SURVIVE AND ADVANCE

THE LONGHORN BASKETBALL TEAMS MUST REFOCUS AND SHRUG OFF THEIR SUB-PAR SEASONS

REAL NCAA championship-caliber basketball was on display in the Frank Erwin Center this past March — but neither Texas team graced the floor.
Instead the show came from Miami, Florida, UCLA and Illinois, all of who were among the participants in rounds two and three of the NCAA Austin Regional.

For the men’s team, that happenstance came as a shock, especially since this season
marked the first time the Longhorns missed the NCAAs during coach Rick Barnes’ 14-year tenure on the 40 Acres. Texas, …

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 with a roster of five sophomores and seven freshmen, went 16-18 overall in 2012-13. The men played six overtime games, losing
three before winning the final trio, and lost five other games by three points or less.

Texas played without point guard Myck Kabongo for the season’s first 24 games after the sophomore violated NCAA rules and lied to an investigator about his indiscretion.
Texas fell to Houston in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational — the only
postseason tournament for which they could qualify. A glass-half-full kind of guy (you know
you’re out there) would say that Barnes earned a pass for the disappointing season. With
Kabongo for the full season, the team could’ve fared much better.

Others may worry about the future of the men’s team, especially after the departure of forward Jaylen Bond and swingman Sheldon McClellan. Both elected to leave the team, with Bond walking away before the CBI game against Houston. I believe that Barnes will have his team back in the mix next season, driven by the tough times from this season. But if that doesn’t happen, Barnes will determine when, or if, it’s time to leave Austin. The down season wasn’t as surprising for the women’s squad.

The team was in rebuilding mode and never got things going under coach Karen Aston. Aston’s first campaign in Austin was a rough one, but some may argue that she inherited a group of players that lacked the basic fundamentals of the sport. Texas went 12-18 overall and lost in the first round of the Big 12 tournament. The Longhorns won only once in nine true road games and were 2-4 in neutral site contests (those two wins came in the season’s opening tournament in Daytona Beach, Fla.).

Aston’s job to get Texas back to national hoop consciousness will be a tough one, since as many as six teams located in the Lone Star State are better than the women’s team right now. Aston and fans will need to follow the path of patience in this situation. One fact that may make Longhorn fans feel better is that not one team from the entire state of Texas advanced to the men’s NCAA tournament — the first time that has happened since 1977.

Only three years ago, Texas matched an NCAA record by sending seven teams to the tournament, including three teams in the last six years. The Longhorns also hold the record for having the most teams appear in the tournament (23). Remember the days when the Erwin Center was rocking and a hotbed for hoops? We may have to wait awhile for the Longhorns to get to that point again. At least it’s just four months until football season. Just sayin’, ya’ know?