40 Acres Sports

After starting talented but diminutive guards DJ Augustin and AJ Abrams and struggling against teams such as Memphis due to their length. That won’t happen again.

The Austin American-Statesman is reporting that Rick Barnes’ incredible recruiting freight train has continued with the commitment of 2011 guard Sheldon McClellan. The 6-foot-5 guard/forward from Houston Bellaire joins point guard Myck Kabongo as the second member of the 2011 class. He has great length and athleticism which he uses above the rim on offense and as an active on the ball defender. Scouts, Inc. gives McClellan high praise when they state that at times he reminds them of Scottie Pippen. In the 2009, 2010, and 2011 classes Barnes has now landed four guards over 6-foot-2 and three wingmen over 6-foot-7.

Congrats to Sheldon and welcome to the Forty Acres.

Scouting Reports

From the Statesman’s Bevo Beat:

McClellan averaged 18.5 points a game as a sophomore. The Louisville-based HoopScoop rates him the 44th-best prospect in the class of 2011. NCAA rules allow McClellan to sign with Texas in November 2010, when he is a senior. “He’s a top-50 type talent,” said Gerry Hamilton of BurntOrangeBeat, who has watched McClellan play several times. “Right now his biggest strength is creating shots for himself and his teammates. He can also catch and shoot three-pointers.”

From his ESPN profile:

McClellan is a long and athletic play maker from the wing position. He attacks the rim in transition where he can finish above the rim with his great length. In the half court he can score off the catch or dribble from three and he also has a strong mid range game with one or two dribble pull ups. McClellan can stop and pop while he elevates over smaller defenders. Making moves off the dribble and defensive rebounding are areas of improvement that are very evident but he is young with time to add this to his game. He is a good on ball defender and plays hard on a consistent basis.

ESPN The Magazine scours the depths of YouTube and ranks the top Kevin Durant clips on the Internet, they chose a good one for number one. Check out “Kevin Durant Evolution”:

Avery Bradley is ESPN's new #1 ranked player.

Future Longhorn Avery Bradley has been all over the country and all over your television the last few weeks during the McDonald’s All-American Game, slam dunk contest and leading his team to the NHSI tourney victory. He didn’t fail to impress, playing very well in practice and the Mickey D’s game and taking home the NHSI tournament MVP. The experts at ESPNU/Scouts Inc. certainly noticed, they’ve made Bradley their number one overall player.

ESPNU’s analysis of Bradley’s ascension to the top of the rankings is below:

In our eyes, explosive athlete Avery Bradley has emerged as the No. 1 player in the land. He was named the MVP of the National High School Invitational in Washington, D.C. He guided Findlay to victories over Mountain State Academy, No. 8 Montrose Christian and No. 1 Oak Hill Academy. In each of those games, it was evident that Bradley was the difference.

Bradley is the most complete player in the class and is a difference-maker both offensively and defensively, which is rare. This young man has steadily risen up the rankings since last season. Initially it was his defensive play that propelled him. Bradley plays with great intensity each and every possession, and from a defensive standpoint he is an absolute lockup on-the-ball defender, the best in his class. He uses his length with superior quickness and intelligence to force the offensive player into bad situations. He is committed to keeping his man out of the lane, chasing him off screens and contesting jump shots.

While Bradley built his reputation as a defender, the strides he made on offense are what enabled him to ascend to the top of our rankings. He excels in the open floor, often grabbing a rebound, running with it and finishing with a dunk. In the half court, he works hard to get open and takes what is given without hunting down shots. His midrange game is outstanding, both off the dribble and off the catch. Of late, he has hit the 3-point shot with regularity, which would make him hard to guard with an already strong dribble drive and pull-up jumper. This young man scores, defends and makes everyone around him better. He leads his team to wins and, more importantly, championships.

Bradley may already be one of my favorite Longhorns and he’s not even on campus yet. He’s an incredible athlete who loves the game and it shows in his effort on both ends of the court. Having a star player who is also a leader and an excellent defender instantly will make the Horns a 2009-2010 title contender.

The three Texas 2009 signees are listed below:

Name	Pos.	Stars	Rank	Ht	Wt	Hometown
Avery Bradley	SG		1	6-3	175	Henderson, NV
Jordan Hamilton	SF		8	6-7	210	Los Angeles, CA
Shawn Williams	SF		53	6-7	215	Duncanville, TX

• Full 2009 ESPNU 100

Update

• Bradley scores 21 against the world in Nike Hoop Summit (04/12/2009)

“The Legend” is actually a pretty good basketball player, but up against a real college player he wasn’t much of a match last weekend during Michael Huff’s celebrity basketball game. After a wheels off loose ball, UT-Arlington’s Marquez Haynes took a pass and dunked right in Roy Williams’ face. Watch below:

Roy does a good job bailing at the last minute to not get too embarrassed (or hurt) and it’s hilarious watching Roy’s former teammates Michael Huff and BJ Johnson. Great to see the ex-teammates are still having fun and doing for a good cause.

Source

The 2008-09 basketball season isn’t over yet but Texas fans can get started being excited for next year already. The 6-foot-3 guard had a great week at the McDonald’s All-American basketball game including showing great things in practice, 15 points in the game, and a slam dunk contest win. Check out high quality video of the dunk contest win below:

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 Minnesota, Texas faced Duke in the second round. Duke has owned Texas since Rick Barnes 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.

Dexter Pittman 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 Varez Ward. 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 Dogus Balbay, Ward isn’t afraid to shoot it on occasion. Ward may have replaced Justin Mason as the best on ball perimeter defender on the team, and he attacks the basket and makes good decisions. With the loss of AJ Abrams 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 Damion James and Gary Johnson 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 Jordan Hamilton 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 DJ Augustin 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.

The 2008-09 Texas Longhorns were far from a perfect team, but Saturday night the team showed a ton of heart but came up short in the final minute in a second round loss to Duke. Despite being overmatched in some areas, the victim of some bad bounced (and calls), and unable to knock down free throws the Horns still had their chances to come up with a huge win. Watch highlights from the game below…

Follow along below with our live thoughts and analysis during tonight’s 2nd round game versus 2nd seeded Duke on CBS.

We’ll also be embedding Twitter posts from @40AcresSports and with the hashtag #UT right in with the other notes. Feel free to leave comments and questions using the live tool, but not all comments will be published. Read below for more notes on comments and how the live blog will work. Hook ‘em!

Notes: Comments on the article itself will be turned off till after the game. The Writer can view all comments sent to them but only they can publish your comments for everyone to see. The “autoscroll” feature ensures you’re always shown the newest content without having to refresh or scroll your screen. Subtle sound effects alert you to new content as the writer publishes it. You can turn these features on or off by using the controls at the bottom of the Live Blog.

Yahoo.com interview from Varez Ward:

Texas advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament behind a barrage of 3-pointers from senior guard AJ Abrams and support from Dexter Pittman and others. They started slow but a run of four straight 3’s by Abrams allowed the Horns to pull away from Minnesota and eventually win 76-62.

It’s not really a highlight package, it’s an Abrams show but so was the game last night so it’s fitting. Watch it now…

Texas will play Duke on Saturday at 7:15pm.

Related Links

• Live Blog
• Box Score
• Photo Gallery

Follow along below with our live thoughts and analysis during tonight’s opening round game versus Minnesota on CBS. We’re live now, join us below.

We’ll also be embedding Twitter posts from @40AcresSports and with the hashtag #UT right in with the other notes. Feel free to leave comments and questions using the live tool, but not all comments will be published. Read below for more notes on comments and how the live blog will work. Hook ‘em!

Notes: Comments on the article itself will be turned off till after the game. The Writer can view all comments sent to them but only they can publish your comments for everyone to see. The “autoscroll” feature ensures you’re always shown the newest content without having to refresh or scroll your screen. Subtle sound effects alert you to new content as the writer publishes it. You can turn these features on or off by using the controls at the bottom of the Live Blog.

ESPN’s Andy Katz spends a few minutes breaking down the Horns’ first round matchup with Minnesota. He talks (very) briefly with both head coaches to get their thoughts on the tournament and their first round opponent.

Not many Texas fans have their own team making a long run in this year’s NCAA Tournament, but both college basketball experts from Yahoo Sports think the Horns could make some noise in the East regional. The team has been horribly inconsistent throughout the 2008-09 season but does have the ability to beat most anyone if they play well. Thanks to big front line including Damion James, Dexter Pittman, and Gary Johnson they believe the Horns match up well against Duke and could give the region’s #2 seed fits.

Watch the region preview below:

Jason Horowitz and Greg Anthony of CBS Sports discuss the first round matchup between 7-seed Texas and 10-seed Minnesota. Anthony talks about the Gophers’ lack of offense and something we all know very well: the Horns’ lack of quality guard play. If the Texas big men including Damion James and Dexter Pittman play well they could dominate the opening round game. Watch the preview below…

Texas opens the NCAA Tournament Thursday at 6:10pm.

NCAA Tournament live streaming audio & video, highlights, and scores direct on your iPhone.

Not unproductive enough at work during March Madness? Your iPhone and CBS Sports are going to do their best this year to make it even worse. They’ve released a $4.99 app for the iPhone and iPod touch that allows you (via WiFi or 3G) to stream live game video and get highlights, audio, scores, and more wherever you choose to be when not working. Details from the iTunes App Store:

For the first time ever starting March 19, CBS Sports Mobile: NCAA March Madness on Demand (MMOD) is streaming every game on WiFi from the first round to the NCAA Championship LIVE. This includes the NCAA Sweet 16, Elite 8, NCAA Final Four and National Championship, all on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

As long as you have a WiFi connection, you can see the games where you go - at work, on the road, at the stadium, or even at home. Catch the college basketball upsets and buzzer beaters as they happen, no matter where you are! NCAA March Madness on Demand (MMOD) also features game recaps, bracket information, and up to the minute scores and headlines. It’s your complete NCAA March Madness companion, and it’s only on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Go download MMOD for iPhone (iTunes link) now, just don’t tell your boss.

Barely any Texas talk but ESPN has a brief look at the teams in the East Region of the 2009 NCAA Tournament. Watch Rece Davis, Digger Phelps, and Scott Bilas break down the region below…

Rick Barnes has his work cut out for him in the East bracket. (TexasSports.com)

The Texas basketball team’s once in a decade loss to Baylor was bad but apparently two Big 12 tournament wins were enough to get the Horns a 7 seed in the tough East bracket. The Longhorns will open the tournament against Minnesota on Thursday at 6:10pm.

The East may be the toughest region in the tourney. If Texas can get past Minnesota they’ll have to face Duke in the second round in what would be essentially a home game for the Blue Devils in Greensboro, North Carolina. If the Horns get by that tough test, it could actually set up a rematch with two top teams they beat earlier this season in 3-seed Villanova or UCLA.

We’ll have previews of Thursday’s game and the rest of the tourney so check back in on the 40 Acres all tourney long.

Related Links

• Tourney bracket
• Downloadable bracket (PDF)

The Texas Longhorns did exactly what they were supposed to today in the opening round of the Big 12 tournament, they throttled an overmatched Colorado team that finished the season at the bottom of the conference standings. Junior center Dexter Pittman played more minutes than he has any other game this season and dominated an outclassed CU frontcourt with 26 points. Brief ESPN highlights are below:

The Horns take on Kansas State Thursday at 2pm.

Dexter Pittman dunks against the KU defense. (AP)

The Texas Longhorns men’s basketball team finished the season with a win over Baylor and a second half meltdown loss against Kansas. 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 Colorado 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 Oklahoma. 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 Damion James is attacking the basket and making jump shots, and new point guard Dogus Balbay 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 Gary Johnson stop hitting their mid-range jump shots teams are able to focus all of their defensive energy on taking away sharp shooting AJ Abrams 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.

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 Texas Tech and then a loss in Stillwater to Oklahoma State.

In both games Texas was sloppy on the offensive end. Texas’ main problem is their personnel combinations. The whole season hinged on Justin Mason and/or AJ Abrams 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 Damion James 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?

Gary Johnson is hurt. Alexis Wangmene is hurt. Connor Atchley has been sacked. Dexter Pittman can’t play over 20 minutes per game. And I’m not sure Matt Hill still can play without his hair. Barnes has put more faith in Clint Chapman 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 (Kansas and Baylor) 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, Oklahoma, 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.

If you missed the halftime retirement ceremony of Kevin Durant’s jersey from earlier this week the Statesman has a brief video that’s definitely worth watching:

I got chills even watching that short bit, Kevin wasn’t at Texas long but he’s a great kid and really loves the University of Texas. Anyone who doubted whether Kevin’s #35 jersey should be retired simply had to watch his heartfelt emotion at the honor to know he was more than deserving.

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 AJ Abrams 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 Oklahoma. The team now holds wins over Oklahoma, UCLA, Villanova, and Wisconsin. Out of their eight losses only the Arkansas and Kansas State 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 Damion James and Gary Johnson 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 Dogus Balbay 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 DJ Augustin. While the trade is nowhere near even, it does allow Justin Mason 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 Connor Atchley 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 Dexter Pittman. 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