Great article on ESPN.com about Texas ascending to the top of the Big XII and the impact of Rick Barnes. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2108758 Texas is getting ready to ascend to the top of the Big 12. Not just next season, but beyond -- and for the foreseeable future. The other major conferences have their annual standouts. We know UConn and Syracuse command the Big East (despite the addition of Louisville and Cincinnati this season). Duke and North Carolina share the ACC. Michigan State, Illinois and Wisconsin hold down the Big Ten (with Ohio State on the horizon?). The Pac-10 has Arizona and Stanford (with Washington a recent arrival). There's no question Kentucky rules the SEC. But the Big 12 is different. Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas Tech all have made runs at various times in the past five years. Now Texas could be ready to push them out of the way and become the team to beat on a regular basis. The Longhorns are the favorite entering the 2005-06 season. They have the best point guard in the league: Daniel Gibson. They have, perhaps, the best center in the league in LaMarcus Aldridge, back after a hip injury. The league's most versatile forward, P.J. Tucker, is due to be eligible after missing the second semester last season. The Horns also have Brad Buckman, one of the toughest forwards to defend because of his ability to score facing the basket as well as in the post. Beyond that? The Longhorns just got a commitment from the second-best player (according to Scout.com) in the class of 2006: Kevin Durant from Rockville, Md. Texas also has arguably the finest locker rooms, practice facility and overall comfort of any Big 12 team. Austin is clearly the best city in the league (arguments for Manhattan, Ames and Waco welcome here), and Barnes is showing no sign of leaving for any better job. "Attractive city, good academic reputation, the best facility and Rick as a proven winner," said Miami head coach and former Barnes assistant Frank Haith. "They're getting the top players in the state, recruiting nationally, too. A lot is going well for them. This year's team is unbelievable, as good as any team in the country." Two years ago, the Longhorns were in the Final Four behind point guard T.J. Ford, the national college basketball player of the year. They could return in 2006. "Rick has made that the best job in the league, no question," Haith said. "Rick has been part of the resurgence of Texas basketball." How did this happen? Commitment. The Longhorns don't waste time waiting for someone else to build something better. Texas was proactive in building one of the finest basketball facilities in the country, something we have illustrated here at ESPN.com a number of times. That has helped get players to stay home. The state is loaded every year, with more than enough to go around -- as evidenced by Ford's going to Texas, Daniel Ewing to Duke, Deron Williams to Illinois, Bracey Wright to Indiana, Chris Bosh to Georgia Tech, Ike Diogu to Arizona State and Emeka Okafor to Connecticut, among others. "Players were leaving the state for a lot of different reasons, and maybe one of them was the league, but the Big 12 is now on par with every other league in the country," Barnes said. "We felt that we could be successful if we did it locally, and if you go back to when T.J. Ford came, that's when it started. Most kids want to stay close to home, and that's what happened with Gibson and Aldridge. But I told them don't settle. If we don't have it, then go elsewhere." Barnes' Southern accent (he's from North Carolina) has a comforting tone. Ford's parents, Mary and Leo, said when Barnes came for his recruiting visit, he was in a pair of khakis, shoes without socks and a golf shirt. He didn't try to come off as pretentious. He sold them on being himself and extending his family. It worked, and the Ford family and Barnes remain close, even though Ford played only two seasons in Austin. Although getting Durant to commit is a major coup, getting players such as Gibson and Aldridge, in the class of 2004, was a must to continue to mine the state's best talent. This year, Texas landed one of the state's top players again -- Dallas' Miles. However, the Utah Jazz selected him in the second round and Miles opted for a two-year guaranteed contract. Still, all of this talk about Texas' rising to the top of the Big 12 still needs to be validated by another Final Four run and a possible national title. Kansas went twice to the Final Four (in 2002 and '03) under former coach Roy Williams. Oklahoma was there in 2002. Oklahoma State made an appearance in 2004. This season, Texas has a shot for its second trip in four seasons. "We've been to seven straight NCAAs but we're still chasing the big trophy, that's what we're telling guys," Barnes said. "We moved into the neighborhood [of elite teams], but we want to get there [Final Four] and win the whole thing." Texas limped to the NCAAs last season without Tucker (13.7 ppg in 17 games) and Aldridge (9.9 ppg in 16 games), losing to Nevada in an 8-9 game in round one. "They had enough of a taste of it a year ago and understand what it takes to get back," Barnes said. "There's no doubt that this team has a chance. Daniel Gibson [leading the team with 14.2 ppg] had a phenomenal freshman season with the bull's-eye on his back, and adding those two guys [Aldridge and Tucker] makes us a totally different team." Different enough to end up in Indianapolis. – Andy Katz
Yah i caught this article on ESPN.com today seems like the media has been buttering UT's balls for quite some time but I love it. Would be insane if Texas sweeps baseball football and basketball this calendar year. They already have the hardware in baseball, and are in the preseason top 5 in football and seems like Katz likes them to get to the Final Four. Great time to be a Longhorn.
Great read, it's gonna be a very exciting year for Longhorn sports this coming year. Gibson/Tucker/Aldridge/Buckman have a good chance of being a very versatile and unstoppable team. Our recruiting class for this year isn't that great, but when Durant comes it's gonna be awsome. What chances do ya'll think Gibson and Aldridge will stay for their Junior years? (Assuming they have decent/good season).
I think Gibson will stay for his junior years. Its harder for point guards to leave after their freshman and sophomore years, especially guys like Gibson who are smaller. PGs ususally need a few years of seasoning before they can become a floor general in the bigs. Aldridge, on the other hand, seems to be aching to jump ship. If he has even a decent year, I can't see him staying around. But I'd love to see Durant, Aldridge, and Gibson for one season. MY GOD!
i would expect texas to have a great season this year with all the returning players. they should be a top 10 team with a very good chance to go to the final four. texas is taking over in collegiate athletics. rose bowl victory last season and national championship aspirations in football this year, a national championship in baseball, and now what looks to be a great basketball team. it's a takeover basically.
d-gib and lamarcus. i'm excited. if we got miles it would have been over. maybe if gibson and lamarcus stay til they're juniors we'll have durant too... horns are taking over
bigtexx, you're an OU fan as well? lol.Talk to you baseball season. We'll be in the cws, will you guys (ou, atm or rice, I'll let you pick). Bilas has us among his top four as well.
I'm somewhat of an OU fan. I am good friends with one of OU's biggest donors' son. That's how I got pimp seats to both the RRS and the National Championship Orange Bowl last year. Rubbing elbows with Barry Switzer in Dallas last RRS and got to hear the OU President deliver a lengthy speech about how many more national merit scholars OU has than UT, mixed in with plenty of football smack. Hey, if RM95 can cheer for the horns, I can cheer for OU.
We have a winner. I couldn't find any more recent data, but for 2003 enrollment... http://www.blackexcel.org/06-top-universities-recruiting-national-merit.htm Merit Scholars are selected from among more than 15,000 semifinalists nationally by the National Merit Scholarship Corp. The students scored in the top one-half percent of high school seniors in their states on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test-National Merit Scholar Qualifying Test. The top 11 ranked participating schools, followed by the number of recruited Merit scholars, are: Harvard University-378 University of Texas-258 Yale University-228 University of Florida-224 Stanford University-217 University of Chicago-182 Arizona State University-176 Rice University-173 University of Oklahoma-170 Princeton University-165 Looks like Rice has a little more to be worried about in terms of National Merit Scholar numbers than UT.
LOL - Looks like simple math is beyond your capabilities! Rice has around 2900 undergrads. UT has around 34,000. OU has ~18,000. by the way - I love how your Rice envy enters into a thread about OU/Texas... you should apply for a transfer to South Main if they rejected you the first time... In terms of percentages, that would mean that Rice would have roughly 24% of its class being a NM Scholar. OU would have around 4%, and UT would have only 3% - this is assuming that the average student graduates in 4 years and the # of NM scholars are roughly the same each year. Looks like OU is UT's daddy again...
indeed, they do win on a per capita basis (they always say it in their commercials), but that's not what your first post indicated. according to the first link i found on google (damn i love google) we were 2nd from i think 1996 to 2003 (and 1st among public universities), but i think UF passed us in 2004 to take 2nd. of course, we're still a Tier 1 university and ou is Tier 3. as for Rice, i had to turn them down as i only wanted to go somewhere that could provide me multiple baseball national championships while i was here.
who ****ing cares? this is supposed to be about the Horns prospects for 2005-2006. seriously, what the ****?
We're talking about UT Sports here, there was bound to be an OU fan lurking around somewhere. I was actually suprised on how long it took for a response.
Looks like someone needs a lesson on qualifiers. And how the statement "lengthy speech about how many more national merit scholars OU has than UT" has none while "In terms of percentages" is indeed one. If only UT had a collection of honors classes and programs designed for those National Merit scholars... PS - Three friends of mine are transferring from Rice to UT because they were miserable (and no, not on any academic probation). Perhaps you should warn them they are throwing their lives away? PPS - Rice envy? I wasn't rejected. I was waitlisted and chose not to accept a spot on the waitlist so I could maybe help make someone else's dream come true. I was told flat out by music faculty member that if I wanted in, it would be done. For drapg - I played basketball with Ramonce Taylor the other day (friend of a friend). The guy must have gotten some basketball scholarship offers, because he is a monster on the court, too. I ran into Greg Dolan at a party. Happy now?
Rice owns UT in academics, but OU and ATM have no argument. OU gives alot more compensation towards natl. merit scholars. Alot of smart people can't get into UT for a variety of reasons.
