It was clear that the Horns guards were not very good, and College basketball is primarily a guard oriented game. You could just look at all the late game escapes all year....they just did not have the guards to compete. Hopefully that young PG will come here and not go pro... DD
I had to watch the game without sound which is really annoying. From what I could tell Barnes got a double T. That resulted in 4 free throws and UT intentionaly fouled them so that was two more. If I made that out right than thats not the brightest coach in the world you have to give your team the best chance to win regardless of how small it maybe. Giving them 4 free throws just erases any chance of your team pulling off a miracle. If I have this wrong than I take everything back but from what I saw that is what happened.
X was up by three, I think, so with the intent foul, it was basically over. He had six chances to make one with about 1.6 ticks left. He isnt going to go Nick Anderson on them.
Actually, the guards played pretty well yesterday. Mouton dropped 21 points, and Ivey had 9 and 6 assists. Royal led the Horns with 17 vs UNC, too. Jason Klotz, our primary post player, went 1-10 from the field, and missed two crucial shots in the final minutes. James Thomas only played two minutes, in which he picked up two fouls, allowed a three point play, and missed a wide-open layup. Brad Buckman was unspectacular, as he's been all year. Boddicker stepped it up, but it was too little, too late. But PJ Tucker has been stout all year long, and he's got 3 years of eligibility left. If you look at next year's team, there's so much to look forward too. Our roster looks like this: Klotz/Aldridge* Buckman/M. Williams Tucker/Dowell Taylor/Harris Gibson/Paulino/Moreno/Peco Looks like a team ready to make a run at the final four. Four McDonald's AA's on the squad, with Aldridge, Gibson, Williams, and Buckman. I expect Klotz to really come into his own next year.
BTW, to anybody interested I posted my experience at the game in another thread. I didn't see this thread beofre to my knowledge. Sorry Clutch, et al. http://bbs.clutchcity.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=75285
The ref told Mouton to "Shut the *bleep* up! You're not in the NBA" so I don't blame Barnes for getting ejected. That's messed up.
Anyone know why James Thomas didn't play in the second half? I mean considering: -UT was outrebounded pretty big (I think) -Klotz sucked (as did Buckman) -he was a senior playing in his last game You would've thought he would've been out there. UT just had no playmakers this year. I was surprised they made it this far.
First off, Xavier deserved to win. They made the plays down the stretch they needed to. I wish them the best of luck against Duke, and they will need it. However, Rick Barnes had a legitmate gripe. Romain Sato singlehandely shot as many free throws as the entire Texas team, and even if some of those included the last minute stuff, he still shot almost as many as the entire UT squad. And Xavier was not going to the hole, they are a perimeter oriented team. Then that 5th foul on Mouton was a crock. I couldn't believe how a perimeter oriented team got in the double bonus well before the inside oriented team in a game of this nature. This game was poorly officiated, and if Teddy Valentine really told Mouton to shut the bleep up after getting his 5th foul, shame on him, and I hope he never refs again. Still, regardless of this defeat, I am proud to stick my Horns up for this basketball team and these four seniors. They established the tradition that the remainder of Rick Barnes teams at the 40 acres will try to follow or better. And they weren't overrated by any stretch. They just ran into a hot 3 pt shooting team with no conscience, who happened to be in the right place at the right time for a lot of long offensive rebounds. I will miss Brandon, Roy, Brian, and JT, but I will never forget what they did for basketball at the University. Thanks guys, for making UT an elite basketball program whose best days are ahead of it.
Well congrats to the T-Sips for making it this far. I myself am hoping a former UT coach can get things together for my poor hometown Cougars who are far removed from their glory days. UConn is gonna take the title folks....I feel pretty sure of that. Xavier could give the Dukies trouble.
