Debating Rick Barnes and his ceiling, floor, and whether a coach who wins 20+ every year and makes the NCAA Tournament should be shown the exit door, has been an interesting and maddening internet debate over the last two or three years, eventually leading me to ask if Texas fans were over Rick Barnes.
This after an unacceptable three year downswing resulting in a cumulative 72-31 record and three NCAA Tourney appearances (with a 1-3 performance) for a Texas basketball program with the rich comparable history of Oregon St, Alabama-Birmingham, and Dayton.
But history isn’t an insurmountable river (just cross the TJ Ford) when facility tributaries and favorable demographics eddy at a confluence: witness rise of Florida, Miami, and FSU football. Modern Texas basketball should be good, history be damned. That’s not “We’re Texas” babble – it’s objective market analysis. (more…)
