A little over three weeks ago the Texas Longhorns were flying high as the top college basketball team in the country at 17-0. Texas had beaten Texas A&M, Michigan State and UNC, but those wins were in the great state of Texas. Things aren’t looking as good these days for Rick Barnes and his boys. Since the middle of January Texas has lost three of four games on the road to UConn, Oklahoma, Kansas State also have lost two home games against Baylor and Kansas last night. Five losses in seven games have folks in Austin quite concerned and for good reason.
Barnes has to trim down his rotation of players because 10-11 is simply too much especially when you are cycling through three different point guards in a given game. The other key factor is to get Dexter Pittman more involved in the games. The human space eater has only taken 14 foul shots in the last seven games which has led to scoring in double digits only twice during the stretch. Dexter is so big he attracts double teams from opponents which would lead to more three-pointers for James, Hamilton and Brown. Earlier in the year I was extremely impressed with Texas and I still think they have a team that can make the Final Four, but changes need to be made.