February 15, 2011

In many ways, the current version of the Texas Longhorns basketball team seems to resemble the grotesque killer Leatherface in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. I say this because they’re bigger and stronger than anything they face, they can hurt you in any number of ways, and they’ve dismantled virtually everything in their path.

The Longhorns are 22-3 so far this season, including an intimidating 10-0 in Big 12 conference play. Not only have they won, but they’ve won in unfriendly territory, picking up road wins at Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, and most notably, Kansas, who had won their previous 69 games in Phog Allen Fieldhouse.

The record alone is very impressive. However, the win/loss statistics fail to show how truly dominant Texas has been. They’re not just beating teams; they’re breaking their will. This team is taking the Big 12, one of the premier conferences in college basketball, and turning it into their own personal punching bag. If the Longhorns are Rocky Balboa, then the rest of the Big 12 are the slabs of meat in the packing plant. I’d use more analogies, but I think you get the picture.

So far, Texas has beaten conference foes by an average of 17.2 points per game. They also have won all their road games by double digits, and have beaten their four ranked victims by more than ten points as well. To me, it seems their biggest asset has been their unselfishness, vast number of scoring options, and legitimately suffocating defense.

Offensively, few analysts thought Texas would be able to score as consistently as they have. They lost their top three scorers from last season- Damion James, Avery Bradley, and Dexter Pittman. With that said, to say that they have reloaded would be an understatement. Texas has four players averaging double digits this season, and two of those are freshmen. While obviously inexperienced in big games, Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph have added stability to a squad that desperately needed it. Both players are playing with maturity beyond their years, and their impact on this team cannot be overstated.

While Thompson and Joseph have served as pleasant surprises, sophomore Jordan Hamilton has blossomed into the star Rick Barnes hoped he would be when he recruited him. Standing at 6-feet-7-inches tall, Hamilton has the size to produce at both the guard and forward positions, and he also has the skill set that makes him virtually un-guardable. He has done it all for the Longhorns, averaging 18.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, and shooting 41 percent from beyond the arc. Recently, ESPN analyst and former coaching great Bob Knight labeled Hamilton the best offensive player in college basketball (sorry, Jimmer). I’m inclined to agree with him, partially because I fear that if I don’t he’ll whip a chair at me.

The real secret to Texas’ success, however, has been their defense. They give up a mere 59.7 points per game, while scoring an average of 76. They also are 2nd in the nation in defensive field goal percentage, allowing their opponents to shoot a sickly 36.5 percent from the field. And once their opponents miss they rarely get 2nd chances, as Texas is 6th in the country in total rebounding with 41 per game. That’s a lot of numbers, but in layman’s terms, Texas’ man-to-man defense doesn’t let other teams score. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned about basketball, it’s that you can’t win if you don’t score.

Having lost to them once already, I think Mizzou’s best strategy would be to hope to avoid Texas in the Big 12 tournament as well as the NCAA’s. If not, we could end up with a similar fate as one of the victims in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. And I, for one, think three of those movies were more than enough.

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