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2018-19 Texas Longhorns thread


Machinator

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https://texas.rivals.com/news/smart-discusses-areas-of-focus-this-offseason-is-excited-about-his-roster

"Plus, Jones is trying to work his way back on to the court, and there is optimism he’ll be able to this season; "

On pressing more: 

“Certainly would like to, but I wanted to more last year and we had some of the injuries and Andrew’s situation that affected our depth,” said Smart about full-court pressing. “And sometimes there are things that aren’t as apparent. Snoop played a lot of the conference with a broken hand. I would like to play more that way. It’s still based on who you have on your team. With Snoop and Matt those guys have demonstrated they can be really good perimeter defenders. It has to start there when you want to extend the floor, get after people. I think when we’ve used our diamond press we used it a decent amount but I think it’s been relatively effective… I’d like to use that more, and mix in some more man-to-man (full-court pressure).” 

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The top two freshmen from the last several years and their pertinent stats:

 

2018- 

Mo Bamba- 12.9 pts, 10.5 reb, 3.7 blk

Jericho Sims- 5.0 pts, 3.9 reb, 0.5 blk

 

2017:

Jarrett Allen- 13.4 pts, 8.4 reb, 1.5 blk

Andrew Jones- 11.4 pts, 3.9 reb, 3.5 ast

 

2016: 

Kerwin Roach- 7.5 pts, 2.5 reb

Eric Davis- 7.4 pts, 2.4 reb, .382 3P%

 

2015: 

Myles Turner- 10.1 pts, 6.5 reb

Jordan Barnett- 1.9 pts, 1.3 reb

 

2014:

Isaiah Taylor- 12.7 pts, 4.0 ast, 1.1 stl

Martez Walker- 4.7 pts, .353 3P%

 

There are some pretty clear indicators in there, no? Let's look at every player who scored in double digits- Bamba, Allen, Jones, Turner- all HS All Americans; Taylor- played 30+ mpg, leading the team. Then you have Roach and Davis who we all know made the All Newcomer team both putting in 7+ points and a few boards- that type of performance garnered them postseason award status, which illustrates how seldom you have freshmen who are outside of the national top 20 coming in and performing well on a consistent basis- 7.5 ppg and a couple threes or a few boards is a nice output from an 18 year-old kid who doesn't have "stud" written all over him. Expecting more is, again, setting yourself up for disappointment.

 

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13 hours ago, Goo Punch said:

The top two freshmen from the last several years and their pertinent stats:

 

2018- 

Mo Bamba- 12.9 pts, 10.5 reb, 3.7 blk  (1 yr)

Jericho Sims- 5.0 pts, 3.9 reb, 0.5 blk (back)

 

2017:

Jarrett Allen- 13.4 pts, 8.4 reb, 1.5 blk (1 year)

Andrew Jones- 11.4 pts, 3.9 reb, 3.5 ast (only 10 games in soph year)

 

2016: 

Kerwin Roach- 7.5 pts, 2.5 reb (back and was improved player in junior year)

Eric Davis- 7.4 pts, 2.4 reb, .382 3P% (gone - never matched effectiveness as a freshman)

 

2015: 

Myles Turner- 10.1 pts, 6.5 reb (1 year)

Jordan Barnett- 1.9 pts, 1.3 reb (never played real minutes under Barnes or Smart)

 

2014:

Isaiah Taylor- 12.7 pts, 4.0 ast, 1.1 stl (filled a huge hole because Felix wasn't very good as a pg)

Martez Walker- 4.7 pts, .353 3P% (gone after a year)

There are some pretty clear indicators in there, no? Let's look at every player who scored in double digits- Bamba, Allen, Jones, Turner- all HS All Americans; Taylor- played 30+ mpg, leading the team. Then you have Roach and Davis who we all know made the All Newcomer team both putting in 7+ points and a few boards- that type of performance garnered them postseason award status, which illustrates how seldom you have freshmen who are outside of the national top 20 coming in and performing well on a consistent basis- 7.5 ppg and a couple threes or a few boards is a nice output from an 18 year-old kid who doesn't have "stud" written all over him. Expecting more is, again, setting yourself up for disappointment.

 

I don't understand why your top two freshman for 2018 includes Sims and not Coleman with 10.2 pts, 4.1 assists and second on team in steals.    

The fact that Coleman will be back as a major contributor at the most important position in college basketball speaks very well for Texas.  In fact I would argue that in Barnes/Smart era quality point guard or lack of determines success of team.

Ford years (02, 03): S16, FF.  POY that controlled the game.

Ivey (04): S16. Senior leader of balanced team.

Gibson (05): first round loss.  Struggled at pg.

Gibson/Paulino (06): EE.  Should have been a FF team.   

Augustin (07, 08): 2rl, EE.  Barnes made him into a closer in soph year.

Balbay (09): 2rl.  Teams learned to play off of him due to poor outside shooting.

Balbay/Brown (10): frl.  Just a craptastic season going from #1 to uninspired play at the end.

Joseph (11): 2rl.  Really good team that wore out in the end.

Kabongo (12): frl.  All shake but no sizzle.

Felix (13): cbi.  Overmatched.  

Taylor years  (14, 15, 16): 2rl, frl, frl.  Teams learned to play off him being a poor shooter, but he was effective even if teams underachieved.

Roach/Jones (17): nada.  Jones should have been designated as pg.

Coleman (18): frl.  Key player and leader on team.  The cog for next year's success.  

 

As to your argument on the limited influence of freshman, I believe this year's team foundation is better than it has been since Smart's first year.  Look at the effectiveness of Davis and Roach in their freshman year as role players.  When Roach has not had to play pg he has been an effective player.  Davis never could match his first year.  The freshman will have that same opportunity to fit into roles.

And I think this situation is better than Smart's first year because 1) he has been here for 3 years;  2) he has recruited these players) and 3) he has better overall guard talent than three years ago.  What it comes down to is that I trust that Coleman will be better and be a leader next year.  I don't know if the team will finish higher in conference or get past first round, but I believe they will play and look better.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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19 hours ago, texasstrong12 said:

Andrew Jones is looking good.

 

@Bitterwhiteguy said on his and @OnAComputer's podcast (get a surly account Tim Preston!) that Jones will be undergoing treatment until about September so his condition will probably wax and wane until then, and we won't know much about hsis potential to play next year until we can see him recover after that. 

Btw, y'all do a great job with that podcast. It's freakin hilarious.

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and just so the hype train doesn't mislead the shaggy denizens, the fact is that Kamaka Hepa is having a very James Banks-like impact on the fiba u18 team- he's essentially the last guy off the bench and is having little-no impact on the tournament. he's playing a handful of minutes per game and is only averaging 4 points and 5 reb/game despite getting 11 boards in that one game where they were literally ahead 45-0 after 1Q. He's 0-2'from FT and 0/0 from 3P in 5 games played. he played  5 total minutes in usa's semifinal win vs argentina. 

 

i know that the pollyanna press around here has been hyping him to be something that he's not, so you'll need to adjust your expectations accordingly.

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15 hours ago, Goo Punch said:

and just so the hype train doesn't mislead the shaggy denizens, i'd like to inform you all that Kamaka Hepa is having a very James Banks-like impact on the fiba u18 team- he's essentially the last guy off the bench and is having little-no impact on the tournament. he's playing a handful of minutes per game and is only averaging 4 points and 5 reb/game despite getting 11 boards in that one game where they were literally ahead 45-0 after 1Q. He's 0-2'from FT and 0/0 from 3P in 5 games played. he played  5 total minutes in usa's semifinal win vs argentina. 

 

i know that the pollyanna press around here has been hyping him to be something that he's not, so you'll need to adjust your expectations accordingly.

You are such a beating. Glad you are so excited about his struggles in an all star game. You foaming at the mouth wanting Shaka to fail as some sort of fucked up Rick Barnes tribute is beyond tired. 

Get some new material or piss off

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3 hours ago, Revolution512 said:

He will be a contributor and there’s no doubt about that. I don’t think anyone is predicting a double-double guy. He’s gonna be great as an upperclassman 

he has been guaranteed to be an instant impact player here. stop trying to walk back what people have said about him, particularly when some of them have been such asses about it.

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Posters have the same right to their opinions as you do. That doesn't make one right and one wrong.  Talk about walking stuff back, thats exactly what you did with Sims.

No one is bigger ass than you. For a brief moment, some of your posts sounded like you were willing to listen to what others said but that was just a head fake and you're back to your usual self. Too bad.

 

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2 hours ago, ChickenSandwich said:

You are such a beating. Glad you are so excited about his struggles in an all star game. You foaming at the mouth wanting Shaka to fail as some sort of fucked up Rick Barnes tribute is beyond tired. 

Get some new material or piss off

buncha pollyanna girls who can't handle it when anyone is realistic about our players, coaches, and recruits. this forum is worse than reddit. you girls are only interested in pumping sunshine, and  you lash out at anything you don't want to hear. where were you when cameltoe was starting shit about how Hepa was a guaranteed instant impact player? whete was your two cents then? 

 

believe it or not there are more lurkers than posters here, and the majority of people on this board (literally 90% or more) don't do any research of their own, they come here to get the scoop and they take that word as gospel. for the last several weeks the hepa hype train has been running off the rails, which you don't seem to understand is unfair to hepa. literally every year we have fans coming here going, "i thought so and so was supposed to be better than this?", and it's because of the NO REALISM AT ALL tione around here. i'd rayher be realistic about what to expect than to blindly slurp every player we recruit and act like they're all gonna be awesome impact players from day one. 

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also, why do y'all keep bringing up rick barnes only to get upset at me for it? i never said his name, you did, yet you're mad at me for it. none of this has anything to do with him, it has to do with the misleading narrative about kamaka hepa. i literally only posted facts about him, facts you don't want to hear- nothing i can do to placate your need for 100% over-the-top optimism.

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did i misrepresent anything about hepa? did i go out of my way to describe him in a way that isn't fair to him? did i go out of my way to describe him as something that he's not? did i insult him, or wish him to fail? NOPE. i'm actually the one person here being honest about him, and yet your reaction to all of this is to take all of the over-the-top praise as gospel and then to lash out at the truth. i can't stand that dynamic about this board. 

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How can you be honest about him when he may not even be on campus yet. You have no clue what he is going to do when he gets here. Your problem is that you have no understanding of the game and thats why you have to keep posting stats thinking that it makes your point when it doesn't.

I don't care how many points he scored, I want to see how he plays as a member of our team playing against real competition. 

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2 minutes ago, realgreggym said:

How can you be honest about him when he may not even be on campus yet. You have no clue what he is going to do when he gets here. Your problem is that you have no understanding of the game and thats why you have to keep posting stats thinking that it makes your point when it doesn't.

I don't care how many points he scored, I want to see how he plays as a member of our team playing against real competition. 

how do i have no clue what he'll do at texas? why does this same completely nonsensical argument get made every time i'm in here tempering the over-the-top expectations of one of our recruits? whenever someone guarantees that he's an instant impact player that's credible, but when someone else points out that all of the statistical and empirical evidence available points the other way "there's no way you can know that." bullshit. i will rage against this machine until this pollyanna mentality no longer rules around here.

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39 minutes ago, Goo Punch said:

did i misrepresent anything about hepa? did i go out of my way to describe him in a way that isn't fair to him? did i go out of my way to describe him as something that he's not? did i insult him, or wish him to fail? NOPE. i'm actually the one person here being honest about him, and yet your reaction to all of this is to take all of the over-the-top praise as gospel and then to lash out at the truth. i can't stand that dynamic about this board. 

No dude, you just beat your point into the fucking ground

Edited by immortal13
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This idea that we have no idea what to expect from basketball recruits is so patently fucking stupid that we need to discuss this. This is a serious issue with this board. In the same way that it was completely obvious that Kevin Durant, or for example Quentin Grimes this upcoming year, were going to be studs in college, its also pretty clear that kamaka hepa is not going to step into the team next year and light shit on fire. we have so much information with which to make these projections, the mere idea that we have no clue what will happen is on its face preposterous. it's as easy as going back and looking at the recruit rankings from previous years- the stats and facts say that the lions share of instant impact players will be 5-star, top 15-20 guys, and that players who are ranked in the 40's and lower generally don't come in and have an impact right away on a tournament team. and since it's been established that our floor this year is being a favored seed in the ncaa tournament, all logic and reason and evidence points to hepa needing some time before he has a real impact at a school like that.

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30 minutes ago, Goo Punch said:

how do i have no clue what he'll do at texas? why does this same completely nonsensical argument get made every time i'm in here tempering the over-the-top expectations of one of our recruits? whenever someone guarantees that he's an instant impact player that's credible, but when someone else points out that all of the statistical and empirical evidence available points the other way "there's no way you can know that." bullshit. i will rage against this machine until this pollyanna mentality no longer rules around here.

You're the only one that has no clue. No one needs you to temper anything. You're not that smart and thats not opinion, thats fact. When some guarantees something thats their opinion and you are no one to tell the posters he's wrong. All of the crap you are posting is from high school and you have no clue what will happen in college. You probably laughed when Rick offered Ivey.

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i'm the one defending the kid. look at my track record talking about hepa- i love the kid, and im on record as saying that he will become a good player at texas, as well as praising him for having the guts to uproot his life and chase his hoop dream a la isaiah taylor. to act as if i'm hating on him is way off base. i'm saying that the over-the-top portrayal of who this kid is *today* as a basketball player isn't doing him any favors. it's the same exact thing that happened with Allen. December of his freshman year and fans are all on shaggy going, "this is the guy we heard so much about? he fucking sucks!" i don't want that for hepa- i want realistic expectations for him, which right now means that expectations need to be tempered. the declarations of his impending instant impact have been premature.

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6 minutes ago, Tyrone biggums said:

Derka once said jarrett allen would suck as a freshman and that Danny Newsome was more college ready. I would take his opinion with a big ass grain of salt.

none of this is true. i was in fact the only one who was right about what to expect from jarrett allen, who i never once said would suck. 

 

http://www.shaggytexas.com/board/showthread.php/167410-Here-s-the-thing-about-5-star-Austin-St-Stephens-recruit-Jarrett-Allen

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2 minutes ago, Machinator said:

Are we doing this again?

Nobody thinks Hepa is going to be a double-double machine or have a KD or Mo Bamba type of impact his freshman year.

If anyone did in fact suggest or something along these lines, please supply direct quotes.

cameltoe guaranteed that Hepa will be an instant impact freshman and started a fight with UTL about it. texasstrong12 also posted essentially the same thing.

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1 minute ago, Goo Punch said:

cameltoe guaranteed that Hepa will be an instant impact freshman and started a fight with UTL about it. 

As has been previously established, he is an outlier and is not representative of the views held by most on this board. Forgive me for not getting worked up about everything he says.

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1 minute ago, Machinator said:

As has been previously established, he is an outlier and is not representative of the views held by most on this board. Forgive me for not getting worked up about everything he says.

texasstrong12 said the exact same things, just without the "guarantee". He's also shared a bunch of "scouting reports" which all make it sound as if Hepa is going to immediately have a PJ Tucker type impact. It's all in this thread.

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1 minute ago, Goo Punch said:

texasstrong12 said the exact same things, just without the "guarantee". It's all in this thread.

Direct quote, please. If you have time to type up your paragraphs, you have time to link quotes.

And if you don't feel like it, don't be surprised when people blow off your rants.

I've already said my bit on Hepa. He'll be a nice addition but not a game-breaker his freshman year. I bet if you started a poll on this board most would agree.

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On 6/4/2018 at 1:20 PM, texasstrong12 said:

https://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/news/usa-basketball-trials-brand-name-association

Need someone to talk to? Need an answer? Amazon Echo can take care of all your needs, and Hepa seems to have all the answers on the court. Slated to enroll at Texas in the coming weeks, Shaka Smart has himself a winning ballplayer that does whatever it takes for his team to succeed. 

On Thursday evening, the first session at the under-18 trials, the playing floor was like a library; kids were afraid to speak up, minus Hepa, leaving Bill Self and his coaching staff wanted more from the participants. The Alaskan born forward called out screens like it was game seven of the NBA Finals, applauded his newfound teammates whenever something went their way and celebrated the smallest of wins throughout drills. 

Hepa is a super skilled and polished small ball power forward that will leave an immediate imprint on Texas and his capacity to talk and complete whatever task asked from him was magnified in Colorado.

 

On 6/5/2018 at 4:14 PM, texasstrong12 said:

I've seen similar reports at 247, but too lazy to go find them. 

https://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/news/usa-basketball-trials-brand-name-association

Need someone to talk to? Need an answer? Amazon Echo can take care of all your needs, and Hepa seems to have all the answers on the court. Slated to enroll at Texas in the coming weeks, Shaka Smart has himself a winning ballplayer that does whatever it takes for his team to succeed. 

On Thursday evening, the first session at the under-18 trials, the playing floor was like a library; kids were afraid to speak up, minus Hepa, leaving Bill Self and his coaching staff wanted more from the participants. The Alaskan born forward called out screens like it was game seven of the NBA Finals, applauded his newfound teammates whenever something went their way and celebrated the smallest of wins throughout drills. 

Hepa is a super skilled and polished small ball power forward that will leave an immediate imprint on Texas and his capacity to talk and complete whatever task asked from him was magnified in Colorado.

 

On 6/4/2018 at 1:20 PM, texasstrong12 said:

https://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/news/usa-basketball-trials-brand-name-association

Need someone to talk to? Need an answer? Amazon Echo can take care of all your needs, and Hepa seems to have all the answers on the court. Slated to enroll at Texas in the coming weeks, Shaka Smart has himself a winning ballplayer that does whatever it takes for his team to succeed. 

On Thursday evening, the first session at the under-18 trials, the playing floor was like a library; kids were afraid to speak up, minus Hepa, leaving Bill Self and his coaching staff wanted more from the participants. The Alaskan born forward called out screens like it was game seven of the NBA Finals, applauded his newfound teammates whenever something went their way and celebrated the smallest of wins throughout drills. 

Hepa is a super skilled and polished small ball power forward that will leave an immediate imprint on Texas and his capacity to talk and complete whatever task asked from him was magnified in Colorado.

 

On 6/5/2018 at 3:49 PM, Cameltoe said:

Hasn't even been 9 months. Only took about 2 weeks for Kemaka Hepa to expose this guy's stupid opinions.

 

On 6/5/2018 at 4:10 PM, texasstrong12 said:

I don't care about him making the U-18 team. I care about the scouting reports from people watching Hepa at the U18 trials. 

Maybe Camel is a dick for bumping that but his point isn't wrong. I think most would consider Hepa as a potentially impact player in year 1. 

 

 

Is this enough? Note that it was TS12, not me, who used bold and ALL CAPS to declare that Hepa will be an instant impact player.

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2 minutes ago, Machinator said:

Direct quote, please. If you have time to type up your paragraphs, you have time to link quotes.

And if you don't feel like it, don't be surprised when people blow off your rants.

I've already said my bit on Hepa. He'll be a nice addition but not a game-breaker his freshman year. I bet if you started a poll on this board most would agree.

Holy shit guy, stop demanding the direct quotes as if i'm not doing that very thing as we sepak, or as if you haven't already read them yourself. I have linked them now. Would like to keep talking shit to me, or have you been placated?

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On 6/6/2018 at 6:42 AM, texasstrong12 said:

Yeah man, it's just my imagination that people have been arguing  this recruiting class doesn't have instant impact guys. This took all of 2 seconds to find. 

1) UTLawnghorn

"Your talk about the recruiting class is dumb for the reasons Derka pointed out.  There do not appear to be any instant impact guys, so the rank of the recruiting class has very little to do with how the team will perform next year (although I like the class long-term with 4 guys who will likely see their junior year)."

2) UTLawnghorn 

"All our recruits are long-term guys."

3) Derka. False if you read any scouting reports on Hepa. I'm actually worried Hepa might be gone in 2 or 3 years now. I don't think he's going to make it 4 years at Texas based on what I've read from scouting reports. 

"Nobody in this class for Texas is a lock to even have any sort of NBA career."

4) UTGrad 

"All long term recruits that probably won't help the roster for a couple years." 

 

 

Here is TS12 pOrjecting that Hepa may be 2-and-done. That do anything for you Machinator? Have the multiple quoted posts replete with ALL CAPS and bold declaring him an impact player proven to you that TS12 has been pushing the "Hepa is an immediate impact player" agenda? How about TS12's idea that he could be a 2-and-done? Am I now justified in trying to bring another, more realistic perspective? Is that ok now?

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3 minutes ago, Goo Punch said:

Holy shit guy, stop demanding the direct quotes as if i'm not doing that very thing as we sepak, or as if you haven't already read them yourself. I have linked them now. Would like to keep talking shit to me, or have you been placated?

Thanks for digging up quotes.

I think the root of the argument goes back to the meaning of "impact" or "instant impact".

My opinion is that he could give us 10-15 minutes off the bench as a backup for Dylan, be an additional playmaker who brings a unique skillset with his vision and size, and potentially bring some floor-stretching ability by late February or early March if the game slows down enough for him by then.

I think that could be impactful. Is it going to singlehandedly drag us to relevance like Bamba did last season? No. So if that's your definition of impact player, then I guess Hepa won't be one next season, but I'd argue that's a pretty high threshold for impact player.

But this discussion is why I prefer precise language rather than vague descriptors. Could have saved us some pages if everyone on this thread didn't try to argue about the exact definition of various adjectives as they relate to basketball.

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11 minutes ago, Machinator said:

Thanks for digging up quotes.

I think the root of the argument goes back to the meaning of "impact" or "instant impact".

My opinion is that he could give us 10-15 minutes off the bench as a backup for Dylan, be an additional playmaker who brings a unique skillset with his vision and size, and potentially bring some floor-stretching ability by late February or early March if the game slows down enough for him by then.

I think that could be impactful. Is it going to singlehandedly drag us to relevance like Bamba did last season? No. So if that's your definition of impact player, then I guess Hepa won't be one next season, but I'd argue that's a pretty high threshold for impact player.

But this discussion is why I prefer precise language rather than vague descriptors. Could have saved us some pages if everyone on this thread didn't try to argue about the exact definition of various adjectives as they relate to basketball.

The bottom line is that this comes down to two specific posters starting fights with people about Hepa not only potentially becoming an impact player, but both virtually and literally guaranteeing it in a combative manner. They do this, and it's deemed totally fine and acceptable simply because their message is deemed "pro-Texas". Then when I come in and point out that these projections are unfair it's totally unaccpetable. It's completely stupid.

I mean, did you somehow miss this entire saga up to this point? Go back a few pages and enjoy a super fun read where the polyanna twins admonish and disrespect amyone who simply tried to tap the breaks about hepa. 

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