I'm pissed. We had a double-digit lead and gave that game away. I can't believe Felix took that shot with six seconds left.
What will it take for Barnes to be fired? Running an isolation "offense" for the final 7 minutes of the game when it's clear that Iowa State is finding their groove. The University of Texas should have a better program and this kind of performance hurts morale, perception and recruiting efforts.
Don't know how true it is, but some AAU guy told me a few years ago that the 3 biggest boosters are friends with/love Barnes, so he won't get fired till he quits. He should have been fired a decade or so ago. Nobody minimizes talent like he does. He's worthless. Infuriates me to even think about.
Barnes should be fired before he gets to the dressing room. Longhorns have to make sure they get the last shot in that situation. He even had a timeout left to discuss what they wanted to do and set up a play. Taking a three several feet behind the line with six seconds left is inexcusable.
What a shocking ending. All it took was Lammert calling timeout. All it took was Taylor crossing the half court line. All it took was Felix kicking it one more time. We didn't score a single field goal for the last 7+ minutes. It's on Barnes for having the team play so conservatively at the end of the game.
I don't think the isolation offense was a big problem. It looked ugly, but it ate up lots of clock against a quick-strike offense and prevented ISU from getting any kind of momentum. Texas held their 10 point lead through all that - they were up 10 when it started, and up 10 when it ended 4 minutes later. It was the last 3 minutes when ISU started nonstop pressuring the inbounds that all hell broke loose. Starting with Lammert's inbounds play, we had 3 turnovers and gave up several offensive rebounds, and that's when they went on the big run. Only one possession in there was the ISO stuff (a bad Taylor shot). At that point, there were a lot of substitution problems. Lammert shouldn't have been in there. Two of the big 3 shotblockers should have been in there. And 3 guards should have been in for ballhandling and to break the press. No timeouts were ever called and no subs were ever made. That was really bizarre. If they were assured of making the tournament, I'd almost think it was done on purpose. A win here moves them up potentially to a 9 or 10 seed, which likely eliminates any chance of making the S16. Losing puts them as an 11 or 12, which is great in theory. But it also re-opens the possibility of them not making it at all.
I take that back - there were 2 ISO possessions in that final 3 minute stretch, both leading to missed shots. The last one was stupid, because we were tied with 2 minutes to go - there's no point trying to run clock there at all.
Didn't the announcers mention that we went without a field goal for nearly 6 minutes during the iso stretch?
That's correct - but we made a bunch of free throws and managed to score as much as ISU for most of that stretch because their offense was struggling too. Really, if I have a choice of both teams' offenses being in sync or neither, I want neither. ISU's offense in sync is a hell of a lot better than ours. Ironically, it all felt apart starting with our one non-ISO possession: Taylor's fast break missed layup that led to the Ridley foul. That was when ISU started started the pressure and dominated the rest of the way.
True. Unforced errors like Taylor's failure to get the ball across mid-court in time, Lammert botching the inbounds pass and Felix's last shot all speak to a lack of coaching fundamentals.
Yeah, that was it. It wasn't watching the same game at the exact same time and then coming to a message board to vent. Contact my lawyers and I'll pay some royalties.
Myles Turner is not a good basketball player. He gets pushed around in the block and is frustrated by every defender average and above. He doesn't shoot a high 3 point percentage. He doesn't play good defense, especially when he is playing a stretch big who forces him to come out to perimeter. He has about as much lateral quickness as Matt Schaub. Honestly, I don't get why any team would draft him higher than mid-late 2nd round.
Well, nearly bubble team Texas needed to lose has lost. Texas should be a 11 seed and barely avoid the play-in-game. We'll see if it works out that way.
I don't see Rick Barnes going anywhere. As bad of a coach as he is, he still continues to bring in recruits. He hasn't achieved anything big since 2004, but I don't see him getting fired until he starts consecutively missing tournaments. It looks like the Horns did just enough to make the tournament. It's likely going to be a play-in game from my guess.
