Seriously..you know you want to lose this Saturday right? And then get hot in the Big XII tourney. But definitely lose on Saturday. It's the smart play, really.
Really, this team is locked in a #2 or #3 seed now, so I really don't care. How about this? Texas seems really tired, so I'd like them to get these 5 days of rest, crush Baylor Saturday (to get their confidence back), get 6 more days of rest, lose to Baylor in the 2nd round of the B12 Tourney, get another 6 days rest, and then dominate the NCAAs. Baylor can win a couple of B12 Tourney games and get their bid that way. Deal?
Never been a fan of Rick Barnes on game day. Hopefully they get their act together, rather lose games now than in the tourney.
I didn't get to catch last night's game (thank goodness). Lemme guess, more standing around shooting jumpers in the second half instead of attacking the basket?
Not really. Thompson had a monster game inside. He just had no help on the perimeter. Hamilton was awful. I'm concerned Joseph has lost confidence in his jump shot. He's passing up opportunities. Brown was pretty useless until the last 30 seconds. Lucas played ok, but he's not enough. K-State played damn good defense in the 2nd half. After Thompson had put in 18 in the 1st, they started to double team him. He'd kick it out, but the perimeter players were quickly covered up. There was almost no uncontested jumpers in the 2nd half...and when there were, they missed. That and Hamilton couldn't have guarded Dogus Balbay last night. He was horrid on the defensive end.
The other thing is that we don't really know how bad this loss was. Unlike NU and CU, which we know are mediocre teams, it's unclear how good K-State is. They were preseason #4 and then proceeded to suck. But in the last couple of weeks, they are on quite the roll, beating Kansas (by 20!) and Mizzou, along with Texas now. It's possible they are playing like the top 5 team that they were supposed to be. If that's the case, this loss wasn't as bad as it looks (losing at home to an unranked team). If they really did figure it out, they are going to be a scary team to face in March.
Texas really cost itself a golden opportunity -- the #1 seed in the Southwest. The region runs through San Antonio, which is a 1.5 hour bus trip from Austin and home to tens of thousands of Exes. The problem is, they're now looking at a 3-seed, or possibly even a 4-seed depending on how they perform against Baylor and in the Big 12 tournament. This means a potential 2nd route date with a squad like Nova, Georgetown, Kentucky, etc.
Lol @ this person sitting in front of the ESPN camera. He/She is completely covering up the camera every time they raise their arms
All together, horns fans...we needed those slaps in the face. JH looks like he got that swagger back dammit!
Back on track baby! Barnes had some serious size patrolling the floor in the 2nd half, and I was really surprised that Wangmene had such a significant impact on the game down the stretch. Hook 'em.
I assumed it was because of the BU zone. They didn't even attempt to guard him on the perimeter. It looked like it was 5 playing against 4 and a fill-in-coach who wasn't allowed to shoot. And his inside screens were ineffective for the same reason.
Definitely a good win, and nice to see them bounce from the all-too-familiar 2nd half collapse they were showing early on. However, they are still not anywhere close to midseason form. The defense was much better, but the offense is still all jumbled. None of the shooters are hitting anything. For some reason, Wangmene and Hill are calling for the ball in the lane while Thompson sits on the outskirts. All around weird. Fortunately, Joseph, Johnson, and Hamilton all hit some key shots in the 2nd half. Hopefully that gets them going again. They still have a long way to go. If they can beat Baylor again, they get to face A&M, which hopefully is the solution for all their problems, given that their two best complete games of the year were against them.
I kinda want the Horns to get some rest.. but I also want them to have some momentum going into the tourney... and I would love to have a chance for the Horns to beat Kansas again. I'm no doubt going to root for the Horns today and for the rest of the Big XII tourney, but I won't be disappointed if they don't win it. They're pretty much set for a 2 or 3 seed.
