Texas won't contend for the title, too young. But its obvious. On a neutral site they can beat anyone.
Yep yep yep. Having Durant out/gimpy for a good portion of the 2nd half didn't exactly help. The Augustine/Abrahms turnover on the left wing with about 2 minutes left was a killer. Agreed, Ziggy. They can play with anybody.
it's not so much defense as our inability to grab a rebound that hurts. and the fact that i have never seen a team where the opponents hit 3's like they have against Texas this year. at first i thought it was just b/c we played a zone really poorly, like the way QB's always threw for 300 yards against us this year. but it's more than that. with our pass defense, you could just tell it sucked. people were always open, it was perfectly explainable why people got 300 yards on us. but with the 3's, i just don't know. it's like it's some season long statistical anomaly, or just destiny, i don't know. if we refused to cross halfcourt to guard teams they couldn't shoot 3's better than they have on us this year. a&m shot over 50% both games against us, including the ridiculous 3's law was hitting last game and kaviliauskus hitting 2 (2!) 3's against us last game. osu had guys throwing the ball over their shoulder from 40 feet and making it and bogan making a leaning, hanging 3 at the buzzer to beat us. tennessee had some guy hit what had to be a 30 footer in OT to really help them, and i think he had like 7 on the game. kansas st. came into our game shooting 31% on 3's. you'd think a zone would be the way to go. instead they go crazy and hit 14-27. baylor had some white guy drain 3 after 3 on us. michigan state did as well. and now kansas actually ends up shooting better from 3 than we did even though we started 11-13! these F'ers shot 11-18, and you can't tell me most of them weren't contested. chalmers was just rising up right in people's faces. 11-18 against pretty good pressure on the outside? what can you do. it's to the point that i simply don't expect anyone to miss against us anymore. as if it's some sort of impossibility. i've watched college ball for a while now, and i'm pretty sure college players miss 3's, even open ones, and certainly against us in years past. but it simply doesn't apply to UT this season. i'm almost thankful if someone merely shoots 40% (which is still really good) against us b/c at least they missed more than half.
In regard to the 3's, Abrams and Augustine are both under 6'. When they are on guys like Mario Chalmers and Julian Wright in the 2-3 zone, they might as well be wide open, because there is very little either can do to disrupt the shot. Size and experiance might be the only thing holding UT back.
(I hate UT cuz they beat West Virginia last year in during the playoffs) sshhhh i didn't say anything
I think inconsistency is what is holding them back more than anything. Their guards might be shorter, but they compensate with their speed. I think experience and the lack of consistency is the only thing holding them back. The team has some very talented players not named Augustine or Durant. Frethered... do you post on redcafe.net?
I think playing on Kansas home court held them back...they will be fine come the NCAA tournament...in fact they could win the Big 12 tourney as well. There is not a thin piece of typing paper seperating the top 3 teams...and UT has the BEST player....by FAR..... Acie is good, but Durant is King. DD
Durant is awesome. But it seems like he is still settling for his jump shots, which are awesome in their own right, but I think if he started taking it to the hole more, he would be even more effective. The sequence where he tweaked both of his ankles yesterday was kind of freaky. If only we had any shot at durant... If only someone valued Alston, as we did Battier, and were willing to trade away our lottery pick
UT shot 11-13 from 3s in the first half and still came up short. This just tells you how talented this Kansas team is. They have 5 legitimate NBA 1st round picks on the team, with Wright and Arthur likely lottery picks in the next two years. Durant is great (the best college fresh since Wilt) and he left the game for a 4 min span. He left when KU was up by 6 and came back when KU was up by 8. If Kansas guards had made the FTs in the closing minutes of the game, they would have won by double digits.
11-14, and it's not that simple. Did Texas play out of their minds for much of the first half? Absolutely. But Kansas played pretty close to that level in the second. KU went 5-7 from behind the arc in the second and shot 61 percent for the game from 3-point range... well higher than UT. They also shot 52 percent from the field, including a blistering 54.5 percent in the second half. This Kansas team is really talented — I agree — but let's not make it into some situation where Kansas played average, Texas played great and Texas still couldn't win. Texas played great for a half, but Kansas played above even their own standards for the entire game, and had the advantage of Allen Fieldhouse on Senior Day. If Texas plays this team again at a neutral site, they'll have a chance.
Totally agree. However, if both KU and UT brings their A games, KU wins 9 out of 10 times on a neutral court. If this KU team sticks together for another year (they will add another All American center to the middle), they have a chance to run the table and really do some severe damage in April. The only team in college BB that has closely similar talent is UNC and they have some holes at 3.
I think they'll do severe damage in April this year. I just don't see any other team that's even close to as talented and committed to defense as Kansas is. I hate 'em, but I have to give them respect... they are an amazing team. One of the best I've seen in quite a while.
Guys, it doesn't matter, KU will get upset in the first round for the third year in a row. They won't get another chance to face each other this year, neutral site or not. It came to me in a dream...
Interesting post. 1) Today and till draft day at least I would one on one give up any player aside from Yao and Tracy for Durant. Yao, clearly no. Tracy tough. Any other Rocket yes. 2) Agree re Taking it to the whole more or settling for jump shot. HOwever, M. Jordan was good in many ways but he would have been even better if he had better court vission like Magic, Nash etc. 3) freaky tweaked ankles agreed. The latest new if any regarding ankle?
Great post from a poster I llike and notice especially regarding the Rockets. without getting ocd, or whatever I agree with virtually every word.
