That's Why They Pay Me The Big Bucks

During football and basketball seasons, my old crew and I from UT shoot emails about what's happening. I was cleaning out my Inbox tonight when I ran across this gem.

First, you have to check out this link and see where Texas ended up and who it matched up with in the Sweet 16.

Next, you need to read my email from March of 2007 after the 'Horns were shellacked by USC.

Oh, what to say...I know most of you guys will shoot me down as a pessimist. But before you do, just let my arguments ruminate a little bit.

Augustin needs a little more seasoning. I wonder if he was just spent playing 30 minutes a game at the pace of college ball. He kinda went all White Chocolate Jason Williams on us the last few games.

Abrams never met a shot he didn't like. Like Antoine Walker, only shorter and a little more handsome.

We don't have a legitimate big man who can dominate inside and make opponents respect the middle.

Our youth really, really killed us on Saturday. Thankfully, they'll get better with time. However, I'm not sure that Rick Barnes is the man that can take us to the next level. Sure we went to the final four back in 2003, but that team was loaded.

Mack Brown recruited well enough to put the pieces around Vince Young to the point where even he and Greg Davis couldn't screw up winning a national champtionship. The Longhorn men went basically seven deep this year with the starting five being four fish and a sophomore. Even freaking Duke was deeper than we were! And they were bounced in the first round.

So let's be real for a moment. We should all know what we're getting from a Rick Barnes-coached team at this point.
1. We cannot defend the 3-pointer, even if we play the 2-3 zone.
2. We turn the ball over too much. DJ Augustin only had a 2:1 assist:turnover ratio. Mike Conley Jr, a fellow frosh at Ohio State had a 3:1 ratio.
3. We are never blowout proof. This was something raised on ESPN this year that really caught my eye. Take a look at A&M, UCLA and other programs that were higher-seeded than us. They never got wupped.
4. Especially in our losses, we don't get to the free throw line. We only had 16 attempts against USC. Unacceptable! We only had 9 FTA against Kansas on 3/3. And when we do get to the line, although this year was slightly anomolous, we can't knock 'em down.
Just take a look at our boxscore from K-State and you'll see points 1,2 & 4.

So even if Durant stays around, which he'd be a fool to do, we won't scratch the potential of what this team could do. Sure we'd make the Sweet 16 next year, but would we really make much noise beyond that? I don't think so. If it gets a favorable draw it could even make the Elite 8, but I think the Final Four is too much to ask from Rick Barnes. One of the Sports Guy's readers likened him to Art Shell, just standing there with a blank expression on his face while the game goes on without him. He doesn't seem to have that much fire.

And maybe I'm just bitter because it could've been so much better. I had them getting by UNC but losing to Georgetown in my bracket. But if you listen to what I'm saying and think back all these years that we've had Barnes, I think you'll see that there ain't much more than we're getting from the guy. I don't care if he landed Durant AND Oden. We still wouldn't have made the Final Four.

I know I got a little carried away with that last statement, but MAN IT'S GREAT TO BE RIGHT!