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Weaver's ability to impact the tempo and speed of the game and make the little plays that don't show up in the box score has been amplified the last few games.

No one said anything negative about the players making more. It’s just crazy that we are in a time where there is THAT much money flowing through the sports. I like the idea stated above of having it trickle down to fans with lower prices since most of the money is TV or ad revenue and not tickets and concessions though those obviously play a role. The curve of how quickly the money is going up is what I was referring to. The last 10 years have been crazy exponential compared to the previous 50-60.

Miller said Chendall Weaver is a throwback player because he's coming to the end of his career as a Texas kid who loves his program and his university. "Every game he's playing right now can be his last," Miller said. "There's a healthy dose of desperation with a kid like Chendall."

Tramon Mark's recovery from shoulder surgery meant Texas was being judged through January while trying to get familiar with each other and figuring out how the pieces fit. "Maybe it took us longer," Miller said. "The journey for us, where we started in late March, early April, is very different from what I hope it'll be moving forward.

On what's changed with the Longhorns in recent weeks, Miller goes back to last spring and the challenges he faced trying to put the roster together. "You have to build your team in about a 4-6 week period of time," he said, adding that a lot of the key decisions had to be made in a 14-day window.

The time between the end of the SEC Tournament and leaving for Dayton, Miller believes, the Longhorns matured a lot. "I hope we're not in that predicament any time soon," Miller said. "But we handled it really well."

Miller believes Texas has gotten better at closing out on 3-point shots, but he doesn't have a great answer for why the Longhorns have been much better defending 3-pointers in the NCAA Tournament compared to the rest of the season.

"The other part with Matas is that he can really put fouls on the other team," Miller said. Matas' ability to get Purdue's bigs to commit fouls is a huge factor on Thursday, he added.

Matas scores in a lot of different ways. Miller specifically mentioned that second shots off offensive rebounds and running the floor in transition are opportunities where Matas needs to score.

Swain cutting down on his turnovers has made a huge difference in Texas' ability to get into a flow on offense. Swain had a combined 12 assists and one turnover in the wins over BYU and Gonzaga.

Miller said Dailyn Swain came up in basketball as a pass-first guy. He's always had a gift for being a facilitator and playmaker who can set guys up, Miller said.

Texas has been more efficient lately when playing Matas and Nic Codie together. Miller said they'll explore more of that against Purdue.

Purdue's tendency to play with two big men on the floor gives the Boilermakers an advantage in offensive rebounding (Purdue is one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country and gets a lot of second-chance scoring opportunities). "When Purdue misses, we can't let them kill us on the glass," Miller said.

On Purdue's Braden Smith, Miller said it's remarkable that he broke Bobby Hurley's NCAA assist record, which had stood for more than 30 years. "He's a big, big part of why Purdue is so great offensively," Miller said.

Miller believes Jordan Pope will be fine. He was able to get treatment for his ankle yesterday since the team had the day off.

Miller believes the officiating crews in the NCAA Tournament do let a little bit more slide in terms of calling fouls. Still, Miller said the Longhorns have gotten better about not fouling and avoiding some of the kinds of fouls they committed earlier in the season.

Miller: "We're looking forward to our trip to San Jose. Certainly, a hard-earned trip by our players, our coaches and our staff."

This is the first time since 2004, and the fifth time ever, that Texas has had the men's and women's teams reach the Sweet 16 in the same season.

I'm on a Zoom call with Sean Miller ahead of Texas taking on Purdue in the West Regional semifinal on Thursday (6:10 p.m., CBS). This will be the only time Miller or the Longhorns meet with the media before Tuesday's departure for San Jose.

He's not shooting it as much as he did last year at Cincinnati or his sophomore season at Texas. Still, 3.0 assists per game are a career high and 2.1 stocks (steals plus blocks) per game is right where he's been in his career. The outside shot never came (he's 0-for-14 from three this season).

@Gerry Hamilton odds u say Dailyn comes back? Also anyone else u know of that we are retaining?

He looks like he can do bad things to defensive lineman...

Right! Per the CBA, the NFL has to pay a certain percentage of its revenue to the players (and teams have a minimum salary cap that they can’t go below) so when the league’s revenue increases, so does the player’s salaries. I find it interesting how the football leagues make billions, but still a certain faction of fans would prefer to see the players get paid little to nothing in comparison to those billions. 🤔

I'd just point out that salaries are going up because the NFL's revenues are going up quickly, so the salary cap keeps rising. I'm OK with sharing it with the multi-millionaire athletes instead of the billionaire owners keeping it, though it would be nice to see more of the revenue benefits trickle down to fans in the form of cheaper in-stadium food or cheaper parking or whatever to improve the fan experience. As for JSN, that guy deserves his contract. He was amazingly productive at his position and his team just won the Super Bowl. It's the guys who get paid big bucks and don't produce who bother me more (especially the whiners). Jets are paying $48 million this year to two QBs who are no longer on their roster lol. And then there are Kyler and Tua ... Cards and Dolphins are eating close to $150 million in dead cap space for those two. Situations like those bother me more than a younger player like JSN getting paid on a second contract.