Thursday 3:45 p.m. update:
Some notes from today’s Zoom conferences with Texas guards Matt Coleman II and Andrew Jones:
We know, as Shaka Smart freely admitted last week, UT’s veteran guards have stood out at Texas and will be what drives the team this season. But how often will those three – Coleman, Jones and Courtney Ramey – play together? Recently, Texas has used all three on the same lineup in practice.
“Recently in practice coach has put us on the same team so that we can just get a feel and build the chemistry of playing with each other and alongside each other,” Coleman said. “And just building that chemistry and being able to make plays for each other because at the end of the day, that's what it comes down to. Making more plays than the other team and us having the ability to make plays where each other and making life easy for one another.”
In the past when I spoke with Jones, he noted last season he was still learning how to play with Coleman and Ramey because he was cleared late in the offseason, and he was out the season the two played with Kerwin Roach. Late last year during UT’s 5-1 finish, when the trio started every game, Jones felt the guards truly started to understand and trust what each other is going to do on the floor.
“I think it was the point that we needed to trust each other. We're all really three ball dominant strong guards, lead guards so it also takes time for good players to learn to play with each other,” stated Jones. “Once we learned to trust each other, knew each other’s spots we relied on each other, and not necessarily feel we have to make the superhero play all the time. That's when we started to click. We started to find each other, and our experiences start to rub off with each other.”
As for that finish, it’s not something the players talk about often. There’s an understanding of why Texas was successful then and what it needs to do in order to replicate it.
“We haven’t talked about it a lot because we know that’s who we are and that’s who we need to be. It’s just living it every day moving forward,” Coleman said.
Who Texas needs to be is a group that utilizes its experience to win games.
“Maturity wins games down the stretch. Maturity wins championships. It’s just being able to carry over that maturity when it’s needed; when it’s most important,” Coleman said.
--- Something that really stood out to me when Coleman was asked about freshman teammate Greg Brown III was Coleman’s note about how inquisitive the future pro is and the importance of the veteran guys holding him accountable to develop good habits.
“The biggest thing is not letting anything off the hook for him. He’s one hell of a player. He's going to take bad shots because he doesn't know yet. But he's going to make up for it because at the end of the day, he’s a player. He wants to win. He wants to impact the game, so that we can win. He's a winner. He's a winner…
“I think Greg, he's a hard worker. Very hard worker. He wants it. He tries his best to focus in on the details of things. And he asks questions. I think that's big. He asks questions. He’ll text me every day after practice and ask me, ‘What did you see out there? What can I do better?’ I really take note of that.”
People associated with the Texas program continue to note what kind of teammate Brown is and his makeup on the team’s mentality.
--- I thought this was a very candid response from Jones when asked about COVID-19. He is, of course, at heightened risk because of his past battle against Leukemia.
“Yes, I still have anxiety about the uncertainty and the virus and how it could affect somebody with underlying health conditions,” stated Jones. “I take all the right precautions and follow the protocols necessary in order to stay safe and stay healthy. So, I'm trusting that everybody around me and facilities of Texas, are taking the right protocols to be selfless and just like I am to try to stop and prevent the spread.”
*******************
A short time ago, the Big 12 held its first basketball coaches teleconference of the 2020-21 season. Later this afternoon, the media will have Zoom conferences with both Andrew Jones and Matt Coleman. Look for some notes from those conversations in this thread later, and we’ll also have some more hoops coverage in the War Room.
Normally, these teleconference settings don’t result in many true nuggets because the questions can come from national guys, other beats, etc. However, I found it noteworthy that Shaka Smart again highlighted sophomore big Kai Jones. The Texas head coach was asked what Jericho Sims and Greg Brown III can provide to the UT frontcourt together, and he made it a point to include the team’s taller Jones.
“I think those two guys along with Kai Jones have really demonstrated through five weeks of practice that they can really, really help our team in different ways,” Smart said. “Kai and Jericho have made we feel good strides since last year."
Interestingly, Smart mentioned the possibility of all three players playing together at the same time, and I’d bet it’s a lineup Texas has explored in practice fairly often.
“The thing to figure out… what we’re working on is how they can be most effective together - either two or three of them together at the same time - with considerations like spacing, shooting, ballhandling, decision-making… I’m proud of those guys for their development.”
If we’re listing the Texas frontcourt right now, it seems obvious the list begins with the trio of Sims, Brown and Kai Jones.
Speaking of Brown, he often enjoyed the ability at the high school level to simply run and dunk on people, which meant he didn’t have to showcase his full, all-around offensive skill maybe as much as some other highly rated players. What has his offensive skill and game looked like so far?
“Greg put a lot of time in on his footwork. I think he’s made a lot of progress with that since the spring,” responded Smart. “Room for growth there because we see that as a foundation for any player for being able to do all the other things you do offensively with the ball. Starts with footwork and readiness.”
I don’t think perimeter shooting will be a standout thing Brown is known for at Texas, but later in his high school career he put a ton of time into his shot mechanics and becoming a better perimeter shooting. So far, Texas is seeing a guy that when he’s ready with the proper footwork he can knock down open threes.
“When he’s in rhythm and he catches with good footwork and readiness, he’s a good shooter… very good contorting his body and finding different ways to finish and I think he’ll get to the foul line… continuing to working on decision-making when it comes to help defenders… that will be a work in progress,” stated Smart.
Defensively, I think Brown could make as much of an impact later in his career as he does on offense because of his length, elite athleticism, and help-side, shot-blocking ability. But as with any freshmen, even the elite ones like Jarrett Allen, Mo Bamba, and Jaxson Hayes, it takes actual games to begin truly understanding what type of effort, technique, etc. are required to truly make an impact.
“No. I don’t think he understands that,” Smart responded when asked about Brown understanding how much he can impact a game defensively. “We are working to convey to him… I think with those freshmen sometimes it requires the games to gain a better understanding of that. On defense, he’s going to learn very quickly when we get into the games the things that are defensive no-nos are truly things that can cost you baskets or get you taken out of the game. We haven’t had any games yet where the buzzer sounding and there is a sub. You can make subs in practice but that’s a whole other deal.”
Smart made note that Brown, “really, really has a competitiveness about him,” and thinks that as he gains game experience, he’ll eventually start to really improve like his previous one-and-done and other freshmen.
--- As for COVID-19, Smart admitted it would be naïve to think basketball won’t be impacted in some way like football has. He said he is aware of the challenges and they’ll try as best they can to keep guys healthy and will understand twists and turns are coming.
“The challenges are keeping the guys healthy, navigating different twists and turns in the year with whether it’s travel or other considerations just to try to stay out of harm’s way. As we’ve seen with football there are games that have gotten cancelled and the season certainly has been impacted. It’s naïve to think basketball would be any different.”
Some notes from today’s Zoom conferences with Texas guards Matt Coleman II and Andrew Jones:
We know, as Shaka Smart freely admitted last week, UT’s veteran guards have stood out at Texas and will be what drives the team this season. But how often will those three – Coleman, Jones and Courtney Ramey – play together? Recently, Texas has used all three on the same lineup in practice.
“Recently in practice coach has put us on the same team so that we can just get a feel and build the chemistry of playing with each other and alongside each other,” Coleman said. “And just building that chemistry and being able to make plays for each other because at the end of the day, that's what it comes down to. Making more plays than the other team and us having the ability to make plays where each other and making life easy for one another.”
In the past when I spoke with Jones, he noted last season he was still learning how to play with Coleman and Ramey because he was cleared late in the offseason, and he was out the season the two played with Kerwin Roach. Late last year during UT’s 5-1 finish, when the trio started every game, Jones felt the guards truly started to understand and trust what each other is going to do on the floor.
“I think it was the point that we needed to trust each other. We're all really three ball dominant strong guards, lead guards so it also takes time for good players to learn to play with each other,” stated Jones. “Once we learned to trust each other, knew each other’s spots we relied on each other, and not necessarily feel we have to make the superhero play all the time. That's when we started to click. We started to find each other, and our experiences start to rub off with each other.”
As for that finish, it’s not something the players talk about often. There’s an understanding of why Texas was successful then and what it needs to do in order to replicate it.
“We haven’t talked about it a lot because we know that’s who we are and that’s who we need to be. It’s just living it every day moving forward,” Coleman said.
Who Texas needs to be is a group that utilizes its experience to win games.
“Maturity wins games down the stretch. Maturity wins championships. It’s just being able to carry over that maturity when it’s needed; when it’s most important,” Coleman said.
--- Something that really stood out to me when Coleman was asked about freshman teammate Greg Brown III was Coleman’s note about how inquisitive the future pro is and the importance of the veteran guys holding him accountable to develop good habits.
“The biggest thing is not letting anything off the hook for him. He’s one hell of a player. He's going to take bad shots because he doesn't know yet. But he's going to make up for it because at the end of the day, he’s a player. He wants to win. He wants to impact the game, so that we can win. He's a winner. He's a winner…
“I think Greg, he's a hard worker. Very hard worker. He wants it. He tries his best to focus in on the details of things. And he asks questions. I think that's big. He asks questions. He’ll text me every day after practice and ask me, ‘What did you see out there? What can I do better?’ I really take note of that.”
People associated with the Texas program continue to note what kind of teammate Brown is and his makeup on the team’s mentality.
--- I thought this was a very candid response from Jones when asked about COVID-19. He is, of course, at heightened risk because of his past battle against Leukemia.
“Yes, I still have anxiety about the uncertainty and the virus and how it could affect somebody with underlying health conditions,” stated Jones. “I take all the right precautions and follow the protocols necessary in order to stay safe and stay healthy. So, I'm trusting that everybody around me and facilities of Texas, are taking the right protocols to be selfless and just like I am to try to stop and prevent the spread.”
*******************
A short time ago, the Big 12 held its first basketball coaches teleconference of the 2020-21 season. Later this afternoon, the media will have Zoom conferences with both Andrew Jones and Matt Coleman. Look for some notes from those conversations in this thread later, and we’ll also have some more hoops coverage in the War Room.
Normally, these teleconference settings don’t result in many true nuggets because the questions can come from national guys, other beats, etc. However, I found it noteworthy that Shaka Smart again highlighted sophomore big Kai Jones. The Texas head coach was asked what Jericho Sims and Greg Brown III can provide to the UT frontcourt together, and he made it a point to include the team’s taller Jones.
“I think those two guys along with Kai Jones have really demonstrated through five weeks of practice that they can really, really help our team in different ways,” Smart said. “Kai and Jericho have made we feel good strides since last year."
Interestingly, Smart mentioned the possibility of all three players playing together at the same time, and I’d bet it’s a lineup Texas has explored in practice fairly often.
“The thing to figure out… what we’re working on is how they can be most effective together - either two or three of them together at the same time - with considerations like spacing, shooting, ballhandling, decision-making… I’m proud of those guys for their development.”
If we’re listing the Texas frontcourt right now, it seems obvious the list begins with the trio of Sims, Brown and Kai Jones.
Speaking of Brown, he often enjoyed the ability at the high school level to simply run and dunk on people, which meant he didn’t have to showcase his full, all-around offensive skill maybe as much as some other highly rated players. What has his offensive skill and game looked like so far?
“Greg put a lot of time in on his footwork. I think he’s made a lot of progress with that since the spring,” responded Smart. “Room for growth there because we see that as a foundation for any player for being able to do all the other things you do offensively with the ball. Starts with footwork and readiness.”
I don’t think perimeter shooting will be a standout thing Brown is known for at Texas, but later in his high school career he put a ton of time into his shot mechanics and becoming a better perimeter shooting. So far, Texas is seeing a guy that when he’s ready with the proper footwork he can knock down open threes.
“When he’s in rhythm and he catches with good footwork and readiness, he’s a good shooter… very good contorting his body and finding different ways to finish and I think he’ll get to the foul line… continuing to working on decision-making when it comes to help defenders… that will be a work in progress,” stated Smart.
Defensively, I think Brown could make as much of an impact later in his career as he does on offense because of his length, elite athleticism, and help-side, shot-blocking ability. But as with any freshmen, even the elite ones like Jarrett Allen, Mo Bamba, and Jaxson Hayes, it takes actual games to begin truly understanding what type of effort, technique, etc. are required to truly make an impact.
“No. I don’t think he understands that,” Smart responded when asked about Brown understanding how much he can impact a game defensively. “We are working to convey to him… I think with those freshmen sometimes it requires the games to gain a better understanding of that. On defense, he’s going to learn very quickly when we get into the games the things that are defensive no-nos are truly things that can cost you baskets or get you taken out of the game. We haven’t had any games yet where the buzzer sounding and there is a sub. You can make subs in practice but that’s a whole other deal.”
Smart made note that Brown, “really, really has a competitiveness about him,” and thinks that as he gains game experience, he’ll eventually start to really improve like his previous one-and-done and other freshmen.
--- As for COVID-19, Smart admitted it would be naïve to think basketball won’t be impacted in some way like football has. He said he is aware of the challenges and they’ll try as best they can to keep guys healthy and will understand twists and turns are coming.
“The challenges are keeping the guys healthy, navigating different twists and turns in the year with whether it’s travel or other considerations just to try to stay out of harm’s way. As we’ve seen with football there are games that have gotten cancelled and the season certainly has been impacted. It’s naïve to think basketball would be any different.”
Last edited:
