They came, they took tons of photos and they left uncommitted.
That was pretty much the 11-word story of a bitterly cold and icy Junior Day for the Texas Longhorns, which was by much-needed design via the Charlie Strong and Co.
For so many years under Mack Brown, the Longhorns treated these February Junior Days as their Christmas morning in recruiting, often times settling for lower-tiered prospects that were ready to say yes instead of waiting for higher-regarded prospects that were only willing to give a maybe. Entering Strong's second season in Austin, the coaching staff clearly has a better handle on the strategy it wants to apply in the early stages of the 2016 recruiting year.
Instead of acting like a 16-year-old boy on his first date, wondering whether he can cross home plate when he hasn't so much as taken a swing in the batter's box, Strong channeled his inner Leo DiCaprio on a yacht full of supermodels, making sure each and every kid on campus that might eventually become Longhorns got all of the attention he needed to receive, while never applying the kind of pressure with commitment talk that might make the recruits feel uncomfortable.
Don't get me wrong, receiving commitments from an elite-level prospect or two would have been outstanding developments, but the most important thing for the staff coming into Saturday was getting as many big-time players on campus and continuing to develop the relationships between those primary targets. Despite weather conditions that were less than friendly, Texas managed to get visits from the following players on the updated LSR Top 100:
(No. 3) North Shore safety Eric Monroe
(No. 8) Manor linebacker Eric Fowler
(No. 21) Killeen Shoemaker defensive tackle Kendell Jones
(No. 22) Waco High cornerback Eric Cuffee
(No. 23) Arlington Lamar quarterback Shane Buechele
(No. 25) Alief Elsik linebacker Dontavious Jackson
(No. 26) Katy Tompkins athlete Christian Wallace
(No. 27) Houston Stratford running back Rakeem Boyd
(No. 33) Katy running back Kyle Porter
(No. 34) Aldine Davis linebacker Jeffrey McCulloch
(No. 40) Gilmer linebacker DeMarco Boyd
(No. 42) Richmond George Ranch running back Darius Anderson
(No. 45) Waco LaVega cornerback Parrish Cox
(No. 47) Houston C.E. King running back Trayveon Williams
(No. 48) Cibolo Steele defensive end Mark Jackson
While you'd love to have more Top 10 prospects on campus, getting 15 of the state's Top 50 prospects in a year when the four-star talent inside the state borders on being as deep as it's been in a few years, especially given the ugly travel conditions, is a job well-done on behalf of the Texas coaches.
Even though three offers went out, the purpose of the day was to show these kids a good time and leave them with as much of a favorable outlook as possible on a program that went 6-7 on the field last year.
It's a different way of doing business for the Longhorns than we've seen for almost a decade, but Strong is being selective about the players he wants in the 2016 recruiting class and until some of the players at the top of the board start making decisions, you're probably not going to see a lot of additions. Strong appears to be revived on the recruiting front after the conclusion of last season's class and the standards and expectations have grown in a little more than 13 months.
Unlike those previous years when a Texas Junior Day meant game-over for so many potential top prospects because of the desire to shoot from the lay-up line, it's game-on in 2015-16.
No. 2 - The Early Commitments Era in Texas might be dying …
Perhaps it's too early to make the proclamation, but it's beginning to feel like the trend of early commitments in the state of Texas might be going the way of pagers, parachute pants and the newspaper if what we're seeing in the early stages of the 2016 recruiting year mean anything.
Don't get me wrong, you'll still see them from time to time, but what was once a sprint out of the blocks has turned into a much more cautious pace. It used to be that the schools recruiting against Texas felt the need to rush in an effort to beat the Longhorns to the punch, but two things are occurring that have changed the landscape.
Charlie Strong isn't in a hurry.
Neither is this class of prospects in the state of Texas.
The common theme coming out of Saturday's Junior Day from those that were visiting was pretty clear … not only were these kids not ready to pull the string on a commitment, they aren't even in the mood to list a top five, let alone name a favorite. The slower pace goes hand in hand with Strong's desire to offer a slew of the state's best prospects without concerning himself with having half of his class complete by St. Patrick's Day.
A look at the LSR Top 100 doesn't exactly reflect the trend, as five of the state's Top 12 and eight of the Top 25 are currently committed, but five of those commitments occurred before the start of the 2014 season and six were in the books by Thanksgiving, which means those players simply made decisions before the latest trend really kicked into gear. Also, a number of those players currently committed are also still seriously listening to other schools make their recruiting pitches, so they very well could be sucked back into the newest recruiting vortex before the end of the spring.
The big question now focuses on when the ice actually starts to break with the top kids in the state. Is it May? June? September? January?
Or will it simply become a steady drip of announcements from now until next February?
These are questions without answers, but I can tell you this, don't expect any wide-spread commitments any time soon.
That … (ahem) … ship has sailed.
No. 3 - Questions coming out of Saturday's Junior Day ...
What in the world are the Longhorns going to do at running back?
For the better part of the last year, Beaumont Central's Devwah Whaley represented the only in-state running back offer in existence, but that number has grown significantly in the last few weeks. Suddenly, the Longhorns have offers out to five different backs with the new offer to Richmond George Ranch's Darius Anderson and it's hard to tell exactly how the staff plans on playing its cards with this situation.
With eight scholarship backs on campus this fall, the number drops to five in the off-season, so I've been projecting a three-man running backs class for a while and the offer numbers would seem to suggest that the staff plans on taking more than two.
The guess here is that the staff has a slot reserved for Whaley and there are two spots remaining for all the players that have been offered and all the players that will be offered. For those keeping score at home, the other four in-state backs with offers are Anderson, Port Arthur Memorial's Kam Martin, Plano's Brandon Stephens and Houston C.E. King's Trayveon Williams.
Also, keep in mind that Texas has not begun offering out of state backs, which will almost certainly occur in the coming weeks and months, and the fact is that more in-state offers could still go out to the likes of Houston Stratford's Rakeem Boyd, Katy's Kyle Porter or even Kingwood's Sewo Olonilua.
Who is the No. 2 quarterback in the 2016 class?
One of the interesting comments made on Saturday came from Rowlett quarterback Logan Bonner, who relayed that the Texas coaches indicated they plan on taking two quarterbacks in the 2016 class, an interesting nugget of info when you consider that with the commitment of Shane Buechele, the Longhorns already technically have commitments from two quarterbacks planning to count towards 2016 numbers … Buechele and Dallas Cistercian Prep's Matthew Merrick.
Yet, the Longhorns have also offered in-state prospects Zach Smith, Bowman Sells and Tristen Wallace, and are keeping communications open with guys like Bonner and a host of out of state offers (Seth Green, Dwayne Haskins, etc…).
Complicating matters is the fact that there seems to be some indecision on what to do with Merrick, who they could slide into the 2015 class with a fall arrival if they wanted to, but that button hasn't been pushed for what could be a number of very valid reasons. All along, I've thought that the Longhorns would prefer to sign two quarterbacks in this class, with one being a bad mamma jamma from the out of state ranks and another solid option coming from the in-state ranks. Originally, I assumed that Texas knew it wasn't likely to get Buechele (thus the yearning for a top-level OOS prospect) and favored Merrick over the second-tier level of prospects in the 2016 class from Texas, but the recent level of offering action potentially blows that line of thinking because offers have been going out before Merrick's situation is clearly resolved. With Merrick working under the assumption that Texas wants him in the 2016 class, he's also kept communications open with a few schools, including Florida, should he decide that he does not want to sit out a season of development.
At this point, the possible scenarios are limited to five:
a. Merrick joins Texas in the fall as a member of the 2015 class and Texas takes two players from the Class of 2016. This option would potentially leave Texas with six scholarship quarterbacks on the team for the 2016 season, which means at least two players are receiving incredibly limited reps, barring a departure.
b. Merrick joins Texas in the spring as a member of the 2016 Class, leaving him and Buechele as the only quarterbacks in the class. This option leaves the Longhorns with five scholarship quarterbacks on paper entering next season, which is a more desirable number than six.
c. Merrick ends up not signing with Texas and the Longhorns sign Buechele and an out-of-state stud, giving Texas its best one-two quarterback punch in a single class since 1999 when the Longhorns signed Chris Simms and Adam Hall. This result also leaves the Longhorns with five scholarship quarterbacks next season.
d. Merrick ends up not signing with Texas and the Longhorns sign Buechele and another of the in-state offers, still giving Texas its best one-two quarterback punch in a single class since 1999 when the Longhorns signed Chris Simms and Adam Hall.
e. Bonner misunderstood the coaches and they plan on taking two quarterbacks on top of Merrick and they all count towards the 2016 class, barring the grayshirting of the No. 2 quarterback in the class towards the 2017 numbers.
You can't help but to wonder whether Merrick will make this easy for the UT coaches by simply going to Florida (or somewhere else) if that program is ready to begin his career in the fall. Perhaps it's possible we'll see the coaches shut down the quarterback recruiting market in the coming weeks now that Buechele is in the cupboard, but it seems like the staff likely knew it was doing very well with Buechele before it offered most (if not all) of the other in-state quarterbacks, as well as a few out-of-state guys. It's possible the coaches had no idea they'd get Buechele when the staff offered Sells six days prior to Buechele's commitment, but that seems out of the norm for such an early and important chess piece.
My suspicion is when this thing is all said and done, Texas will sign two quarterbacks in the 2016 class and Merrick will not be one of them.
No. 4 - Scattershooting on the Longhorns …
… Killeen Shoemaker defensive tackle Kendell Jones might be the most ridiculous physical specimen I've seen at the high school ranks since Leonard Davis was roaming the field as a middle linebacker for Wortham in 1996-97. What that kid needs more than anything is the right coach and developmental program to get all of that massive size and ability out of him. I wonder what his mom's grocery bill looks like …
… That was pretty damn nails of Buechele to make it in this weekend, just days after his commitment, despite the fact that the conditions took him five hours to navigate through. That's commitment in every sense of the word.
… North Shore safety Eric Monroe might not be ready to give a commitment, but that kid does seem to love him some Texas Longhorns. Eventually, you have to think that Charlie and Co. will close the deal.
… North Mesquite offensive lineman Jean Delance seemed very enthusiastic about his recent offer from Texas, despite his commitment status to Oklahoma. If I'm Texas, I'm setting up a day for him to come to Austin, separate from any official event. If possible, Texas should give Delance and his family a one-day, personal tour of things with all of the offensive coaches in attendance.
No. 5 - Close but no cigar in Lawrence
Rinse, wash and repeat.
In what has been a common storyline over the years, the Texas Longhorns and the Kansas Jayhawks played one hell of a competitive game in Lawrence over the weekend. As has been the case for most of the last 17 years, Rick Barnes had a team ready to push Kansas to the limit for almost 40 minutes, but he didn't have a team capable of finishing the deal.
Honestly, it's a script that's been read so many times over the years that no one could have been surprised when Texas blew its second-half lead or when an 82-percent free throw shooter missed the front end of a one-and-one that could have tied the game in the final minute or when a foul on a drive to the basket wasn't called. The details change from game to game in this "rivalry." but the general theme remains the same … Kansas wins.
Since taking over the Texas job in 1998, Barnes is 7-20 against the Jayhawks, a truth that's so hard to believe when you consider how many times these two have met up and played tremendous games against each other, but a note that remains a truth nonetheless.
On this particular Saturday, the crushing loss likely served as UT's final chance to make a strong bid for an NCAA Tournament bid, outside of winning the Big 12 Tournament, of course. Throughout the entire game, the Longhorns showed the same flashes that they have all season, but those flashes were outweighed by the mental mistakes and inconsistent play in the final minutes.
We're all in countdown mode at this point. Two weeks until the regular season unmercifully ends.
No. 6 - In case anyone had forgotten …
Baseball at Disch-Falk Field in Field in February is one of the least pleasant experiences when it comes to living in Austin, Texas.
As I watched Texas play San Diego on Sunday in a doubleheader, I realized that short of having my wife's cousin pitching for the Longhorns again, there's not much that could have forced me to be on hand for what appeared to be a miserable sporting event experience for the dozens that braved the weather.
Seriously, if you have to take multiple blankets with you and it's not a football game, what are you doing/thinking?
Use your Longhorn Network subscription, folks …
No. 7 - Caption contest…
For those wondering, Mack tweeted this photo on Sunday after stopping by to see one of Baylor's spring workouts.
No. 8 - Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
… The worst shot of the year in the NBA, courtesy of Alexey Shved …
… I'm pretty much at a loss for words over what happened on Saturday night in the Ronda Rousey/Cat Zingano fight. Fourteen seconds? FOURTEEN! Not only has Rousey obliterated her entire division, but she is doing it in less than 20 seconds somewhat frequently these days. In a day and age when the UFC suffers black eye after black eye on what seems like a routine basis, Rousey is Dana White's brightest star in the galaxy.
… Speaking of Dana White, if you missed what Bones Jones and Rumble Johnson did to him over the weekend, check it out. It's pretty messed up.
... Rest in peace, Anthony Mason.
... James Harden took a step towards the MVP trophy onb Sunday.
… Call it desperation if you want, but I've created a spreadsheet that allows me to follow the direction of each 76ers draft pick in the 2015 Draft. Every night I end up keeping track of every game in the league and it's impact on the pick outlook. Actually, when I type it out, it just sounds sad … even sadder that I somewhat enjoy it.
… Mike Florio should be suspended from NBC Sports in the wake of his destruction of all things that matter in the name of journalism.
… Ladies and gentlemen, for the second consecutive week, I give you Philippe Coutinho creating EPL magic. The Reds are on fire! Feel free to thank us, Chelsea fans.
No. 9 - Life just got real ...
A benchmark moment passed this week in the life of raising twins approaching the age of one.
On Thursday night, while packing for a trip to Houston, my daughter Haven was watching Dora The Explorer in the living room when all of a sudden she wasn't. As I walked into the living room, my eyes were scanning the area for her presence and she was nowhere to be found.
Two seconds later, I heard a laugh and turned my head to the right where she had made her way into kitchen and was within a foot of the dog bowls.
Haven crawled. I repeat, Haven crawled!
Suddenly, one of the twins is mobile and an entirely new game is in town from a parenting aspect. Pray for us.
No. 10 - The List: Beck (Listen Via Spotify Playlist)
For the record, Kanye West did apologize to Beck for basically being Kanye.
However, from the moment Kanye dissed Beck at the Grammys, I figured I needed to do the one thing Kanye had likely not done, which is sit down and really listen to Beck's work over the course of 20 years. I'll be honest, up until the last two weeks, I really had not spent much time listening to Beck's music, but listening to his music the last two weeks has been kind of a cool experience.
Ironically, Kanye probably did what I did, at least to a smaller degree and realized that of all the people he should be mad at over artistic creation, this dude isn't one of them.
So, he apologized. I didn't see that coming.
Anways, let's get on with the list.
Last five songs out: Beercan
10. Nicotine and Gravy
9. The New Pollution
8. Cold Brains
7. Devils Haircut
6. Sexx Laws
5. Pay No Mind (Snoozer)
4. E-Pro
3. The Golden Age
2. Where It's At
1. Loser
Archives List
Blues/Jazz: Listen via Spotify )
Classical: Listen via Spotify)
Country: Listen via Spotify )
Electronic: Listen Via Spotify
Funk: Listen Via Spotify (Part I)
Metal: Listen Via Spotify
Pop: Listen via Spotify )
Punk: Listen via Spotify)
Random: My Number 1's on Spotify
Rap: Listen via Spotify),
R&B: Listen via Spotify)
Reggae: Listen via Spotify)
Rock: Listen via Spotify )
This post was edited on 3/2 9:16 AM by Ketchum
That was pretty much the 11-word story of a bitterly cold and icy Junior Day for the Texas Longhorns, which was by much-needed design via the Charlie Strong and Co.
For so many years under Mack Brown, the Longhorns treated these February Junior Days as their Christmas morning in recruiting, often times settling for lower-tiered prospects that were ready to say yes instead of waiting for higher-regarded prospects that were only willing to give a maybe. Entering Strong's second season in Austin, the coaching staff clearly has a better handle on the strategy it wants to apply in the early stages of the 2016 recruiting year.
Instead of acting like a 16-year-old boy on his first date, wondering whether he can cross home plate when he hasn't so much as taken a swing in the batter's box, Strong channeled his inner Leo DiCaprio on a yacht full of supermodels, making sure each and every kid on campus that might eventually become Longhorns got all of the attention he needed to receive, while never applying the kind of pressure with commitment talk that might make the recruits feel uncomfortable.
Don't get me wrong, receiving commitments from an elite-level prospect or two would have been outstanding developments, but the most important thing for the staff coming into Saturday was getting as many big-time players on campus and continuing to develop the relationships between those primary targets. Despite weather conditions that were less than friendly, Texas managed to get visits from the following players on the updated LSR Top 100:
(No. 3) North Shore safety Eric Monroe
(No. 8) Manor linebacker Eric Fowler
(No. 21) Killeen Shoemaker defensive tackle Kendell Jones
(No. 22) Waco High cornerback Eric Cuffee
(No. 23) Arlington Lamar quarterback Shane Buechele
(No. 25) Alief Elsik linebacker Dontavious Jackson
(No. 26) Katy Tompkins athlete Christian Wallace
(No. 27) Houston Stratford running back Rakeem Boyd
(No. 33) Katy running back Kyle Porter
(No. 34) Aldine Davis linebacker Jeffrey McCulloch
(No. 40) Gilmer linebacker DeMarco Boyd
(No. 42) Richmond George Ranch running back Darius Anderson
(No. 45) Waco LaVega cornerback Parrish Cox
(No. 47) Houston C.E. King running back Trayveon Williams
(No. 48) Cibolo Steele defensive end Mark Jackson
While you'd love to have more Top 10 prospects on campus, getting 15 of the state's Top 50 prospects in a year when the four-star talent inside the state borders on being as deep as it's been in a few years, especially given the ugly travel conditions, is a job well-done on behalf of the Texas coaches.
Even though three offers went out, the purpose of the day was to show these kids a good time and leave them with as much of a favorable outlook as possible on a program that went 6-7 on the field last year.
It's a different way of doing business for the Longhorns than we've seen for almost a decade, but Strong is being selective about the players he wants in the 2016 recruiting class and until some of the players at the top of the board start making decisions, you're probably not going to see a lot of additions. Strong appears to be revived on the recruiting front after the conclusion of last season's class and the standards and expectations have grown in a little more than 13 months.
Unlike those previous years when a Texas Junior Day meant game-over for so many potential top prospects because of the desire to shoot from the lay-up line, it's game-on in 2015-16.
No. 2 - The Early Commitments Era in Texas might be dying …
Perhaps it's too early to make the proclamation, but it's beginning to feel like the trend of early commitments in the state of Texas might be going the way of pagers, parachute pants and the newspaper if what we're seeing in the early stages of the 2016 recruiting year mean anything.
Don't get me wrong, you'll still see them from time to time, but what was once a sprint out of the blocks has turned into a much more cautious pace. It used to be that the schools recruiting against Texas felt the need to rush in an effort to beat the Longhorns to the punch, but two things are occurring that have changed the landscape.
Charlie Strong isn't in a hurry.
Neither is this class of prospects in the state of Texas.
The common theme coming out of Saturday's Junior Day from those that were visiting was pretty clear … not only were these kids not ready to pull the string on a commitment, they aren't even in the mood to list a top five, let alone name a favorite. The slower pace goes hand in hand with Strong's desire to offer a slew of the state's best prospects without concerning himself with having half of his class complete by St. Patrick's Day.
A look at the LSR Top 100 doesn't exactly reflect the trend, as five of the state's Top 12 and eight of the Top 25 are currently committed, but five of those commitments occurred before the start of the 2014 season and six were in the books by Thanksgiving, which means those players simply made decisions before the latest trend really kicked into gear. Also, a number of those players currently committed are also still seriously listening to other schools make their recruiting pitches, so they very well could be sucked back into the newest recruiting vortex before the end of the spring.
The big question now focuses on when the ice actually starts to break with the top kids in the state. Is it May? June? September? January?
Or will it simply become a steady drip of announcements from now until next February?
These are questions without answers, but I can tell you this, don't expect any wide-spread commitments any time soon.
That … (ahem) … ship has sailed.
No. 3 - Questions coming out of Saturday's Junior Day ...
What in the world are the Longhorns going to do at running back?
For the better part of the last year, Beaumont Central's Devwah Whaley represented the only in-state running back offer in existence, but that number has grown significantly in the last few weeks. Suddenly, the Longhorns have offers out to five different backs with the new offer to Richmond George Ranch's Darius Anderson and it's hard to tell exactly how the staff plans on playing its cards with this situation.
With eight scholarship backs on campus this fall, the number drops to five in the off-season, so I've been projecting a three-man running backs class for a while and the offer numbers would seem to suggest that the staff plans on taking more than two.
The guess here is that the staff has a slot reserved for Whaley and there are two spots remaining for all the players that have been offered and all the players that will be offered. For those keeping score at home, the other four in-state backs with offers are Anderson, Port Arthur Memorial's Kam Martin, Plano's Brandon Stephens and Houston C.E. King's Trayveon Williams.
Also, keep in mind that Texas has not begun offering out of state backs, which will almost certainly occur in the coming weeks and months, and the fact is that more in-state offers could still go out to the likes of Houston Stratford's Rakeem Boyd, Katy's Kyle Porter or even Kingwood's Sewo Olonilua.
Who is the No. 2 quarterback in the 2016 class?
One of the interesting comments made on Saturday came from Rowlett quarterback Logan Bonner, who relayed that the Texas coaches indicated they plan on taking two quarterbacks in the 2016 class, an interesting nugget of info when you consider that with the commitment of Shane Buechele, the Longhorns already technically have commitments from two quarterbacks planning to count towards 2016 numbers … Buechele and Dallas Cistercian Prep's Matthew Merrick.
Yet, the Longhorns have also offered in-state prospects Zach Smith, Bowman Sells and Tristen Wallace, and are keeping communications open with guys like Bonner and a host of out of state offers (Seth Green, Dwayne Haskins, etc…).
Complicating matters is the fact that there seems to be some indecision on what to do with Merrick, who they could slide into the 2015 class with a fall arrival if they wanted to, but that button hasn't been pushed for what could be a number of very valid reasons. All along, I've thought that the Longhorns would prefer to sign two quarterbacks in this class, with one being a bad mamma jamma from the out of state ranks and another solid option coming from the in-state ranks. Originally, I assumed that Texas knew it wasn't likely to get Buechele (thus the yearning for a top-level OOS prospect) and favored Merrick over the second-tier level of prospects in the 2016 class from Texas, but the recent level of offering action potentially blows that line of thinking because offers have been going out before Merrick's situation is clearly resolved. With Merrick working under the assumption that Texas wants him in the 2016 class, he's also kept communications open with a few schools, including Florida, should he decide that he does not want to sit out a season of development.
At this point, the possible scenarios are limited to five:
a. Merrick joins Texas in the fall as a member of the 2015 class and Texas takes two players from the Class of 2016. This option would potentially leave Texas with six scholarship quarterbacks on the team for the 2016 season, which means at least two players are receiving incredibly limited reps, barring a departure.
b. Merrick joins Texas in the spring as a member of the 2016 Class, leaving him and Buechele as the only quarterbacks in the class. This option leaves the Longhorns with five scholarship quarterbacks on paper entering next season, which is a more desirable number than six.
c. Merrick ends up not signing with Texas and the Longhorns sign Buechele and an out-of-state stud, giving Texas its best one-two quarterback punch in a single class since 1999 when the Longhorns signed Chris Simms and Adam Hall. This result also leaves the Longhorns with five scholarship quarterbacks next season.
d. Merrick ends up not signing with Texas and the Longhorns sign Buechele and another of the in-state offers, still giving Texas its best one-two quarterback punch in a single class since 1999 when the Longhorns signed Chris Simms and Adam Hall.
e. Bonner misunderstood the coaches and they plan on taking two quarterbacks on top of Merrick and they all count towards the 2016 class, barring the grayshirting of the No. 2 quarterback in the class towards the 2017 numbers.
You can't help but to wonder whether Merrick will make this easy for the UT coaches by simply going to Florida (or somewhere else) if that program is ready to begin his career in the fall. Perhaps it's possible we'll see the coaches shut down the quarterback recruiting market in the coming weeks now that Buechele is in the cupboard, but it seems like the staff likely knew it was doing very well with Buechele before it offered most (if not all) of the other in-state quarterbacks, as well as a few out-of-state guys. It's possible the coaches had no idea they'd get Buechele when the staff offered Sells six days prior to Buechele's commitment, but that seems out of the norm for such an early and important chess piece.
My suspicion is when this thing is all said and done, Texas will sign two quarterbacks in the 2016 class and Merrick will not be one of them.
No. 4 - Scattershooting on the Longhorns …
… Killeen Shoemaker defensive tackle Kendell Jones might be the most ridiculous physical specimen I've seen at the high school ranks since Leonard Davis was roaming the field as a middle linebacker for Wortham in 1996-97. What that kid needs more than anything is the right coach and developmental program to get all of that massive size and ability out of him. I wonder what his mom's grocery bill looks like …
… That was pretty damn nails of Buechele to make it in this weekend, just days after his commitment, despite the fact that the conditions took him five hours to navigate through. That's commitment in every sense of the word.
… North Shore safety Eric Monroe might not be ready to give a commitment, but that kid does seem to love him some Texas Longhorns. Eventually, you have to think that Charlie and Co. will close the deal.
… North Mesquite offensive lineman Jean Delance seemed very enthusiastic about his recent offer from Texas, despite his commitment status to Oklahoma. If I'm Texas, I'm setting up a day for him to come to Austin, separate from any official event. If possible, Texas should give Delance and his family a one-day, personal tour of things with all of the offensive coaches in attendance.
No. 5 - Close but no cigar in Lawrence
Rinse, wash and repeat.
In what has been a common storyline over the years, the Texas Longhorns and the Kansas Jayhawks played one hell of a competitive game in Lawrence over the weekend. As has been the case for most of the last 17 years, Rick Barnes had a team ready to push Kansas to the limit for almost 40 minutes, but he didn't have a team capable of finishing the deal.
Honestly, it's a script that's been read so many times over the years that no one could have been surprised when Texas blew its second-half lead or when an 82-percent free throw shooter missed the front end of a one-and-one that could have tied the game in the final minute or when a foul on a drive to the basket wasn't called. The details change from game to game in this "rivalry." but the general theme remains the same … Kansas wins.
Since taking over the Texas job in 1998, Barnes is 7-20 against the Jayhawks, a truth that's so hard to believe when you consider how many times these two have met up and played tremendous games against each other, but a note that remains a truth nonetheless.
On this particular Saturday, the crushing loss likely served as UT's final chance to make a strong bid for an NCAA Tournament bid, outside of winning the Big 12 Tournament, of course. Throughout the entire game, the Longhorns showed the same flashes that they have all season, but those flashes were outweighed by the mental mistakes and inconsistent play in the final minutes.
We're all in countdown mode at this point. Two weeks until the regular season unmercifully ends.
No. 6 - In case anyone had forgotten …
Baseball at Disch-Falk Field in Field in February is one of the least pleasant experiences when it comes to living in Austin, Texas.
As I watched Texas play San Diego on Sunday in a doubleheader, I realized that short of having my wife's cousin pitching for the Longhorns again, there's not much that could have forced me to be on hand for what appeared to be a miserable sporting event experience for the dozens that braved the weather.
Seriously, if you have to take multiple blankets with you and it's not a football game, what are you doing/thinking?
Use your Longhorn Network subscription, folks …
No. 7 - Caption contest…
For those wondering, Mack tweeted this photo on Sunday after stopping by to see one of Baylor's spring workouts.
No. 8 - Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
… The worst shot of the year in the NBA, courtesy of Alexey Shved …
… I'm pretty much at a loss for words over what happened on Saturday night in the Ronda Rousey/Cat Zingano fight. Fourteen seconds? FOURTEEN! Not only has Rousey obliterated her entire division, but she is doing it in less than 20 seconds somewhat frequently these days. In a day and age when the UFC suffers black eye after black eye on what seems like a routine basis, Rousey is Dana White's brightest star in the galaxy.
… Speaking of Dana White, if you missed what Bones Jones and Rumble Johnson did to him over the weekend, check it out. It's pretty messed up.
... Rest in peace, Anthony Mason.
... James Harden took a step towards the MVP trophy onb Sunday.
… Call it desperation if you want, but I've created a spreadsheet that allows me to follow the direction of each 76ers draft pick in the 2015 Draft. Every night I end up keeping track of every game in the league and it's impact on the pick outlook. Actually, when I type it out, it just sounds sad … even sadder that I somewhat enjoy it.
… Mike Florio should be suspended from NBC Sports in the wake of his destruction of all things that matter in the name of journalism.
… Ladies and gentlemen, for the second consecutive week, I give you Philippe Coutinho creating EPL magic. The Reds are on fire! Feel free to thank us, Chelsea fans.
No. 9 - Life just got real ...
A benchmark moment passed this week in the life of raising twins approaching the age of one.
On Thursday night, while packing for a trip to Houston, my daughter Haven was watching Dora The Explorer in the living room when all of a sudden she wasn't. As I walked into the living room, my eyes were scanning the area for her presence and she was nowhere to be found.
Two seconds later, I heard a laugh and turned my head to the right where she had made her way into kitchen and was within a foot of the dog bowls.
Haven crawled. I repeat, Haven crawled!
Suddenly, one of the twins is mobile and an entirely new game is in town from a parenting aspect. Pray for us.
No. 10 - The List: Beck (Listen Via Spotify Playlist)
For the record, Kanye West did apologize to Beck for basically being Kanye.
However, from the moment Kanye dissed Beck at the Grammys, I figured I needed to do the one thing Kanye had likely not done, which is sit down and really listen to Beck's work over the course of 20 years. I'll be honest, up until the last two weeks, I really had not spent much time listening to Beck's music, but listening to his music the last two weeks has been kind of a cool experience.
Ironically, Kanye probably did what I did, at least to a smaller degree and realized that of all the people he should be mad at over artistic creation, this dude isn't one of them.
So, he apologized. I didn't see that coming.
Anways, let's get on with the list.
Last five songs out: Beercan
10. Nicotine and Gravy
9. The New Pollution
8. Cold Brains
7. Devils Haircut
6. Sexx Laws
5. Pay No Mind (Snoozer)
4. E-Pro
3. The Golden Age
2. Where It's At
1. Loser
Archives List
Blues/Jazz: Listen via Spotify )
Classical: Listen via Spotify)
Country: Listen via Spotify )
Electronic: Listen Via Spotify
Funk: Listen Via Spotify (Part I)
Metal: Listen Via Spotify
Pop: Listen via Spotify )
Punk: Listen via Spotify)
Random: My Number 1's on Spotify
Rap: Listen via Spotify),
R&B: Listen via Spotify)
Reggae: Listen via Spotify)
Rock: Listen via Spotify )
This post was edited on 3/2 9:16 AM by Ketchum
