ArizonaLonghorn

Why do you think we have the coach "to do it"? He was running a better program at Arizona, with NIL before NIL was legal (which is why he lost the job). The coach before him did much better (23 straight trips to the NCAA tournament, four Final Fours, one championship) and the coach who came after also took Zona to the Final Four, something Miller didn't do in a dozen years and seven trips to the tourney. Being objective, Miller has shown he's an excellent coach but he has yet to show he's ready "to do it" when it comes to competing for the national championship. Let's see him make a Final Four or two first ...

"Meh - I've seen worse" saith Jon Scheyer

Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

Hi Hank, Any chance you, CJ, Gerry and Bobby (or some combo thereof) could give us YOUR mock draft predictions for the Longhorns eligible to be drafted? The actual slot (not just round) the 6 - 8 guys assumed to be selected this year? I see the top six on almost every draft board, then Burke and Guilbeau are the two that are iffy on most boards. CJ did that last year and he nailed eight of them pretty closely (within half a round), was way too optimistic on the same two everyone else missed on (Quinn and Cam Williams) and was too pessimistic on Vernon Broughton (like most everyone else). But overall he did well. What do you say? Up for the challenge? The OTF staffer who comes closest wins the coveted Mel Kiper 2026 Award.

And tomorrow is April Fool's Day Wait until this summer

Funny, I read an ESPN article today that re-ranked the women's teams coming in to the FF and Texas is now ranked # 2 behind only UConn - "The time has come to elevate Texas. All the No. 1 seeds have been impressive, but the Longhorns have been thoroughly dominant."

"COMMUNISM !!!"

*I* remember Loni ...

As I said several days ago every season that Duke has injury problems prior to the tournament they lose early. Losing your starting point guard and starting center is tough to overcome. Both guys came back but were clearly not 100%. Still, blowing a 15 point half-time lead? # 1 seeds leading by 15 or more at the half were 134-0 prior to today ... Great comeback by UConn, tip of the cap to them. I'm now pulling for Arizona (lol) since Koa Peat is a local high school kid, but expecting three exciting games in the FF. Anybody else ready for the Masters and then NCAA football?

I'm with you bro. I was sweating it when Duke was missing so many free throws and having problems just bringing the ball up, but they gutted it out. I said before the pattern is for Duke to lose early in the NCAAs when they have injuries to starters as the tournament starts, but Foster really helped tonight, especially in the 2nd half. Didn't expect him back with a broken foot. If they get by on Sunday and have a few more days for Ngongba and Foster to heal it shapes up to be a great Final Four. Weird stat # 1 - Duke has trailed by > 10 points in six games this year and came back to win them all. Weird stat # 2 - in their last three losses Duke held leads of 14 points (Houston in last year's FF), 17 against Texas Tech and 13 against UNC before blowing it. 44 points worth of blown leads in their last three losses - an odd stat. Gotta say that Arizona looks like the best team so far though. One local high school kid on the team (Koa Peat).

Really? Earlier this week a Hank South article titled "Identifying Texas football's top target at each position: Offense" had this to say about the RB position - Lathan Whisenton, RB, Waco (Texas) Midway or Landen Williams-Callis, RB, Richmond (Texas) Randle 1A and 1B if you ask us. The Longhorns are going to sign at least two running backs in the class of 2027 and these two could very well be the guys. Whisenton is trending to Texas, if you ask me, with plenty of suitors trying to keep up with Texas. He was on campus for an unofficial visit on March 13 and will be back for an official visit June 12-14. (/quote) No need to worry, plenty of other similar RB targets, but saying he wasn't a priority when OTF just named him a top target seems odd.

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.

Two years ago $22 million would buy you a solid Ohio State quality football team. Now a school like Kentucky can't even buy a second weekend basketball team at that price. Inflation!

Kyler did OK playing football, his second contract was for over $230 million ... no guarantee he'd have even reached the big leagues in baseball.

As possibly the only Duke basketball fan here on OTF I'll just say that I've been watching them since the 1960's and seemingly every freaking year that they lose starters to injury just before the NCAA tournament they inevitably disappoint and lose early. With everyone healthy they looked like one of the top 3 favorites to win it all. When the PG broke his foot I figured they'd be lucky to make it to the Final Four. The replacement PG (Cayden Boozer) is probably as good as the starter but then there's a big drop off to PG 3. When the starting center got hurt all bets are off, the sub big man is good on defense but there's no one behind him except an undersized freshman. I know the starter is supposed to come back in maybe the Sweet 16 but ... Then I just saw this from ESPN - doesn't look good for # 1 seeds who play close openers with # 16 seeds.

Are you sure about this? The sites I looked at said the first two years are guaranteed and the last two years are team options. 26th pick would be guaranteed around $6 million for the first two years.

Growing up in the 1960's in the Carolinas as an All-Conference high school basketball player this is an easy one for me. 1974, 1982, 1983, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2017 were all very special years for me lol.

Way ... they grow up young in SEC country This is Justus Terry in the 4th grade (or thereabouts)

Brett Farve, accused of siphoning off Mississippi welfare funding to pay for a volleyball court at his college alma mater where his daughter was playing vb, probably thinks this is small potatoes. Wiki link, for those not familiar with the situation

Former Longhorn Brenen Thompson ran a 4.26 40, fastest time of the combine. Some thought he might challenge Xavier Worthy's record 4.21 but it's safe for another year.

Lute got the monkey off his back by winning a surprise NCAA title (beating three # 1 seeds as a 4 seed) but he also lost as a # 2 seed to a 15 seed (Santa Clara featuring Steve Nash) and I think as a # 3 seed to a 14 seed and was widely considered an underachiever until he wasn't. Nine times he lost in the opening round, usually as the higher seed. But he did make four Final Fours ... In Phoenix the word was "never bet on Arizona in the tournament" lol. Miller is a very good coach, hopefully he gets on a tournament run at Texas at some point.

One article predicted 4.25 - 4.28 range ... guess we'll see

If he didn't win a National Championship at a basketball power school like Arizona then why do you think he will win one at Texas? At Arizona things were teed up for him to compete but he didn't even make it to a Final Four. Arizona had shoe $ NIL before NIL was legal and consistent Top 10 recruiting classes. (Miller was caught on an FBI wiretap discussing a $75,000 payment to the # 1 ranked recruit, who went to Zona and was the # 1 pick in the NBA draft.) The previous head coach had won a Natty and made four Final Fours in 24 years - Miller didn't make it to a FF in 12 years. Looks like his successor could be on track to make it this season, they were ranked # 1 much of the year. Most would consider Miller a very good coach but he hasn't yet shown he's elite. I checked Miller's NCAA tourney record while he was at Zona. Call it 11 years since covid meant no tourney in 2020 - they made the NCAAs seven times (Lute Olson went 23 times in a row). Twice under Miller they outplayed their seeding - in 2011, his second year in Tucson they were seeded 5th but made it to the Elite 8, beating # 4 Texas and # 1 Duke. These were his only two wins against teams seeded higher. And in 2013 they were seeded 6 but went to the Sweet 16 by beating the # 11 and # 14 seeds. Another year (2015) they played to seed, seeded # 2 and losing to # 1 seed Wisconsin by 7. No shame in that. Four times they didn't play to their seeded level. In 2014 they lost to # 2 Wisconsin as a # 1 seed in the Elite 8 in OT. No shame there either. But his last three NCAA appearances at Arizona were really disappointing, losing early to # 11 as a 6 seed by 11 points in the Round of 64, losing a close one to # 11 as a # 2 seed in the Sweet 16 and getting blown out 89-68 by the # 13 seed as a # 4 seed. He also had Arizona in the NIT one year as a 1 seed but they lost to 8 seed Bucknell by 11 points. He's a good coach - good teacher and good recruiter - but he still has to prove he can take teams deep in the tournament.