1. Lots of Texas news this morning… here’s the first bit: the Longhorns appear to be turning the corner after 24 games. Texas won at Texas A&M on Big Monday thanks in large part to a terrific effort from freshman point guard Myck Kabongo. Still under .500 in the Big 12 at 5-6, the Longhorns probably won’t make the NCAA Tournament if they do not knock off Kansas or Baylor in the final month of the season. It is impressive though that Rick Barnes has this young team in contention for anything at this point.
2. Seven games remain now on the Longhorns’ schedule. Can Barnes make his 14th-straight NCAA Tournament at Texas? It’s going to be difficult, but the path exists. The Longhorns’ resume looks like the epitome of a bubble team right now, but again, it still has two prime opportunities for RPI-boosting wins against Kansas and Baylor. If the Longhorns cannot close out this final seven-game stretch, they will have to look back at the “what ifs” this season after suffering so many close losses.
3. That win at A&M, however, may mean the Longhorns are growing up in late-game situations. Unfortunately, Texas and Texas A&M may not ever play again– not in the near future, at least. Much like the Missouri-Kansas dispute, Rick Barnes has vowed not to play the Aggies when they leave for the SEC. “We’ve got a lot of rivals,” Barnes said. In a way, that’s true. In the state of Texas, the Longhorns can battle Baylor, Texas Tech, or even TCU (if the program improves, of course). But it’s not Texas/Texas A&M. Nothing is, and that’s not lost upon Billy Kennedy. The A&M coach offered to play a neutral-site game in the non-conference schedule, but Barnes told him before the game that it would never happen.
4. Staying in-state, Scott Drew has an idea for guarding Kansas forward Thomas Robinson tonight: use Britney Griner. The Baylor women’s basketball phenom certainly has the height to hang with Robinson, and they are both elite players in their respective women’s and men’s divisions of college basketball. It hardly matters who guards Robinson at this point, though. He was unstoppable in the second half at Missouri, and he’ll probably put on a similar show in Waco. Now, his teammates need to support him, something they did not do in the final three minutes of that game in Columbia.
5. Jeff Withey is one of those teammates. He did not play well against the Tigers, perhaps because he played against smaller, quicker players. It makes sense. Withey may have been able to physically overpower Missouri’s guards, but it’s hard to play when little guys are swatting at you and speeding up the pace of the game. He even said so himself: “I like playing against guys my size a lot more than playing against a bunch of guards,” he said. Well, he’ll get a more favorable matchup then against Baylor tonight, who starts three future pros in the frontcourt. Maybe that will help him find his groove.

dnspewak (343 Posts)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 at 7:30 am by dnspewak and is filed under big 12, microsites. Tagged: billy kennedy, britney griner, jeff withey, kansas, myck kabongo, rick barnes, texas, texas a&m, thomas robinson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.