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Longhorns have pieces to make another title run
by Dick 'Hoops' Weiss, Special to FOXSports.com
Hoops Hysteria
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Championship — Detroit, Ford Field
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"You're only a football school if you don't devote resources to any other sport,'' Barnes said. "Our AD Deloss Dodds gives us — and every other sport on campus — the resources to compete for a national championship.''
Barnes has made the most of everything anywhere he has coached: George Mason, Providence, and Clemson.
Now, he has more to make the most of, including a new state-of-the-art practice facility that is connected to the 16,755-seat Ervin Center, and a healthy recruiting budget that has allowed him to successfully recruit both coasts and everywhere in between in the last four years with high school All-Americans Kevin Durant of Montrose Christian (Md.); 6-foot-7 senior Jordan Hamilton of Compton Dominguez (Calif.); 6-foot Avery Bradley of Findley Prep (Nev.); and 6-foot-10 Canadian import Tristan Thompson, a junior at St. Benedict's in Newark, N.J. — all Top 25 prospects nationally in their class.
Barnes has built the Longhorns into a perennial top-10 team since he arrived in 1999. He has coached teams to three Big 12 titles, 10 straight NCAA tournament appearances, a Final Four in 2003 and Elite Eights in 2006 and 2008.
Just as important, he has developed 10 first-round NBA draft picks and five lottery picks, including center Chris Mihm in 2000; guard T.J. Ford in 2003; center LaMarcus Aldridge in 2006; Kevin Durant in 2007; and point guard D.J. Augustin in 2008.
"I'm really proud of that. I don't know how many college programs have eight players in the league,'' Barnes said.
The ultimate goal of a national championship is not that far out of reach.
Barnes has reached the point where he can select elite prospects from solid high school programs who are self-starters and hard workers, and has not been forced, for the most part, to negotiate for players with travel-team warlords.
The 6-foot-10 Durant specifically came to Austin from suburban Washington, D.C., because he felt Barnes and his support staff — specifically strength coach Todd Wright — could best prepare him to make the quantum physical leap necessary for the NBA. Durant, who declared after his freshman year, was voted NBA Rookie of the Year last season and was one of three former Longhorn players — along with Aldridge and guard Daniel Gibson — to play in the league's first- and second-year game during All-Star weekend.
This past summer, Durant came back to campus to work on his degree and work out. He would get up at 6:30 a.m. each day to go to the gym.
Pretty soon, many of the current Texas players began following his example.
"They saw him do it and they wanted to take personal responsbility for their games," Barnes said.
Durant and Ford were high school phenoms who eventually were both selected National Player of the Year when they played for the Longhorns. But just as many of Texas' productive starters are self-made players who have blossomed as upperclassmen because of the culture Barnes has created. Last year, it was Connor Atchley, a fifth-year senior who raised his scoring average from 3.6 points to 8.5 and his rebounding average from 3.6 to 8.5 and made the Big 12's All-Improved team.
This year, it could be 6-foot-10, 290-pound junior Dexter Pittman from Rosenberg, Texas, whose father, Johnny, played for Eddie Sutton — and with Kansas coach Bill Self at Oklahoma State.
Pittman initially thought about signing at Kansas because his dad had been good friends with Self. But he signed with Texas because he didn't want to follow in anyone's footsteps.
Pittman weighed a whopping 388 pounds in high school.
"I was basically a one side of the court player,'' he admitted. "I was only concerned about playing offense.''
When he arrived at Texas, cheeseburgers and pizza became a thing of the past.
"I changed my diet completely,'' he said. "I eat mostly leafs and organics. I've even given up soda.''
Pittman was bothered by foot problems but began to contribute toward the end of last season when his weight dropped down to just over 300. He came on in the Big 12 Tournament, had a double-double against Austin Peay in the first round of the NCAA tournament and helped shut down Stanford's 7-0 center Brook Lopez, a first-round pick this past June, in the second round.
"I decided I wanted to be more than just a role player,'' he said.
If Pittman is ready, Barnes can occasionally go with a much bigger, post-oriented lineup with Atchley and 6-foot-8 junior forward Damion James at the wing.
James seems destined to become Barnes' next lottery pick. A native of Nacogdoches, Texas, he initially signed with Oklahoma but received a release after Kelvin Sampson bolted for Indiana and then chose to latch onto the Longhorns. He is one of only six returning players in Division I who averaged a double-double (13.2 ppg, 10.3 rpg) and set Texas' single-season rebounding record. He could very well challenge 6-foot-10 Blake Griffin of Oklahoma as the best player in the Big 12 as the two prepare each other for the next level. James will be the centerpiece for the Longhorns, which return four starters and 6-foot-6 sophomore sixth-man Gary Johnson from a 31-7 team that was ranked fifth in the final AP poll and defeated Kansas at home during the regular season.
Texas might have pushed North Carolina for the preseason No. 1 ranking if Augustin, a consensus first team All-American and the Bob Cousy award winner last year, had not left for the NBA following his sophomore campaign. The Longhorns may not have a Tyler Hansbrough, but they could be just as deep and could find their way to the Final Four again if they don't get too beaten down by a brutal non-league schedule that includes a trip to Maui (with North Carolina and Notre Dame among the teams there) and games against UCLA, Villanova at Madison Square Garden, Michigan State in Houston, and a road trip to Wisconsin.
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| Senior sharpshooter A.J. Abrams returns to Texas looking to lead the Longhorns back into national title contention. (Andy Lyons / Getty Images) |
The Longhorns are a more multi-dimensional than last year, provided James can make the transition to small forward and still maintain his rebounding numbers, Pittman can become a force in the middle, and senior guard A.J. Abrams, a pure long-range shooter, can play an even bigger role than he did in 2006, when he was a second option to Durant and last year when the offense was predicated on Augustin beating people off the dribble and getting to the rim.
Barnes' teams, who are consistently among the best conditioned teams in the country, are the biggest they've ever been, with four 6-10's, including six pure low post players. They have taken steps to replace Augustin with sophomore guard with 6-0 sophomore Dogus Balbay, who started for the Turkish 20-and-under national team, joining Abrams and junior Justin Mason.
Abrams, who holds the school record with 289 3-point goals, nailed five and finished with 21 points as the seventh-ranked Longhorns opened the season Friday with a 68-38 victory over visiting Stetson. Texas struggled at times to establish the up-tempo pace Barnes likes, but they clamped down defensively, limiting Stetson to just 18 points in the first half and just 26 percent shooting for the game.
Texas only gave up 64.9 points and held opponents to a.389 field-goal percentage last season. The Longhorns should be just as good defensively when Mason and 6-10 Connor Atchley are on the floor.
Abrams, who is the leading returning scorer in the Big 12 (16.5 ppg), is a typical Barnes' player, a three-year starter who grew up in nearby Round Rock, Tex., 30 miles from the campus. His father, who played for Paris JC, was a security guard for former Texas governors Anne Richards and George W. Bush, and is a college official. His mother also was a star basketball player at Paris High.
Abrams committed to Texas after his freshman year, canceling all other visits. "This is where I wanted to go,'' he said. "I could see something special was happening here when my father and I would go over to watch T.J. Ford's teams play and I didn't want to waste anyone else's time.''
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