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Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (Is it April 1st yet?)

The coaches that trusted Card to throw three passes in games this season in mop up duty? He did play, in two games. He didn’t look that good in either. He was 1-3 for 5 yards. Casey looked good in both.

People focus on the 4 TD’s in the Alamo Bowl, but Casey also threw 2 against UTEP. Half his completions went for TDs, and he is bigger and faster than Card.

Card may get better, but Casey was way ahead last year.

Totally agree. I think the coaches (and others) are mostly in love with the potential of Card and people interpret that as Card being better right now when he's not. Thompson has looked really good in the limited game action and even in the past spring games. He has more experience and as you mentioned is bigger and faster. Even if you downgrade Thompson's performance against Colorado because of the competition, you can still respect his ball placement and decision making in that game. Sark talks about one of the most important QB traits is throwing a catchable ball and while Thompson may not have the arm talent of Card, he has at least shown in game reps that he can.
 
Totally agree. I think the coaches (and others) are mostly in love with the potential of Card and people interpret that as Card being better right now when he's not. Thompson has looked really good in the limited regular season action and even in the past spring games. He has more experience and as you mentioned is bigger and faster. Even if you downgrade Thompson's performance against Colorado because of the competition, you can still respect his ball placement and decision making in that game. Sark talks about one of the most important QB traits is throwing a catchable ball and while Thompson may not have the arm talent of Card, he has at least shown in game reps that he can.

Colorado trailed us by 7 at the half, and out scored us 10-3 in the 2nd quarter. They had the momentum coming out for the accord half. Then Casey destroyed them
 
Totally agree. I think the coaches (and others) are mostly in love with the potential of Card and people interpret that as Card being better right now when he's not.
You are basing that on what exactly?
 
Colorado trailed us by 7 at the half, and out scored us 10-3 in the 2nd quarter. They had the momentum coming out for the accord half. Then Casey destroyed them
He was sensational inside of a very small sample size.
 
@Ketchum I have not seen one of those movies and have not heard of most of them. COVID effect is real.

P.S. If you're QB1 / QB2 projection is correct shouldn't UT be in the portal market right now for a back-up? Card or bust is a terrible plan for 2021-22.
 
@Ketchum I have not seen one of those movies and have not heard of most of them. COVID effect is real.

P.S. If you're QB1 / QB2 projection is correct shouldn't UT be in the portal market right now for a back-up? Card or bust is a terrible plan for 2021-22.
Aa. all of them can be found on Netflix or amazon!

b. I believe they are/will be.
 
The coaches that trusted Card to throw three passes in games this season in mop up duty? He did play, in two games. He didn’t look that good in either. He was 1-3 for 5 yards. Casey looked good in both.

People focus on the 4 TD’s in the Alamo Bowl, but Casey also threw 2 against UTEP. Half his completions went for TDs, and he is bigger and faster than Card.

Card may get better, but Casey was way ahead last year.
Casey was ready to play, he knew the complete play book. Maybe Card shows many good skills but has not mastered the playbook?
Will Card learn the playbook? Will Cord be better than Casey when he does?
Who knows?
 
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You are basing that on what exactly?

Spring game and limited game reps.

How many pass attempts do you remember him making in the second half?

Not many. I believe he only had 10 or so for the entire game. I think Card had 1 or 2.

We all acknowledge that the sample size is limited but there is nothing that we've seen publicly that suggests Card has a significant edge over Thompson. I would think we would have saw more of Card in the bowl game if it was THAT apparent. Being scared that Thompson is going to transfer seems like a moot point if Card wins the job as Thompson will likely transfer then anyway.
 
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I'm going to need to see some serious separation between Card and Thompson during the Spring Game to even consider thinking that Card will be the right choice at QB1 this year (which would mean Card would have to show unbelievable and shocking improvement over his current UT public record). In my mind, I don't even see it being close based on the UT public record of both. I don't care what any unnamed "insiders" with the last coaching staff said about what we couldn't see during practices. As I've said before, I'd be a top earner on the PGA with my driving range game.
 
I'm going to need to see some serious separation between Card and Thompson during the Spring Game to even consider thinking that Card will be the right choice at QB1 this year (which would mean Card would have to show unbelievable and shocking improvement over his current UT public record). In my mind, I don't even see it being close based on the UT public record of both. I don't care what any unnamed "insiders" with the last coaching staff said about what we couldn't see during practices. As I've said before, I'd be a top earner on the PGA with my driving range game.
I just don't think some of you have any idea of the supernova that exists in this program just waiting to get out of the cage.
 
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Is it April 1 yet?

I don't know about you, but I'm ready to address the elephant in the room -- Texas waiting until the first of the month to talk to Texas Tech coach Chris Beard about the UT vacant basketball job.

Tech knows it's coming. Beard knows it's coming. Beard's agent knows it's coming. Hell, we all know.

The silence while we wait is very telling. Honestly, we're just killing time, aren't we?

Let's address it all.

a. I had a top-level administration source that didn't blink on Friday when I asked if Texas would dare pay the basketball coach more money than the football coach. All you need to know is that there is a serious vibe that the program needs someone that is not only going to pack the new arena with fans, but also bring a buzz. I'm fully prepared to see Texas pay Chris Beard more money than it currently pays Steve Sarkisian to become the school's coach. It will be a moment that symbolizes significant intent.

b. Texas Tech was already talking to Beard about giving him more money than Sarkisian is making BEFORE Shaka Smart left for Marquette, which means that the Longhorns might have to give Beard more than a million dollars per year over what they are paying Sarkisian just to get in the game. There have been rumblings that Tech could offer him a Jimbo Fisher kind of long-term contract that would double what Texas would likely want to come to the table with in terms of total dollars and total years.

c. Beard has ALL the leverage in this. The fact that Dana Altman is a name being mentioned as a candidate, despite a track record that reads like a missing Pepper Hamilton report, should tell us all we need to know about the pecking order here. Beard has been lusted after. He will fill seats. A guy like Altman is a fantastic coach, but his name alone isn't selling out a new arena. Most Texas basketball fans will barely know who he is.

Ultimately, if Tech wants to give him some sort of a lifetime contract with a truly outrageous amount of money and control, Texas isn't going to match it. It might meet somewhere in the middle, but it's not going to money-whip a Tech athletic department that has every reason to go to the mattresses on this with a bunch of poison pills in a new deal.

If Beard is going to come to Texas, he's likely going to have to turn some cash down. He'll probably need to give up some power as well because I can't see Chris Del Conte giving any coach in any sport complete freedom from his supervision.

Just how badly does Beard want to be in Austin during his career?

We'll find out in the coming days.

No. 2 - About Royal Ivey...

I've been on Team Royal for more than a year. I was doing podcasts about his candidacy more than 14 months ago.

We're talking about a young (future) NCAA head coach potentially coming home with an army of past Texas hoops legends supporting his cause in the name of lifting the program up to the levels he once built. I love the story. I love the idea of him as a recruiter. I love the fact that the NBA believes in his chops as a basketball mind.

I just don't know if he's a guy that's going to create the buzz that Texas is talking about wanting.

If it were to happen, I'd 100-percent be on board with it because Ivey is one of my top 5-10 favorite Texas hoopsters of all-time. Guys like Kevin Durant and T.J. Ford would go to war for him. So, I'm down.

There's just a part of me that wonders if he's just the distraction for the program to use as cover while it kills time before making its move with Beard.

No. 3 - Did Chris Del Conte make it rain this weekend?

Let's just be honest ... Shaka Smart leaving Texas for Marquette was worthy of some expensive bubbly.

Sources close to the program were telling me that Del Conte did not want to fire Smart after a top-10 regular-season finish and a first-ever Big 12 Tournament Championship, but he wasn't going to come within a 100-foot pole of offering an extra dollar or year to his contract in the form of an extension. It felt like a huge game of chicken and you had to know Smart would follow his agent's advice to get the hell out of town if a legitimate job came up.

Enter Marquette to solve all of the problems.

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I loved the fact that Smart and Texas were able to separate like a college basketball version of Jack White and Karen Elson, able to essentially have a Divorce Party in the parting of ways.

You'll forgive me if I was happy the relationship ended before the Texas rumor mill got control of things; the next thing you know there are hypothetical rumors of alcoholism and infidelity in the name of getting out of an expensive buyout.

Whatever you think of Tom Herman as a coach on the field, the off-field gutter talk about him was trashy. It cheapened a fan base that prides itself on being above the kind of stuff that might happen in the SEC. The fact that none of it was true and innocent families were forced to deal with the collateral damage created by a by-any-means-needed approach to forcing change revealed some hard truths about some elements of the Texas fan base.

Also, don't fall into the trap of believing it was just riff-raff pushing the dangerous narratives. It was being repeated on all levels of the food chain. I've been covering the Texas football program on a professional basis since 1994, and I can't say I've ever seen anything quite like what happened at the end of the Herman Era. Those rumors hurt people. Those rumors hurt kids.

You'll also have to forgive me if I'm glad that the events from this weekend allowed us to avoid anything potentially similar with Smart. Given the circumstances, it ended in the best way possible. Considering that these things almost always end ugly, let's just celebrate the rare Divorce Party event with a raised glass.

When good luck falls into your lap, just freaking appreciate it.

No. 4 - Four spring football ponderings ...

... I was really hoping that we'd make it to this point of spring workouts with something more positive than the Jake Smith injury to talk about after the first week, but COVID concerns rendered almost the entire week as an unwanted lull in the proceedings, which makes Smith's injury the top story thus far. As he gets ready to enter year three on the 40 Acres, it's impossible to ignore that the first 24+ months have gone about as poorly as he could have dreamed of when you consider the expectations and hope with which he arrived. One of the things kids often need more than anything at this stage of their careers is Jordan Shipley-levels of patience and they don't all have it. Smith will need to keep his chin up and channel his inner-Shipley if he's going to get over the roadblocks at some point in the future.

... It feels like a huge role in this offense is on a plate for Jordan Whittington if he can stay on the field. If it's ever going to happen, you'd think it would start happening right now.

... Speaking of guys you'd expect to start seeing it happen for, let's continue the discussion with third-year offensive lineman Tyler Johnson. Typically, I don't want to have to ask offensive linemen to be ready for major action before year three unless they are absolute freaks, but now that Johnson is in year three, it really is time to start seeing his talent take off and it sounds like he might be on the cusp of exactly that. When we think of the best offensive line in school history (2005), most of the guys in that group from Jonathan Scott to Kasey Studdard to Lyle Sendlein all redshirted and really started to take off as players in their third years. Well, here we are. It's time.

... Here's hoping the Texas coaches honor more of the school's legends like this throughout the year. It's a really nice way of paying respect to the greats, while also showcasing the school's history.


No. 5 - Vic doing Vic things ...

The best thing I can say about the Texas women's basketball team following its win over Maryland, which sent it to the Elite 8 for the first time since 2016, is that the win was not an accident.

While the Terps landed the opening blows in the game, the Longhorns were the better team in each of the final three quarters of the game. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, it just felt like the Terps had entered a knife-fight without a knife. They simply didn't have as much junkyard dog in them.

Texas rarely gets done to it what it did to Maryland, which tells you all you need to know about Longhorn head coach Vic Schaefer.

His teams are a bunch of junkyard dogs by the time March rolls around every year, no matter where he coaches.

As Chris Del Conte prepares to hire a coach of similar quality on the men's side, it's a reminder that this world mostly gives you what you pay for. In the case of Schaefer, it paid for a dude that knows how to win big in March. Therefore, his program is winning in March. Sometimes it's just that simple.

No. 6 - Tara Freaking Davis!

For the second time in a few weeks, Davis gets her own section. She's a bad woman, y'all.




No. 7 – BUY or SELL …

BUY-SELL.gif



(Buy) I think Del Conte knows how to spend UT's money well.


(Sell) He is in the top 1% of his profession, but I think a case can be made that Texas is looking for someone that is in the 99.9-percentile and not in the 99.0 percentile. ;)


(Buy) I have no doubt that Del Conte will contact someone not currently on the radar. That dude knows everyone.


(Sell) Hell no, I will not jump on that grenade.


(Sell) But, yeah... it'll likely be quiet for a bit.


(Sell) Not yet ... the problem with a second choice is that he might not be a realistic option. Who is on the realistic option tree as a second choice. I'm starting to lean Ivey until I know for sure that a better alternative is available.


(Sell) I don't know that he wins a Heisman and that's what it would take to sit alongside them.


(Buy) He isn't a proven college head coach at the very highest levels yet, which makes it hard to expect others to talk about him as such.


(Sell) That feels a little too ideal. I think Card emerges as the starter and I'm just not sure Thompson sticks around.


(Buy) In Sark and Card, I trust

No. 8 - Scattershooting on the weekend...

... The Texas baseball team keeps raising the bar, but eventually it needs to figure out a way to win some of these Sunday games. It's interesting that both the Longhorns and Red Raiders are both going to be on the road in the state of Kansas this weekend in conference play. These are the three-game sets that create the margins that either win or lose the conference title.

... Kelvin Sampson can coach some basketball.

... Lamarcus Aldridge goes to the Nets and I'm starting to wonder if my Sixers are going to match them player for player. It feels like a tall ask. Anything short of a Lakers/Nets Finals will be a massive disappointment for the league.

... What Miami has been able to make out of the Laremy Tunsil trade is nothing short of mind-blowing. I'm jealous.


... I don't even know where to begin with the Deshaun Watson situation, except that of the 100 things I thought might have knocked his career sideways, this probably wouldn't have been among them. Maybe top 200, but surely not top 100.

... Does anyone else have just a little bit of doubt about Trevor Lawrence? Just a little?

... I woke up at 3:30 a.m. this morning and read that Ibrahima Konate was close to joining Liverpool next season and I could never go back to sleep.

... Consider me not overly bothered that the USA Under-23s failed to qualify for the Olympics.

... Just want to take a moment and give some love to Stipe Miocic. What a champion he's been in the heavyweight division in the UFC. That dude is 39 years old. The cliff was bound to be around the corner at some point.

... Call me crazy, but I want to see a Jon Jones/Francis Ngannou fight. Sign me up.

No. 9 - The List: My current Academy Award Rankings

The big night isn't until next month, and I still have some movies to watch before I've seen them all, but here's where things currently stand.

Best Movie

1. Sound of Metal
2. Judas and the Black Messiah
3. Minari
4. Nomadland
5.. The Trial of the Chicago 7
6. Mank

Still Need to See: The Father and Promising Young Woman

Overlooked Snub: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Director

1. Chloe Zhao (Nomadland)
2. Lee Isaac Chung (Minari)
3. David Fincher (Mank)

Still Need to See: Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round) and Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)

Overlooked Snub: Darius Marder (Sound of Metal) and Shaka King (Judas and the Black Messiah)

Best Actor

1. Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
2. Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal)
3. Steven Yeun (Minari)
4. Gary Oldman (Mank)

Still Need to See: Anthony Hopkins (The Father)

Overlooked Snub: Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods)

Best Actress

1. Frances McDormand (Nomadland)
2. Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)

Still Need to See: Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday), Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman) and Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman)

Overlooked Snub: Yeri Han (Mianari)

Best Supporting Actor

1. Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah)
2. Sacha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
3. Lakeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah)
4. Leslie Odom Jr. (One Night in Miami)
5. Paul Raci (Sound of Metal)

Overlooked Snub: Alan S. Kim (Minari)

Best Supporting Actress

1. Yuh-Jung Youn (Minari)
2. Amanda Seyfried (Mank)
3. Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)

Still Need to See: Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy) and Olivia Colman (The Father)

Overlooked Snub: Olivia Cooke (Sound of Metal)

No. 10 - And Finally ...

Talk about saving the best for last. Just after winning his 15th national title and 42 consecutive conference titles, the legend of all legends is hanging them up.

The best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be.

Enjoy retirement. We can't say enough things about his greatness over the years. Eddie Reese makes Brett Hart blush.


I know most of this has been about the Men's Basketball Coaching hire. But I want to congratulate Swimming Coach Eddie Reese on his Retirement. I have always been impressed with his recruiting and development of swimmers. Not just collegiate kids, but future Olympians. The national and international reputation that UT has because of his coaching in swimming is unbelievable. As many other "Minor" programs. Texas has been at the Top of Swimming all these years. All of you at Orangebloods who appreciate winning should be singing his praises and thanking him for what he did for student-athletes and the reputation of the University of Texas.
 
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I know most of this has been about the Men's Basketball Coaching hire. But I want to congratulate Swimming Coach Eddie Reese on his Retirement. I have always been impressed with his recruiting and development of swimmers. Not just collegiate kids, but future Olympians. The national and international reputation that UT has because of his coaching in swimming is unbelievable. As many other "Minor" programs. Texas has been at the Top of Swimming all these years. All of you at Orangebloods who appreciate winning should be singing his praises and thanking him for what he did for student-athletes and the reputation of the University of Texas.
good stuff!
 
I wonder how this discussion would feel to some of you if Card had received the recruiting rating he should have received.
 
I wonder how this discussion would feel to some of you if Card had received the recruiting rating he should have received.
You mean a 6.1 rivals and .999 247 composite ?
If that’s not what you meant please correct me.
 
The Father is way too existential. Good but very vicarious.
100% disagreement. Absolutely incredible film and may be one of Hopkins best performances ever. If you have or have had family members with Dementia, it may be rough to watch but, superbly acted and incredibly well written.
 
100% disagreement. Absolutely incredible film and may be one of Hopkins best performances ever. If you have or have had family members with Dementia, it may be rough to watch but, superbly acted and incredibly well written.

I didn’t say it wasn’t good. We agree about the quality. It’s a fantastic film, and Hopkins absolutely nails it. I’m saying it’s hard to watch because it’s so real.
 
I didn’t say it wasn’t good. We agree about the quality. It’s a fantastic film, and Hopkins absolutely nails it. I’m saying it’s hard to watch because it’s so real.
Agreed. VERY unique way to make you understand a film's main subject material.
 
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