2010-11 NCAA Basketball Predictions: Texas
November 22, 2010
The Texas Longhorns started 17-0 last season and made it up to the No. 1 rating for the first time in school history. Many expected them to make a Final Four run, especially with future NBA prospects in Avery Bradley, Damion James and Dexter Pittman. But over the next couple months, Texas would complete the season with a 7-10 record while getting knocked out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Wake Forest. Head coach Rick Barnes believes the way they concluded last year was due to a lack of team chemistry. Barnes found that there were too many strong personalities on last year’s squad, and not enough leadership. The Longhorns will be looking for quite a few players to improve this year to supply that leadership. It would be guards Varez Ward or Dogus Balbay. Senior forward Gary Johnson could step to the forefront, and even perhaps freshman five-star recruit Cory Joseph may be the answer. Either way, Texas needs to get back to playing team basketball after a unacceptable year to say the least.
You will find the Longhorns at +300 to win the league this year. In my eyes, there isn’t much value in them taking home the Big 12 championship. This has the looks of a rebuilding season for Texas. BetUS has these college basketball spreads posted, so if you want to bet on which team will win the conference then sign up for a new account with them. Deposit $500 or more and they’ll reward you with $500 free money to get you started.
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Frontcourt:
The Longhorns may not be big this year, with two forwards and three guards on the floor the majority of the time. Gary Johnson should be their top player in the post after putting up 9.4 PPG and 5.6 RPG last season. He’ll be joined by five-star recruit Tristan Thompson, who was Cory Joseph’s teammate at Findlay Prep in Nevada. But Texas will have make up the points lost from leading scorer in Damion James, who also finished as the Big 12’s all-time leading rebounder. Dexter Pittman will also be missed after being drafted No. 32 overall by the Miami Heat. The Longhorns do have some experience that will provide depth in the frontcourt. It will come from seniors Matt Hill and Clint Chapman along with junior Alexis Wangmene.
Backcourt:
Guard play will likely settle how Texas fares this year. Cory Joseph must gel with offensive-minded shooting guards in J’Covan Brown and Jordan Hamilton. Brown posted 9.6 PPG last season but shot just 35.4 percent from the field, while Hamilton is the team’s leading scorer back at 10.0 PPG. Barnes is very big on both players with what they’ve done in the offseason to improve their games entering their sophomore years. Ward and Balbay are both healing from injuries that required surgery, and each is able to provide leadership and defensive toughness, two traits that are very important to the Longhorns success this year. Hamilton, Brown and Joseph figure to be the team’s primary scorers, and Texas could get some scoring from Shawn Williams as well. He is coming back from an ankle injury that took him out of the remainder of the year just seven games into their 2010-11 campaign. At 6’6”, he can get a shot whenever he wants and is a potentially deadly 3-point shooter.
Jack’s Pick: 5th Place in the Big 12 – Barnes said last season was the worst coaching job of his life. He had a team full of offensive talent, but advocated defense and rebounding so much down the wire that his team could lost their rhythm offensively. He will always be defense and rebounding first, but this season he must find a way to replace three of their top four scorers from last season. If Joseph can master the ball screen offense that Barnes likes to run, then it could be a remarkable season in Texas after back-to-back middle-of-the-pack finishes in the Big 12.
