We interrupt this week's regularly scheduled programming of discussing football in the off-season to take a moment to discuss the No.1-ranked Texas Longhorns baseball team.
11-1 after 12 games.
86 runs scored.
18 runs allowed.
A 1.00 team ERA.
While UCLA proved on Sunday night that Texas actually bleeds, it doesn't change the fact that the Longhorns have a special kind of look about them. It's not that anyone actually believed that the Longhorns would go undefeated this season with only 20 percent of the season in the books, it's just that Texas has been so dominant this season until Sunday that it was hard not to jokingly consider it.
For a team that came into this season with "national championship or bust" expectations, it's kind of amazing to think that the best team in the country is actually exceeding expectations.
Just for the record, three other times in the last 20 years the Texas baseball team has started 10-0 or better at the beginning of a season and all three times watched the Longhorns earn national runner-up status at a minimum, with a championship lifted at the end of the 2005 season. This team feels like it's headed for that kind of lofty finish.
In 8 of the 11 wins so far this season, the Longhorns have won by 4+ runs and in two of the other three games, Texas pitching didn't allow a run.
This team is good.
Dare I say ... damn good.
No. 2 - Making the Leap ...
One of the things I found myself thinking about this weekend with regards to Texas football was about the group of returning players from a 5-7 team that I don't think have truly hit their stride as college football standouts, but might just hit that kind of stride this season.
While it would be easy to point to almost the entire team with this topic, there are a group of players that the discussion fits better than others.
For example ...
Jake Majors - Under normal developmental expectations, you wouldn't expect a guy like Majors to emerge as a standout force until his third or fourth season, but the lack of depth in the program has seen him forced into action before he was ready to be a true anchor for this offensive line. Well, we're entering Majors' fourth off-season and his third season with the Longhorns, which means this is about the time we should start to see the best from him.
Alfred Collins - It was a year ago that a former Texas coach told The Athletic about Collins, "He can make guards and centers look silly. Alfred ran as well, if not better than, the edge guys we had." Everyone knows that Collins has a ton of talent and yet it hasn't quite come together for him on the field and there were times last season when it seemed like he was fighting his way out of the new staff's doghouse. This is a big year for Collins, who is entering year No. 3. At some point, you either hit your potential or you become that guy who is a candidate for a remake of The Bronx Tale. This defense is a different animal if he starts to play like an NFL player instead of just being a guy who people dream about playing like that.
Byron Murphy - He was the team's best defensive lineman as a true freshman. There's no reason for him not to emerge as one of the top defensive linemen in the Big 12. It's just about whether he finds the next level of his ability or whether he's still a year away.
Jahdae Barron - There was a time in the middle of last season when I thought Barron was a pretty decent young player capable of getting some game reps, yet by the end of the season he might have been the team's best-performing cornerback. Now, he's entering year three in the program and you can see his hand all over the light switch.
No. 3 - Faster than a speeding bullet ...
When I tell anyone that will listen that the Texas coaching staff would love to get Brenen Thompson on the field this year in the slot as much as he's ready for, it's mostly because of numbers like the following:
10.22 and 21.6.
Those were his reported times this weekend at his first track meet and I don't care if they are accurate or not ... he's so fast that you can add two-tenths of a second to his time and he's still going to be the fastest dude on the field in almost any game he plays.
Of every prospect in the state from the Class of 2022, no one had a better single tool in his tool-belt than Thompson's speed. It's just different. If he can come in and catch better than Alexander Wright with the Cowboys, his playing time will increase with every game that passes.
None of us knows whether he can make the leap up in competition, but if it's true that speed never had a bad day, then Thompson must walk around smiling a lot.
No. 4 - A peek into the very near future ...
Chris Beard's team went to Lawrence this weekend and pushed the Jayhawks to the very limit.
In fact, 40 minutes wasn't enough time to come up with a winner, so an extra five minutes was put on the game clock.
Yet, when it was all said and done, the Longhorns walked off the court against one of the best teams in the country and just didn't quite have enough offense to win the game. It's a story that has become tried and true throughout the season and you get the sense that when the season ends this month in the NCAA Tournament, the final story of this team will be defined by its inability to put the ball in the bucket.
33.9/36.4/68.4.
That is simply not the kind of shooting splits that win in Lawrence. Honestly, it speaks to the grit and grind of this team that it could shoot the ball so poorly and nearly won.
The Longhorns can survive a night when one of Marcus Carr or Andrew Jones has a rough night on the offensive end, but when that duo combines to shoot 1 of 10 from three-point range in March, it's hard to imagine this team winning.
No. 5 - One more shot at the Bears ...
After dropping back-to-back games against Baylor last month, the Texas women's basketball team has rattled off eight consecutive wins, including closing the Erwin Center with a win over Oklahoma State on Saturday.
It could lead to two rematches of interest in the upcoming Big Tournament.
The first would occur in the semi-finals against a top-10 Iowa State team that Texas has already beaten twice this season by a combined 43 points.
I'm guessing the Cyclones would love a piece of the Longhorns, but maybe not as much as the Longhorns would love another piece of a Baylor team that has won 25 of the last 26 games against them.
The Longhorns have the look of a team that could make an Elite 8 kind of run in the coming weeks, but before the season is defined in the Big Dance, they’ll need to survive a week in Kansas City that will be as tough as anything they see in the weeks that follow.
No. 6 - Quandre The Giant on the loose ...
On Sunday morning, I looked in my Twitter mentions and came across this ...
Wondering what in the world he was talking about, I quickly found what he was referencing,
Oh boy. There's nothing like a little pre-midnight pot-stirring on the weekends from possibly the best non-kicking player the Texas football program has seen in the last decade. Not only did he stir the pot, but he picked a Mount Rushmore trigger topic on this website.
No. 7 – BUY or SELL …
(Sell) This isn't a good enough line yet for me to assume that the group averages less than two sacks allowed per game or is able to keep its starting running back from running into traffic behind the line of scrimmage a couple of times per game.
If I had to pick one that is most likely to occur, I'd probably go with sacks.
(Sell) I think we're going to see more yards and double-digit touchdowns.
(Sell) Texas might very well be in the SEC before 2025, but I think that video simply meant that Texas is headed to the SEC, which you already knew.
(Sell) I wrote: "Arch will be a Horn if Texas doesn't blow it" a couple of weeks ago.
(Buy) Is anyone coming to Austin and taking two of three in a Super Regional?
(Buy) The Big 12 Missile Crisis was just as good as the 2005 season, but to answer the question.... yes. It should be great for business.
(Sell) I can't give that much benefit of the doubt.
(Buy) Texas is shopping like a team that wants it to happen.
(Sell) That feels a tad myopic at this point. Baby steps.
(Sell) There's only one spot if Texas isn't willing to tell a couple of kids they need to gray- or blue-shirt and we've been given indications they'll have those hard talks with a couple of 2022 class members if needed.
No. 8 - Scattershooting on the sports weekend ...
... The official UT Twitter account had Texas fans acting like Ramsay Bolton's hounds after Sansa let them out of the cage on Sunday night.
... Nice time, JT!
,,, Scottie Scheffler is on some kind of run after picking up his second PGA Tour win in less than a month this weekend at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. With three top-10 finishes in majors in 2021, we're talking about a guy that seems to be knocking on the door of something big.
... Amari Cooper can be replaced if you're the Cowboys.
... Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis is a freak.
... UNC beating Coach K in his final home game at Duke is all kinds of cold-blooded.
... I don't even have the words for the improvement Tyrese Maxey has made this season. From the 21st pick in the draft less than 16 months ago to ... dare I say ... a legit star?
... Jayson Tatum dropped 54 on KD and the Nets on Sunday and all I can think is that the Eastern Conference playoffs are going to be a bloodbath.
... Austin FC is ... fun? A 2-0 record and 10 goals scored is one hell of a way to make us forget about how dreadful this team was to watch a season ago. Team Verde has my attention.
... Manchester United's Harry McGuire is basically "Speed 2: Cruise Control" in the human form.
... The Woodlands Marathon can kiss my ass.
No. 9 - The List: Top 10 Pink Floyd songs ...
You asked for it, you got it. LFG!
Just missed the cut: Young Lust, Lucifer Sam , Fearless, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, The Gold It's In The and Sheep
10. Childhood's End
Curiously enough, it was the last song written entirely by David Gilmour for quite a while and he delivered a beast of a song. Anything with a great Gilmour solo is going to catch my ear.
9. Atom Heart Mother
This was the moment for me when listening to their albums in order when you could see the band evolving into what they would eventually become. It's weird. It's contrived at times. But, there's also a lot inside of this song that I really dig and it's as if there's a clash between styles throughout this entire piece.
8. Money
It's the quintessential Pink Floyd song, If you were to walk into a bar or hear them on the radio, this is probably the song playing. The saxophone solo by Dick Parry is pretty sick, only to set up and get blown away by one of the great all-time solos on a guitar by Gilmour.
7. Have a Cigar
I don't know if it's sacrilege or not to list a song in the top 10 with lead vocals coming from someone outside the group, but this song is just so t-o-u-g-h. Roy Harper provides just the right amount of grime to one of their grimiest songs and David Gilmour does his thing in absolute sublime fashion. This feels like a rock star's rock song.
6. Echoes
Another one of the group's lengthy compositions, this song is as spacey and trippy as just about anything that they put together. Oh, they've done spacey and trippy on larger scales, but this song comes together in cleaner and more ear-pleasing manner. You can feel the band really finding their vision for what they are going to become in this piece. Also, this might have been one of favorite drum pieces in their catalog.
5. Time
Roger Waters at his lyrically best, along with Gilmour doing his thing in one of their funkier jams.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
4. Shine On You Crazy Diamond
Pink Floyd did a number of multi-chaptered songs, but none of them quite pack to the wallop that this nine-part opus to former band leader Syd Barrett. There's so much going on in this near half-hour piece of music, but the solos by David Gilmour in parts II and III is just masterful stuff and the infusion of several styles of music throughout the piece makes for quite a musical journey.
3. Wish You Were Here
Perhaps the most stripped down and emotionally raw song in the entire Pink Floyd catalog. It's just hauntingly beautiful.
2. Comfortably Numb
You can make a strong case that this song should rank one spot higher because there's a lot of really dynamic stuff going on in this song, starting with the lyrics about our protagonist Pink essentially losing his mind and ending with one of the best guitar solos of all-time. Seriously, go to the 4:30 mark of this song and let David Gilmour blow your mind. It's hard not to listen to Gilmour at his best several times in a row when the song ends.
1. Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)
I can't help it, I love this song and it's probably the one that I remember the most when I was a kid growing up listening to Pink Floyd for the first time. It's an anthem song and one of the best ever made. There's a little of Pink inside all of us.
No. 10 - And Finally...
I caught The Batman this weekend and I'm somewhere between an A-/B+ on the grade scale for it.
Thought it was a JV version of Seven with a little bit of The Crow mixed into it.
It's about 30 minutes too long, but I was into it the entire way.
