BobInHouston

I have long said that the turning point for Barnes was failing to sign Marcus Smart in 2012. The reason he failed was that he was unwilling to offer Smart's best friend, Phil Forte. For what it's worth, Bill Self also did not want to offer Forte, and Forte's dad had *played* at Kansas. Travis Ford (Oklahoma State) was the coach who was willing to sign Forte, and he got Smart (for two years, as it turned out) and Forte (for five). Forte was a good to very good guard for Oklahoma State. He shot 88 percent from the FT line and a tick under 40 percent BTA for his career. Barnes' 2013 class was not terrible, but he sure could have used Smart. He had his only under-.500 season at Texas. When Julius Randle came to visit that year, he was told by a couple of players not to come to Texas because of how Barnes was treating them. Randle went to Kentucky instead -- I suppose he might have gone there anyway -- but Barnes's run as a pro training ground for in-state players essentially was over. The last gasp was signing Myles Turner for 2015 to play with his then-veteran core, but it did not mesh. His defense-first philosophy was taken down by a lack of offense. This is pretty much what's going on today at Tennessee. Personally, I would have kept Barnes on, but as @bierce noted above, the expectations he himself had set caused his downfall.

Made it a school decision, I would imagine.

Presented without comment: AJ Storr was 40 percent BTA at St. John's, 32 percent at Wisconsin, and 26 percent at KU this year.

SMU's metrics are remarkably steady, low to mid 40s. But the only chances for decent wins in the RS are Pitt and Clemson.

I'd be stunned if the lawsuit filed by the former players didn't affect this decision.

How bad do you have to play to get that kind of help?

Horns up for him.

Realized after the game that all the care about it (outside of the Kentucky fans) was on the Arkansas side. Calipari, plus the players he had recruited to UK but left with him. They raised their game and won easily.

Wonder if Texas can handle the second half the way Missouri handled the first half.

It's not like Texas can't make its own way.

And that's why Indiana won't do anything.

It was IU five fouls to PU's one and now it is 6-6.

I meant in terms of actually playing quality ball. But I suppose that's a step.

I think I have a thing going and will continue to call this play until it doesn't work anymore.

Indiana's not gonna do anything this year, are they?

I would love more basketball talk. I am asking you to explain your opinion *because* it will make for a solid conversation. If you don't want to answer because you've chosen to take my comment personally, that's on you.

I asked first. What do you mean? Edit: Let me clarify. There has to be a measurement between a team that is ranked across the board and a team that is "very average." What makes you say that? What qualities does Ole Miss have or lack? The other part of this to me is a broader assessment that teams that aren't more highly ranked actually kinda suck. In other words, Texas winning that game -- a road win against a ranked team -- probably wouldn't have changed your assessment of them that much. Is that correct? Further, where is your line on good teams (particularly as opposed to excellent or great teams)? For example, Oregon is ranked, has several good wins on the board, but they've managed to lose at Minnesota, soundly, and got pounded again last night at UCLA. I easily could call them very average and have a basis for it, even though they are very highly ranked in Bart Torvik's measurement of Wins Above Bracket. They have some really good wins (although not since Thanksgiving), and now a couple of pretty ugly losses. All I'm asking is for you to tell me why you think Ole Miss is very average. It's an honest question, not a troll or a gotcha?

Yes, a road win against a higher-ranked team is always going to help you. It's a tough loss but that's why road wins are treated like gems.

LSU is a danger spot. Short turnaround after a late game on Wednesday. Similar to the OU-Florida trip, in which they had a tough game (but won), then went to Florida and ran out of gas late. It's one thing to get stomped by Florida at home, and another to get whipped at LSU. I always could be overthinking this but I don't like the situation for Texas.

About this... if it were a really bad loss, it would have shown up in the metrics this morning. It didn't.

This team is not awesome, but it's solidly competitive in the SEC and will make the tournament if it continues to play as it has the last couple of weeks. LSU is a difficult hurdle IMO. A couple of weeks ago, Texas beat OU in a very late slot on a Wednesday, took a mandatory day off on Thursday, had one practice before leaving for Florida, and ran out of gas late. LSU isn't as good as UF but the timing again is bad if they have to take the day off today.

This is what puzzles me and frustrates me when it comes to college hoops fans. Ole Miss is ranked pretty much across the board in the low to mid-20 in polls and metrics. Texas is just a little below, but close. High D-I basketball is extremely competitive. What does "very average" really mean to you?

Allen, in particular, was not ready to contribute at the college level. One more season from him would have been marvelous.

Texas breaks through in the Bracket Matrix to a 10 seed.

Yeah, I was going to go with, lost a NPOY-level guy. Lanier is good but not quite to Knecht's quality. But the roster is still solid. Last night, they couldn't hit their threes, and in the second half they actively looked for threes over twos. Cost them the game IMO. Were they a step slow on defense? Probably. The game they played Saturday probably will be the most physical, defense-oriented game this year (unless they repeat it in the SEC tournament). Edit: I just looked this up. They took 45 threes. In the handshake line, Mark Pope said, "Too many threes, Rick."