Texas on upset alert!!!!!

[Welcome2DaSlopes]

Texas is losing by double digits right now against #9 ranked Kansas st.

[moonpie23]

rick barnes with the # 1 team in the nation....sheesh...what's next?

[dukemsu]

rick barnes with the # 1 team in the nation....sheesh...what's next?

Judging by the looks of things, John Calipari with the #1 team in the nation.

And with UK's schedule, they may be there for a good long while.

dukemsu

[weezie]

Fine. Fat, happy and greasy wildcats, all ready for their spanking.

[diveonthefloor]

(KState is also known as the Wildcats, but the previous post obviously meant Kentucky)....

That being said, although this game may seem like an upset were KState to win, I wouldn't classify it as an upset. KState is really good, and winning on the road in conference is always a chore (even in the Big 12!)

[dukemsu]

UT is just killing themselves from the foul line.

dukemsu

[mapei]

dumb play that time, but K St is going to win anyway -

[dukemsu]

The General letting his affection for Mr. Barnes show a bit here.

dukemsu

[mapei]

I think he has been very fair and insightful.

[dukemsu]

James has made some horrible decisions with the ball down the stretch.

dukemsu

[Wander]

That being said, although this game may seem like an upset were KState to win, I wouldn't classify it as an upset. KState is really good, and winning on the road in conference is always a chore (even in the Big 12!)

I think Kansas State was actually favored by a point or two in this game.

James is kinda like the Kyle Singler of Texas in that he's a really fantastic player, but sometimes has questionable shot selection when playing on the wing instead of power forward.

[tbyers11]

Both teams are playing pretty well defensively, but both teams offensive shot selection is ludicrously bad. Texas' lack of a definitive point guard (Barnes can't seem to decide between Balbay, Jai Lucas or J'Covan Brown) could really hurt them as the season goes on. Jeez, and neither one can hit any FTs either. I know KState likes to "ugly" the game up but this is pretty hideous.

[moonpie23]

Fine. Fat, happy and greasy wildcats, all ready for their spanking.


one can only hope....

[dukemsu]

Mr. Calipari, Mr. Wall, and Mr. Bledsoe are on deck at #1.

dukemsu

[Welcome2DaSlopes]

K st. keeps missing their ft but Texas doesn't capitolize on those so that's why K st is going to come away with the W

[Welcome2DaSlopes]

Mr. Calipari, Mr. Wall, and Mr. Bledsoe are on deck at #1.

dukemsu

Nope let's hope they lose this week.

[FireOgilvie]

Horrible stuff from both teams at the end of the game. Neither team can hit a FT and KSU is trying to give Texas every chance to get back in it.

[dukemsu]

Texas has completely lost their composure. To lose a game is one thing, but the wheels came off in the last ten minutes.

dukemsu

[dukemsu]

I don't know much about the KSU coach, but the dude looks absolutely unhinged, and he's winning.

dukemsu

[CMARTZ]

Where is Pittman?

[Cameron]

Not really an upset. Behind Denis Clemente's 44 points, K-State took down this Texas club a year ago, during a season when the Wildcats were an NIT team. That was an upset.

This K-State team is loaded with talent. Between Clemente (and we all know Clemente's lethal talent from his time in Coral Gables) and Jacob Pullen, who are both all-Big 12 talents, and the addition of freshman Rodney McGruder, the Wildcats have a backcourt that can matchup with just about anyone in the country. Clemente and Pullen can each go for 30 on any given night.

This K-State team is about to move up in the rankings if all goes planned the rest of the week, and it's already No. 9. We are looking at a club that, if it can learn to settle down and play smart for two full halves, can challenge for a Final Four.

I bet Miami misses Denis just a bit.

[verga]

K State 71 Tx. 62

[mapei]

Beating the #1 team is generally considered an upset, and it will certainly be reported that way. I pretty much hate the TX fan base, so that's fine with me.

[gep]

Beating the #1 team is generally considered an upset, and it will certainly be reported that way.

Isn't it that unless you're in the top-4 (or so), beating #1 *is* an upset...:rolleyes:

[Cameron]

Beating the #1 team is generally considered an upset, and it will certainly be reported that way. I pretty much hate the TX fan base, so that's fine with me.

Yeah, that's true.

But K-State is definitely an elite team this season. I really love their team. Hated them with Walker and Beasley, but they're much less "thuggish" now. This is just a solid basketball team that can outwork you.

And who doesn't love the atmosphere that was present in Manhattan tonight? That's about as close as I've heard any gym to Cameron in a long time. Certainly no Cameron, but it was a thrilling and raucous environment tonight.

[ChicagoCrazy84]

Good job Kansas St. I had a feeling they would take care of business at home tonight. Texas had a bad game and I think in general this was an ugly game, but K State out-uglied them. :D

[Neals384]

Credit the fans for not rushing the court. They behaved as if they expected to win.

[A-Tex Devil]

Texas = Memphis '07-'08 with that horrid free throw shooting. And if you can force them to play half court, they will struggle until they learn to run an offense.

Still they beat UNC, Pitt, and MIch St. with **relative** ease. There is a definite gameplan around them now, and unless Barnes can teach these guys to adjust they will lose 3-4 more come tourney time. Bleh..

And we are complaining about the rough play in the ACC while K-State may set a record for most fouls committed. It's typical Huggins ball and not pretty to watch. It's effective when a team can't hit the broad side of the barn like Texas tonight, but it's part of what is wrong with college basketball right now.

And before you get on me about how Barnes coached at Clemson, the brand of ball played at Texas is much different than what was at Clemson.

[A-Tex Devil]

Credit the fans for not rushing the court. They behaved as if they expected to win.

Actually, they had a huge "Don't rush the court" chant. FIrst time I'd heard that, and it's actually a great idea.

[zingit]

I don't know much about the KSU coach, but the dude looks absolutely unhinged, and he's winning.

dukemsu

Ha, I had that same thought. He looked angry . . . for no reason.

[Baxter the Lab]

Credit the fans for not rushing the court. They behaved as if they expected to win.

But they resorted to the ol "Overrated" chant.

I've never understood why fans diminish their own win by doing that...

[DukieInKansas]

Every man a Wildcat! :D

[elvis14]

Loved the good old fashioned "overrated" chant, shame they didn't rush the court that would have been fun to watch.

[DCDeac]

with KSU coach. I know he is from the Bob Huggins' School of Coaching...but not even Huggins looks that maniacal.

KSU had a great win and a great crowd last night...but part of me feels that those positive things are lost due to the behavior of their coach. I can't recall someone who looked so close to spontaneous combustion in a long time. The number of times he screamed "Mother F'er" at his players was too many to keep track of. He also slammed a water bottle down at the feet of his players during a time out while completely undressing and embarrassing a player who had made a defensive mistake. Of course, that "Winner" Doug Gotlteib tried to defend him on SCenter today, which was almost as embarrassing as Martin's behavior. It's been discussed on these boards many a time, but Gottleib just doesn't get it.

After the game at his press conference, Martin appeared calm and quite "normal" - either this guy has serious anger issues or he puts on quite the act. Def disturbing to see this...even though Dino "The Dinosaur" Gaudio can be overly demonstrative, this was hard to stomach.

[Neals384]

Actually, they had a huge "Don't rush the court" chant. FIrst time I'd heard that, and it's actually a great idea.

Ha ha, the deal in our house is, I can watch as much basketball as I like, but unless it's a Duke game, the mute button is on (so SHE can listen to the radio). So I didn't hear the chant.

If Bobby is commenting, I use the captioning to pick up his comments, otherwise, I think I'm not missing much.

Neal

[A-Tex Devil]

Ha ha, the deal in our house is, I can watch as much basketball as I like, but unless it's a Duke game, the mute button is on (so SHE can listen to the radio). So I didn't hear the chant.

If Bobby is commenting, I use the captioning to pick up his comments, otherwise, I think I'm not missing much.

Neal

Speaking of Bobby, he was awful last night. He was often a play behind, complained about what "he" would be doing, and seemed to openly be rooting for a K-State upset. I got the impression maybe he didn't like Texas stemming from when he was at Tech, but maybe I'm paranoid. At one point he said "Texas post men have a history of pushing off in the paint." Whaaa?!? More than any other random school?

K-State had a tremendous crowd and I like the way they have their students all around the court. They are losing a TON of seating with those wide aisles, though. They were like ski slopes. I could have driven a car down those aisles. :D

[CDu]

Speaking of Bobby, he was awful last night. He was often a play behind, complained about what "he" would be doing, and seemed to openly be rooting for a K-State upset. I got the impression maybe he didn't like Texas stemming from when he was at Tech, but maybe I'm paranoid. At one point he said "Texas post men have a history of pushing off in the paint." Whaaa?!? More than any other random school?

Yeah, there are definitely some downsides to Bobby Knight's efforts as a commentator. Most notably:

1. He has virtually no ability to remain unbiased. I've noticed that he tends to be a bit too pro-Duke (which doesn't really bother me :)). And he pretty clearly had a chip on his shoulder regarding Texas.
2. He almost never engages the discussion promoted by the announcer. A good commentator should provide insightful commentary about the game and be able to address specific points/questions raised by the announcer. Knight does very well most of the time with the former, but fails miserably at the latter. It's like he has the announcer on mute most of the time.

As for the game itself, I wasn't terribly impressed with Texas. I mean, they're good, but I don't know if they're THAT good. Obviously, they were playing a very good team on the road, so some of these flaws are merely evidence of KSU doing what they do right as opposed to UT doing things wrong. They have some flaws, for sure.

- Pittman seems to have reverted back to last year. Since conference play started (four games), he's averaging 5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game with game highs of 6 points and 8 rebounds. He was just nonexistent for most of the game.
- James appears to again be their best player, but he doesn't seem to make great decisions with the ball at all. Poor shot selection and turnover-prone.
- They are very physical, and they play aggressive defense on the perimeter. But they seem to have no offensive gameplan whatsoever.

I don't get the sense that this team is really significantly better than us. They are deeper in the backcourt, with five undersized guards that can harass us on the perimeter. But unless James can dominate against Thomas/Mason, I actually give our frontcourt an edge.

I feel like a game against UT would come down to how well our big three can handle aggressive perimeter defense and how well Thomas and Mason can match up with James.

[jv001]

Yeah, there are definitely some downsides to Bobby Knight's efforts as a commentator. Most notably:

1. He has virtually no ability to remain unbiased. I've noticed that he tends to be a bit too pro-Duke (which doesn't really bother me :)). And he pretty clearly had a chip on his shoulder regarding Texas.
2. He almost never engages the discussion promoted by the announcer. A good commentator should provide insightful commentary about the game and be able to address specific points/questions raised by the announcer. Knight does very well most of the time with the former, but fails miserably at the latter. It's like he has the announcer on mute most of the time.

As for the game itself, I wasn't terribly impressed with Texas. I mean, they're good, but I don't know if they're THAT good. Obviously, they were playing a very good team on the road, so some of these flaws are merely evidence of KSU doing what they do right as opposed to UT doing things wrong. They have some flaws, for sure.

- Pittman seems to have reverted back to last year. Since conference play started (four games), he's averaging 5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game with game highs of 6 points and 8 rebounds. He was just nonexistent for most of the game.
- James appears to again be their best player, but he doesn't seem to make great decisions with the ball at all. Poor shot selection and turnover-prone.
- They are very physical, and they play aggressive defense on the perimeter. But they seem to have no offensive gameplan whatsoever.

I don't get the sense that this team is really significantly better than us. They are deeper in the backcourt, with five undersized guards that can harass us on the perimeter. But unless James can dominate against Thomas/Mason, I actually give our frontcourt an edge.

I feel like a game against UT would come down to how well our big three can handle aggressive perimeter defense and how well Thomas and Mason can match up with James.

Yes and I like Coach K over Coach Barnes to make the adjustments during the game that would give us the victory. Go Duke!

[A-Tex Devil]

But they seem to have no offensive gameplan whatsoever.


This is where we can beat Texas. For those complaining about K's short line up. Texas is the epitome of a team that has more pieces than it has places to put them. Because there are so many good players, Barnes' hook is too quick, and Texas doesn't have a "go-to" lineup, much less a "go-to" player (although that person is likely James). Players play scared to mess up because unless they are Damien James or Doge, they will get the immediate hook.

I think Duke can really harass Texas on D, but they have to stay in front of Balbay (which shouldn't be hard to do if you back off of him since he's a worse shooter than Doug Gottleib). We could also beat Texas just by shooting more free-throws. The free throw shooting of Texas' guards is almost unbelievable.

UT's going through a little growing pains now that the meat of their schedule has started. They are at UCONN this week. Jim Calhoun's medical problems aside, UCONN is better than when we played them, so it will be interesting to see how that comes out.

My take on UT is that they will continue to struggle until Justin Mason is benched permanently for Avery Bradley, and Avery Bradley is allowed to have the ball in his hands more to get shots. Look at all the big wins -- he's played well and shot the ball ALOT. That may be on him some for not being aggressive enough, but the kid is money. Dexter will be alright. He is struggling because the other players aren't hitting their shots. If Texas can muster up any kind of perimeter game, that sagging man to man will stop, and Dexter will have more looks.