bierce

Ziegler has no chance to defend Tre.

And suddenly back to no one moving on offense

Forced shot clock violation.

13-2 run

Then Pope clears lane for Kaluma to follow and hit reverse layup. Then turnover, transition 3 missed, shedrick offensive rebounds, kick out for a 3. Texas up 5.

Next time down, Pope buries the three with 0 hesitation.

Tre hugging Pope after Pope missed a transition 3. Liking team body language right now.

Nice drive and dish by Tre followed by a 3 by Tre to stop a Tenn run.

Nice pass by Larry to cutting Kent. Tennessee had to foul him to prevent layup. Much better motion on offense. Too much moving ball with dribbles, instead of passing, but we aren't stagnant.

Seeing a little improvement in the offense from the last game. Last play included a clear attempt to screen away from the ball to create an open shot for Mark. He missed, but it was several degrees of complexity beyond the one on five we saw in the first half against Auburn. On an earlier possession, Johnson had to beg Mark to drive for the bucket. He did and got it. Maybe the chemistry can build for these guys.

OU is far from unbeatable, even in Norman. Today's game will be strength against strength. Texas is the 8th best 3pt shooting team in the country. Tennessee has the best 3pt% defense in the country, but it hasn't played many teams that shoot well from the arc. Virginia is 60th, but it has so many weaknesses that it doesn't matter what they shoot from the arc. Baylor is 78th. But I'm mostly concerned about getting hammered on the boards again and witnessing way too much one on five offense.

Did Sark offer to forfeit half his salary for that red zone call or at least the equivalent of whatever bonus he would have earned for making the finals? Didn't think so. "If you block it all right, you get in the end zone. If you get leaky, you lose yardage." And if you don't call it, you have three tries to jam it in from the one, and you still have a chance to force a punt from their endzone if you don't jam it in. Take the blame, coach. That was on you. You know it. Man up. Or don't.

Damn it. I spent a large part of my career telling court reporters to stop spreading rumors that I was a nice guy because other lawyers would try to take advantage of me. Now I have to fight the same fight here?

Did you get good beer?

B.A. Biology. M.A. English Literature J.D. Picked it up somewhere along the way. But the weirdest stuff I've ever read was in the trial transcripts.

Hell of a game by Kaluma. Shedrick played a good game. Kent was a no-show. If he doesn't step up, we will have problems as the year goes on. I commented when he first landed him that his rebounding numbers took a huge jump in 2023-24 and would likely revert to the mean, but we need a lot more from him inside than we have seen the last two games. Pretty good comeback. Still a tough loss, but the comeback suggests this season might still be salvaged. And you don't hire a coach who didn't discipline a player who took the murder weapon to the killer. Unless you are one sick puppy.

You either foul right away or you play defense to the end. You don't foul on the perimeter after letting 20 seconds run off the clock.

So was Miller for taking the murder weapon to Miles. Yet he was kept on the team. Because winning mattered. To Oats, to Crimson Slime, to local prosecutors protecting crimson slime. Auburn player's foot was down. That should be Texas ball.

You have a weird moral abacus there, dude. Sure, winning matters. So does not having your recruited players murder people and you current players take the murder weapon to the former teammate to commit the murder. Damn. The University will vet candidates and hire someone who a) has a very good record, b) has a manageable buyout (Oats doesn't btw), and c) doesn't have s* like this in his history. If this stuff didn't matter, then Beard would still be our coach. And recruiting someone who commits a murder and having one of your current players take the murder weapon to the murderer shortly before the murder is a really, really, really bad look. A much worse look than retaining a coach who was in a domestic dispute with a toxic mess who recanted her claim that he assaulted her. The University of Texas would disband the basketball program before it would hire Nate Oats. Who will we hire instead? I don't know. I haven't put much thought into it at this point, and things will probably change as the season goes on. Meanwhile, we're in a single digit game, and that was a pretty tough call of a flagrant one against Johnson.

Johnson doing frustrated Johnson. At least Terry finally took him out for it. Now will he listen?

Shedrick with the Paul Silas-esque attempt at a reverse layup.

I think Larry is just having an extremely bad game. If anyone can help us become an integrated offense, it's him. He's the only guy we have who we can hope can beat his man on the perimeter, draw defenders, and find the open man.

Not happening. I mentioned him back in the day when we were first looking to replace Smart, but since then Oates defended his star player for taking a firearm to a former teammate who used it to commit murder. This s* actually matters to our administration, and good for it for thinking it matters.

It's not the first time Johnson has gone off the rails. I couldn't believe he was named player of the tournament for that crapfest he had in Brooklyn. Yeah, he made ft down the stretch when we needed them, but we wouldn't have needed him if he hadn't shot 5/19 or whatever it was.

We did have a play in the second half in which someone set a ball screen for Kaluma, and he hit a three. That is about as rudimentary as offense gets. That is also about as complex as our offense has been today. We have had two assists on lobs to players under the basket. And now a third on a pass to Onyema under the basket on a completely broken play. And now a fourth on a perimeter pass to Kaluma for a three. Hardly a play in which someone worked to create an open man, but hey, it was scored as an assist. Auburn has a great team, so I'm not surprised we are losing tonight, but we have no offense to speak of, unless the words being used are highly uncomplimentary. I don't expect Coach Terry will be coming back for 2025-26. I will nevertheless thank him for leaving a job as a head coach elsewhere, taking a demotion to come here, taking over when Beard s* the bed, and getting us to the Elite Eight for the first time in 14 years.