40 Acres Sports

The Texas Longhorn baseball team got a much needed series win against [tag]Texas Tech[/tag] over the weekend. Tech managed to sandwich a 4-2 win on Saturday in between Longhorn wins on Friday and Sunday. The series win couldn’t have come at a better time. The Longhorns sit at 4-5 in the Big 12 with a brutal schedule, starting with [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag] next weekend. Texas has yet to win a conference game on the road and they’re sure to face Oklahoma State’s Andrew Oliver in the series opener.

[tag]Chance Ruffin[/tag] got the win on Friday after giving up 4 in 6.2 innings of work. Ruffin moved to 4-2 on the season on a night he didn’t have his best stuff, but was able to command the strike zone. The Longhorn ace threw 98 pitches on the night and 71 counted as strikes. Closer [tag] ustin Wood[/tag] came in with a one run lead in the top of the seventh to shut the door.

Texas only scored in two innings, but they made both of them count. The Longhorns scored five in the bottom of the third after Tech took the lead in the top half of the inning by scoring two. Texas also managed four runs in the bottom of the seventh to put the game away.

Both the Longhorns and Red Raiders recorded 11 hits, but it was the five Tech errors that were the difference.

The Longhorn bats went quiet in the second game. Texas has struggled at the plate, especially with runners in scoring position, all season and it continues to be what is holding this team back. Texas got off to a good start, scoring two runs in the first, but could manage nothing after that.

[tag]Brandon Workman[/tag] had a tough outing and fell to 3-2. He gave up four runs in just four innings of work. [tag]Keith Shinaberry[/tag] and [tag]Taylor Jungmann[/tag] combined to shut out Red Raiders for the rest of the game. Texas never got a rally going however and Tech took the victory.

The Sunday game was about as much of a must win as a top 15 ranked team can have this early in conference play. After propelling the first in the polls after a series win over [tag]Stanford[/tag], which in hindsight isn’t that impressive because the Cardinal are falling apart, Texas has struggled to say the least. And with the schedule getting much tougher coming up Texas couldn’t lose another series to a bottom tier conference foe.

In the first real pressure situation of the year the Longhorns came through. Texas’ bats woke up by scoring in the first five innings. [tag]Cole Green[/tag] only went 4.2 innings so he didn’t get the win, but he was superb only giving up one run. [tag]Austin Wood[/tag] finished the second game of the series.

The top of the lineup played as well as they had all season, but 1-9 this team is still struggling. The move to get [tag]Michael Torres[/tag] to third base and Brandon Loy to shortstop appears to be sticking. It really comes down to Loy’s bat because there is no question the defense will benefit from having him there. If Loy can get on base [tag]Augie Garrido[/tag] can keep him there, but if he can’t Texas may not be able to afford having any more holes in the lineup.

This next weekend is very important for Texas. The last time this team was on the road they got swept by Kansas. The Jayhawks aren’t as bad as some thought, but the Cowboys are better. Texas already faced one of the aces in the conference when they took on Kyle Gibson and Missouri. The Longhorns were shut down that game and Oliver has that kind of talent. If Texas can win this series it will make up for the Kansas sweep because no team is running away with the conference lead, but if OSU takes two or all three of the games the Longhorns will have a huge hill to climb to get to the top of the conference.

Texas will enter the 2009 season with national yitle hopes after a stellar 2008 campaign. In fact, [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] was pointing towards 2009 last offseason as the team he was looking forward to taking to his second title. Even with the anticipated success there are a few question marks on the field.

1. Will the offensive line play get better?

Texas struggled to run the ball late in games all of last year. Mack Brown wants that to change. So much so that all accounts point to the team spending most of the spring figuring out what needs to change. Outsiders point to scheme, but this is the same scheme that allowed [tag]Vince Young[/tag], Selvin Young, and Jamaal Charles to rack up tons of yards in 2005. The difference is Kasey Studdard, Jonathan Scott, and Justin Blalock won’t be in the starting lineup. The big guys up front have been good, but not great, and with most of them now in their third and fourth year in the program there are no more excuses. Texas’ offensive lineman must play stronger at the point of attack for this offense to be as balanced as Brown wants it to be. The Longhorns may not have a true game breaker in the backfield, but they’re good enough to do damage if given the holes. If Texas can get a running game going the offense could be the best ever at Texas. Guys like [tag]Charlie Tanner[/tag], [tag]Michael Huey[/tag], and [tag]Kyle Hix[/tag] need to step up and be as dominant as most think they can be.

2. Who is going to step up at running back?

For most of the spring [tag]Cody Johnson[/tag] was running with the first team. Texas is looking to go under center more this year, and Johnson is clearly the best downhill runner on the roster, at least until [tag]Chris Whaley[/tag] reports. Unfortunately, Johnson got hurt and will miss the spring game on Sunday. The door could be no more wide open for the likes of [tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag], [tag]Foswhitt Whittaker[/tag], [tag]Tre Newton[/tag], and [tag]Jeremy Hills[/tag]. The staff knows what they have in McGee and Whittaker. McGee is explosive and a hard runner, but doesn’t offer the receiving and/or blocking skills position coach Major Applewhite stresses in his players. A lot of people feel like the staff wants Whittaker to be the guy because of his skill set, but the little guy just can’t stay healthy. There hasn’t been a huge buzz around Hills or Newton but an eye opening spring game could set them up for playing time in the fall. The fact is somebody needs to step up because the running game is the only thing holding this offense back.

3. Who will get to the quarterback?

We all know [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag] will be on one side, but who will be the other defensive end? Texas feels like Kindle will replace the production provided by soon to be multi-millionaire [tag]Brian Orakpo[/tag], but who will replace Kindle’s? Right now it looks like [tag]Sam Acho[/tag] will get the start with [tag]Eddie Jones[/tag] and maybe even freshman [tag]Alex Okafor[/tag] getting looks on pure rushing situations. Defensive coordinator [tag]Will Muschamp[/tag] has Acho’s brother Emmanuel working at the buck end position along with starting inside linebacker [tag]Jared Norton[/tag]. More than likely it won’t matter who is on the field, Muschamp won’t allow the defense not to get pressure. How much will Texas show in the spring game is a question that can’t be answered, but with a secondary that returns all but one contributor it is likely that Muschamp will unleash the hounds this year. The question is will he apply pressure because of his personnel like last year, or will he have to do it with scheme.

4. Who’ll play in the nickel formation?

For all intents and purposes the Longhorn defense is a 4-2-5. Texas says their base is a three linebacker set, but with the offenses they face in the Big 12 more times than not five defensive backs on the field. Going into the spring there were grumblings about the perceived battle between returning starter [tag]Blake Gideon[/tag] and the message board deity [tag]Christian Scott[/tag] and who will get the snaps, but it looks like Muschamp has found an answer, and that answer is both. The speed and versatility of [tag]Earl Thomas[/tag] has allowed Muschamp to play him in the slot while keeping the brains of Gideon on the field while not sacrificing the athletic gifts of Scott. The cornerback situation appears to have already settled despite what anybody says. Right now [tag]Chykie Brown[/tag] and [tag]Aaron Williams[/tag] are locked in as the starters with [tag]Curtis Brown[/tag] and [tag]Deon Beasley[/tag] backing up. In the past it has been hard for underclassman to jump over guys with more experience but it looks like the talent of Williams is too much to overlook. The true sophomore to be has a chance to be one of the best defensive backs to come through the 40 acres if what the staff thinks about him is true. The whole formation depends on how Thomas does in the slot. If he can stay there, Texas can have three safeties on the field.

5. Who will step up and lead?

We know who the likely candidates are on offense. [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag], [tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag], and [tag]Adam Ulatoski[/tag] would figure to take charge on that side of the ball. All three levels of the defense will lose the guy most pegged as their emotional leader. The defensive line lost [tag]Roy Miller[/tag] and Brian Orakpo, the linebackers lost Rashad Bobino, and the defensive backs lost Ryan Palmer. If last year’s team taught us anything it is that leadership or the lack there of can never be overlooked. If you need any other evidence take a look at the Cowboys. From a talent perspective Kindle and [tag]Roddrick Muckelroy[/tag] would lead the charge, but both of those guys are quiet and low key by nature. [tag]Lamarr Houston[/tag] has been said to be taking charge in the front seven and Thomas has it locked in the secondary. The team keeping the momentum and mentality of last year will ultimately decide if all the goals are met this season.

The Texas Longhorn baseball team got swept by an average Kansas Jayhawk team to fall to 2-4 in conference. The Longhorns have now lost four straight and five of their last seven after a series win against [tag]Stanford[/tag] propelled them to number one in the nation.

The Texas bats once again failed to come through. The Longhorn pitching staff has yet to give up more than six runs in a game. Conversely the Texas offense has only recorded over six runs one time in the last 12 games. For the few series of the season the pitching staff dominance was enough to carry the team to victory, but since conference play has began it simply hasn’t been enough.

Both the starters and the bullpen had a solid weekend. Texas gave up five runs in the first game and four runs in the next two. In college baseball, remember the bats are metal, five runs shouldn’t win you many games.

Texas has failed to come through with runners in scoring position all year. [tag]Augie Garrido[/tag] believes in the sacrifice bunt. That is a fact, a fact that Texas baseball fans just need to swallow and get over. It will not change. The man is the all time leading college baseball coach in team wins. He has won titles at two schools, with two completely different budgets. Again, he is not going to change. As long as he is the coach the Longhorns will scrap to get on base, move people over, and count on clutch hitting, good defense, and solid starting pitching.

Unfortunately the bats are not coming through, and when you give up outs to move people along each at bat is magnified. And right now there are too many blemishes in the current lineup to play with less than 27 outs.

But Augie ain’t changing.

Because of that this team will go as far as the pitching staff can carry them until the bats wake up. If they ever do. The good news is Texas will enter every series, except maybe with [tag]Baylor[/tag], with the best overall pitching staff. The problem is that teams like Baylor, [tag]Missouri[/tag], [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag], and possibly Texas A&M have a number one starter that is better than [tag]Chance Ruffin[/tag]. If opposing teams can take the first game it turns every series into a must sweep on the weekend. This already happen with Missouri.

Texas has the bats in the lineup and on the bench to compete with any team in the nation. The question is not one of talent. Right now it doesn’t look like the bats fit the get them on, move them over, bring them in strategy of Longhorn baseball.

Augie ain’t going to change. Will the bats?

Dogus Balbay loses the ball to a Duke defender. (TexasSports.com)

A few missed free throws, a couple of missed rebounds, at least two awful foul calls and Texas’ 2009 basketball season came to an end.

After a good showing and victory over [tag]Minnesota[/tag], Texas faced [tag]Duke[/tag] in the second round. Duke has owned Texas since [tag]Rick Barnes[/tag] has been on campus winning games by over 20 points three times. On Saturday night in the second round of March Madness Texas at least made a game of it.

[tag]Dexter Pittman[/tag] continued to be unstoppable in the paint. In tournament play (Big 12 and NCAA) Big Dex has taken his game to another level. Big guys that demand the paint are a dying breed in basketball, especially at the college level, and with one year left in college the Texas staff and fans should be excited about the return of what could be the most dominate low post presence in the nation next year.

Another bright spot in the first two rounds of the tournament was the play of freshman point guard [tag]Varez Ward[/tag]. Texas has struggled at the point guard position all year, mostly because all of their players who have the ball handling skills to play the 1 do not possess the scoring skills to make opposing defense’s respect them on the perimeter. Ward does not have a great shot, but unlike [tag]Dogus Balbay[/tag], Ward isn’t afraid to shoot it on occasion. Ward may have replaced [tag]Justin Mason[/tag] as the best on ball perimeter defender on the team, and he attacks the basket and makes good decisions. With the loss of [tag]AJ Abrams[/tag] to eligibility Ward will be huge even with the talented freshman class coming in.

Speaking of Abrams, the Texas fan base will have no idea how much he meant to this team until he is no longer on campus. There have been message board rumblings that Texas would be better off without the sharp shooter from McNeil high school. All Abrams was for Texas was the best perimeter shooter in school history. It is amazing that on a team that struggled to score so much for most of the season that the one guy who could score at will was taken for granted so much. When AJ was making shots this team could beat anyone in the nation, when the other Longhorns on the floor were so inept that opposing defenses could shadow Abrams every time down the floor and he was taken out of games, Texas would go long stretches with no points. Thank you AJ. I needed to say that.

It was an on and off season for [tag]Damion James[/tag] and [tag]Gary Johnson[/tag] and the two rounds of the NCAA tournament was a perfect microcosm of their season. James was Jekyll and Hyde, sometimes in the same possession, so much so that there is talk around campus that he may come back for his senior season. It was expected all year that James was a sure fire lottery pick because of the lack of top flight talent in this draft class. However, James hasn’t adjusted the perimeter game as easy as some thought, and he may need another year to prove he can be a small forward.

Johnson on the other hand struggled down the stretch. In the mid part of the season it looked like the former Mr. Texas would emerge as the number three scoring option for this team. Instead, the sophomore fell in love with his mid range jump shot. It will be important for this team to get Johnson’s aggressiveness up in the offseason. A front court of Pittman, Johnson, and prep star [tag]Jordan Hamilton[/tag] could be the best in the nation if Johnson can demand attention at the power forward position. He isn’t as good of a rebounder as he should be, and that should be a number one priority in the off season.

In the end the game was lost because of free throw shooting. Texas had every opportunity to win the game against Duke, and while some will blame the referees and some will blame the coaches, it really came down to wasting points at the charity stripe. Coming into the season many felt it would be this team’s Achilles heel, and in the end it was.

The Longhorns performed well though, in a game most gave them no chance of winning. Most fans will look at this season as a disappointment, but the 2009 team went further than Kevin Durant’s squad did. People must remember that this team and offense was built for a scoring point guard to dominate the ball and set up the other talent on the floor. That plan went out the window when [tag]DJ Augustin[/tag] went to the NBA after his sophomore season. This is the same team, minus Augustin, that went to the Elite 8 and was given a two seed in the tournament.

College basketball is a guard dominated game. A point guard dominated game. Texas came up short on that all year, and they weren’t good enough at three point shooting and/or rebounding and defense to make up for their personnel deficiencies.

Chance Ruffin threw a complete game in a 6-2 win over Stanford. (TexasSports.com)

The Texas Longhorns dropped their first game of the season over the weekend, but managed to take the series in Palo Alto over [tag]Stanford[/tag] two games to one.

The series win moved Texas to No. 1 in the new Baseball America poll. Right now three of the top five teams in the nation come from the Big 12 South and five of the top 12 teams come from the state of Texas.

Pitching continues to be the anchor for this year’s team. The Longhorns have five legitimate weekend starters with only three slots open. Through 13 games Texas sits at 12-1 with a team ERA of 1.35. Each starter is capable of going seven innings plus, and with closer Austin Wood manning the back end of tight games the Texas bullpen has been untested thus far. [tag]Chance Ruffin[/tag] is the ace and will get Friday starts, it looks like [tag]Brandon Workman[/tag] and [tag]Cole Green[/tag] will get the Saturday and Sunday nods with [tag]Taylor Jungmann[/tag] starting the mid-week games and playing the role of long reliever on the weekend. Jungmann would be the Friday starter on the majority of college baseball teams.

Texas is also receiving great play from their defense. Errors were the Achilles’ heel of last year’s ball club, and so far the work the team put into the offseason has paid off in spades. With the pitching staff on such a role it is imperative opponents aren’t given free base runners because of poor plays in the field. Outside of [tag]David Hernandez[/tag] who has seven errors, no one on Texas’ team has more than one. Texas is fielding .978 as a team.

The weak link so far has been at the plate. Texas is only hitting .296 with five homeruns through 13 games. Texas is going old school with their approach at the plate. The Longhorns will look to manufacture runs throughout the season because the lineup just doesn’t have anybody who is going to strike fear in opponent’s hearts. Hernandez has struggled in the field of late, but is leading the team in hitting at .395. Texas has only four other batters hitting over .300 and no UT batters have double digit RBIs.

Luckily it is early in the year and the pitching staff has not yet needed much run support. When Texas was winning championships it was behind stellar starting pitcher, shutdown bullpen work, good play in the field, and timely hitting. The Longhorns have never been confused with the mash brothers with Augie Garrido at the helm.

Texas faces [tag]Baylor[/tag] in an out of conference matchup on Wednesday March 11th before hosting [tag]Missouri[/tag] and top pitching prospect Kyle Gibson to start the Big 12 season this coming up weekend.

Dexter Pittman dunks against the KU defense. (AP)

The Texas Longhorns men’s basketball team finished the season with a win over [tag]Baylor[/tag] and a second half meltdown loss against [tag]Kansas[/tag]. Texas finished the 2009 regular season 20-10 (9-7 in conference), good enough for fifth place in the Big 12. Rick Barnes’ squad will take on [tag]Colorado[/tag] Wednesday in the Big 12 tournament.

Most experts feel UT locked up a March Madness berth by beating Baylor and earning their 20th win of the season. Texas holds wins over UCLA, Villanova, Wisconsin, and [tag]Oklahoma[/tag]. Out of Texas’ 10 losses only the ones to Arkansas (who also beat Oklahoma), Nebraska, and Kansas State can be considered “bad” losses.

Texas may not need to win Wednesday over the Buffaloes to make the dance, but a loss would most likely result in an 8/9 seed. Beggars can’t be choosers, and right now the Longhorns probably just want to get to the tournament and see what happens, but an 8/9 seed would set up a potential second round matchup with the number one seed of their bracket. That is assuming the Horns get past their first round opponent, which is no given this year.

If Texas can make a nice run in the tournament they have a chance to creep up to a 6 seed. Texas would likely need to beat Colorado, beat Kansas State in the second round then have a good showing in the semifinals. A 6 seed would set up a matchup with a 10 seed and set up a second round matchup with a team ranked no better than a three seed in their bracket.

Texas has the ability to play with any team in the country. In the first half against Kansas on Saturday the Longhorns proved that. When [tag]Damion James[/tag] is attacking the basket and making jump shots, and new point guard [tag]Dogus Balbay[/tag] is getting into the lane Texas is very dangerous.

The problem is this team has had a very hard time sustaining a team effort for 40 minutes. The Longhorns fell apart offensively down the stretch against Kansas and the defense couldn’t hold up to the pressure. If teams keep Balbay out of the lane and James and even [tag]Gary Johnson[/tag] stop hitting their mid-range jump shots teams are able to focus all of their defensive energy on taking away sharp shooting [tag]AJ Abrams[/tag] and clogging the lane.

Kansas moved into a form of box and one to take away Abrams and completely shut down the lane and Texas had no answer. The Longhorns have been prone to long droughts between points and against the type of teams they will face in the national tournament teams can’t afford to do that.

Anything can happen in March, which has been proven year after year. Texas does have a few of the ingredients needed for an unlikely tournament run. They play great defense, they have a deep front court, and they have a guy who can make four or five three pointers in a row.

March Madness is a guard dominated tournament. And that is where the problem lies for this year’s Longhorns. Texas has a guard who can shoot. Texas has a guard that can defend. Texas even has a guard who can break down a defense off the dribble and get to the bucket. Unfortunately they need three different small guards on the court to have all of them on the floor at the same time.

Texas has their work cut out for them, and they enter this post season in a different role than they’re used to the past few years. It will be interesting to see how the team reacts. There is no doubt Rick Barnes can recruit with the best coaches in the nation. Now it is time to prove he can elevate a team to achieve more than their talent should suggest.

Brandon Workman celebrates after throwing the 27th no-hitter in Texas history. (TexasSports.com)

Brandon Workman’s no-hitter on Sunday put an exclamation mark on Texas baseball’s second weekend sweep in a row to start the season. The Longhorn starting pitching was dominant again, all four starters went at least six innings and none of them gave up more than two runs.

Closer [tag]Austin Wood[/tag] backed up the starters with excellent work of his own.

Texas won Friday 9-2, took the double header 6-2 (in seven innings) and 1-0, before the 9-0 victory on Sunday afternoon. The sweep makes the Longhorns 9-0 on the young season.

While the pitching was phenomenal, the play in the field wasn’t far behind. Texas struggled with errors last season and many thought the new field turf would take getting used to, but so far so good on the adjustment. Texas committed only one error coming into the series with [tag]Penn State[/tag]. It is easy to point at the pitching as the difference in the series with Penn State, but the errors had a lot to do with the dominance. Texas only committed two errors in the windy four game series while the Nittany Lions committed four in Friday’s game alone.

Offensively Texas didn’t have to do much but were opportunistic at the plate. Penn State errors due to the wind allowed the Longhorn hitters to turn small innings into big ones. Texas used two big 7th innings in the series to blow out Penn State.

Texas will not rely on power, but this team is better than the last few years at moving people over and being smart on the base paths. More than a few times Longhorn hitters gained an extra base on a throw or passed ball that lesser teams would have passed on.
Texas coach [tag]Augie Garrido[/tag] stresses pitching, defense, and execution at the plate and on the base paths and so far this squad has done nothing but impress in all of those areas. Texas plays on the road for the first time this season on Tuesday against Texas State before heading to California for a weekend series with [tag]Stanford[/tag].

The Stanford series will give the Longhorn pitchers their first chance to make an impression against big time hitters, but it will also give the Texas lineup a chance to show the lack of power has been more to do with the size of their ballpark than with their lack of power.

If Texas can take the series with Stanford and the pitching continues to excel the Longhorns will emerge as one of the early favorites to reach Omaha.

Harrison Smith had a career night, but it came due to massive struggles from Justin Mason & Varez Ward.

Stop if you’ve heard it before, the Texas basketball team is struggling. The Longhorns followed their huge home victory up with a close and ugly win over [tag]Texas Tech[/tag] and then a loss in Stillwater to [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag].

In both games Texas was sloppy on the offensive end. Texas’ main problem is their personnel combinations. The whole season hinged on [tag]Justin Mason[/tag] and/or [tag]AJ Abrams[/tag] being able to play the point consistently. Both were given chances and both failed.

That inability forced another point guard into the starting lineup. And that is Rick Barnes’ dilemma, do you move [tag]Damion James[/tag] to the four and play the small guards and a big like last year’s team or do you bring Mason, your best perimeter defender, off the bench to keep James at the three with two big men.

The answer so far has been James to the four. The decision has brought mixed results, but I don’t think Barnes likes the decision. All offseason Barnes stressed getting bigger in the back court. Playing Mason at the three makes Texas one of the smallest perimeter teams in the country.

But what choice does he have?

[tag]Gary Johnson[/tag] is hurt. [tag]Alexis Wangmene[/tag] is hurt. [tag]Connor Atchley[/tag] has been sacked. [tag]Dexter Pittman[/tag] can’t play over 20 minutes per game. And I’m not sure [tag]Matt Hill[/tag] still can play without his hair. Barnes has put more faith in [tag]Clint Chapman[/tag] as of late, but the sophomore is nothing more than a role player with some offensive upside at this point.

The fact is the Longhorns hands, or hooves, are tied. This is last year’s team without a superstar point guard who can shoot from the outside. For all intents and purposes that is like saying the Bulls were the same team when MJ was trying to hit curveballs in the minor leagues.

Barnes’ team has two conference games left ([tag]Kansas[/tag] and [tag]Baylor[/tag]) before the conference tournament. As long as Texas splits those games and wins their opening round tournament game they’ll get into March Madness.

Luckily Texas won some early games against big name opponents and Blake Griffin can’t handle contact or NIT would have been what this team had for supper.

There aren’t any great teams in college basketball. North Carolina, Connecticut, Duke, [tag]Oklahoma[/tag], and everyone else have shown the ability to drop a game they should win. That fact gives Texas hope if they can hang in there and get to the tournament. The Longhorns could be a bracket buster this year.

Maybe not.

Connor Rowe slides back into the newly FieldTurfed first base during the season opener.

With [tag]Augie Garrido[/tag] watching from home the 2009 Texas Longhorn baseball team got the season going on the right foot sweeping four games against Illinois-Chicago. This year’s version of Texas baseball looked to be a throwback to the 2002-2005 Longhorns. Texas won 6-1 Friday, took the double header Saturday 3-1 and 10-1 (in seven innings), and 1-0 on Sunday.

Texas’ pitching staff showed off all weekend combining for a 0.79 ERA and striking out 24. Texas has four capable starters in [tag]Chance Ruffin[/tag], [tag]Taylor Jungmann[/tag], [tag]Cole Green[/tag], and [tag]Brandon Workman[/tag]. All four of them went at least six innings and none of them gave up more than one run. And the best part is all of them are not yet draft eligible.

It wasn’t just the starters that were on display in the opening series. Newly appointed closer senior [tag]Austin Wood[/tag] was nearly perfect in his two appearances, both of which were for two innings to finish off games. Wood gave up only one hit and walked one batter.

Defensively the Longhorns were stellar. For the weekend Texas committed one error. Last year’s ball club struggled defensively all last season. Garrido teams usually defend well and this year’s team looks to fit the mold early. The new surface provides truer bounces and speed so look for the defense to be much improved, especially in the infield.

Offensively Texas did enough. The Longhorns won’t have the pop they did with [tag]Kyle Russell[/tag] in the lineup, but Texas will make contact and stay on the base paths. The Longhorns only registered six extra base hits in the series, but did a good job of getting runners on with one and two outs and using the sacrifice bunt to produce runs. Some fans might not like it, but it works. And it will work even better on the new and slow motion playing surface.

Overall it was just one weekend, and in baseball fortunes can change quickly, but Garrido has shown his recipe for success in the past: pitching, defense, sacrifice bunts. This team showed all three this weekend in the sweep over a pretty good ball club. Mentally Texas has been lacking after the run early in the decade. Changing that mentality will decide if this team has a trip to Omaha in their future.

What a difference a week makes? Last week at this time the fans on the 40 Acres were left scratching their heads wondering out loud if their Texas Longhorns were really going to end up in the NIT.

One week later on the back of [tag]AJ Abrams[/tag] scoring ability and the inability of player of the year candidate Blake Griffin to take a hit the Longhorns are right back in the thick of things after a win over [tag]Oklahoma[/tag]. The team now holds wins over Oklahoma, [tag]UCLA[/tag], [tag]Villanova[/tag], and [tag]Wisconsin[/tag]. Out of their eight losses only the [tag]Arkansas[/tag] and [tag]Kansas State[/tag] losses can be considered bad.

The style of play Texas uses makes every game a dog fight. The style is a double edged sword. Every game being close makes teams vulnerable to lesser teams who are hot down the stretch of a ball game, i.e. Kansas State. The style also keeps a team in a game they probably shouldn’t be in, i.e. Oklahoma.

Texas’ back yard mentality stifled the Sooners in the first half while Griffin dealt with foul trouble and a glass chin. The Longhorns made a run to push out the lead, but anyone who has watched this team play all season knew Oklahoma would make a run. In fact, the Sooners made two double digit to zero runs in the second half as the Longhorns struggled to score when Abrams was being guarded and forwards [tag]Damion James[/tag] and [tag]Gary Johnson[/tag] struggled with their mid-range game.

Texas has been prone to long dry spells offensively all year because of inconsistent point guard play. The major bright spot, besides the win itself, on Saturday night has to be the emergence of [tag]Dogus Balbay[/tag] as the true starting point guard.

The move makes this team the same as last year’s with the trade at the one guard Balbay for [tag]DJ Augustin[/tag]. While the trade is nowhere near even, it does allow [tag]Justin Mason[/tag] to stay on the floor and concentrate on defense and clean ups instead of running the show and more importantly it puts James back at power forward where he can slash to the bucket and be a monster on offensive rebounds.

Balbay has the ability to penetrate the lane and either finish with his underrated athleticism or find a shooter in the corner. Abrams can shoot from anywhere at any time, but the other Texas shooters like James, Mason and [tag]Connor Atchley[/tag] enjoy success when they catch and shoot. The ease in which their shot came off of drive and kick plays has been missing all season. When Abrams was the point guard the offensive relied on isolation and pick and rolls, when Mason was the point guard he had the ability to get to the bucket but only to get himself points, but now that Balbay is the man at the point the whole Texas offense has opened up.

Another positive that came from beating the Sooners was the play of [tag]Dexter Pittman[/tag]. The big guy dominated the paint even when Griffin was still healthy and fresh. He also made the key rebound and bucket of the game following an Abrams miss with less than 15 seconds left in the second half.

Saying Atchley is struggling on par with our economy. And just like the guys in Washington it looks like head coach [tag]Rick Barnes[/tag] is at a loss on what to do. Barnes has started him, brought him off the bench, played him inside, and even tried playing him at the small forward for stretches. Atchley played decent against Oklahoma but he is not the threat he once was. There was a time some were calling him the best pro prospect on the roster this year. Not anymore.

Pittman received the start because of the matchup with Griffin, but after his strong play with Griffin out of the game don’t be surprised to see Atchley coming off the bench for the rest of the season. If Pittman does get the start it will mean Atchley would be the second big man to come off the bench after Gary Johnson. Right now Johnson and Pittman do more for this team, and while I’m sure it is hard for Barnes to sit a senior who has given so much for the program Barnes still has to do what is best for the program. At this time that may be taking away significant minutes from Atchley.

While the win has many guaranteeing a tournament berth for the Longhorns, Texas still has work left to do. They have three winnable games against [tag]Texas Tech[/tag], [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag], and [tag]Baylor[/tag] before finishing up in [tag]Kansas[/tag] against the Jayhawks before the Big 12 Tournament.

If Texas can go three of four in that time they’d finish at 10-6 in conference. That gets Texas in no matter what happens in the tournament because believe it or not the nation respects the Longhorn basketball program more than the fans and students do.