertised on ESPN.com nearly every single day. How hard would it be to slap together a promotion promising student tickets for that game--even for purchase--to all UT students who attend five non-conference basketball games during the Fall Semester? How hard would it be to put together a trip package for students who want to attend the game in Dallas?

Along those same lines, how hard would it be to milk the marquee games on the schedule for all they are worth? A commenter last week asked if I thought the Stampede pass would be "worth the money." I didnt get a chance to timely respond to the question, but the point should be hammered home to every student that the following teams will be coming to the Erwin Center--Michigan State, Kansas, Oklahoma. The KU-UT clash could be the biggest regular season home game in the last decade. The MSU game is probably in the top ten of the same list. I would pay $50 for a ticket to either game, and I suspect many of you would do the same. That means the Stampede pass pays for itself with only these two games. These marquee games should be milked for all they are worth by the marketing department, in both the Stampede and individual student ticket sense. And, by that, I dont mean they should be connected to attending a women's game against some directional school.

Some of you might say that putting together a program would cost money. That's not in dispute. But, when you consider that UT Athletics will sell 450 Stampede passes at $75 apiece, then suddenly a lot more options are put on the table. Simple math shows the Stampede program generates nearly $35,000 to pump back into the program. Besides receiving a t-shirt and being offered tons of stupid giveaways that I always refuse--I think I've turned down a straw hat each of the last six years--I have no idea where any this money is spent. I'm not asking for a refund, but I do think the money could be creatively used to generate more interest in the program. Based on this current offseason, I'm not holding my breath.

I could go on and on, but the point isn't what COULD happen as much as it is highlighting that NOTHING has happened. And, as I keep repeating, that's not ok.

Conclusion: I know many of you will simply write off this post as a tree falling in the forest when no one is looking. But I cannot sit idly by and pretend that this offseason of inaction and impotency is justifiable. There needs to be accountability, and I hope the BON community will continue providing it. Even if the e-mail goes out this morning, the delay ~~needs to~~ must be criticized and skewered.

It's a complete cop-out to simply say that Texas will never drum up sufficient interest for basketball. That might be true, but that doesn't mean that there shouldn't be efforts to generate excitement for the season. And that's exactly the type of attitude that has tacitly allowed this inaction to occur.

More stuff about actual basketball to follow later this week...

Hook 'Em!

Re-examining the 2008-9 Losses...

txtwstr7 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:53:57 -0000

...since losses is plural, then you've probably already realized that this post will be about basketball. Last season, Texas went 23-12, which was their most losses since the 2001-2 season, when the team went 22-12. In fact, over Rick Barnes' eleven year career at Texas, the Longhorns have never lost more than 13 games in a season. By and large, last year's team was written off as a disappointment, especially considering the lofty preseason rankings and expectations.

After the jump, we take a closer look at the relative tightness of each of the Longhorns 12 losses last season, which includes some surprising numbers. More importantly, we look at the contributions of the two departing seniors in each of the "close" games from last season.

First off, I still dont have any news over the Stampede passes. It boggles my mind that we are 2.5 weeks away from the season, and the e-mail still hasnt gone out. I could--and perhaps should--write an entire column about the complete, utter, and entire lack of hype generated over this basketball season around campus. I really dont get it...

Second, I'm not going to analyze the contributions of Harrison Smith, since, well...it was Harrison Smith. With that in mind, let's get to work...

Due to a combination of factors--including poor shooting, decent defense, and occasionally miserable sets--Texas had the frustrating tendency to play up or down to its competition last season. This is reflected by looking at each of the twelve losses and close victories from last season. Here are the "high points" of each loss, which reflect the closest point at the latest portion of the game. I think you might be surprised by the closeness of some of the losses.

1) Notre Dame: Down 81-80 when time expired.

2) Michigan State: Down 65-63 with one second left

3) Arkansas: Down 65-62 with seven seconds left

4) OU: Down 54-50 with 10:00 to go-then got absolutely steamrolled

5) Kansas State: Down 83-81 with seven seconds left in OT

6) Missouri: Tied 65-65 with six seconds left

7) Nebraska: Down 58-55 when time expired

8) A&M: Down 71-64 with 2:15 left-then got absolutely steamrolled

9) OSU: Down 60-57 with 1:25 left

10) KU: Down 73-71 with 3:30 left-then got absolutely steamrolled

11) Baylor: Down 72-70 with 15 seconds left

12) Duke : Down 72-69 with 7 seconds left

If you take out the outliers against OU/A&M/KU, which were actually closer than I remembered, the tightness of Texas' other nine losses becomes crystal clear:

1) Notre Dame: Down 81-80 when time expired.

2) Michigan State: Down 65-63 with one second left

3) Arkansas: Down 65-62 with seven seconds left

4) Kansas State: Down 83-81 with seven seconds left in OT

5) Missouri: Tied 65-65 with six seconds left

6) Nebraska: Down 58-55 when time expired

7) OSU: Down 60-57 with 1:25 left

8) Baylor: Down 72-70 with 15 seconds left

9) Duke: Down 72-69 with 7 seconds left

Essentially:

1) In each of these nine losses, Texas was within three points of their opponent with less than 1:30 to go.

2) In eight of these nine losses, Texas was within three points with less than sixteen seconds to go.

3) In seven of these nine losses, Texas was within three points with less than ten seconds to go.

I can already hear everyone explaining how this doesn’t take into account how many close games Texas WON last season, so I've also compiled a list of those wins as well. To be generous, I included every victory in which a UT opponent got within six points in the last two minutes of the game. This list is actually a little bit longer than I remembered:

1) UCLA: Up 65-61 with 2:00 left-UCLA doesn't score again

2) Wisconsin: Up 70-69 with 30 seconds left-Wisconsin doesn't score again

3) Baylor: Up 74-72 with 49 seconds left-Baylor doesn't score again

4) Colorado: UT wins 85-76 in OT

5) OU: Up 69-68 with 20 seconds left -OU doesn't score again

6) Tech: Up 85-81 with 30 seconds left-Tech doesn't score again

7) KSU: Up 61-58 when time expired

None of Texas’ other 16 wins broke this threshold, and the UCLA and Tech games barely made it. If we used tighter criteria, then Texas had only four victories—out of 23—where their opponents were within three points in the final 30 seconds.

However, the main point of this post isn’t to magnify how Texas could or should have won more games last season. Instead, I wanted to analyze the performances of AJ Abrams and Connor Atchley in each of our losses and "close" victories in order to see if they played a major factor in the outcome.

Let's go to a chart of all the losses and close wins:

Opponent	AJ Abrams	Connor Atchley
Notre Dame (L)	23 points (8/27 shooting)	7 points and 7 rebounds
Michigan State (L)	*8 points (3/10 shooting)*	8 points and 5 rebounds
Arkansas (L)	7 points (3/16 shooting)	DNP
OU (L)	*22 points (8/27 shooting)*	4 points and 4 rebounds
Kansas State (L)	15 points (5-21 shooting)	1 point and 3 rebounds
Mizzou (L)	11 points (4-9 shooting)	2 points and 5 rebounds
Nebraska (L)	16 points (6/15 shooting)	3 points and 3 rebounds
A&M (L)	*7 points (3/12 shooting)*	*3 points and 1 rebound*
OSU (L)	*9 points (3/15 shooting)*	*0 points and 5 rebounds*
Kansas (L)	*10 points (2/11 shooting)*	*2 points and 2 rebounds*
Baylor (L)	20 points (8/17 shooting)	5 points and 3 rebounds
Duke (L)	17 points (5/13 shooting)	0 points and 1 rebound
UCLA (W)	31 points (9/18 shooting)	6 points and 4 rebounds
Wisconsin (W)	21 points (8/21 shooting)	7 points and 2 rebounds
Baylor (W)	19 points (7/12 shooting)	4 points and 2 rebounds
Colorado (W)	29 points (11/19 shooting)	2 points and 3 rebounds
OU (W)	23 points (8/17 shooting)	5 points and 2 rebounds
Tech (W)	24 points (6/13 shooting)	5 points and 2 rebounds
Kansas State (W)	6 points (2/4 shooting)	0 points and 1 rebound

While this simplistic chart doesnt take into account other factors such as defense and passing, I think it points out a few interesting things.

1) In many of its seven close wins last season, Texas rode the backs of its two seniors on the offensive end. With the exception of the KSU and Baylor games, Abrams and Atchley combined to score at least 28 points in each of the other five victories. And, in the Baylor game, they combined to score a third of our points.

2) Conversely, in many of the close losses, a lot of the blame can be squarely pointed at AJ Abrams. In our twelve losses, AJ was a disaster in eight of them. I dont think this breaks a ton of new ground, but it shows that AJ didnt "keep us in" a lot of the games we lost last season. In fact, you can only make the case that he helped keep it close for only 3 (NU, BU, Duke) of our 12 losses last season.

3) Ultimately, I think it is very interesting that Abrams' performance--good or bad--directly correlated to the outcome in 14 of the 19 games reflected in the chart. While we've already shown that he didnt help "keep it close" in most of our losses, the converse point is that the team also struggled to win close games when he was playing poorly. In fact, the only close victory following a poor performance by Abrams was the game in the Big 12 Tournament against Kansas State.

Conclusion: I think fans have forgotten the tightness of most of our losses last season and the centrality of the role of AJ Abrams in the outcome of many games. The most important thing that I gleaned from re-examining last season was how close Texas was to becoming an elite team. It's amazing that, in 10 of their 12 losses, Texas was within three points of their opponent coming out of the last TV timeout. The 23-12 record could have easily flipped to 26-9 (or better) if J'Covan Brown would have made it to campus. The roster this season will have no such shortage of shooters. However, any mention of the wouldacouldashoulda games from last season must also acknowledge that AJ Abrams was the reason we won several of our close games.

Hook 'Em!

Stampede E-mail = Tomorrow

txtwstr7 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:26:38 -0000

Stampede E-mail = Tomorrow

I've been told that the Stampede e-mail will go out tomorrow. If you are a UT Student and want to buy a Stampede pass, then make sure you act quickly, since there are only 450 spots available. The price looks to have been moved up to $75. Last year, the online purchasing system got shut down by traffic, so I ran over to Belmont to pay in person. If it happens again, I would suggest that you do the same.

Basketball Articles, Notes, and Drum Atmosphere...

txtwstr7 — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:25:40 -0000

...when the football team takes the field for the Showdown in Stillwater, we will officially be two weeks (and one day) away from the start of the UT Basketball season. Rather than wait until Friday to put up something else about the team, we wanted to provide some links, notes, and articles from the last few weeks and then repost an item that might have flown under the radar a few weeks ago.

If you still aren't feeling the hoops team, we'll cut you some slack, but only for one more week...

Since several of you have asked, I still dont know exactly when the Stampede passes are going on sale. I'd heard it was going to be last Wednesday, but that was scuttled. I'd heard it was going to be over the weekend, but that also didnt happen. With my luck, the e-mail will go out as soon as I hit "post," but I dont have any concrete information for the students who--like myself--will sprint over to Belmont as soon as the e-mail goes out. As some of you might know, they went on sale October 7th last year, so they are already several weeks behind schedule.

Also, for those of you who asked why we dont have a Midnight Madness event, I'll refer you to something I wrote last year about probably the last Midnight Madness-type event we'll see at UT for the rest of the Rick Barnes era.

As always, we start off with a quick set of collection of links and articles uncovered by DimeCoverage over the last few weeks:

1) Who's Next in CBB: Many of you have probably already read this, but Andy Katz put together a pretty good list of players in the really silly "Who's Next?" format. Avery Bradley gets some love in this article, and KU/UT is pegged as the "NEXT" rivalry. Have I mentioned they are coming to Austin this year? Ok, just checking...

2) Fox Sports Final Top 25 Rankings: KU first, UT third, and MSU/UNC round out the top five. Have I mentioned that we are playing MSU in Austin and UNC in Arlington? Ok, just checking. Oklahoma is the only other Big XII team in the Top 25.

3) RTC Top Games in NOV/DEC: Not surprisingly, the aforementioned matchups against UNC and MSU make the list.

4) FWST J'Covan Brown article: Nothing too earth-shattering here, but I did want to highlight a few key quotes from the article:

Touted guard Avery Bradley and equally hyped forward Jordan Hamilton? Brown could eventually be as good as both of them, according to UT coach Rick Barnes.

"He can do some things those guys can’t do," Barnes said. "I told him when he finally figures it out, he could be our best point guard."

It doesnt sound like Rick is planning on giving J'Covan a super-long leash, but I dont think anyone here should be surprised by that. I cant wait to see him play, and how Rick brings him along is the lynchpin to the concept of having a fully "Hyperized" Roster.

The following is a repost from a few weeks ago...hope it helps get you to Friday:

In my time here at BON, I've been careful to avoid overextending or overstating my knowledge as a writer. We have an incredible and constantly growing writing staff, and the previous writing on this site from the authors has created high expectations for a story. More importantly, the BON community pushes us to put forth informative, accurate, and interesting stories. If a story is boring or contains substandard or recycled analysis, the commenters will quickly note their corrections or disagreements to the article. In each of my thirty-plus stories to this site, I've tried to make sure that I was providing a fresh or interesting take to a topic.

In writing for this site, sometimes knowing what you do know isnt as important as knowing what you DONT know. And I'm constantly self-aware of what I dont know about UT Football, Basketball, and Baseball. However, in some scenarios, I truly believe that my experiences over the last seven years as a student and a rabid basketball fan make me qualified to provide comments and analysis over certain topics.

Today, as much as any other time on this site, I feel like I am exceptionally qualified for the topic at-hand. I made a promise to Kafka in my "Hyperizers" post to write about improving the atmosphere at the Erwin Center. Today, I attempt to fulfill that promise. After the jump, I invite each of of you to join an open and frank discussion over how UT can improve the atmosphere at the Drum.

I'm a sucker for atmosphere. In my opinion, the nature of a victory can be diminished or elevated by the accompanying atmosphere of the victory. A win is a win is a win, but, when you factor in atmosphere, not all wins are created equal. It's a reason why so many of my posts focus on the nature of being at a game. In my post over the anguish of missing the 25-inning game with BC, I explained it this way:

In the hundreds of times I've been able to joyfully express "I was there" in regards to the 2006 Rose Bowl, I've reciprocally seen hundreds of wistful expressions on the faces of people who watched it from somewhere outside the stadium. Even from the students who rioted on Guadelupe, dove in the fountain, or saw the game with the closest friends, I still always seem to perceive traces of regret for not being able to say those three words--"I was there."

Until last night, and again tonight, I wasn't exactly sure how to process their feelings. One would think that a private memory of celebrating a memorable victory with multiple friends and/or family from an exterior location would serve as some type of consolation for the missed opportunity to celebrate with mostly strangers. But it didn't last night, it didnt tonight, and I'm not sure any watching party under any circumstances can ultimately make up for the missed opportunity of seeing a "regret game" in person. I could have been at the games this weekend, and, whenever they get brought up in a discussion over UT Sports or UT Baseball, the entire memory of the experience will be forever tainted by the thought that I should have been there. And I'm not exactly sure how that ever goes away.

Perhaps this is a selfish way of viewing one of the most incredible weekends of UT Baseball in its storied history. Perhaps it's just a feeling of regret for missing one of the best pitching performances in the history of baseball. Perhaps it remains merely a fleeting feeling over wanting to experience what could become the keystone weekend over a storybook and championship season. But maybe it isn't. Maybe it's just the reminder that we spend countless of hours watching and attending sporting events in the hopes of experiencing games and moments like the ones the UT fans and players experienced this weekend. For those of you who did, may the memories last the rest of your life. For those of you who didnt, I hope your excuse was better than mine.

In the realm of basketball, I've always tended to remember key victories by the atmosphere as much as anything else. Because, as you should know, when the Erwin Center gets rocking, it's almost a magical experience. It doesnt happen much, but, when it does, it can literally help will the team to a higher level. I've written about this several times, including last season. More specifically, I mentioned it when ranking last year's home games, when encouraging students to go to the UCLA game, and during my interview with Ryan Clark. When 16,755 Longhorns fans come together in the Erwin Center in a united effort to make noise, it can get really, really, really, really loud.

That last sentence spotlights the two problems as to why these magical games rarely occur....

1) We rarely get 16,755 people to attend basketball games

2) Regardless of the attendance numbers, it can be hard to get the crowd to act together in a concerted effort to make noise.

In my opinion, people spend far too much time dwelling over the first issue and never even talk about the second issue. While some of our games are sparsely attended, people tend to overemphasize the low attendance games and underemphasize the good attendance games. However, the overall attendance numbers dont necessarily directly correlate to the overall crowd and atmosphere. There have been great attendances which have produced mediocre atmospheres and vice versa.

For the purpose of this post, we wont focus on how to improve attendance, since that would essentially equate to preaching to the BON Choir. However, I do want to address one issue about attendance. While many UT Fans love to trash the low attendance, I want to point out that UT doesnt make it easy to attend basketball games, especially for students. I'll give you one example over the tonedeaf nature of the system. Until very recently, students were unable to bring backpacks into the Erwin Center. I complained and complained and complained about this for YEARS, and finally something happened about it, but this change hasnt been very well advertised. The only thing that needed to happen was a simple bag check system that would involve 1-2 staff members and one empty room to store the bags. Before the change, it was nearly impossible to attend games without bending over backwards. After my afternoon classes, I would have to head home to West Campus, drop off my bag, get into my car, drive over to the LBJ parking lot, search for a parking spot, then walk 15-20 minutes to the Erwin Center. And I had to do all this by 6:00 for a 7:00 game. This caused at least 45 minutes of headaches for every single game, when I could have just walked over from the PCL or Law School Library and checked my bag. For the people who live on Riverside or somewhere like that, the backpack rule was often a dealbreaker over attending games. This is only one issue, and I could write an entire post over the various issues that hinder overall attendance at basketball games.

The second issue is what I want to address in this post. Because while we might never get great attendance for non-con matchups against cupcakes, it's almost certain that this team will get sellout crowds for the marquee matchups this season. And, when that happens, there needs to be a system in place to maximize its effect. I think the overall problems with the Erwin Center atmosphere were accurately encapsulated by Ryan Clark:

You are correct in that our fans can get loud, but, on the whole, they aren't very intelligent basketball fans. First and foremost, our fans won't cheer unless the team gives them a specific reason. They are very reactive fans. An opposing coach who calls a timeout during a UT run will effectively kill our crowd noise. Even at Iowa State, the crowd will cheer the team even when they are struggling or will go berserk when the team backs out the ball when trying to kill clock with a big lead.

I want to break this down into several components...

1) I think the characterization of "reactive fans" is extremely accurate, but this perceived weakness could also be easily turned into a strength. Not to overemphasize the effect of a silly little dance, but this is what happens when reactionary fans get reaction-ized during a big game.

Texas fan dances on court during OK State game (via jdel982)

When the fans get reaction-ized, they go berserk. And while it remains true that the fans can be neutralized by a timeout, a lot of that can be traced to the nature of what happens during a timeout at the Erwin Center. If you dont know what happens, then I'll tell you. The UT Band plays an 80's rock song and the Pom Squad dances. Or the UT Cheerleaders lead a bland "TEXAS FIGHT" cheer. Oh, and there are lots and lots and lots of advertisements and promotional contests. While the advertisements and promos are unavoidable and everyone likes cheerleaders and dancers, none of these things will help carry over crowd noise during a three-minute timeout. How, you might ask, should this problem be addressed?

I dont have all the answers, but I can share one particular idea from my trip to Norman last year. Here's how the OU Crowd got whipped into a frenzy after some of the timeouts.

2) Player "Commercials" for Cheering: When UT closed the game to 54-50, the OU Video Board unleashed a particularly effective package of movie and player clips. Prior to the player clips, a scene from "Hoosiers" was shown. Following this scene, invididual players--in pretaped commercials--encouraged the fans to make some noise, with each successive player getting louder and being more aggressive with their mannerisms. It was pretty effective, as the crowd got on its feet prior to the next possession.

I dont think I emphasized in the post how PERFECTLY this worked. The crowd was deathly silent after the run by UT, and the cheerleaders dancing didnt get them back on their feet. However, in the span of forty-five seconds, the Hoosiers scene and player commercials had the place whipped into a frenzy. That is a relatively simple example of how you can reaction-ize reactionary fans.

Another idea would involve something that is effectively used by Rudy's and Mighty Fine Burgers. The simplest way to reactionize a reactionary crowd would be to show an extended series of highlights from the history of UT Basketball and end with a monicker encouraging the crowd to get on their feet. Before football games, the loudest cheers are always reserved for Vince Young running into the endzone and when Mack Brown holds up the chrystal ball. We need to incorporate highlights from the past decade, including all the game-winners and crazy finishes. Each of these, of course, needs to be accompanied by the calls of Craig Way.

2) However, moreso than any of these ideas, I think the currently most underutilized aspect of building an incredible atmosphere involves the lack of creativity in the pre-game routines. Think of attending a game from the perspective of a student. For big games, you arrive at the arena at least 60-90 minutes earlier, and, most of the time, even earlier than that. You sit outside waiting to be let in, run to your seat, and then you wait. And wait. And wait. Then you watch a commercial on the Jumbotron and wait some more. At some points, you get to watch the team warm-up and then run back into their locker room. Then you wait some more, until the team comes back out for their two final sets of warmups. Finally, the arena plays "Thunderstruck" and things get kicked into gear. After the opposing teams introductions, a weak video package gets played, then team gets introduced, and the game begins.

I think this pre-game routine can be easily improved in order to get the students kicked into gear a lot sooner and a lot more effectively. As everyone knows, the students are the backbone of the crowd noise, and, when they get loud enough, it helps encourage the alumni to also get on their feet and make some noise. Here are some ideas for how to fix this system:

a) In my opinion, players should acknowledge the student presence before the game. How cool would it be if the players walked into the O-Zones 45 minutes before the game and spent sixty seconds high-fiving the students and asking them to get loud during the game. I know this might pose security concerns, but I think this is a harmless way to help get everyone fired up well before the opening tip. Students have to sit on their hands for at least sixty minutes before the game, and this would be one way to help break up that monotony. Seriously, it kinda sucks to just sit there for 90 minutes before the game, and I think something could be added to help make the time fly by a little quicker.

b) I also think the players should pick up a microphone about fifteen minutes before tip-off and spend thirty seconds thanking the crowd for their attendance and asking them to help make a difference during the game. Something like the following, perhaps from Damion James.

Hey everybody. Thanks for coming out to support us tonight. This is a big game, and we've got a tough opponent tonight. It would mean a lot to us if you guys could keep up the noise all night long. We love our fans, and your encouragement means a lot. Let's make this an incredible atmosphere tonight and remind Kansas that they are in our house! We're gonna do our best to make you guys proud tonight, and we want your support for all forty minutes. Get loud and keep it loud until they light up the tower after the game! Hook 'em!

If some of you think the players only need to focus on playing, then the same message could be given from any of the coaches. I think this would be an *awesome* moment and would really encourage the crowd to try to make a difference. This is reactionary fans getting reaction-ized.

Another similar idea would involve pre-taping a commercial with the same message prior to the game. It wouldn't take more than fifteen minutes and could be effectively utilized prior to the team running out of the locker room.

c) Since students are the backbone of the atmosphere, I think UT Athletics should produce a document that provides a list of "requests" for all students to follow during the game. This would involve following all the current rituals of the O-Zone and perhaps strategically adding a few more. These could be placed in every other student seat and would help educate students who are attending their first game. Even more, it could help get them excited about participating in the various O-Zone traditions.

The Big Conclusion: At Texas, not all sellout crowds are created equal. Despite being relatively similar'ish non-con matchups in front of sell-out crowds, no one would ever confuse the UCLA atmosphere last year with the Villanova atmosphere from a few years ago--similar crowds, but different atmospheres.

This is going to be a special team and a special season. The schedule contains several high-profile matchups, including some of the top teams in the country coming down to Austin for games that will involve sellout crowds and national TV audiences. Instead of continuing to bemoan the lack of attendance for the cupcakes games against directional schools, a more productive discussion should involve how to marshal the fans who do attend these marquee games in order to create a true home-court advantage. That's what we've tried to do today, and we hope you include further ideas in the comments below.

Hook 'em!

Classy Move by Tom Grieve

txtwstr7 — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:12:00 -0000

I generally only post on Burnt Orange Nation, but I'm daily lurker of this site. While everything generally gets covered--and re-covered--here, I have a fairly personal anecdote involving Tom Grieve that I thought was worth sharing.

My dad's aunt was a member of the Texas Rangers Women's Club for over 27 years. She attended nearly every organizational event and function and was unyielding in her support for the team. Sadly, she died earlier this week. This morning, her family received the following letter from Tom Grieve:

Hello.

I'm very sorry to learn of Mary's passing. She was a loyal friend who loved the Rangers, not only in the good times, but also the bad. She was always so thoughtful, often calling or writing when I had my surgery. I appreciated that so much. There weren't many Ranger functions that she didn't attend, from Christmas at the park to the mid-winter banquet. I've lost a nice friend and the Rangers have lost one of their most loyal fans ever. We'll all miss her very much.

Sincerely,

Tom Grieve

While you may love him or hate him as a commentator, I thought this was a very thoughtful gesture that really meant a lot to my family.

Leadership, Marketing, and UT Basketball...

txtwstr7 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:28:53 -0000

...a few years ago, I was lucky enough to be selected to attend the 2006 Student Leadership Conference, held at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. The conference is run by Dr. Howard Prince, who is perhaps the best American I've ever met. After retiring from the Army as a Brigadier General, Dr. Prince has dedicated a large portion of his life to developing and teaching ethical leadership to the current generation of students.

As part of the conference, all students were required to read a leadership book before arriving. For the life of me, I cant remember the name of the book, but I've never forgotten its core message. The book talked about the potential downfalls of seeking to become more well-rounded. In focusing on improving a weakness, a leader can wind up inadvertently diminishing their greatest strengths. By neglecting the further development of traits that made them successful in the first place, a leader can wind up losing more than they gain by working on their weaknesses. The book advised that--in some cases--leaders should try to make their strengths even stronger instead of watering down their strengths to solidify a perceived weakness. The book advised seeking other ways to address these perceived weaknesses or finding ways to minimize their overall effect.

After the jump, I explain why I think this principle perfectly applies to the current marketing of the UT Men's Basketball team. By inextricably connecting the Men's and Women's teams together, I believe the overall effect is creating the exact situation the book cautioned against.

As always, before we dive into the substantive nature of this post, here are some recent basketball articles and columns dug up by DimeCoverage. Some of these are a few weeks old, but I think they're still interesting.

1) Horns Ranked #3: In one preseason poll, Texas is only behind KU and Michigan State. In case you haven't been paying attention, we play both of those teams. In Austin. This season. The article (from TexasSports) highlights the premier opponents on this year's schedule, which includes playing three teams in the top-five:

UT will face at least six opponents in the regular season who are ranked in the publication's Top 25: No. 1 Kansas (Feb. 8 in Austin), No. 2 Michigan State (Dec. 22 in Austin), No. 5 North Carolina (Dec. 19 in Arlington, Texas), No. 17 Oklahoma (Feb. 6 in Norman and March 1 in Austin), No. 18 Connecticut (Jan. 23 in Storrs, Conn.), No. 21 Oklahoma State (Feb. 1 in Stillwater and Feb. 24 in Austin).

2) GREAT Avery Bradley article: I highly, highly, highly recommend this piece. Gary Parrish outlines the path of how Avery Bradley came to nest on the Forty Acres. In an anecdote I've never heard before, he explains how Chris Ogden stumbletrucked his way into securing Bradley's commitment, after reading a blurb about him on the internet and later finding out that Bradley loved UT. Sometimes, it really IS better to be lucky than good.

I'm on record as saying that I'm more excited about Avery Bradley than any UT Recruit--in any sport--during my seven years on campus. In case any of you were wondering how Rick Barnes feels about him, the article shows exactly why this partnership is going to be a perfect fit.

Bradley is a strong candidate to establish himself as the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and more. Honest to God, the guy just loves to guard. He takes pride in it, thinks about it, yearns for it. And to stress this point, Barnes told a story from July 2008, when Bradley was playing in a summer event that did not allow teams to pressure full court.
"Avery was so mad," Barnes said. "He would just stand right at the half-court line and wait for the guy, and some of those people having to bring the ball up the court were like, 'Oh, boy.' I mean, he's just tenacious. How many guys in high school want to go down and guard somebody 94 feet from the basket?"

The money quote:

"Avery is the total package," Barnes said. "Whatever it is, he's got it."

3) Chip Brown Article (Via GatorBait): In an excellent article, Chip Brown updates the progress over perhaps the primary concern facing this team--chemistry. Chip also runs down the roster and provides updates over individual players, summer workout developments, and ruminates over lineup combos. How can you read this article and NOT salivate over this upcoming season?

4) UNC Fans Ruminating Over Barnes: It's always interesting to see how outsiders view your program. In a great find by Dime, here are some board posts from some UNC fans discussing the Texas Program and recruiting efforts. They really, really dont respect Rick Barnes. This is no surprise to those who attended the Greensboro Regional last year...

Back to business...

Last season, I analyzed and critiqued the fledgling "UT Varsity Rewards" program. In a nutshell, the system provided double points for attending women's games and included a list of boring prizes for incredible feats on fanhood. The system ultimately reminded me of the Chuck-E-Cheese prize booths where it took 10,000 tickets to get a Nerf Gun. For example, I missed two men's games last year and my prize was...Crocs.

Wait, you dont want your prize? We've gotten that a lot, actually...

Recently, Texassports.com unveiled the revamped version of the Varsity Rewards program. While the prizes still haven't been listed, some critical information over the program is up on the website. Here are some of the key bullet points, which I've trimmed down for editing purposes:

RULES AND REGULATIONS
Program Policies

UT Students interested in participating in the UT Varsity Reward Program must pick up a stamp card at Texas Basketball games. Once the student has five stamps, they will be given a UT Varsity Rewards Program scan card.

All UT students start the 2009-10 Texas Basketball season with zero points. Point totals do not carry over from season to season. Members begin earning points once they have received their UT Varsity Rewards scan card.

Members must have their card stamped or scanned at the UT Varsity Rewards table at the Frank Erwin Center. Cardholders may scan their card beginning 90 minutes before the game thru the end of halftime. Cards will NOT be scanned after the end of halftime.

Earning Points

One point is earned for each Men's and Women's Basketball home games members attend and have their cards scanned.

Premium points are given for select Men's and Women's Basketball games at the discretion of the UT Athletics Department.

A few notes:

1) Stamp Cards are best left to sandwich shops on the Drag, not for a basketball rewards program.

2) I'm most troubled by one aspect of the system. It appears that students wont get a Rewards Card until they've gotten five stamps on a Stamp Card. HOWEVER, point totals dont start accumulating until students start using their Reward Card. To me, this appears to mean that students will have to attend six games before they accumulate a single point, which is patently ridiculous.

3) Last season, students were also allowed to scan their cards before the game, but this changed later in the season. For the last six or seven games of the season, cards were only able to be scanned AFTER the game, which created gigantic lines and caused many people (including me) to just blow it off entirely. Why, you might ask, was this change made? It may SHOCK some of you to hear this, but it appears that some students were gaming the system by "showing up" to women's games--especially the "premium games"--scanning their cards and then leaving immediately thereafter. That's just going to be the reality with this system, and I really hope they dont make the same switch during the middle of this season.

4) While the prizes arent listed, the accompanying picture shows that it will probably be more of the same--t-shirts, sweatbands, and....Crocs.

Tenacious D! I downloaded their songs on Napster back in the day!

5) Finally, and this is most important, this year's system has equalized the point distributions from attending men's and women's basketball games. This is a welcome change, but, in my opinion, it still misses the larger point that the two teams shouldnt be interconnected.

Tying this back to the introduction of this post, I can't help but feel like the attempts to link these two programs are preventing an overall strength (men's basketball attendance) from becoming an even greater strength by focusing efforts on propping up something seen as a weakness (women's basketball attendance). I dont mean for this to sound callous, but I cannot envision any scenario in which women's basketball sets the entire campus on fire. I think it's wonderful that fans--including some BON posters--are wildly supportive of women's basketball, but the sport (on a collegiate and professional level) just doesnt gain much traction around most fans and fanbases.

The potential of the men's program lacks similar restraints. Kevin Durant proved that the team can capture the imagination and attention of the entire campus when he caused students to line up from the Erwin Center to MLK to I-35 in trying to get tickets for the A&M game. With the Hyperized roster, killer home schedule, and returning superstars, this is the perfect opportunity for UT Athletics to build a loyal student fanbase for Men's Basketball. The hardest thing is getting students in the door for early-season games, and a well-orchestrated Rewards Program--coupled with the Stampede system--could likely bring in many fresh faces to the Erwin Center, in addition to appeasing the existing fanbase.

As of now, I dont think the system is taking full advantage of this opportunity. The most likely result is that any prizes even remotely enticing will involve having to attend double digit games for both men's AND women's basketball. Simply attending 8-10 games of men's basketball will probably get someone a sweatband, which isnt going to make them want to go out of their way to attend a few extra games. Plus, if I'm reading the stamp card provision correctly, it will take attending at least six games before students get a single point.

Ultimately, I'll reserve judgment on the entirety of the changes until the full system is announced, but I really, really, really hope the joint marketing efforts dont extend outside of this rewards program. I think it negates allowing a strength to become stronger on the pretense of trying to firm up a perceived weakness.

Six weeks until tip-off.

Hook 'Em!

Player Haters (Basket)Ball...

txtwstr7 — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:53:15 -0000

...on the heels of the BON Roundball Roundtable, I wanted to provide a quick follow-up and allow each of you to play "Devils Advocate", which was nicely done in the comments. After the jump, a quick scan of some of the recent UT Basketball-related articles and an invitation to "HATE HATE HATE HATE" on the sunshiny sentiments from the Roundtable.

Since it is my self-professed goal to help get everyone fired up for basketball--before our bowl game--I want to highlight a few of the better articles and features from this week.

1) Yahoo Sports Big XII Preseason Power Rankings: While only the Texas section is excerpted below, this article provides an solid first-take rundown on the conference. Hard to quibble too much with the rankings, and it has a decent write-up over each team, rather than the one-sentence explanations that are just a waste of time. Texas is ranked second behind Kansas:

Texas – Other than Kansas and Kentucky, there’s not a school in the country that boasts as much talent and depth as the Longhorns, who appear to have their best team of the Rick Barnes era. Damion James’ decision to withdraw from the NBA draft bolstered a frontcourt that should be one of the nation’s best with James, Dexter Pittman and Gary Johnson. The difference, though, will be Texas’ backcourt, which should be markedly improved thanks to the addition of Florida transfer Jai Lucas and standout freshman Avery Bradley. Lucas, a point guard, is expected to become the starter once he becomes eligible in December. A combo guard, Bradley is a consensus top-10 recruit who is a pest defensively.

2) Recap of KD's Summer: This NBA.com feature outlined Kevin Durant's busy summer. For all the "ONE AND DONE!!!!" folks who hated the decision to retire his number, please focus on the sections over his time in Austin. For example:

After leaving the University of Texas for the NBA after just one season, Durant made a promise to himself and his family that he would continue to pursue his college degree. He kept up on that promise this summer, enrolling in a child adolescent class. The league’s fifth-leading scorer was back in class, interacting with classmates, raising his hand to be called on, doing homework and even turning in a 20-plus page book report.

Durant already said he was looking forward to doing it again next summer. But while he was in Austin, he found enough time to reconnect with the Longhorns basketball program. Organizing pick-up games just after sunrise wasn’t something that came about this offseason, but rather last summer along with the help of Thunder Assistant Coach Brian Keefe after Durant had finished his rookie season.

The pick-up games started at 6:30....AM.

3) Tristan Thompson = Good: These rankings--dug up by DimeCoverage--have Thompson as the 4th ranked prospect in 2010. Daniel Bejarano is ranked 40th.

Onto the hating...

First off--for those of you who liked the roundtable, I think I speak for each of us when I say it would be our pleasure to do it again. If you have any questions, please send them along, and I'll arrange another one as soon as we get enough good questions. I've always loved PB's mailbag feature, and I think a mailbag/roundtable combo would be something that everyone would enjoy reading. Just send to txtwstr7@gmail.com.

Second, with the current steady stream of articles constantly hitting up the front page of BON, it can be easy to get behind. I got sick earlier this week, and it put me waaaaaaaaaay behind schedule during a pretty busy week. While I had time to read most of the front-page stuff, I wasn't able to read all the comments, which are often as enlightening as the article itself. With that in mind, I wanted to highlight an eye-opening comment from the post.

While Caradoc provided (yet another) good idea for a feature, the best comment came from "longtimelonghorn", who took it upon himself to play "Devils Advocate." I think "longtimelonghorn" did a good job...see for yourself, through a slightly edited version below, where I focus on his key points and issue a few responses.

I’m as pumped about this team as everyone else, but the 8 page UT basketball summary didn’t seem to account for what could go wrong or why we might NOT be that good. So I’ll pretend to be an OU fan for a few minutes and bring up these points.

1. Ok, Pittman looks lighter in some videos. He made great strides last year and was shockingly able to play more than 10 minutes in a game. However, he’s still fat. He’ll still clog the lane: 4 out 1 in’s only gonna happen when Damion James is in the game and playing the 4. Your team doesn’t need a Dexter Pittman, it needs a James Thomas. Your team is relying on this guy to be your force in the middle. After that your center is?? He goes down, and you have Matt Hill guarding Tyler Hansborough. Face it, the W in CWH is ok, but the other two SUCK.

2. Every great team has one player that’s a leader who will carry the team on his back when he has to. The Horns made it to the Final Four with TJ Ford. Who’s gonna pull this team together when the other team goes on a run? Damion James? A freshman maybe?

3. So you’re relying on JBrown, a freshman point guard, academically ineligable for his first year, rumored headcase in highschool, great scorer but not passer… to be the starting point guard on a final four team. Assist to turnover ratios don’t lie. (for the record, I’ll predict Lucas as the starter).

4. Before you start buying tickets for Indianapolis remember this: you’re relying on freshmen for this team to make it there. Freshmen are question marks. The new guys will all want shots, even Avery Bradley. Furthermore, three of the new "fantastic four" coming in didn’t even play basketball last year. Where’s all the confidence coming from, BarkingCarnival practice videos?

5. So Barnes is phenomenal with managing players, and a loaded roster won’t be a problem? Some of the guys will just be happy to get a few minutes on a great team? Mike Williams and Dion Dowell might disagree with you.

Walking through these step-by-step:

1) If one of CWH can be productive (consensus seems to be Wangmene), then I'm not going to lose sleep over our third option at center potentially sucking against a National POY force. Dex handled Blake Griffin pretty nicely in their unfortunately brief second encounter last season, and we "held" Griffin to a 20-10 game in Norman in a game where Dex only played 21 minutes to Griffin's 39 minutes. Yes, there will be minutes to kill when Dex is on the bench, but it wont cripple this team. If Dexter gets hurt...well, thats a different ballgame that we wont talk about.

2) PB brought this up in the roundtable and went with Avery Bradley. I think he makes a good case. As a military officer, there are leadership styles other than yelling in people's faces. There is no better leadership style than "leading by example", which is where I think Bradley will excel, even as a freshmen. If that doesnt convince you, then I'll quickly point out that Rick Barnes will also have a say-so in keeping this team from dogpiling on each other when things go south.

3) I feel much better about J'Covan knowing that Balbay/Lucas/Mason/Ward can all immediately step in and take over if he doesn't play to his talent. I dont want Barnes to jerk him around, but the floor-level expectations for the position are already in place...it's Brown who has a chance to adjust the ceiling.

4) The gaps in basketball for Hamilton/Lucas/Brown are a concern, but their play in tournaments and scrimmages (past and recent) leaves us with a pretty good idea of what they should bring to the table. Honestly, I'd be more worried about the incoming freshmen, but this is where Dexter and Damion returning comes into play. Instead of having to take everything onto their shoulders, the super talented freshmen are stepping into an offense that is returning two key starters (and potential superstars) who should average at least 15-10 a game. For a point of comparison, KD started alongside three other freshmen and AJ Abrams; these freshmen will be starting alongside two legitimate studs who complement their individual games. The key point here is that none of the freshmen will have to carry the brunt of the offensive load. Instead, each of them wil fill important cogs in what should be a multi-dimensional and dangerous team.

5) I dont think Barnes and Dion Dowell got along--before the PT issues--and Mike Williams was a weird, weird, weird, weird dude. I agree that PT is a concern, but I really think that the role emphasis of Barnes (along with potentially winning 30 games this season) will help keep everyone relatively content.

Lest we be accused of failing to acknowledge or notice the faults of this basketball team, please feel free to continue spreading your "HATE HATE HATE HATE" on the Hyperizers in the comments...

Hook 'em!

BON Roundball Roundtable...

txtwstr7 — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:39:12 -0000

Within my confession post last week, I made a promise that the BON Basketball Headshed would be cranking out a massive roundtable at the beginning of this week. Tonight, that promise is officially fulfilled. Myself, PB, Wiggo, and Big Roy each took our turns addressing some of the major issues facing this team as it potentially enters "the" season for UT Basketball.

If I made a confession last week, then I'm issuing a challenge this week. I challenge each and every reader of this website to read this article and deny feeling a flood of excitement about the possibilities for the basketball team this season. Honestly, I've already read through this discussion--and prepare yourself, because it's long--five times already, and it has me worked up into a tizzy.

After the jump, I invite each of you to read what is probably my favorite post in my time here at BON...

Txtwstr7: Gentlemen, let's do this...

1) Perhaps the most fascinating thing about this team is the staggering depth of the roster. With the additions of Brown/Bradley/Hamilton and the return of Wangmene, the team has added four substantive "Hyperizers" to replace the losses of Abrams and Atchley. In analyzing the roster from top-to-bottom, what jumps out at you?

Txtwstr7: Until you really look at the depth chart, I think it's easy to underestimate how stockpiled this roster has actually become. When viewed separately, the additions of the three freshmen, the transfer of Jai Lucas, the enrollment of J'Covan Brown, and the return of Dexter Pittman and Damion James are all very nice additions to the roster--cumulatively, their effect is jaw-dropping. Seriously, look at the depth chart and try not to salivate:

PG: J'Covan Brown, Jai Lucas, Dogus Balbay

SG: Avery Bradley, Varez Ward, Justin Mason

SF: Jordan Hamilton, (Shawn Williams--likely redshirt)

PF: Damion James, Gary Johnson, CWH

C: Pittman, CWH

CWH is for Chapman/Wangmene/Hill. I think what jumps out at me is the overall completeness of the roster. Rick Barnes might have had teams with better individual players, but I don't think he has ever had a group of individual players who create a better team. The starting line-up of Brown-Bradley-Hamilton-James-Pittman is just ridiculous, but the focus on the starters overshadows the players sitting behind them. With the exception of SF (assuming Williams gets redshirted), we have capable back-ups at every position, if you assume that one of CWH will make substantive progress this season. What say you, Wescott?

GhostofBigRoy: I see many of the same things that you do. For the first time since I've been a Texas basketball fan, the losses pale in significance to what the team gains. A team that last year only had one perimeter threat now has some excellent options from the outside with the additions of Lucas, Bradley, Hamilton, and Brown. With better perimeter shooting, the Longhorns will be able to better space the floor offensively and stretch the defense, while opening up entry passing lanes to actually get the ball to Sexy Dexy when they want to. In other words, Texas will go from a poor offensive team to, hopefully, one of the most explosive offensive teams in college basketball.

PB: I thought talking third would be no fun, but neither of you mentioned the first thing that jumped out at me when I scanned the roster: the defense on this team is going to be special. Somewhere along the line Rick got the reputation of being a super defensive coach who struggled with offense, but the fact is that Texas hasn't had a strong defense since Gibson, Aldridge, and Tucker were around; conversely, three of the last four UT squads have been high elite offensive teams (KenPom Adjusted Offense Rating of #4 in 2006, #5 in '07, and #3 in '08).

At least defensively, this year's squad probably adds through subtraction with the departure of A.J. Abrams, who was useful when he put his quickness to work, but an overall liability at five-feet, three. Looking at who's back and who's arriving, the defensive potential of this team is obvious - certainly if you factor in the return of Wingman and the enormous improvement we saw from Big Sexy starting in February of last year. Bradley and Balbay may prove the two best on-ball defenders in the conference, V. Ward's defense only looks light in comparison, and Damion James can be a pill when he wants to be. It'll be fun to watch this team grow and jell offensively, but I fully expect them to be drowning opponents with defense from the get-go.

Awiggo: I agree with all of that, especially the staggering depth, the likelihood of a Williams redshirt, and the potential to be an elite defensive team. But, let me throw out another observation on the potential for even deadlier and more efficient offensive attack.

The starting five sets up perfectly as a four out-one in ballclub. With J'Covan, Bradley, Hamilton, and James all possessing the ability to slash to the basket with or without the ball and the consistency to knock down at least a mid-range jumper off the catch, if not the three ball, defenses will not be able to provide help on Dex. Dex's frequent foul troubles and stamina issues were certainly issues in his first couple of seasons, but the single biggest limitation on Pittman last season was floor space. With Mason or Balbay on the floor last year, Dexter was basically double teamed without the ball. Sexy Dex is a force but no one can score consistently through double teams before even seeing the ball in the half court. There is no way this will happen next year as the perimeter games of our newcomers will be too strong. This team has the chance to be nearly unstoppable on the offensive end.

2) The correlative problem with the depth of the roster involves the inevitable crunch for minutes. One of the potential concerns for this team remains internal chemistry issues based on a lack of playing time for several talented back-ups. Do you foresee this being a problem for the team, and how do you think Barnes should handle it?

Txtwstr7: It's a nice problem to have, but, yeah, I'm a little concerned. However, moreso than perhaps anyone in this roundtable, I have complete confidence in Rick Barnes to handle the situation. In attending several basketball banquets, I was struck by the level of frankness that Rick Barnes employs with each of his players in explaining their "role" on the team. Every single player on the roster will know exactly where they stand with Barnes. Furthermore, each player knows exactly what Barnes wants to see before he'll increase their minutes. To some extent, I also think the concerns will be minimized by the talent level of the back-ups, who could actually play championship minutes for this team. It's kinda pointless to give substantive minutes to Ian Mooney or Adam Graceley, but it's something completely different to give them to Varez Ward. It also "helps" that Lucas wont be available until the Spring Semester.

As much as I trust Barnes, I'm a little concerned about what he'll do with the back-up minutes at the SF spot. If Shawn Williams gets redshirted, we really don't have any wing to play the 3 when Jordan Hamilton is on the bench. My concern is that the lion share of these minutes will go to Justin Mason or Damion James. James floundered at the position last year--at least, relative to expectations--and Justin Mason shouldn't play much at all. It's tough to see how far Mason has missed our initial expectations, but, at this point, he is what he is.

GhostofBigRoy: Definitely agree that Banes will communicate well with his players about their roles, and I think he's probably happy about the depth for several reasons. First, the depth gives the team a great deal of versatility - they can play big or small, they can focus on pushing the ball or they can be equally effective in the half court with Dexy in the middle. If Barnes wants to employ full or quarter-court pressure, he has a variety of different lineups that can play that defense, with the depth to tell the players to go hard for five minutes or so without having to worry about wearing someone out and not having a replacement. Second, Barnes loves to hold his players accountable and he has plenty of freedom to do that this season. If virtually any player on the roster isn't doing what he wants, they could quickly find themselves in the doghouse and drastically reduced minutes.

I think the small forward position is a little bit concerning, and I agree that Williams will probably redshirt. Hamilton will play significant minutes there, probably 30 minutes or more a game when he can handle it, so the Longhorns probably only have to patch together 10 minutes or so during every game. Damion James will surely have a shot, and while I'm far from convinced that he can handle the position after playing terribly there last season, perhaps with another off-season of working on his ball handling and decision making he can be adequate there for short stretches. I'm not holding my breath. I think the Longhorns will also play some three-guard sets, and they can have a little more height across the board if Barnes wants to play Brown, Bradley, and Ward together, which I think might be a great combination. In high school, Bradley loved to crash the boards and probably won't get a chance to do so in the two-guard lineups the Longhorns will trot out, but he would have some freedom to do that with two other guards out there to keep the court balanced.

PB: Anyone who doubts Rick Barnes' abilities in this area needs to get their head checked; there's not a shred of evidence to support any opinion other than a decidedly optimistic one. Hell, just think about the job Barnes did pulling together last year's team after the Maui debacle: they got things worked out, worked on finding their roles, had some up-and-downs getting things fit together, then peaked in late February-March, almost making the Sweet 16... again. I'm not concerned.

Awiggo: I'm with PB here and am not concerned at all. The fact that we're even talking about this is a testament to how great a job Barnes has done building this particular team and this program into a legitimate national power. Too much talent? Too many guys who should see the floor? Just about every coach in the country would kill for this to be his problem.

That said, Barnes will be tested most in how he handles Justin Mason. Mason is a fourth year senior and a returning three year starter. He plays extremely hard, has saved this team countless times, and does everything that a coach like Barnes loves. How does Barnes treat a player like Justin in his final year whose upside is less than that of Brown or Bradley? How does Barnes tell a senior that his minutes just went to a 19 year old who took two years to get his grades and test scores in order, who got kicked off his high school team, and who hasn't played a minute of college basketball? I don't know, but I don't have to know. Rick will find a way.

Also, I disagree a little with Cody and Big Roy about the three spot. I see Hamilton getting 25-30 minutes at small forward and James getting the other 10-15, to go with 20-25 at the four. Damion's ball handling has to have improved after another off-season battling KD, Ivey, and company, right? At least, that is what I'm telling myself until I see otherwise. I will be disappointed if I'm wrong.

3) Of the three main additions to the roster (Bradley, Hamilton, Brown), who is the most important to this team?

Txtwstr7: It's gotta be Hamilton, right? Bradley might be the best of the three, and Brown has become the biggest surprise of the three, but Hamilton is the player who represents the final cog in our offensive machine. I'll let you gentlemen fully dissect the role of Hamilton on this team, but I want to make a potentially understated point about how Avery Bradley might impact this team in a different way--through his attitude.

At this point, it's become cliched to talk about how much Avery Bradley loves playing defense. His quotes about playing defense resemble Ichiro's famous quotes about facing Daisuke Matsuzaka. But a function of his defensive prowess is his overall attitude towards the challenge. In watching Bradley play defense, it literally made me want to jump on the court alongside him. This team has the potential to thrive off its defense, and Avery Bradley is going to be a major catalyst and significant leader in that department. On a sidenote, how amazing is it that we attract potential one-and-dones like Kevin Durant and Avery Bradley? Pure class acts who work their asses off, lead by example, and would run through a brick wall for Rick Barnes. The more I read about Bradley, the more I want to stalk him and profess my undying affection for his game. Anyone else getting the same feeling about Bradley, or are you guys instead enraptured by the prodigious talents of Hamilton or the emergence of J'Covan?

GhostofBigRoy: I'm not going to take the easy route here and say Hamilton or Bradley. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the games of both of those players in a way that I have few other players coming into the Texas program and I probably know their games better than any other players coming into the program. That being said, I'm gonna go with Brown because of the way that he changes the complexion of the point guard position.

Jai Lucas was a great addition to the team because he brings something that Dogus Balbay doesn't - the ability to shoot from outside and effectively run the pick-and-roll game. The problem is that no matter how fearless Lucas is - and most accounts say he is absolutely fearless - his height is still a problem and limiting for him as a player. Brown is the complete player that Balbay and Lucas can only dream about - he has excellent size for the position (unlike Lucas), can play defense when he puts his mind to it (and Barnes will have him putting his mind to it), but more importantly, he can create for himself (unlike Balbay) and for his teammates. In other words, with Brown finally eligible, Rick Barnes doesn't have to compromise any more at the point guard position.

PB: I'm going with Bradley, and not just because no one else has. The many tangible benefits Hamilton, AB, Brown, and Lucas bring to the team are all considerable, but when you ask who's the most important I keep coming back to Bradley, largely because of some of the intangible benefits I expect to accompany him to Austin.

For example, as deep and talented as is this roster, who's the team leader? One of the three seniors? Damion James is many things and a leader through his behavior, but no. Big Sexy? Again, the list of positives is a long one (more on him below), and he's a great teammate, but he's not a team leader in the sense of my question. Justin Mason? Another great teammate, but he's more or less a role player at this point, so no.

We needn't walk through the entire roster to realize where this ends: Avery Bradley. I've developed quite a habit of scavenging rabidly for online videos of AB and the three things that stood out that elevated my excitement from excited to out of control were (1) the quality, but even more than that the intensity of his defense; (2) what Jay Bilas might call Rise-a-bility or Hop-tuitive-ness - an explosiveness in his leaping that allows him to finish 50% more buckets than any mortal his size would; and (3) his competitiveness and eagerness to seek out, and conquer, challenges.

Around these parts you can do yourself a favor by giving the audience a football analogy: Avery Bradley is Aaron Williams - supremely athletic, talented, competitive, and eager to mix it up. When you play alongside someone like Avery Bradley, you follow his lead, bust your tail, and play to f*ng win. There are other reasons I'd select Bradley as the most important, but that's the most critical one.

Awiggo: Well, there is definitely no wrong answer here and all three of you made valid arguments for each of the three. I'll come to my answer but asking the inverse of the original question: who not being on the squad would hurt the team the most? If Brown never becomes eligible, Balbay continues to start at the point in the fall and, based on production, either runs the point through conference season or gives way to Lucas, a true but undersized point guard who can score but is more limited defensively. Overall, neither Balbay or Lucas are the complete one guard that a Barnes team needs but either, given the talent around them, would be more than serviceable. So, this team could succeed without J'Covan.

What about without Bradley? This one is a little more dicey. Barnes would probably go with senior Mason at shooting guard and hope to get enough scoring from the other four starters while asking Justin to get back to what he does best: rebounding and defense. If Ward plays anything like he showed against Duke in his second year in the program, then Barnes could manufacture 40 minutes of enough production at the two for this team to succeed.

Now, I come to Jordan Hamilton. Who plays the three if he chooses UCLA or is allowed to enter the NBA from high school? Gary Johnson? No thanks. James? For some minutes, sure but not for a full game, let alone a full season. Mason? And a repeat of a three guard lineup with Mason playing the wing of a 2-3 zone, I don't think so. Shawn Williams? I guess, but this would be a major drop off from Jordan's level. Hamilton is supremely talented offensively, a threat to score from 25 ft and in, and sure to love defense by the time fall practice concludes. With different rules, Jordan is preparing for his first game in the NBA right now. I love all three, but this team would not be the same without Hamilton.

4) What is the ceiling for Dexter Pittman?

Txtwstr7: As for his ceiling, I really don't know. The recent videos showing a svelte Dex flitting around the court have caused me to erase my preconceived notions over his season. Last season, we could immediately highlight Dex's conditioning and penchant for foul trouble as the primary limitations to his effectiveness. However, in the last month of the season, Dexter made significant strides in both areas. Over the last eleven games, Dexter played at least 20 minutes in ten of the games. Additionally, in the last ten games, Dexter never fouled out and only reached four fouls twice--against Baylor and Duke in our last two losses of the season. Based on these improvements, he averaged 15.1 points and 8.4 boards over the last eight games. I don't know if that's his ceiling or the floor for this season. Or maybe its neither. I really don't know.

Outside of his breaking through his own personal limitations, the other variable on Pittman's season is how much his new teammates will help him avoid double-teams, rack up easy dunks, and actually be able to receive the basketball (which is kinda important). Moreso than any other player on the team, Dexter has to be salivating about playing with the Hyperized roster. Trips Right over at Barking Carnival has hammered this point home, even writing a column exclusively dedicated to the topic. I wonder if Pittman even remembers watching defenders guard Balbay from the free throw line. I sure do. : (

GhostofBigRoy: I'm a believer in two things with Dexy - his conditioning will be better this year because of his incredible work ethic in that arena, but that his foot problems may limit him more than his conditioning. Add the depth of the Texas team and I think Dexy probably plays 25-30 minutes this year to keep him fresh.

With that out of the way, I think Dexter's potential in college is like a mid-career Shaq was in the NBA. He's got some remarkable quickness for his size, though not in the same realm as a young Shaq, because that was just freakish, but no one in the college game can really handle his size. Where Dexter far surpasses Shaq is his touch - reports from the off season have him working on a counter to his favorite moves over his left shoulder. The new move is a turnaround little short jumper that I think will make him almost unstoppable. Combine that with his willingness to pass out of double teams and I think viewing Dexter as a less athletic, more offensively sound Shaq with the same ability to find open teammates is not too much of a stretch. Dexter's gonna be great this season.

PB: Well, this officially makes it four straight years that I'm calling for Dexter to break out. No seriously: I so quickly fell so in love with his soft hands and sky-high ceiling that just seven games into his freshman year - when he couldn't run the court six times consecutively and averaged three fouls per minute - I was chiding Rick Barnes for not having the good sense to force 25 minutes out of the big fella. Dexter was young, and so was I.

However unrealistic my freshman season hopes for Pittman, I absolutely thought a big breakout was in his future, though I underestimated how long it would take him to add the stamina and footwork he needed to put it all together. So it took longer than I hoped, break through he did, in February of last season, and especially from the Oklahoma game on. If we factor in further gains in stamina and footwork this offseason, we're looking at Dexter Pittman-Plus from the end of last year, when he was a nightmare for opponents when Texas didn't struggle to get him the basketball.

What's his ceiling? That probably depends a bit on how teams decide to guard him, but the beautiful thing for Texas fans is that it's a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation: single defenders will struggle to keep him out of position without fouling, while doubling Big Sexy will get the ball out of his hands but the excellent passer has proven to be more likely than not to make the right dish at the right time. I guess I wouldn't put much past Big Dexter for his senior year. I could see him on the All-American team, to be honest, though it's more likely he'll "merely" be an All-Conference player. In any case, I fully expect him to have a strong regular season and, more importantly, think he's as important as any piece of the puzzle to cutting down the nets in March. At his best, he changes the complexion of the game, forcing teams to react to Texas rather than assert themselves.

Awiggo: The ceiling is probably an All-American season averaging 22 pts and 11 boards in 25 minutes a game and the addition of a move over his right shoulder. This isn't the most likely scenario but anyone who can't envision this, needs to dream a little bigger. Like I mentioned above and PB just touched on, if defenses elect to play him straight up, it's over. He is too big, too strong, and will be too experienced for just about any forward or center one-on-one. It is a stupid cliché but we could see a man among boys if Texas' ability to score from the perimeter becomes as good as advertised.

5) Who is your "surprise player" for this season?

Txtwstr7: This is a tough one if you avoid the obvious answer of J'Covan Brown. Outside of Pittman and James deciding to return to school, Brown's emergence is still THE news of the off-season. I'm tempted to pick Gary Johnson, but I think he's just underrated and won't really surprise anyone with what he's going to do for us. Additionally, Gary's minutes might be cut by Damion James returning to the PF position. I'll go with Varez Ward, who I hope will pick up where he left off last season. Barnes absolutely raved about Ward last off-season, and, with the exception of a few stretches where he sat in the doghouse, he played more than I remembered. In fact, Ward played only a single minute-per-game less than Pittman last year, finishing with a total of 15.5 minutes-per-game. This, of course, was half as many minutes as Justin Mason played last year, whose total should be dramatically cut down this year. Ward's ability to play either guard position should also help his chances to steal minutes, especially if Balbay still can't shoot. The focus is squarely on Bradley and Brown right now, and I think people might be sleeping on Ward and what he did last season. Kid can play, and he doesn't back down from anybody.

With Jai Lucas sidelined until the Spring, my hope is that Varez will be able to carve his niche into the backcourt rotation prior to Lucas' arrival, hopefully at the expense of Mason. If Texas decides to go small, how does a line-up of Brown-Bradley-Ward-James-Wangmene sound?

GhostofBigRoy: With that lineup you mention at the end of your comment, I think you might have hit on the full-court press lineup that Barnes may use this season. To answer the question, though, I like the pick of Ward and would have gone with him had you not chosen the sophomore from Alabama. To avoid repetition, I'm going with the Wingman, Alexis Wangmene. As a freshman, he was the best interior defender that Texas had with his long arms and natural strength. After two years with Todd Wright, I expect him to be even stronger and more explosive. Back to the defense, though - the Longhorns will have to go through Kansas probably twice this season to win regular-season and Big 12 Tournament championships, as well as possibly facing Demarcus Cousins and Kentucky late in the NCAA Tournament.

As a result, the Longhorns will need some stout interior defense and Dexter can get in foul trouble quickly against both Cousins and Cole Aldrich. Enter Wingman. Besides his defense, at the end of his freshman season he started showing some nice post moves and a soft touch - the Longhorns could have two effective low-post scorers this season and I'm looking for Wangmene to really start capitalizing on all his potential.

PB: How about Dogus Balbay? He was almost a bit cartoonish last year, so bizarre were his various strengths and weaknesses. But I pinned the team's late season surge chances on his shoulders for a reason and he returns with the same foundational strengths, a vastly different role and set of pressures/expectations, and a full offseason of time to work on his weaknesses.

I seem to be higher than most on Balbay, and may be proven overly-optimistic yet, but I tend to think all offseasons are not equal - the time to work helps everyone, but the amount you can improve overall depends on the particular hurdles you have to clear to get there. Dexter Pittman, for example, needed to lose half his body mass and train himself how to use that body so as not to go all Pamplona each time out, racking up fouls at historic paces. As for Balbay, I tended to view his weaknesses as being at the "easier to improve" end of the scale. He's oozing with the stuff you can't teach; as he continues to acclimate himself to the college game, the defenders will remain just as helpless trying to stay in front of him, while Balbay will continue getting better knowing what to do once he's on his way. Throw in his stellar defense and fans who think Balbay can't log substantial minutes amongst the other talented guards may be surprised to see how effective he'll be, easily worth playing for 20 minutes a game.

Awiggo: Sorry PB, I am not with you on that one. There are only 80 total minutes at the two guard spots and with Bradley replicating Dogus' defensive ability, Ward coming on strong late, Brown and Lucas possessing far superior offensive games, and Mason being a senior, it is hard to see Balbay on the floor much at all. You've always like him a lot more than I have, though. We shall see.

I'll keep my take short. Big Roy nailed it with Alexis Wangmene. Wingman should be the first one off the bench to spell Pittman, has all the raw physical skills that you can't teach, and probably wants it more than anyone else after his troubles both on and off the court over the last year. I'll take the hungry Cameroonian as my surprise.

6) Based on the new roster, what offensive and defensive strategies do you see the team employing this season?

Txtwstr7: Once again, I'm going to defer to the professionals for the chalk talk. I'll just say that I've spent so much time daydreaming about various line-up combinations that I think I finally understand how Bill Simmons feels about the NBA Trade Machine. Even to a laymen fan like myself, it's easy to see how the athleticism and various skillsets within the roster should cause significant match-up problems for our opponents. Speaking of Bill Simmons, I roundly criticized him for letting his appreciation of Kevin Durant cloud his judgment on Rick Barnes' coaching ability. That said, if Barnes cant adequately exploit the plethora of talent on this roster...well, let's hope it doesnt come to that. Wescott, do your thing with the x's and o's.

GhostofBigRoy: I already mentioned being able to run whatever type of backcourt pressure the Longhorns choose to apply, so I won't get into that too much right now. Where this Texas team can far outstripe any other recent Texas team is in playing zone defense. In the past, Barnes went to the zone defense as a matter of desperation - the Longhorns didn't have the personnel to play the shutdown man that Barnes likes to play, so he played zone. The major weakness of that zone for the last several seasons was the length, both out on top with players like Abrams and Augustin and on the baseline with Mason at only 6-2 or so.

Remember that sick zone defense that Syracuse had in 2003 when they beat the Longhorns? Hakim Warrick and Carmelo on the baseline? Yeah, that's gonna be like the length Texas can deploy this season with their zone defense and Jordan Hamilton and Damion James in the corners, Dexy in the middle, and at least one taller, longer guard like Bradley or Ward at the top. Barnes will use the zone to keep Dexy fresh and out of foul trouble this season and you can bet that he's can on the horn with Boeheim talking shop. You can also bet that more than once during those conversations Boeheim was sporting a little envy boner.

PB: Offensively, Texas will continue running the dribble drive system in which guys like KD and Augustin so thrived. The difference is that this roster is approaching 2008 Memphis-level good in terms of being ideally constituted to run it. I haven't any idea whether the SID's keep this stat, but if they do, I predict Texas finishes with the most dunks in the Rick Barnes era.

Defensively, y'all covered most of what I'd say. I think the depth and athleticism of the roster gives Rick some freedom to mix-and-match lineups, experiment with different sets for different situations, and so forth. We could be a strong defensive team playing man, zone, press-n-run, you name it. It's a fun roster to contemplate.

Awiggo: I think yall nailed it again. Basically, we can do just about anything with this roster on either end. We can go small and fast and press the hell out of teams without having to worry about running out of gas. We can go big, control the glass on both ends, and pound it to Dex. We can play man, we can play zone, we can fast break it, we can play four out-one in, and we can stick with our more traditional high screen and roll sets with Bradley and James or Lucas and Wingman or Ward and Dex. Wow, I'm getting too excited.

7) Ok, let's wrap this up...any random scattershots or comments you want to make about the team, season, etc?

Txtwstr7: I want to reiterate a point that's been made across the interwebs. We've been "one player away" for seemingly forever. The phrase "if only ______ would have come back" has haunted this fanbase for years. But not this year. Instead of focusing on what we lost, the narrative for this season is solely built around what we have. From my perspective, what we have is the most talented and complete team of the Rick Barnes era. This team has a legitimate chance at immortality, and I cannot wait for the season to start.

GhostofBigRoy: Hallelujah for putting to rest the "if only" talk for at least one season. First time in forever. First time for me, actually. How about another one? Hallelujah. One more for good measure. Hallelujah. Okay, I'm into the realm of digression here.

I haven't seen this team together on the court yet, but I know deep in my heart that I'm absolutely going to love this basketball team in a way that I've never loved a Longhorn basketball team before. Growing up as an Illini basketball fan, the team that I've loved more than any other, by far, was the 2004-05 team that lost to North Carolina in the championship game. Truly a team that was greater than the sum of their parts. As for this Texas team, if Rick Barnes can manage to mold them into more than the formidable sum of their parts, I have a feeling the season could end even better than it did for my beloved Illini.

PB: I'll just echo Cody here and, rather than rehash what I spent 2,000 words saying last March, re-direct folks here for the full exposition on why for Rick Barnes and Texas this year is substantively different than years' past.

Txtwstr7: I've never seen that comment before, PB...man, some heavy stuff in there. It took me a little while to get oriented to that link, but the substance of that comment is truly superb. Really one of your best efforts, which is saying a lot. I wanted to post a money quote from that article, but I dont think it's fair to post a section of something so well-written. I can't believe you didnt spin that into an entire post. Anyways, let's wrap this up...take us home, Wiggo.

Awiggo: On BON, we've talked about what it will take for the basketball team to move to the next level. The next level where the football program has lived, realistically or not, for a long time. The next level where good is not good enough and great is expected every season. Rick Barnes' arrival and subsequent recruiting successes have made this discussion possible. The alignment of young talent combined with the decisions of Dex and James to stick around for another season make this season the arrival of that level.

The season ticket holders may still stay home till conference season, the press may not pay attention until after Pasadena, and even most BON readers may not feel the passion, but this is the season. If moving to the next level means demanding and expecting a championship, then let me say that is what I expect. I know that March is crazy and anything can happen in a single elimination tournament. However, if this team is healthy in March, then I expect to cut down the nets in Indianapolis.

Txtwstr7: Chills, Wiggo....the last paragraph gave me chills. Anyone pass my challenge?

Hook 'em!

A Confession...

txtwstr7 — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:01:32 -0000

...this post might make some of you angry, it might make you upset, and it might even cause some of my closest friends to yell at me. I can deal with it. Ever since I wrote my Hyperizers column last week, I've needed to get something off my chest. I've thought carefully about this statement, and I'm ok with putting this out there for public consumption. As of right now, I'm officially more excited about basketball season than football season.

This statement deserves immediate and substantive caveats, but I feel pretty strongly about this conviction...after the jump, I invite each of you to walk with me through this minefield.

Before we begin, I need to make a few housekeeping notes...first, I still plan on writing about the potential improvements to the Erwin Center atmosphere, but that will be postponed for a few weeks. Second, I demand that each of you read this article over Avery Bradley, who has already been tabbed as a pre-season All-American. Here is the money quote from the article:

"His makeup is all systems go, 100 percent of the time," said Garry Ward, who coached Bradley on the AAU circuit with the Northwest Panthers. "The same way Gary Payton played great defense and Dennis Johnson played great defense, Avery Bradley plays great defense. He doesn't know anything else. He just knows when he's on the floor, he's going to compete offensively and defensively.

"You see a lot of great, athletic players where you wonder as a coach or as a sportswriter or as a fan why that player can do anything he wants offensively, so why can't he do it defensively? Because they don't want to. Avery Bradley wants to. That's the difference. He wants to guard. He wants to compete."

Finally, the BON Basketball Headshed (Wiggins, PB, BigRoy, and myself) will be unleashing a massive Roundball Roundtable Discussion on all of you next week. I really, really, really think each of you will enjoy it, and we'll have it up as soon as possible.

Let's get back on track...

As I said, my previous statement deserves immediate and substantive caveats. First and foremost, I dont think the basketball team will necessarily be more successful than the football team. The difference is a bit more nuanced. As the current football narrative revolves around a methodical march towards a Pasadena Showdown, the reality is that anything else will be considered a disappointment, especially considering the fallout of BYU's shocking upset over Oklahoma. Basically, anything less than perfection over the next three months will effectively ruin the season, which eliminates the ability to enjoy each individual game outside of its overall purpose towards the expected narrative. Rephrased another way, with Texas ranked second and probably favored to win every game the rest of the regular season, the individual games only represent the possibility of losing the narrative rather than the possibility of creating a more comprehensive or ambitious narrative. From our lofty perch, it's Pasadena or bust, especially with the favorable schedule. For all football fans, the destination matters more than the nature of the journey; in fact, the destination is ALL that matters.

Whoever wrote this obviously hasnt met a UT Football Fan...

On the flipside, the regular season for the basketball team simply provides a plethora of opportunities for this insanely deep and supremely talented team to sharpen its weapons for battle in March. Even though the team will test its mettle against the titans of college basketball--UNC, Kansas, Michigan State, Pittsburgh--during the regular season, no single game can effectively "ruin" our season. Texas will forge its ultimate identity over the course of the season, rather than trying to preserve the identity it acquired before the season. To further the contrast with football, the difference with the basketball season is that the successes along the journey only indirectly connect with the ultimate destination; for example, a close loss to Michigan State might better prepare the basketball team for the postseason than a curbstomping of Texas State. The converse cannot be said for the football team. As fans, we can feel free to appreciate the moments and memories of each individual game, without worrying about its effect on the season.

Big Conclusion

Even if you dont agree with me, I want each of you to realize that we are on the verge of witnessing something very special. As I continue researching this team and the upcoming season, it is becoming readily apparent that Rick Barnes is holding the reins of a bonafide juggernaut. Ever since I penned the Hyperizers post from last week, I cannot stop thinking about how this season--my last as a student--could trump each of its recent predecessors.

Bottom Line--I absolutely think this will be a basketball season that we will all remember, but, even further and more importantly, it could potentially become a season that none of us will ever forget.

Hook 'em!

SB Nation User Blog: txtwstr7

*Update* Stampede = Up (Kinda)

*Update* Stampede = Up (Kinda)

Watching the Watchmen: The Sad Story of UT Basketball

Re-examining the 2008-9 Losses...

Stampede E-mail = Tomorrow

Stampede E-mail = Tomorrow

Basketball Articles, Notes, and Drum Atmosphere...

Classy Move by Tom Grieve

Leadership, Marketing, and UT Basketball...

Player Haters (Basket)Ball...

BON Roundball Roundtable...

A Confession...

Update Stampede = Up (Kinda)

Update Stampede = Up (Kinda)