Rick Barnes

Maybe they have grown tired of playing for the pathetic crowds that show up at the Drum, when during road trips they face extremely enthusiastic crowds that all out support their team. They stand. They cheer. They act childish. That's what Texas basketball is missing. It needs to be fixed.

[mjUTfan]

I do not follow basketball that much, but, from what I remember, Penders won about the same number of games each year as Barnes didn't he? Lemons won a lot of games in his time, including the NIT NC.

I just dont think you can say Barnes "built" this program. We win enough to place in the top 3-4 teams (in the conference) each year, go into the NCAA tourney, and make it to the sweet 16 every once in a while. It has been that way for a long time.

I think winning the Big 12 should be exepcted from time to time.

I don't know much about basketball though.

[LonghornPatrick]

Originally Posted by mjUTfan

I do not follow basketball that much, but, from what I remember, Penders won about the same number of games each year as Barnes didn't he? Lemons won a lot of games in his time, including the NIT NC.

I just dont think you can say Barnes "built" this program. We win enough to place in the top 3-4 teams (in the conference) each year, go into the NCAA tourney, and make it to the sweet 16 every once in a while. It has been that way for a long time.

I think winning the Big 12 should be exepcted from time to time.

I don't know much about basketball though.

Barnes has won the Big 12: 3 Big 12 Championships (2 of them Co-Champions), 4 Top-10 Final Rankings and 2 Top-5 final rankings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Longhorns_men's_basketball#Rick_Barnes_era_. 281998.E2.80.9399_season_to_present.29


Personally I think Barnes has done a good job. It's just that he hasn't shown that he can take Texas to the level of Florida or Kansas or North Carolina. And with the players he has recruited, Texas should, at least, be knocking on that door. This year has been - as he will admit - one of his worst coaching jobs.

[LonghornPatrick]

And I hate to say it, but Scott Drew at Baylor has done more with less than Barnes has. I expect Texas to lose Saturday in Waco. I just don't have the confidence that Texas can pull it off.

Originally Posted by LonghornPatrick

And I hate to say it, but Scott Drew at Baylor has done more with less than Barnes has.

I'll agree with that.


I understand that a team will have an off year every now and then (see also: UNC), but this team was 17-0. This didn't happen gradually. It happened suddenly. And someone needs to take the blame. Barnes has not really addresses the FT problems (and yes, I realize that most of that is mental). As many said, the lack of a true PG is an issue, too.

My issue is with the lack of any kind of outside threat. Of all our players, only three shoot above 50%. And two of those are inside guys. Teams know that when we come down the court, they can collapse their defense and clog up the lane. They have no reason to come outside. We have no real threat to force teams to alter their defense.

My prediction is losses to OU and BU and one and done in both tournaments. I hate to be that pessimistic, but there it is.

[HornsUP]

my question is why did he all of the sudden change philosophies mid-season?

when we were 17-0 we were running 11-12 deep and suffocating teams. then all of the sudden we started playing 7-8 guys and playing a slowed down tempo. that's when this team fell apart. i know the big 12 has alot of quality teams, but we played some quality opponents in the pre-conference portion of our schedule too. it's amazing how we could look so dominant against michigan state and pitt and tank against some of the mid-level teams in our conference. the style of play is the main thing i've seen different. sure the loss to balbay hurts our depth and defense, but we struggled a ton before he was injured. these are the same gripes i've had in the past few years where Barnes continued to play zone and let us get beat in multiple games. to me it's coaching. yes Barnes has admitted he's done his worse coaching job at Texas this year, but what was the point of changing what was working? IMO, he's lost this team a while back. there is nothing else to lose. nobody expects anything out of this team anymore. why not open it back up and just let the kids play that up tempo game that we played the first half of the year. get more guys on the floor and run a press. see what happens...why the hell not.

[hookemhorb]

Originally Posted by LonghornPatrick

And I hate to say it, but Scott Drew at Baylor has done more with less than Barnes has.

I'm just going to throw this out there...it's much easier to do a good job when your players stay for 4 years.

When you can keep a team together and have them play two or more years together, you develop great chemistry and team play. Everyone knows their role. This is why there are so many "upsets" in the tourney.

The question becomes can you consistently win with less or are your good years spikes in which you have three or more good upperclassmen and fall back to mediocrity when one or more are done with their eligibility.

Barnes does have some issues with this team. I think they are personnel/chemistry issues more than anything else. I am disappointed in the team's play in the month or so, but their overall record is around what I would have imagined it to be at the beginning of the season.

[LonghornPatrick]

Originally Posted by hookemhorb

I'm just going to throw this out there...it's much easier to do a good job when your players stay for 4 years.

I said many times that had Durant stayed we probably would have been a National Championship contender. You're right, it is much better when we have players that have stayed the full time or at least 3 years. That's been proven on Championship teams where, usually, most of the players have been around awhile.

Good point.

Originally Posted by hookemhorb

When you can keep a team together and have them play two or more years together, you develop great chemistry and team play. Everyone knows their role. This is why there are so many "upsets" in the tourney.

I've been wondering about this myself, but not related to players leaving early. The amount of players we've been rotating in and out is something I've been concerned with. I know we did it early on, but as it is with any sport, early in the year is when everybody works out the kinks.

By rotating as much as we do, we don't have a true starting five. And as such, we haven't been able to have any chemistry. The typical move is to have your five, then one or two off the bench, maybe three.

I'm wondering if Barnes is intentionally doing this to make sure everyone gets PT, so as to keep away the gripes from players. After all, these were the top high school players in the country and they could have gone anywhere. But by this many being here all at once, I wonder if Rick has put keeping everyone happy above winning.

We need to get back to pushing it. This team has more fun when they're running and dominating teams. Their confidence soars.