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Texas Basketball 2022-23


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4 minutes ago, Pancho said:

If anyone has a sub

 

Spoiler

Texas’ acting head coach, Rodney Terry, only knows one way forward
Brian Hamilton
Jan 26, 2023
 
For six years, a team five hours north occasionally grabbed Steve Fisher’s attention, and not because it was next on the schedule. San Diego State’s then head coach respected how Fresno State played, tough-minded and agenda-free, but mostly Fisher liked Rodney Terry. He liked Terry’s firm-but-fair approach. He liked that he couldn’t tell whether Fresno State won or lost in the handshake line, since Terry was convivial either way. He enjoyed their chats about program-building at Mountain West conference meetings. When Terry opted for a change and took a job at UTEP, Fisher wished Terry good luck. Told him to reach out anytime.
One of those anytimes arrived in late December.
Terry, abruptly, was now the acting head coach for a Texas men’s basketball team with massive aspirations. Fisher — who retired in 2017 — knew a little about the dynamic, winning a national title at Michigan in that role. So Terry placed the call, but Fisher asked the questions: Have you talked to the school president? Can you count on your staff to back you? Did you contact the families of every player? “He said, ‘You know me, Steve,’” Fisher recalls from his back deck in southern California. “’I’m just going about my business of coaching this team.’”
Everything is about who the next Texas coach will be, but the first thing is about preventing this 10th-ranked Texas team from derailing into a ravine.
That job — for sure — belongs to Rodney Terry.
As for why he’s been equipped to manage the upheaval after Chris Beard’s December arrest on charges of domestic family violence and eventual firing, and hold together a promising season, people who know him generally start by arguing this: Terry is not a 54-year-old temp. He’s a former high school coach with a firm grasp of who he is and who he isn’t, a grinder sitting in the big college hoops chair for the third time, operating off a highly personal investment in the program and the city he’s always expected to call his permanent home.
To ensure the trapdoor stays latched shut for the next two months, Texas basketball needs someone capable of round-the-clock vigilance in the gym and outside of it. Someone self-aware enough to know it’s about him and not about him, all at once. “He worked his way up, the way it’s not always done today,” says Tennessee coach Rick Barnes, who had Terry on his bench at Texas for nine seasons. “I would say he’s a guy that was never born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Everything he’s got, he’s worked for.”
It’s a predetermined outcome, yes: Ask people who are fond of someone to talk about that someone, and you’re not likely to hear a discouraging word. Fair enough. There are corners of the college basketball universe that are more cynical about Terry as the best long-term solution to a problem nobody expected to have.
Put away the telescope, though, and so far, not so bad: With Terry in charge, Texas has won 10 of 12 games heading into a Big 12/SEC Challenge matchup at Tennessee on Saturday. Those who know the man leading the Longhorns see the residue of Terry’s touch, developed over time and through experience. Unflinching honesty, obsession with details and a demand for accountability, balanced with a very human touch and never-had-a-bad-day energy.
Clarity of purpose, for a program needing an emergency dose of it. “From Day 1 you step into his program, you always know where you stand,” says Troy assistant coach Byron Jones, who worked for Terry at Fresno State. “You’re not guessing. He’d always say, guys, we’re going to be very transparent about what we’re doing around here. We’re never going to let you live a lie.”
From a tactical standpoint, there wasn’t much question about how Rodney Terry’s Texas would function. He returned to Austin before the 2021-22 season, in part, to run the defense. It is and has always been his oyster. “He’s a meticulous guy in terms of film study,” says East Carolina assistant coach Nick Matson, who worked for Terry at both of his previous head coaching stops. “He’s going to grind until he finds an angle.” Though Terry got results last year — the Longhorns finished 14th in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom — there was no guarantee a roster set adrift in December would commit at the same level.
As it happens, even with a 116-point onslaught by Kansas State in the mix, Texas’ defensive rating of 114.3 across Terry’s first 10 games would rank in the 93rd percentile nationally if extrapolated over a season, per CBB Analytics. It essentially aligns with the Longhorns’ results over all of 2022-23 to date; there’s been no change in behavior with the change in voices. To those looking in from the outside, it suggests the players have bought into — or remained bought into — Terry’s core tenet of defensive accountability.
Guard Your Yard.
“Guarding the ball,” Jones says, when asked to explain the concept behind the catchphrase. “Guarding your man. Being responsible for not being bailed out because you got screened, not being bailed out because you didn’t know there was a switch. You’re not letting a guy just do what he wants to do.”
There’s of course much more to this than a solid game plan, and it’s arguable the most important parts of Terry’s current job description have little to do with game-to-game strategy. He has an old team that has seen some things — the Longhorns are one of the top 10 most experienced teams in the country — but nothing like what’s happened this winter in Austin. Terry had to perform some emotional triage and then monitor his group’s wounds for signs of infection.
A first step: reassure the roster the walls aren’t tumbling down. Comfort them with the plan. Those who’ve worked for him note that Terry sketches out practices down to the minute, that he’ll have a detailed strategy for everything from breakfast menus to gameday dress codes to community service events. Creating a structure is, arguably, the easy part for Texas’ acting head coach. Discipline is a reflex.
“His organization keeps everybody on the same page,” says East Carolina head coach Michael Schwartz, who worked alongside Terry at Texas and then for him at Fresno State. “There is no gray area about what you’re doing. Whatever it may be, he’s got a blueprint in his mind.”
But there is a need to ensure the players still enjoy themselves, under the circumstances. That they don’t feel like they’re stuffed in a closet for three months. The head coach has to look like he’s having a good day, every day. With Terry, it’s evidently not a stretch. “Man, look, I ain’t never seen R.T. super mad,” says former Texas great T.J. Ford, who overlapped with Terry for only one year in Austin, which was nevertheless enough for them to talk regularly to this day. “R.T. is the same guy. R.T. is always going to be upbeat. R.T. is always going to be a positive person. That energy — that’s what he’s about.”
Empathy, too, is a prerequisite, when you’re a healer on the fly. And those who know Terry say he’s intent on connecting and communicating with everyone who touches a program. There are no closed doors. “He’d tell you he was taught to respect people, whoever they are,” Barnes says. When Fresno State player Braeden Anderson suffered a broken neck in a deadly car accident in September 2013, Terry stood in as the director of the recovery plan, walking Anderson’s parents — who were from Alberta, Canada — through the vagaries of the American health care system while also arranging for Anderson to have surgery at Stanford Medical. Anderson was back on the floor for Fresno State 14 months after it wasn’t clear he’d walk again. “Rodney helped the family make the decision, not based on basketball, but for the rest of his life,” Jones says.
It’s the sort of humanity that allows Terry to push, hard, when needed. It’s how a player such as Marvelle Harris goes from borderline unknown recruit to Mountain West Player of the Year in four seasons, working through the death of his father but never falling off the track, due mainly to Terry hammering home what Harris needed to do to be great and honor his father’s memory. “He can have hard, difficult conversations in his staff, he can have hard, difficult conversations with his players, and even if it’s what either party doesn’t want to hear, Rodney is not a grudge-holder,” Schwartz says. “Rodney knows how to handle those and not get over-emotional. He never lets an oil spill be bigger than it needs to be.”
When you need the best possible results from a group whose world has capsized, it’s a helpful balance to be able to strike.
“You don’t hear any negativity coming out of the Texas program, of guys that are going south or doing their own thing,” Jones says. “That shows he’s very well-respected. There’s enough demand, but enough care about their well-being that those guys will play hard for you.”
How this plays out for Terry is harder to gauge.
Not long after being elevated to replace Beard, Terry unsurprisingly put in a call to Barnes. After kicking off the conversation with a hilarious oversimplification — “He said, ‘What do you think?’” Barnes recalls — Terry mentioned that he was worried anyone might call this an audition. “He was concerned about the players thinking that he was looking at this as an opportunity,” Barnes says. “He didn’t want anybody to perceive that.”
It is, in reality, absolutely an opportunity. An audition. For something. And that creates a tension, like it or not. “It is definitely not easy,” Fisher says. “There will be that faction of people that will say, well, the other guy would’ve done it better. That’s the noise — it’s easy to say to someone, don’t hear it, don’t listen to it, don’t pay attention to it. And it sometimes can be hard to do. But you can’t get caught up in that.”
There is a preferred ending for the man who played across town at St. Edward’s University and who bought a house in Austin during the pandemic, despite having an office address in El Paso at the time. “He bleeds burnt orange, period,” Schwartz says. “That’s been Rodney from Day 1 when I met him.” The Longhorns’ on-floor success has to continue, naturally; Terry won’t have a chance if the bottom drops out. Also critical: Terry’s ability to demonstrate to decision-makers that he’s well-positioned as a Texas native to recruit a talent-rich state and bring aboard high-end talent to compete in the viper’s nest of the SEC, imminently.
“There’s no more relentless and dynamic recruiter than Rodney Terry,” Matson says. “You know how it is, a lot of people’s days end at a certain time, like maybe when practice is over. His day is only beginning. He’s going to be on the phone every night until nine, 10 o’clock with recruits, parents, AAU coaches. He works it at the highest level.”
Still, Terry can’t just decide to be the permanent head coach. He can’t really even publicly say he wants to be, without inviting a few potshots about his focus. He also has to overcome the innate Texas urge to respond to a big problem with a bigger answer. As one coaching agent theorized, apprising the dynamic in Austin: If Beard’s arrest didn’t happen and he won 30 games and left for an NBA job after this season, would Texas replace him with Rodney Terry?
Those in Terry’s corner ask another question.
“How many people could pick up these pieces?” Ford says.
“Would he love to have that job? There’s no doubt,” Barnes says. “Anybody in that situation would. Who knows? You just don’t know. The fact of the matter is, I assure you, he’s working at it as hard as anybody in the country can work at it.”
It’s all he can do, really. It’s what Fisher learned three decades back and what he left Terry with before he hung up the phone in late December: Be yourself, Fisher advised. It’s been good to you so far, and it will be down the road. And everything will work out from there. Maybe that’s in Austin. Maybe not. But he’ll be on a bench, somewhere, either way.
For now, those who know Rodney Terry guess he’s not spending too much time on maybes. He has a team to coach.

 

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there's a lot ofarguing going on in the okie state thread about whether or not Texas MBB has fallen off under rodney, and whether or not our expectations should be adjusted without beard. inexplicably, i've found myself debating this point with more than a few people who all vehemently disagree that expectations should be changed now that RT is in charge, so i'll address that the simplest way i can:

shaka smart is a better coach than rodney terry. point blank and the period. i understand that we are currently tied for first in the league with RT as our HC, however, two of our three losses are to the other two teams tied for first in the league, and we have zero upset wins to this point. the idea that we are going to compete for and possibly win a conference title when a)we have all of our toughest games ahead of us and b)we are being coached by someone who just plain unfit to coach at this level, is not an idea i can believe in. of course i hope that this contention is ultimately proven wrong, but i will absolutely we more surprised by a 13-5 or 12-4 league championship run that i would be to see us ultimately finish 3rd or 4th in the league. 

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47 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

but i will absolutely we more surprised by a 13-5 or 12-4 12-6 league championship run

FIFY

Quote

that i would be to see us ultimately finish 3rd or 4th in the league. 

Me too.  There are pretty much 6 teams in "contention".  It will be brutal for everyone.

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1 hour ago, shadow_operative said:

there's a lot ofarguing going on in the okie state thread about whether or not Texas MBB has fallen off under rodney, and whether or not our expectations should be adjusted without beard. inexplicably, i've found myself debating this point with more than a few people who all vehemently disagree that expectations should be changed now that RT is in charge, so i'll address that the simplest way i can:

shaka smart is a better coach than rodney terry. point blank and the period. i understand that we are currently tied for first in the league with RT as our HC, however, two of our three losses are to the other two teams tied for first in the league, and we have zero upset wins to this point. the idea that we are going to compete for and possibly win a conference title when a)we have all of our toughest games ahead of us and b)we are being coached by someone who just plain unfit to coach at this level, is not an idea i can believe in. of course i hope that this contention is ultimately proven wrong, but i will absolutely we more surprised by a 13-5 or 12-4 league championship run that i would be to see us ultimately finish 3rd or 4th in the league. 

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3 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

not really. it's the topic du jour around here and it's a divisive topic. as long as people here disagree about the subject then it's going to be talked about.

The topic consist of you telling us your very strong opinion on the matter and when disagreed with, reiterating that very strong opinion in a different way.

And then you had to throw in the Shaka Smart statement for shock value. Shaka Smart sucked ass as a coach at Texas and trying to compare Rodney Terry to him is a stupid exercise that is useless.

Edited by Hookem2147
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2 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

The topic consist of you telling us your very strong opinion on the matter and when disagreed with, reiterating that very strong opinion in a different way.

And then you had to throw in the Shaka Smart statement for shock value. Shaka Smart sucked ass as a coach at Texas and trying to compare Rodney Terry to him is a stupid exercise that is useless.

shock value? it's a plainly true statement. they've both been d-1 HC's at multiple places and shaka has had far more success than RT. 

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Terry vs Shaka as HC's:

9467E237-C4FA-40BD-AEFC-5C3170E6D457.thumb.jpeg.68cb44939b2cb0f728357bdff6db9e2b.jpeg

vs

1FF828D9-3CB4-4102-B960-246D36E52265.thumb.jpeg.7a93c7a07481a553befc7c02995080e1.jpeg

 

"shock value" he says. if you and jimmy could stop with all of the needlessly angry, whiny, belligerent responses and then we could actually talk like adults about these topics. i won't hold my breath though. 

i mean jesus christ, rodney terry is supposed to be an assistant right now while shaka is the HC if a top 10 team and you girls are just beside yourselves with the idea that i'm making some "shock value" post by saying that shaka's a better coach. grow up. 

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how i see the rest of the schedule:

@Tennessee- loss

BU- toss up, but i'll say win 

@K State- loss

@KU- loss 

WVU- win

@TTU- win

OU- win 

ISU- win

@BU- loss

@TCU- loss 

KU- win

that leaves us at 23-8 (12-6), which i'm guessing leaves us with a 3rd place (or T-2nd) finish in the league and a 3 seed. if it does play out that way it will have to be considered a successful season after everything this group has been through. and a 3 seed with this group should have us pencilling in the S16, one win away from the E8. i'd take that all day long. i hope it happens.

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7 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

how i see the rest of the schedule:

@Tennessee- loss

BU- toss up, but i'll say win 

@K State- loss

@KU- loss 

WVU- win

@TTU- win

OU- win 

ISU- win

@BU- loss

@TCU- loss 

KU- win

that leaves us at 23-8 (12-6), which i'm guessing leaves us with a 3rd place (or T-2nd) finish in the league and a 3 seed. if it does play out that way it will have to be considered a successful season after everything this group has been through. and a 3 seed with this group should have us pencilling in the S16, one win away from the E8. i'd take that all day long. i hope it happens.

I’m in agreement with this, although I have us losing to Tech. Those dipshits will be primed and ready to get their first big 12 win over big, bad Texas. They will still be 0-fer but the time our game rolls around (unless they beat Oklahoma state in Stillwater) and would love nothing more than to say “well at least we beat Texas” and they’ll continue to put up billboards in Austin demanding that we schedule them when we leave. Those students will be drunk af throwing at us bottles, Rosa’s tortillas, and their dignity. 

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7 minutes ago, Pancho said:

I’m in agreement with this, although I have us losing to Tech. Those dipshits will be primed and ready to get their first big 12 win over big, bad Texas. They will still be 0-fer but the time our game rolls around (unless they beat Oklahoma state in Stillwater) and would love nothing more than to say “well at least we beat Texas” and they’ll continue to put up billboards in Austin demanding that we schedule them when we leave. Those students will be drunk af throwing at us bottles, Rosa’s tortillas, and their dignity. 

Psh what are you talking about? Our resident Cyclone fan already called that Tech will beat ISU on Monday.

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1 hour ago, Pancho said:

I’m in agreement with this, although I have us losing to Tech. Those dipshits will be primed and ready to get their first big 12 win over big, bad Texas. They will still be 0-fer but the time our game rolls around (unless they beat Oklahoma state in Stillwater) and would love nothing more than to say “well at least we beat Texas” and they’ll continue to put up billboards in Austin demanding that we schedule them when we leave. Those students will be drunk af throwing at us bottles, Rosa’s tortillas, and their dignity. 

Texas Tech might be without Pop Isaacs for some time. It looked like a serious ankle injury and he was in a boot at the end of the WV game. Also, Aimaq was once again out with a foot injury. My guess is Aimaq is done for the season as the same injury keeps bothering him.

Texas Tech isn't beating anybody if they don't have Isaacs and Aimaq. 

 

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17 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

Texas Tech might be without Pop Isaacs for some time. It looked like a serious ankle injury and he was in a boot at the end of the WV game. Also, Aimaq was once again out with a foot injury. My guess is Aimaq is done for the season as the same injury keeps bothering him.

Texas Tech isn't beating anybody if they don't have Isaacs and Aimaq. 

 

Oh yeah if that’s the case, we should win in Lubbock

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Gerry Hamilton gave a Ron Holland update on a youtube video today:

-Said he was Duncanville a few weeks ago and every single person he talked to said that Ron Holland wants to be at Texas, it just has to work out.

- His family wants him close to home

-Gerry basically hinted that if Terry got the head job permanently or stayed on staff, Holland would be enrolling at Texas

- Holland did not really like Fayetteville during the recruiting process, so if he doesn't end up at Texas it is not a lock he goes to Arkansas.

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Looking at NET stuff. We are currently 6-4 in Q1 games and 2-0 in Q2 games. 6-2 in Big 12 play. Non conference wins against Gonzaga and Creighton.

Last year, we finished the regular season 6-9 in Q1 games and 5-1 in Q2 games. 10-8 Big 12 record and first round Big 12 tourney exit. No quality non conference wins. 6 seed.

I guess it depends somewhat on who we beat, but as long as we reach 10 conference wins I don’t see any way we are worse than a 5 seed in March. 11 wins is probably no worse than a 4 seed. 

Edited by Hookem2147
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3 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

Looking at NET stuff. We are currently 6-4 in Q1 games and 2-0 in Q2 games. 6-2 in Big 12 play. Non conference wins against Gonzaga and Creighton.

Last year, we finished the regular season 6-9 in Q1 games and 5-1 in Q2 games. 10-8 Big 12 record and first round Big 12 tourney exit. No quality non conference wins. 6 seed.

I guess it depends somewhat on who we beat, but as long as we reach 10 conference wins I don’t see any way we are worse than a 5 seed in March. 11 wins is probably no worse than a 4 seed. 

We saw what the bottom half of the big 12 did yesterday and it was very impressive. 11-7 in this conference plus 3-2 against Stanford, creighton, Gonzaga, Illinois and Tenn (i don’t think we played any other ranked or high major teams) should work out to a 3 seed imo. If we are a 4 it better be with the weakest 1 around. 12-6, which I think is our absolute ceiling, should be a 2 seed. 

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8 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

We need Hunter to get it back so bad. He helps solve so many problems for us on both sides when he’s at his best

He admitted last week he isn’t 100% healthy (which is obvious at this point). I wonder if having the break between Monday and Saturday will be helpful for him to maybe heal up a bit. Longest break we’ve had between games in a while.

The next three weeks are Big Monday then Saturday games.

Edited by Hookem2147
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Texas stays at 10 in the AP poll (no change)

Purdue (nc)
Tenn (up 2)
UH (nc)
Alabama (down 2)
Arizona (up 1)

KSU 7 (down 2)
Kansas 8 (up 1)
Baylor 11 (up 6)
ISU 13 (down 1)
Marquette 14 (up 2)
TCU 15 (down 4)
 

Sets up #11 Baylor @ #10 Texas tonight and #7 KSU @ #8 Kansas tomorrow
#8 KU @ #13 ISU, #10 Texas @ #7 KSU on Saturday

Edited by Js1
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21 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Texas stays at 10 in the AP poll (no change)

Purdue (nc)
Tenn (up 2)
UH (nc)
Alabama (down 2)
Arizona (up 1)

KSU 7 (down 2)
Kansas 8 (up 1)
Baylor 11 (up 6)
ISU 13 (down 1)
Marquette 14 (up 2)
TCU 15 (down 4)
 

Sets up #11 Baylor @ #10 Texas tonight and #7 KSU @ #8 Kansas tomorrow
#8 KU @ #13 ISU, #10 Texas @ #7 KSU on Saturday

Lol at including Marquette 

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37 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

Why? He has said it on his Instagram, it’s been rumored for weeks, he looks like he can’t jump or attack the rim at all. He didn’t forget how to be athletic.

Like you I’m sure, I’ve watched every game and just don’t see an injury but I could be wrong.  I’m 100% pulling for him but just don’t see much contribution on consistent basis.

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(regarding Terry) it's the topic du jour around here and it's a divisive topic.

I don't really think that Terry's future is much of a divisive topic at all.  Everyone seems to be in alignment that the only way we keep him is with a truly outstanding year.

The only debate is to whether it will take an Elite 8, Final Four or Title run for him to keep the job. 

  • We haven't made an Elite 8 since 2008
  • We haven't made a Final Four in 20 years (and only once in my lifetime)
  • We have never played for a title

If he does any of the above, there SHOULD be a debate about whether he keeps the job.  And the strength of his position increases a ton the farther he goes.  But until any of that happens, there is no point in speculating.  I would LOVE to have these debates in April after a great run.

I also don't see much debate regarding whether we have digressed since Beard's arrest.  Of course we have.  That said, it took a while for the shell shock of Beard's arrest to wear off.  We have also entered conference play and the Big 12 is the toughest conference top to bottom I have ever seen.  So... it is hard to know how much to attribute directly to Terry.  But anyone arguing he is up to par with Beard isn't worth arguing with.

 

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