This post goes out to Joseph Halbert, Bill Simmons, ESPN, and everyone else who's hated on Rick Barnes...
WTF? Seriously, where's all the hate coming from? With the exception of a few bloggers on Burnt Orange Nation, I haven't heard anyone write anything positive about what Barnes has done for the University of Texas basketball program. I'll be the first to admit that he's not the greatest coach of all time, or that he's even that great of a gameplanner (not sure if 'gameplanner' is a word, but if you watched yesterday's no-show by UT, you know what I mean) but really, what else does the guy have to do to get some love in this world? Texas has been to the Big Dance each of the last 10 years, a school record, and in the past seven years, Barnes has led Texas to five Sweet Sixteens (UT is one of only three schools to accomplish this feat. Kansas and Duke are the others-you may have heard of them), two Elight Eights and one Final Four. Also, everyone forgets this, but one of those Elight Eights should have been another Final Four. In 2006, Texas lost in OT to LSU, after the Horns converted only half of their free-throws down the stretch. They make those freebies, they win in regulation and advance. (And yes, maybe I'm still bitter becuase I picked Ty Thomas in the first and last annual Strip Final Four, and ended up sitting on the couch naked and mad at life, but that's another story for another blog.) Also, this year he led his team to victories at UCLA, against Tennessee at a neutral site, and Kansas at home (That's two number one seeds and one number two, for those keeping score at home) On top of that, he won the Big XII regular season title only one season removed from losing the best player to ever wear the burnt orange. Anywho, that list in itself is a pretty good indicator of what Barnes has done for the program in his decade at the 40 Acres. Take into account that the last two overall #2 picks in the NBA draft were former Horns, and that the amount of Horns in the League has grown dramatically since Barnes has been at the helm and will continue to do so, it's pretty obvious that Barnes and his staff are fairly good at player development. Add into all of this the fantastic quotes he gives to the media ("Pooooooooorr Aggie"-Directed at Acie Law losing to KD for all of the POY awards last year, "If y'all don't treat us right, we'll just buy you out and go back to Texas. We're rich, you know."-Spoken, tounge-in-cheek, to the Arkansas media two weeks ago at the beginning of Madness, and "I told John that we were just giving them free-throw practice, since that's what they need to work on."-Said after yesterday's game, when Texas went into foul mode with five minutes left in the game, in hopes of closing the gap. Memphis, of course, went something like 30-34 from the line, rendering the strategy moot.) and Barnes becomes not only the most successful coach in UT history, but is also the most entertaining.
A few weeks ago on Burnt Orange Nation-a blog I highly suggest for Longhorn fans-there was a debate on who you'd rather have, Mack Brown, or Rick Barnes. Now I understand the hate that each of these two get from both Longhorn fans as well as the rest of the country, and in all honesty, I think that most of it, especially the hate directed toward Mack, is deserved. However, just the fact that a UT-athletics website would even consider preffering the basketball coach over the football coach is, until Barnes came to town, unthinkable. Again, I'm not saying that he's the best coach ever, just the best coach ever at UT. Just a quick look at where the program was ten years ago to where it is now, and I don't see how anyone can claim that Barnes sucks or isn't a good basketball coach.
-Twig
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4 comments:
Lance,
Great thoughts here on Barnes. Everyone mentions that he is a great recruiter, and let's be honest here: in college, having the most talented players gives you a much larger advantage than in does in the pros where the players are separated by a much less forgiving margin.
P.S. I don't want to become the Jig and Twig stylistic ombudsman here, but we need paragraphs in these posts, my man. I always enjoy what I read here, but I feel like it's Jack Kerouac's original script for "On the Road" or something.
He's the Don Nelson of college. Funny, fun teams, can't pull the trigger in big games.
I can agree with you on the recruiting, but not on player development. That might be a little unfair, though, bc of TJ's back. I'm also not sure about Durant's shot selection. Still, if you consistently pull great guys but can't win a tournament - sooner or later you need to win a tournament.
I also think Mack Brown wastes talent. I'll go on record. Too conservative with the caliber of guys on the field.
I'm probably still bitter, though. I'll cool off in a couple of months. I will say if I had to pick between occasional championships or consistently fun teams, I'd go with the fun teams.
Justin & Joey,
Thanks for the comments and requests. I'll do my darndest to make JAT a more reader-friendly blog in the future by making better use of paragraphs and such. Not to make excuses, but I usually bang out these 'columns' in my planning period, between 8:30 and 9:30a.m., so I'm not really thinking about basic English grammar. My apologies and I promise to do better in the future. Look, I'll even put one...
...here. As for Joey's point about having to eventually win a tournament-Umm, hello, UT won the preseason StubHub Classic in New Jersey this year!! Is that not good enough for you Halbert? In all seriousness, I do agree that at some point the Horns need to get over the hump and win a championship.
My main point with the article is that, if you compare the UT basketball program in the BB (Before Barnes) era to DB (During-Barnes)era, there's no comparison. They have seen an exorbitant amount of success DB, so I just don't think it's fair to call him a bad coach.
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