From the paper’s Sports Writer:
Golden’s Nuggets: Haven’t we seen this before, Texas basketball?
Posted: 5:22 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23, 2015
By Cedric Golden - American-Statesman Staff
Rick Barnes’ team has mastered the art of playing to the competition, and not in a good way. The Longhorns have been involved in entertaining contests, but one quick glance at the schedule reveals that Texas has beaten only one good team all season, and that’s the West Virginia Mountaineers.
Since taking that 77-50 home win on Jan. 17, Texas has lost six of its last nine games, three by three points or fewer. Saturday’s loss to Iowa State stung because this team is wasting some all-world ball from sophomore guard Kendal Yancy, who has become a real force while more experienced players like Jon Holmes and Cam Ridley aren’t giving the Horns the offense they need to be a legitimate postseason contender, or even a postseason participant at this rate.
If Barnes were summoned to the offices of the NCAA tournament selection committee and asked to plead his case for Texas’ inclusion — aside from being a member of the deepest league in the country — he would be hard-pressed to point to more than one signature win.
There’s opportunity Tuesday at West Virginia and Saturday at league-leading Kansas. This is where going 0-4 against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State kills the Horns. Last week’s late collapse in Norman is the one that will keep Barnes awake this offseason if Texas finds itself back in the NIT or worse.
With the Longhorns having four games left and at 6-8 in conference play, I can’t see them going any worse than 8-10 and still getting in without winning the Big 12 tournament. It’s an all too familiar scenario for Texas hoops fans: A great start followed by a late-season swoon. With their 3-8 record in their last 11 games, it’s difficult to envision the Horns putting it together over the next couple of weeks.
