40 Acres Sports

Kind of hard to claim a single isolated incident is sign of an epidemic.

LSU is the complete opposite of the West Virginia team Texas faced Friday night. [tag]LSU[/tag] isn’t a great three-point shooting team and the Mountaineers made their first two with less than ten seconds to go Friday. The Tigers win with their big men inside on offense and outstanding defense. Texas can’t let their shot blockers intimidate them and needs to feed inside early and often to get Glen Davis and Tyrus Thomas into foul trouble.

First Half

• Why isn’t the game in HD? They just announced that it had a sponsor for high def yet the picture clearly isn’t. Is it the local CBS affilliate’s fault?
• Okay now it’s fixed. Woohoo!
• Turnover by LSU leads to LaMarcus Aldridge nailing a jumper. Big guy starting out smooth again today.

LSU 0, Texas 3

• Another LSU turnover leads to easy layup for Kenton Paulino.
• Daniel Gibson misses two wide open threes but Brad Buckman nailed one of his own.
• Crap. PJ Tucker is hurt. Looks like it’s his left thumb. Mad scramble for the ball after a Texas turnover, then they steal it back while Tucker gets tangled up, and then Aldridge turns it over again. Wild play that ends up with Tucker holding his thumb sitting on the bench.

LSU 4, Texas 9

• Five minutes into the game and Gibson passes up an open shot. I know he’s not feeling it right now but he’s not off by much and needs to keep firing.
• LSU in a little bit of foul trouble. They seem to be a little out of control early, Texas needs to get up a littl e before they settle in.
• Texas offense is clunking them right now and looks awful on offense. LSU is on a ten point run.

LSU 12, Texas 9

• AJ Abrams nails the 3. He’s definitely been Texas’ most consistent the last few games.
• More terrible officiating. Tyrus Thomas first comes flying in over several guys backs trying to get the rebound. Then after Buckman grabs the board, Thomas literally winds up and hammers Buckman on the head right in the middle of open court while the ref is staring right at them. On what planet is that not a foul? The poor officiating this weekend has been almost as big of a story as the games.

LSU 14, Texas 15

• Aldridge is a little off, need to get him some easy shots and get him going again.
• Nice easy three from Gibson. I’m telling you, he hasn’t been hitting them but he’s been just barely off and seems ready to explode at any moment. Hopefully that shot gets him heated up.

LSU 19, Texas 22

• Four minutes left in the first half and Aldridge misses another. He’s been excellent of defense and the glass though.

LSU 19, Texas 22

• Dear POWERade. Please stop comparing your low-calorie water drink (POWERade Option) to Gatorade’s regular stuff. They have Propel Fitness Water and it has just ten calories as well. That’s like Diet Coke trying to show that they had fewer calories than regular Pepsi. Morons.
• Tie game with 78 seconds left in the half.
• I think they need to watch Thomas’ goal tending. Sure looked like he grabbed one of Buckman shots early earlier in the game and just now the ball appeared to still be sitting on the rim when he pulled down the rebound.

(more …)

Texas needs Tucker to continue what he’s been doing and Gibson to step up to keep winning.

We’re going to need every one of our big men to perform well today against LSU.

One of the biggest shots in Texas basketball history…

With Duke now out of the tournament, the road to the Final Four for whichever team wins this game just got a little easier. This game matches up two very different teams. While Texas needs the three to be dominant, [tag]West Virginia[/tag]’s entire game relies on the outside shot. Texas will spend much of the game in a man-to-man defense to attempt to give WVU’s shooters as few open looks as possible, while the Horns will attempt to dominate on the offensive and defensive boards.

Should be an entertaining game.

First Half

• Good dish by LaMarcus Aldridge to find PJ Tucker underneath the basket. Good start and great to see the ball inside to Tucker early.
• Kevin Pittsnogle‘s first three goes all the way around the rim before rattling out. A good sign?
• I guess it wasn’t much of an omen. Pittsnogle’s next two threes go down easily to give WVU the lead.

West Virginia 9, Texas 6

• Horns playing good defense and moving the ball nicely on offense. No wide open looks so far for WVU and several easy dunk/layups for the Horns.
• We need to be a little more careful with the basketball. Not too bad, but a couple unforced turnovers so far. I wonder if/when the Mountaineers plan on playing any full court defense.

West Virginia 9, Texas 10

• Darn, I thought we were going to be announcer-free for a second.
• Ouch. PJ takes it to the hoop and hits the ground very hard.
• Kenton Paulino had time and an opening to get rid of the ball on the trap but holds on to for too long. Luckily WVU gets called for the touch foul.
• Big fast break dunk for Tucker. 9 points already for him.
• Ahhhh! I hate playing good three point shooting teams. Good defense all around and Patrick Beilein nails the 3.
• Pittsnogle flops and they call the foul on Aldridge. If they’re going to call that amount of contact then the whistle should blow on every possession.

West Virginia 15, Texas 19

• Less than eight minutes to play and again the announcers are unaware we’re back from commercial.
• Aldrige is stroking it from midrange.
• Great steal by AJ Abrams. Shoot, he’s limping now. He said “f***” as he started to jog back up court and reached down towards his legs.

West Virginia 15, Texas 23

• How much longer is Napolean Dynamite going to play Napolean Dynamite? Memo to actors in Hollywood: If you see Rob Schneider’s name associated with a movie run away! Bench Warmers looks awful.
• West Virginia has yet to make a two-point shot and Texas has yet to hit a three.
• Nevermind. Daniel Gibson nails one. Let’s hope he gets going, we’re up now but we’ll need outside shooters hitting to win this game.
• How is that a foul on AJ Abrams? Yikes.
• Great move and decision by Mike Williams. Passed up a long jumper and drives for the easy hoop. Exactly what Brad Buckman needs to do. His midrange shot is off, put the ball on the floor and look to pass or find an easier shot.

(more …)

Phantom calls against LSU’s big men Glen Davis and Tyrus Thomas to get them their fourth fouls while Duke’s big men hack away with no call.

Shelden Williams picks up his fifth yet the call somehow goes against Greg Paulus despite the whistle not coming till after the contact from Williams.

LSU player ruled out of bounds when his foot has about 2 inches of space before he was on the line.

Even with all that going against them, the LSU Tigers are up one with 90 seconds to go and would be up a lot more if they hadn’t been so awful from the free throw line.

I hope we don’t play Duke next round (if we advance), I already can’t stand the officiating in these games.

Zack Pianalto out of Springdale, Arkansas (same school as Mitch Mustain and a handful of other excellent players last year) has become the Texas Longhorns’ 14th commitment. Pianalto, a 6’4″ 210 pound TE/WR combo in the David Thomas mold, is the second tight end prospect to commit this week.

Young kid who still has some growing to do physically but it sounds like the Texas coaches likes him and that’s certainly a big endorsement. The Horns have had a couple of fantastic tight ends the last few years in Thomas and Bo Scaife, redshirt freshman Jermichael Finley looks like he’s going to be big time as well, so I trust the staff to evaluate the position.

Welcome to the program Zack.

The Trojans’ theme for the upcoming season is “Encore.” (via)

Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon spent some time on yesterday’s Pardon the Interruption discussing Vince Young and his draft stock. They think it’s completely ridiculous if he’s dropping and Wilbon thinks it’s all misinformation and that he’s not dropping at all.

It’s amazing what happens when people base their opinions on ability and on-field performance instead of their preconceived notions of what an NFL quarterback should be. The last couple of seconds of the video includes a classic exchange between the two hosts:

Kornheiser: “I don’t understand how you would not want Vince Young.”
Wilbon: “You don’t want to win.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. (Which is probably why they have a TV show and I have a blog.)