Let's talk Texas in the Tourney

[shadow_operative 15931]

This team is coming together and has been playing its best ball as of late. As i mentioned in the season thread, our veteran guards have been nails lately, Timmy Allen has established himself as a go-to player for us, Bishop has become a force around the rim, and even guys like Askew, Febres, and Brock have been contributing here and there. If Disu can somehow get healthy then even as a guy who plays 12-15 minutes in a game he can really contribute with defense and rebounding. I really like what i've been seeing from these guys as we approach the postseason.

now, here's the first, and most glaring thought that comes to my mind when we talk about Texas in the tourney: we have got to avoid teams with great size. watching Tennessee play Auburn and Kentucky recently has me in full Mack Brown mode. the thought of facing either of those teams, and any teams like them, just scares you to death.  I don't think that we have any answer for guys like Kessler, Jabari Smith, or Tshiebwe. 

with that said, our defense, and the way we take teams out of their comfort zone should play very well in March, as it has throughout Chris Beard's career. if we win our opening game then some 4 or 5 seed team is going to have about a day and a half to prepare for a defense and a style of play that they simply are not used to seeing. so while i think we have a ceiling of reaching the Elite 8, i really do think we could see ourselves in the Sweet 16 with the right matchups. regardless, i haven't been this excited to enter the postseason in years. 🤘🏼 

[Beau Vine 53625]

10 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

regardless, i haven't been this excited to enter the postseason in years. 🤘🏼 

I remember being pretty excited last year.  And then the game started.

[texasstrong12 4668]

24 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

now, here's the first, and most glaring thought that comes to my mind when we talk about Texas in the tourney: we have got to avoid teams with great size. watching Tennessee play Auburn and Kentucky recently has me in full Mack Brown mode. the thought of facing either of those teams, and any teams like them, just scares you to death.  I don't think that we have any answer for guys like Kessler, Jabari Smith, or Tshiebwe. 

 

This is an interesting discussion. A team like Tech scares me more than a team with a good big. 

To me, the long and athletic guards/wings are a worse match up than a team with a legit big. I think Beard has always played small at the 5 and knows how to solve that problem in other ways.  

It's the "size" at guard/wing that can just completely disrupt our guards from doing anything on the offensive end that scares me. 

Edited February 27, 2022 by texasstrong12

[hobbes2702 12481]

2 minutes ago, texasstrong12 said:

This is an interesting discussion. A team like Tech scares me more than a team with a good big. 

To me, the long and athletic guards/wings are a worse match up than a team with a legit big. I think Beard has always played small at the 5 and knows how to solve that problem in other ways.  

It's the big guards/wings that can just completely take our guards away from doing anything on the offensive end that scares me. 

I agree I think long wings give us bigger problems than bigs, although I think both can be an issue for us at times. Overall I think our ceiling given the right matchups is Elite 8 but that’s unlikely. We look like an R32 or R16 team imo. If we get hot shooting and have good matchups we can beat just about anyone. 

[texasstrong12 4668]

In terms of match ups I would say we want 

1) Teams that turn the ball over as that's probably our biggest strength as a team. I.e. forcing turnovers. It also helps us score. 

2) Teams that foul. Sometimes we have a tough time getting to the line and we are a good FT shooting team. 

3) Teams that aren't super athletic. This gets back to the point above about all those long and athletic Tech guards/wings. 

[Ignatius 3978]

I think that any team we run into that has 1-2 guys they totally depend on for offense, especially if they're backcourt guys, plays right into our hands. A team like Tech who doesn't have any one superior alpha dog but has multiple athletes that can play multiple roles is our Kryptonite but shit man, they're probably everyone else's Kryptonite as well.

I just think we're going to benefit from getting out of the B12 meat grinder and play some teams who have no idea what they're getting into in terms of tough, physical defense. I agree with Hobbes though, in the end when we face a team with tall guards/wings who can contain AJ/Carr, it's gonna be tough for us. I'm fucking pumped though man, this team is rounding into shape and the Dance isn't about being the best team, it's about getting on a roll...

[Beau Vine 53625]

11 minutes ago, texasstrong12 said:

In terms of match ups I would say we want 

1) Teams that turn the ball over as that's probably our biggest strength as a team. I.e. forcing turnovers. It also helps us score. 

2) Teams that foul. Sometimes we have a tough time getting to the line and we are a good FT shooting team. 

3) Teams that aren't super athletic. This gets back to the point above about all those long and athletic Tech guards/wings. 

So we want teams that won't be in the NCAA tournament?

[texasstrong12 4668]

10 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

So we want teams that won't be in the NCAA tournament?

I laughed but there will still be lots teams in the NCAA tournament that fit at at least two of those categories. First team that comes to mind is Illinois. They're 155th in TO% and 133rd in defensive free throw rate. So they turn the ball over a lot and foul a good bit. 

That's a Sweet 16 or beyond caliber team. 

It's interesting based on this discussion because they have one of the best bigs in the country in Cockburn. But I would consider Illinois to be a great match up for Texas. 

 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2022 by texasstrong12

[shadow_operative 15931]

41 minutes ago, texasstrong12 said:

This is an interesting discussion. A team like Tech scares me more than a team with a good big. 

To me, the long and athletic guards/wings are a worse match up than a team with a legit big. I think Beard has always played small at the 5 and knows how to solve that problem in other ways.  

It's the "size" at guard/wing that can just completely disrupt our guards from doing anything on the offensive end that scares me. 

it sounds like you're describing tech and baylor, and i agree that they've given us major problems, but aside from those two teams i don't think there are any other teams in the tournament that have that kind of size and athleticism and who play the level of defense that BU and TTU play. 

for me, we cannot rely on jump shots to win tournament games, we've got to be scoring in the paint and at the rim. Walker Kessler could make life hell on us, and Jabari Smith could dominate us both inside and out. and then again, a guy like Tsheibwe can not only protect the rim at an elite level, but he can get so many offensive rebounds, which is the antidote to our half court defense. so with us not being a great shooting team, and being a team that relies on good looks and points in the paint, i'd rather avoid teams with impactful bigs than teams with athletic wings.

 

[Wulaw Horn 18917]

Man, I don’t know that I love our tournament chances. We don’t shoot great and don’t have any particularly dynamic guards which is what I look for in teams that I like to advance. Much more so than bigs or wings. 
But that defense does travel for sure, so I’d call it 1/3 we get to the sweet 16 without seeing any bracket yet. 

[shadow_operative 15931]

Oscar Tshiebwe averages-

 

per game: 16.4 pts, 15.3 reb, 5.3 oreb, 1.9 stl, 1.5 blk

per 40 minutes: 21.2 pts, 19.7 reb, 2.4 stl, 1.9 blk

 

Walker Kessler averages-

 

per game: 12.0 pts, 8.3 reb, 2.6 oreb, 4.7 blk

per 40 minutes: 18.8 pts, 13.0 reb, 7.4 blk

 

those guys, and their impact around the rim, really do scare me. i feel like we can hang with most teams, but that if anyone would actually blow us out that it would be a team with great bigs like Auburn and Gonzaga, or a team that Kentucky that has big, athletic wings as well as a major presence down low. 

[Rockethorn1978 6059]

I think as long as we avoid Abilene chr in the first round we will be good. As this point of we won just one tourney game I’d be pumped. Anything beyond that is just a bonus for me in beards first season.

[Steamboat1874 4008]

I will be happy if we make it to the round of 16.

This team should be called Frankenstein’s monster with the way it has been put together.

Edited February 27, 2022 by Steamboat1874

[Gut Wagon 8017]

All opponents scare me in March. That wasn't always the case, but I've learned. Given our team's apparent flaws in adversely areas, I just want to get that monkey off our back by winning a game. Another "one and done" would be 100 times worth than "two and through."

[Wally Pryor 5198]

It's just so, so crucial for Beard to win a game. That clusterfuck Smart set us back so much that sniffing a Dance win seems so far-fetched. 

This team isn't that talented, struggles offensively and plays really stupidly on occasion. Master of the obvious I am. But the team does play hard and Beard obviously has a March thing. Having said all that playing into the round of 16 would be a (very) big surprise. 

[txduck87 972]

Isn’t this thread premature given our bubble status?


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[Zuerst 146]

2 hours ago, txduck87 said:

Isn’t this thread premature given our bubble status?


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We're defiNately not makIng one of the two tournamenTs.

Edited February 28, 2022 by Zuerst

[Horns RD Standard 53]

This team is coming together and has been playing its best ball as of late. As i mentioned in the season thread, our veteran guards have been nails lately, Timmy Allen has established himself as a go-to player for us, Bishop has become a force around the rim, and even guys like Askew, Febres, and Brock have been contributing here and there. If Disu can somehow get healthy then even as a guy who plays 12-15 minutes in a game he can really contribute with defense and rebounding. I really like what i've been seeing from these guys as we approach the postseason.
now, here's the first, and most glaring thought that comes to my mind when we talk about Texas in the tourney: we have got to avoid teams with great size. watching Tennessee play Auburn and Kentucky recently has me in full Mack Brown mode. the thought of facing either of those teams, and any teams like them, just scares you to death.  I don't think that we have any answer for guys like Kessler, Jabari Smith, or Tshiebwe. 
with that said, our defense, and the way we take teams out of their comfort zone should play very well in March, as it has throughout Chris Beard's career. if we win our opening game then some 4 or 5 seed team is going to have about a day and a half to prepare for a defense and a style of play that they simply are not used to seeing. so while i think we have a ceiling of reaching the Elite 8, i really do think we could see ourselves in the Sweet 16 with the right matchups. regardless, i haven't been this excited to enter the postseason in years.  

I couldnt agree more on the issues we have dealing with teams that are strong/athletic/productive on the interior. We have difficulties guarding and keeping them off the glass, especially late in games closing out good defensive possessions with rebs. Bryson Williams & Timme smoked us offensively and Thamba & Co. worked us on the backboard. I dont think there’s much we can do scheme-wise honestly, just have to hope we get a draw where we can avoid that for a couple rounds.
My biggest concern is also maybe one of our biggest strengths, which is weird. But we play grind it out tough games. Unless its just a bad match-up i dont see anyone blowing us out, but even when we’re “on” our style of play tends to keep most teams in games as well. And to me thats concerning come March. Its called Madness for a reason and the longer a team stays in a game the more chances there are for them to create some magic and steal one to send ya home!!! But thats just kinda who we are right?


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