Perhaps you’ve heard, the Texas Men’s Basketball team has been ranked in the top 10 all season long and recently beat perennial powerhouse Kansas for the Big 12 Tournament Championship. For their efforts, Texas was awarded a number two seed in the currently underway NCAA Tournament aka, March Madness. Not since 2008 has Texas been seeded so highly.
Thursday night, Texas dispatched their first-round opponent # 15 Colgate 81-61 without much fuss or muss. There was one slight stumble in the second half when arguably Texas’ best player—Marcus Carr—had a mini-meltdown turning the ball over four times in about a two-minute span that allowed Colgate to cut a 17-point deficit to 9. Texas quickly righted the ship, poured it on and cruised to the 20-point victory setting up a second-round matchup versus 10th seeded Penn-State—pooorrr Aggies—this evening at 6:45 pm.
Nice Team, Nice Players
My father often referred to basketball teams and players that he was fond of as “nice.” “Nice” meant good not great and easily likable. The Texas Basketball team for the 1977-78 season might be my favorite Texas team. They were a “Nice” team and very close to being a great team. That team in 2023 might well have been a number two seed but in the pre-64-team field era they were jipped out of invitation to “March Madness.” Johnny Moore was the team’s best player and my father might have referred to him as “Nice” player. After a distinguished 10-year NBA career with the San Antonio Spurs (the Spurs retired his number), Moore turned out to be a ”Nice” player who ended up great. Jim Krivacs, Ron Baxter, and Tyrone Branyan starters on that team were definitely “nice” players.
More recent “nice” Texas players are Andrew Jones and Courtney Ramey. P.J. Tucker (2003-06) and A.J. Abrams (2005-09) were “nice’ players.
This year’s Texas team is the textbook definition of a “nice” team with a roster full of “nice” players. My father would have been fond of Dylan Disu and Sir’ Jabari Rice. They’re definitely “nice” players. He would have also liked Marcus Carr but in 2023 context the first-team All-Big-12 guard might be too good to be considered “nice.”
Rounding out this year’s “Nice” roster are starting forward Timmy Allen a working man’s “nice glue guy,” and key backup, the insanely hustling, sneaky, and effective “nice” player Brock Cunningham.
If you think I’m damning this year’s Longhorns with faint praise you’re mistaken. In 2023 when there are no great college basketball teams, “Nice” Texas just might win it all.
Penn State Preview
To oversimplify, Penn State is a more athletic version of Colgate. Colgate is the number one 3-point shooting team in the country shooting 40.5 %. Penn State is number five in that category shooting 39 %. In case you’re wondering, Texas comes in at 148th in 3-point shooting at 34.6 %. Texas shot 56 % from three in the Colgate game.
Texas is a very good defensive team and their superior athleticism stifled Colgate’s three-point shooting holding them to 3-15. Penn State was 13-22 shooting threes in defeating Texas A&M in the first round 76-59.
I don’t know enough about Penn State to predict what key factors and metrics will determine the winner in this game. Three-point shooting will probably be a key factor. But offensive rebounding, turnovers, and foul shooting could end up being more important.
Still, it seems a safe bet that if Texas can make Penn State ineffective from the three-point line, the Horns will be heading to the Sweet 16.
Hook ‘Em,
W.E.
