Fresh off two impressive wins over Texas A&M and Kansas, the Texas Longhorns sit on top of the Big 12-2. The question is, are they for real or are they going to repeat last year's nosedive?
The schedule thus far has the Longhorns at 14 RPI and 29 SOS. Impressive wins include a win at KU (1st ever) and road wins at Michigan State and North Carolina. It's hard to say how good UNC and MSU are right now but winning at both is pretty good. The losses include a 1-pt loss to UConn at home, a 2-pt loss to Pitt on a neutral court and a 17-pt loss to Pac-10 bottom feeder USC in LA. The last loss seems to be more of an abberation than the wins.
KenPom lists them as the best team defensively in the land and they sit at 26th in AdjO. Defensively, they're 4th in the nation in FG% and 34th in scoring. They're also 13th in rebounding. They're okay offensively, 27th in scoring and shoot 46% from the field. They are a decent shooting 3 point team but they are only 204th in makes.
The biggest bugaboo? Free throw shooting, again. They currently stand at 248th in the land, making only 66%.
The players to know include 6' 7" soph G/F Jordan Hamilton who averages 19.2 ppg and 7.2 RPG and two super froshes Cory Joseph and Tristan Thompson. Thompson provides an inside presence, blocking 2 shots per game to go along with his 13 ppg and 7.6 rpg. Thompson is the biggest liability at the line, only hitting 50% of his throws while hitting 53% from the field.
Texas lost 3 players to the NBA and was picked to be a middle of the pack Big 12-2 team. So far, Texas looks solid and with a win in hand at Kansas, they have a real chance to win the conference.
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