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Texas basketball '21-'22: Welcome Chris Beard


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I think Rothstein's point has some truth. We play a lot of guys and a ton of different lineups/rotations. Need to figure out the top 6 or 7 players here soon and roll with those guys. 

There might be some value in keeping guys fresh early in the season though. 

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The season is only a month old.  It's going to take time to figure out the best rotations.  Nothing about Beard suggests that we will still look like a hot mess on offense in March, but we'll have to wait and see.  The good news is that, while there is still room for improvement, the defense is going to keep us in most games.  

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Allen and Mitchell seem to have found their niche/groove… Disu looks like he will be able to get acclimated fast… our senior guards need to figure it out on offense fast as they still seem too confused, timid, and hesitant to pull the trigger.

Carr, AJ and Ramey have underwhelmed and Beard has given them all ample time and respect to play through the rough funk…

Absent more confident and consistent guard play on offense we are good enough defensively to be in most games but we will end up in dog fights (and take some losses) against big-12 teams with less heralded rosters

If Disu keeps showing, the light comes on for Carr and Ramey gets back to his average level of last year we could make it through the first weekend of the NCAA tourney


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Allen and Mitchell seem to have found their niche/groove… Disu looks like he will be able to get acclimated fast… our senior guards need to figure it out on offense fast as they still seem too confused, timid, and hesitant to pull the trigger.

Carr, AJ and Ramey have underwhelmed and Beard has given them all ample time and respect to play through the rough funk…

Absent more confident and consistent guard play on offense we are good enough defensively to be in most games but we will end up in dog fights (and take some losses) against big-12 teams with less heralded rosters

If Disu keeps showing, the light comes on for Carr and Ramey gets back to his average level of last year we could make it through the first weekend of the NCAA tourney


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5 hours ago, idigTexas said:

The season is only a month old.  It's going to take time to figure out the best rotations.  Nothing about Beard suggests that we will still look like a hot mess on offense in March, but we'll have to wait and see.  The good news is that, while there is still room for improvement, the defense is going to keep us in most games.  

Nothing, except for his two most recent seasons as a head coach prior to this one.

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Watching the game last night, it looked like Beard was forcing the team to slow down and get into the half-court set.  Every possession.  We passed up a lot of transition buckets to slow things down.  This is one of only a couple of times this year where we scored less than our opponent yields on averages.  We could have named our score in that game. Pine Bluff was terrible. Literally one of the worst college teams I have ever seen.

On the year we are holding teams 19+ points below their scoring average.  Gonzaga is the only team that exceeded their scoring average (by 3). Every other game we have held our opponent below their average by double digits, and usually by 20+ points.  With Disu back, our solid defense is going to be truly nasty. 

My guess is that this level of defense is new to some of the players (like Carr). As such, it may be taking a toll on his shooting due to conditioning.  I bet we will see gradual improvement from everyone on the offensive end as their conditioning and chemistry improve.

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5 hours ago, VinyVango said:

Carr, AJ and Ramey have underwhelmed and Beard has given them all ample time and respect to play through the rough funk…

On "average" Ramey is playing just as well as he did last year if not better. He just isn't touching the ball as much or using as many possessions. 

Last season he put up 12.2p / 3.2r / 3.9a on 38% from the floor and 41% from 3 - 2.2 fouls and 2.5 turnovers in 33.5 minutes per game.

This season he is at 9.6 / 3.9 / 1.7 on 51% from the floor and 42% from 3 - 1.3 fouls and 1.5 turnovers in 27.7 minutes per game. 

So he's scoring and assisting less but on much better efficiency, he's rebounding more, fouling less all while playing less minutes. He's probably been our 3rd best player outside of Mitchell and Allen (not that competition is very stiff).

Outside of scoring and assisting a bit more he is playing about as well as we can hope given who he is and his limitations as a player.  

AJ is scoring much less than he did last year - on similar efficiency - assisting about the same and turning the ball over only about half as much - while playing just under 25 mins a game.  You'd probably like him to be a bit more aggressive scoring the ball. Outside of that - like Ramey - this is kind of who he is.

Carr is the main issue. He's putting up 8.4p / 3.4a per game on 38% from the field and 29% from 3. That just straight up isn't good enough for a guy who 2 years ago putting up 15p / 7a / 5r on 36% from 3 in the B10. 

So yes, I hope the light comes on for him. If not - we are just going to see the same shit (which might be okay) because I don't see Ramey or AJ doing much more within the confines of both their own talent and this offense. 

Overall I'd think everyone should become more comfortable and develop better chemistry and awareness - but a big issue is constant deferral to other guys within the offense that may or may not be better scorers. It keeps turnovers down and probably inflates shooting %s a bit but it is murder on pace and team ppg. 

 

Edited by ztejas
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56 minutes ago, HookEm said:

My guess is that this level of defense is new to some of the players (like Carr). As such, it may be taking a toll on his shooting due to conditioning.

Yeah - I don't buy that. And he shouldn't get that excuse. Ramey is busting his ass on D 28 mins a game and shooting okay. Carr is a 4th year player playing 8 mins less than he did last year. I'm assuming they played defense at Minnesota. 

Not trying to murder the guy but I'm sure he'd tell you himself that he hasn't been good enough.

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Poor conditioning isn't an excuse.  It is a criticism. 

Watching Carr play, I'm not impressed at all with his speed or bounce.  He isn't pushing the ball. He isn't attacking. It could be that he just isn't a great athlete. But it seems reasonable to me that he could also be out of shape - especially if his shooting is sucking.

Like you, I'm sure he would likely say he hasn't been good enough. The reason is why? - and what can he do to get out of it.  

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As the year wears on, I expect we will start seeing bigger lineups for large stretches:  Ramey, A Jones, Allen, Disu and Mitchell. 

If Carr gets it together, then maybe he would replace Jones.  Regardless, Allen + Disu + Mitchell should see the court together.  A lot.    

Right now we have 10 players getting 10+ minutes per game.  I expect that Disu will eat up a lot of Bishop's minutes sooner or later. 

In a close game, I would expect minute splits like the following, with the top-6 players run in a variety of big or small lineups. 

  • 25 - Carr -- PG
  • 27 - Ramey -- SG / PG
  • 25 - Jones -- SG / SF
  • 28 - Allen --  SF / PF
  • 26 - Disu -- PF / C
  • 22 - Mitchell --  C
  • 13 - Askew -- PG
  • 11 - Bishop -- PF
  • 10 - Cunningham -- PF
  • 13 - Febres + Tyson + Licon 
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Our guards are the weak point of the team. There is not an elite guy on this team, no one that can blow by his guy on offense, and no one that can be an elite defender. The success or failure of this season will be determined by Ramey, Jones, and Febres hitting open 3's.

 

Askew and Tyson need some serious dieting help, they are total chunkers.

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11 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Interesting, thanks.  I wonder how valuable that stat is in comparing guys playing 14 minutes per game versus those playing 28 minutes per game, but it's something.

This is always the issue with per minute stats and there can be similar issues with efficiency stats such as shooting %s and some advanced metrics. 

You can say "hey - that dude playing 17 mins a night is pulling down 16 rebounds per 40 minutes! He should be playing over the guy playing 31 minutes and only getting 13 boards per 40."

Well - maybe - but banging for another 14 minutes can take it's toll on how productive you can be per minute. 

Same with shooting - player A is hitting 55% from the field, so he should be taking more shots than player B who is shooting 45% from the field and taking twice as many shots.

Well - maybe - or maybe player A would shoot 43% on that many attempts because he can only get x good looks per game. Maybe player B is taking tougher shots when the offense breaks down and actually adding more value.

Kobe is a great example of this. A common knock on him was his efficiency but he was rarely if ever shooting below what the team was shooting as a whole. When one guy is giving you a floor of 30 points it makes everyone else's job easier. 

Getting 10 rebounds in 10 minutes is much, much easier than getting 20 rebounds in 20 minutes. Just like scoring 12 ppg on 50% from the field isn't even comparable to scoring 24 ppg on 50% from the field. 

I'm sure you understand plenty of that - just felt like expounding a bit. 

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Both Carr and Askew have shown the ability to get by defenders, but they seem overly-conditioned to pass the ball out once they do.  In some cases, it's the correct choice, but in a lot of cases they could easily get a foul and/or a decent shot off at close range.  Both have good handles.

What worked for AJ with Shaka is not working with Beard.  Even when he's having a good shooting game, he plays really lax, uninspired defense and allows his man to offset his scoring contribution.  Ramey is still inconsistent and somewhat limited by his below the rim athleticism, but he shows a desire and there's a dog in him that I wish AJ had a bit of.  If Ramey had Askew or Carr's handle or AJ's hops, he'd be a stud.  Febres (who I used to constantly criticize for weak defense and stand around offense) has stepped it up on defense and offensive movement off the ball this year... He deserves more PT over AJ if his shot starts falling.

I think our lack of a 2nd interior defender/rebounder and our inconsistent, timid (on offense) guard play will prevent this team from being top 20 caliber if the lights don't come on soon for Carr and AJ.

The lack of a 2nd interior big man limits our ability to play Mitchell, Disu, and Allen together, which hurts against bigger teams with talent.

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4 minutes ago, VaLonghorn99 said:

Planning to watch my first full Horns hoops road game today. The OOC schedule looks weaker than what we're accustomed to. Hoping for the Horns to pick up a decent road win today @ Stanford. \m/

Yeah, It's actually quite binary this time around, and is skewed by the fact that for the first time in a long time (Covid-19 notwithstanding)...we haven't done one of our usual 2 or 3 marquee game neutral site tournaments.  But Gonzaga, Seton Hall, Stanford, and Tennessee actually make for a very stacked non-conference slate.  Seems weird because 3 of the 4 are away from home and Tennessee won't be a for a long while.  But it's a challenging stretch.  At this point, we'll be lucky to break even.  10-3 with that slate though is nothing to sneeze at, and will help our RPI come mid-March. 

Excited for the game today.  Somebody start a game thread already, people are just going to sleep now in Vegas and need to be reminded the game starts in less than 3 hours.  

Speaking of early season tournaments, anybody know which event the Longhorns will be at in 2022-23 season?  Those announcements usually come out about this time of year because this season's events have all finished and they usually tease out, "See you next year with teams w, x, y, & z"  ???

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I personally like where this team is. It’s a team of new pieces finding its footing in a new system. We all see these guys passing up open shots, I think we can crank it up offensively. I was most worried about defending and rebounding in conference play. Disu continues to get stronger, we definitely have limitations but I like our chances come March

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Everyone is going to talk about Arterio Morris in this recruiting class but it's looking like Mitchell is also a top 20 caliber recruit. Won MVP at a major tournament during the Christmas break. 

The athleticism is about to see significant improvement with Morris and Mitchell. They might be better athletes than anybody on the current roster. 

 

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19 minutes ago, cashman said:

Probably just something we’re gonna have to get used to under beard 

Its something we're going to have to get used to in all sports. The combination of the transfer portal plus NIL incentives means players will be recruited perpetually. 

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Just now, Knoxtnhorn said:

He ain't going to get into a game any earlier by transferring.  Maybe he's just pissed.

This happens every year at almost every school. Highly ranked FR transfer when they don't get minutes. 

I don't personally think there's much to read into this other than you better have a coach that can play the transfer portal game because this is the new reality of college sports. 

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15 minutes ago, texasstrong12 said:

Same thing as Tyson. Talented FR that transferred because he was getting limited minutes. 

Welcome to the transfer portal. 

 

In Beards defense, the new transfer portal rules make it extremely difficult for freshman to get playing time. So many teams adding top talent with experience…kinda hard for a recent high schooler to find playing time at top 25 programs. 

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