ESPN Men's Basketball

Texas was one of the losers at the NBA draft deadline as Jordan Hamilton and Cory Joseph were among the players who decided to leave school. With the Longhorns also losing Dogus Balbay and Jai Lucas, who each completed their eligibility, the team needed another guard.

That issue appeared to be taken care of Monday when former Maryland signee Sterling Gibbs, the younger brother of Pitt standout Ashton Gibbs, announced his commitment to Texas on Twitter.

Sterling Gibbs was released from his letter of intent following the retirement of Gary Williams, who described the 6-foot-1 Gibbs on signing day as "a very smart point guard." According to the Washington Post, the writing was on the wall with the arrival of new coach Mark Turgeon.

The new coach said that if any recruits did not stay in the fold that it would be a mutual decision. This past Saturday, when Turgeon took a commitment from junior guard Seth Allen of Fredericksburg Christian, it was a clear indication that he was willing to part ways with Gibbs. Turgeon had recruited Allen when he was at Texas A&M and Allen said the two had developed a strong coach-player relationship.

In Gibbs, Texas gains a player who it could potentially play alongside J'Covan Brown and Myck Kabongo, the McDonald's All-American point guard from Canada who is expected to make an immediate impact.

It's also some positive news for the Longhorns, who have been hurt by the unexpected departures to the NBA and even seen state senators criticize a $200,000 raise for coach Rick Barnes amidst a state budget crisis.

The ghosts of disappointments past continue to haunt the Texas Longhorns in the present. We all know the story by now: Last year's Longhorns started 17-0, rose all the way to No. 1 in the nation, and appeared to be one of the three or four teams capable of winning the 2010 national title.

Then the wheels came off: The Longhorns lost 10 of their final 17 games, finished sixth in the Big 12 with a 9-7 record, and bowed out in the first round of the NCAA tournament with a loss to Wake Forest. It was a huge collapse -- from title contender to tourney also-ran -- and it forced the consistently successful Rick Barnes to answer questions about his ability to do more than merely assemble talent.

This year's Texas team has shown no signs of such collapse, but January is when Texas lost its mojo last year. In other words, those who follow Texas closely -- like Austin Statesman columnist Cedric Golden -- are still a little worried about this team's ability to follow through on its impressive start to the season. From Golden:

Are we witnessing the 2010 season all over again? Are the 15-3 Longhorns playing the role of title contender in this season's first half only to disappoint their fan base with another NCAA flameout at season's end?

If true, Texas is following the playbook nearly to a T, entering Saturday's showdown at No. 2-ranked Kansas. The Horns are playing with tremendous confidence and energy with an offense that's much friendlier on the eyes.

It's been a nice ride. So far. Forgive the journalistic skepticism, but last season provided proof that good starts are no guarantee to great finishes.

There's no telling what the future holds. The current batch of Longhorns looks great. They've offered no hints that anything resembling a collapse is imminent. But that was the thing that made last season's collapse so truly confusing: The Longhorns didn't offer any hints with their early play -- whether statistically or from the good old-fashioned eye test -- that they'd take so significant a dip by the time the season was out. You can see why this would cause some psychological damage. Like an abused dog, it's going to take time for Longhorns fans to trust the new entity to which they are so devoted.

There's no remedy for it. It just takes time. But Barnes' latest team is a group that features a thoroughly improved and thoroughly efficient Jordan Hamilton, a productive freshman big man in Tristan Thompson, and a host of guys (Cory Joseph, Dogus Balbay, and Gary Johnson) who appear to have excellent chemistry. This team plays truly excellent defense, and if it's clicking on offense -- as was the case in their blowout win over A&M Wednesday -- it's very, very tough to beat. Keep it up, and Longhorns types will have no choice but to buy in.

A few scattered thoughts on Texas' dominant 81-60 win over Texas A&M on Wednesday:

• If you're Texas, you can't ask for a much better first-half performance. Dogus Balbay and company did what they've been doing to most opponents this season, forcing Texas A&M to a 44 percent effective field goal percentage in the first 20 minutes. According to Ken Pomeroy, Texas is the best team in the nation at defending opposing scorers as measured by effective field goal percentage. No surprise, then, that this is one of the five best defenses in the nation. Unable to handle UT's man-to-man pressure, A&M scored .95 points per possession in the first half, well below its season mark.
• But the Longhorns weren't just defensively stifling in the early goings. They were offensively brilliant, too. Texas scored 1.36 points per possession in the first half, which is kind of insane for any team, let alone one averaging 1.12 points per possession (adjusted) for the season.
• [+] Enlarge
  AP Photo/Michael ThomasTexas' Jordan Hamilton scored 27 points and had eight rebounds against Texas A&M.
  The first half set up Texas quite nicely for its second half, which was every bit as impressive as the first, if not more so. Jordan Hamilton (whom we'll get to in a second) hit a 3 with his little, effortless, barely-needs-to-jump stroke right out of the gate, which extended the Horns' lead to 15 at 42-27, a deficit from which Texas A&M never recovered. It's hard to say a game like this is over in the first few minutes of the second half, but in retrospect, that certainly felt like the end, didn't it? The Longhorns never let the Aggies in the game again.
• Offensive outbursts aside, this Texas team will win with defense. The Horns are very, very good at that high-pressure man-to-man, which they extend all the way to the half-court line. Texas doesn't force many turnovers, but it doesn't need to. As Bob Knight said on the broadcast, this group is excellent at simultaneously pressuring the ball while containing its assignments and committing minimal fouls. It's an excellent style in theory, but it requires supreme athleticism to execute. Fortunately for Texas, athleticism is not a problem.
• Now, for Hamilton: It's time to put the sophomore swingman's name firmly in the Big 12 player of the year discussion. Hamilton scored 27 points on 10-of-14 from the field and 3-of-7 from beyond the arc, which, yes, means that Hamilton didn't miss a single two-point shot Wednesday night. He also added eight rebounds. Last season, Hamilton was an obviously talented, oftentimes erratic scorer; his flashes of offensive brilliance were marred by the sorts of dumb shots and silly mistakes that will get even the most promising freshmen into their head coach's doghouse. This year? Hamilton might be the breakout player of college basketball. He's gotten better in just about every regard. His offensive rating is 12 points higher than last season's mark. His shooting is vastly improved. His turnovers are way down, and he's a major help on the defensive glass. Perhaps most importantly, Hamilton has put all of that offensive ability together with a solid approach on the defensive end.
• Hamilton, in tandem with freshman Cory Joseph, has made Rick Barnes' life immensely easier. Why? Because Barnes doesn't have to juggle his lineups to find combinations that produce on the offensive end without suffering letdowns on defense. Hamilton's improvement is a major boon in this regard. So is the slightly better offensive play of defensive specialist Dogus Balbay. Add Joseph -- one of the most solid, all-around-excellent freshmen in the country -- and Barnes has a crew of guards that don't require the sort of one-in-one-out juggling act he performed for much of last season.
• Texas A&M, as you might imagine, did not shoot the ball well; the Aggies were 16-of-39 from inside the arc. And no, the 3-point shooting wasn't much better (6-of-14, 42.9 percent). But A&M isn't a great shooting team generally. Instead, the Aggies win with rebounding, particularly on the offensive end, where they rebounded the fifth-highest percentage of their misses prior to Wednesday night's game, according to Pomeroy. The Ags typically rebounds about 41.1 percent of its misses. Tonight, they rebounded a mere 33.3 percent. As you can see here, A&M was thoroughly trounced in nearly every statistical category, tempo-free or otherwise. But no statistic is more important to this team than offensive-rebounding percentage, and on this night in Austin, Texas shut that down, too.
• All in all, it was a thoroughly impressive performance from a team that appears to be the clear No. 2 behind Kansas in the Big 12, at least to this point in the season. The best part? In three days, we get to find out if that's the case. That's when UT travels to the Phog for a huge matchup with Kansas. If Texas plays nearly as well as it did at home Wednesday night, well, look out, Jayhawks. This team is good.

It's hard not to like Connecticut now.

Before Saturday afternoon's thrilling entry into the "best game of the year" discussion -- or, as my editor just said, the best non-Missouri game of the year -- the Huskies' stock was in clear decline. Gone were the impressive performances over top 10 teams. Gone was the frontcourt production that buoyed UConn in its run through the Maui Invitational. Instead, in three straight disconcerting games (staid losses at Notre Dame and Pittsburgh, with an ugly home win over USF sandwiched in the middle) Connecticut appeared to be a one-man show.

That one man was great, sure, but it takes more than one player to win the Big East. It takes interior presence, defense, rebounding, and enough offense to take some pressure off one of the nation's best guards. In short, Kemba Walker needed help.

Today, Kemba got it. Thanks in large part to UConn's supporting cast -- and a dose of late brilliance by Walker, too -- Connecticut will leave Austin, Tex. with a very big win. But it's not just a win: It's an immediate boost in credibility, too. Maybe we shouldn't short that Huskies stock just yet.

That's the biggest takeaway from today's Connecticut win: Maybe UConn isn't a fraud. That word sounds harsh, but when you look at how Connecticut went from unranked to No. 4 in the nation, it was a valid concern. The Huskies could have been the beneficiaries of some perfect rankings timing: They beat Michigan State and Kentucky in Maui when both teams were ranked in the top 10 -- and clearly Michigan State is not the No. 2 team in the nation; see today's loss at Penn State for further proof -- before finishing the nonconference schedule with a nice batch of rankings-preserving cupcakes.

It was entirely possible that UConn's status as one of the nation's top teams was more obligatory than deserved, that it was just a matter of time until the Big East exposed the Huskies for the young, developing bunch they were pegged as to start the season. Sure, they're probably not this good ... but it's not like I can't rank them, right? That was one way -- a totally worthwhile way, if you ask me -- to have viewed Connecticut to this point in the season. Were the Huskies merely who we thought they were?

As of today, that's clearly not the case. You can now look at Connecticut's schedule an entirely different way: It's one of the nation's most impressive nonconference runs. Perhaps the most impressive. UConn has now beaten Wichita State, Michigan State, and Kentucky on a neutral floor and Texas -- one of the Big 12's most promising teams to date -- in Austin. (And it's not like UConn's two losses -- at Pitt and at Notre Dame -- are all that bad, either.) That's an impressive two months for any team, no matter which way you slice it. And maybe, just maybe, that No. 4 ranking wasn't ill-won after all.

More scattered thoughts below:

• Texas stopped Kemba Walker. It's true. Walker was 2-of-5 from beyond the arc and 6-of-22 inside it, thanks in large part to the Longhorns' tough man-to-man perimeter defense (starring Dogus Balbay, among others). Once Walker got into the lane, he was greeted by the rangy defensive play of Gary Johnson and Tristan Thompson; Walker rarely got uncontested looks from 10 feet and in. This is something of a pattern lately. Walker gets his points, but because he attracts so much opposing defensive attention, he does so inefficiently. When UConn can't offer up a second scorer -- or at least someone to preserve some of those possessions with offensive rebounds -- then the Huskies can't overcome a 10-for-30-ish Walker performance.
• On Saturday, Jim Calhoun got what he needed. After a vacant performance at Notre Dame (0-for-3 with six rebounds) Alex Oriakhi submitted his most impressive performance as a college basketball player this afternoon. He grabbed 21 rebounds -- 10 of which were offensive -- and added 11 points, many of which came on putbacks around the rim. This is impressive not only for the sheer numbers involved, but because Oriakhi did it against a tough, talented Texas frontcourt, one that kept the Longhorns in the game whenever their offense stalled in the second half.
• Thanks in large part to Oriakhi, but also to Walker, Roscoe Smith, and Tyler Olander, the Huskies rebounded 44.2 percent of their misses Saturday. It's going to be hard to beat Walker and company with that many second chances on the offensive end.
• Of course, there was plenty of Walker brilliance mixed in. There was the stepback game-winner, of course, but my favorite shot might have been the "oh-no-the-shot-clock's-dead-I-need-to-chuck-this-OHMY..." heave from about 30 feet late in the second half. Lucky? Sure. But the good ones are always a little lucky.
• And yes, you know a player is playing with confidence when he can miss as many shots as Walker missed in the second half and there's never a question over who will take the last shot, or what that lost shot will end up looking like. Why not, right?
• Jordan Hamilton continues to be one of the nation's most underrated players. That sounds weird, seeing that Hamilton plays at Texas, and it's not exactly like we're mining deep mid-major talent here. But Hamilton has taken huge strides in his sophomore year, both in production and efficiency, and he's the one guy Texas can rely on to create something when its half court offense stalls. (Which is still a far too frequent occurrence right now.) Considering where Hamilton was last season -- struggling to get minutes, chucking like a madman when he was on the floor, ignoring teammates to take 25-foot threes -- his development is all the more impressive.
• Speaking of poor decision-making, Roscoe Smith. Ouch. For whatever reason, with :10 seconds remaining in regulation Smith was given the impression that the buzzer was about to sound. So he did what anyone would do: chucked a full court shot with plenty of time left. Fortunately UConn went to OT and the mistake didn't matter, because Smith would probably have had quite the Calhoun tongue-lashing waiting for him in the locker room postgame.

Instead, UConn got the win, Walker got the game-winner, Oriakhi got his redemption, and just like that the Huskies made us all recalibrate expectations for the rest of their season. Again. Great game, and a great win.

Kentucky is the team to beat in the SEC heading into Saturday’s conference opener at Georgia.

And that’s without 6-10 freshman forward Enes Kanter, who was ruled permanently ineligible on Friday, upholding a previous NCAA decision that deemed he received impermissible benefits while playing for a professional team in his native Turkey.

The Wildcats never had Kanter this season. He wasn’t even eligible to play on the team’s three-game preseason trip to Canada in August. So all this talk, hype and expectation of what Kanter could do for Kentucky was never a factor in the development of this team.

UK coach John Calipari said a number of times to ESPN.com over the past few months that Kanter would help the Wildcats, but he made it clear that no one player was going to dominate and be the savior. Maybe he was saying this to temper expectations of the Big Blue Nation about the possibilities Kanter could provide for Kentucky in its chase for the national title. But Calipari never had to gameplan with Kanter in mind.

One NBA director of scouting told ESPN.com Friday night that Kanter would still likely be selected in the top five in the NBA draft in June now that he has been ruled permanently ineligible. That thinking hasn’t changed since the preseason, when NBA scouts watched him work out in Lexington, or even in early November, when one NBA scout told ESPN.com in Puerto Rico that he had just come from watching Kanter and was convinced he would be a top-three selection if he declared in the spring.

So, obviously Kanter would have made a difference for the Wildcats. Penn assistant coach Dan Leibovitz, whose Quakers lost to Kentucky 86-62 Monday, said on Friday night how the coaching staff discussed “how good they’d be with him.’’ But they were impressed by how much of a factor senior forward Josh Harrellson was for the Wildcats. Harrellson, who scored 23 points and grabbed 14 boards in a win at Louisville on Dec. 31, scored 12 and corralled 11 boards against Penn for his second-straight double-double.

“With what they do offensively,’’ Leibovitz said. “Having a big that makes layups goes a long way.’’

Kanter could do that and more in the post. But Harrellson, though not a traditional low-block player, has proven himself more than serviceable for a team that relies heavily on perimeter players like Brandon Knight (18.3 ppg) and Doron Lamb (14.1 ppg) offensively, as well as slashing forward Terrence Jones (17.1 ppg, 9.1 rpg).

“We had our hands full with them and we couldn’t keep them off the backboard,’’ said Notre Dame coach Mike Brey, whose Irish were outrebounded 40-33 in a 72-58 loss to the Wildcats on Dec. 8 in the SEC-Big East Invitational in Louisville. Harrellson had nine boards in that game.

“I’m really impressed with Harrellson and what he’s doing for them,’’ Brey said Friday. “He’s playing his role. They’ve all gotten better. They’re a young team, which is getting reps. I thought they’d be young when we played them but they’re playing older and getting better and better.’’

Kanter is done as a college player because he was deemed to have received more than $33,000 in impermissible benefits while playing for the Turkish club team Fenerbache two years ago. He was a rarity, a foreign player who was a lock for the lottery yet tried to play college basketball. Foreign players sought at that level of the NBA draft don’t come to the United States to play college basketball anymore. The last one that considered it was Dirk Nowitzki, when Cal was pursuing him. He opted for the draft.

Fellow Turkish nationals like West Virginia’s Deniz Kilicli, who was suspended for 20 games under a previous NCAA rule for playing alongside a professional in Turkey, or Texas guard Dogus Balbay, weren’t talented enough to declare for the NBA draft. They needed to develop so they came to college. They may never be NBA players. They weren’t even playing at a high enough level to command the type of expenses that Kanter did on his club team, even as a teenager.

Kanter was essentially deemed a professional by the NCAA in its final ruling Friday. Kentucky is irate over his inability to gain eligibility, especially in comparison to other extra benefit cases. But the one certainty throughout the whole process was that the Wildcats can still win the SEC without Kanter.

Kanter’s college career is over, but it never started. It’s unfortunate for him, but it’s his loss. Kentucky didn’t lose anything in this case. It never had the chance to have him and the Wildcats will still be a Final Four contender and SEC title favorite without him.

Saddle Up is our daily preview of the hoops your TV wants you to watch. Here's Wednesday night's rundown.

Don't let anyone tell you the college basketball regular season doesn't matter. It does. Wednesday night doesn't boast a single match up between top 25 teams, but it does have at least four games featuring bubble (or barely bubble) teams with a chance to immediately boost their at-large chances. A quick gander:

No. 3 Purdue at Minnesota, 7:30 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network: Don't look now, but Minnesota has a chance to make the NCAA tournament. I know, I know -- it's a distant chance. But it's a chance. After a 16-point win over Wisconsin on Feb. 18 and a subsequent blowout at Indiana, Tubby Smith's team is at 16-10 and 7-7 in the Big Ten with four games to play. A win tonight would be the Gophers' third in a row, and would give them a much-needed quality win for the résumé. Then, with a win over the No. 3 team in the country in their pocket, the Gophers would have three winnable games -- at Illinois, at Michigan, and at Iowa -- to play. Win out, and that gets Minnesota to 20 wins, an 11-7 conference mark, and serious at-large consideration. Easy, right?

OK, not so much: Purdue is playing its best basketball of the season right now, and the Boilermakers are in the thick of a Big Ten title race with Ohio State and Michigan State. There will be no letdowns. If Minnesota wants to sneak into the tournament, it will be earned.

South Florida at Villanova, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN360: South Florida, much like Minnesota, is nowhere to be found in Joe Lunardi's latest bracket. At 16-10, the Bulls share much the same burden as the Gophers, which is not how the animal kingdom works at all, but that's OK, because we're actually talking about college basketball. Anyway, stay focused: South Florida very much needs a win at Villanova -- not an impossible feat, given Nova's prodigious fouling habit and overall defensive vulnerability -- to stay in the bubble picture. At the very least, fire up your laptop to watch Dominique Jones take on the porous Wildcats. Bubble talk or no, that ought to be a treat.

San Diego State at BYU, 9 p.m. ET, CBS College Sports: San Diego State has had two prior chances to prove itself worthy of an at-large bid. The first was Jan. 23's 71-69 loss to BYU at home. The second was an 88-86 loss at New Mexico. Swap either one of those incredibly close and no doubt disappointing results, and SDSU isn't sitting there wallowing among the first four out. So here you go, Aztecs. Last chance. You get BYU and Jimmer Fredette in Provo with a tournament at-large on the line. You've proven you can play with the best teams in your league. Now you must, thanks to the selection committee's totally unfair and not cool at all focus on "wins," win.

No. 21 Pittsburgh at Notre Dame, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2: You already know the story here: Right now, Notre Dame shares two things with the aforementioned South Florida Bulls: a 6-8 Big East record and a fringe chance of making the NCAA tournament. How to remedy that? The Bulls have the better of the opportunities tonight, but Notre Dame has the more winnable. The only problem? Luke Harangody is expected to sit out again for the Irish, a knee injury that's come at the worst possible time for the perennially bubble-bound team.

Everywhere else: Both of these teams are already in the tournament, so they get shoved all the way down here to the flotsam, but tonight's best game is no doubt Oklahoma State at Texas, where Texas will experience life without Dogus Balbay for the first time ... There's also Texas A&M at Baylor, a match up of two very capable and tourney-ready Big 12 teams ... Dayton didn't fit up top, but it too needs a bubble win over Temple to make a late case for tournament inclusion ... UTEP will try to continue its conference dominance at Southern Miss ... Virginia Tech can't afford to lose to Boston College ... Florida State at North Carolina will be on your television whether you like it or not ... Xavier will go to St. Louis in tonight's other big A-10 match up ... And Clemson will play at Maryland as the Terps try to keep edging toward that elusive bracketology respect.

Barring something unforeseen, the top four teams in the current poll should end up being the four No. 1 seeds.

Kansas should be the overall No. 1, getting St. Louis as a Midwest Regional home. Kentucky (No. 2 in the poll) will likely be seeded in the East and go to Syracuse. Syracuse, the No. 4 team in the current poll, can’t play at the Carrier Dome as a host, meaning the Orange will likely go to Houston as the South’s top seed. The fourth No. 1 isn’t firm yet, but as of now, it’s hard to argue against the No. 3 team in the current poll, Purdue, which has now won at Ohio State and at Michigan State and has the inside track to win the Big Ten.

Here’s a breakdown of the rest of this week's ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll:

No. 5 Duke: The Blue Devils have clearly proved they are the best team in the ACC and are a possible No. 1 seed.

No. 6 Kansas State: The Wildcats continue to win road games in the Big 12 and are looking like a solid No. 2 seed.

No. 7 West Virginia: Interesting the Mountaineers are here after losing at Pitt the week before. Beating Connecticut on the road Monday would help their seeding cause.

No. 8 Villanova: Nova fans think I’m hard on this team, but I’m about results and as of late the Cats have lost a few. I’m not sure I’ve seen a team slide down only a few spots after losing two games in a week. This is too high for this week.

No. 9 Ohio State: The Buckeyes did lose at home to Purdue, but then won at Michigan State. Ohio State should be in front of Nova.

No. 10 Butler: Love the Bulldogs' spirit, the play of Gordon Hayward, and beating Siena without Willie Veasley. But the Bulldogs haven’t beaten enough quality teams to be ranked No. 10.

No. 11 BYU: I’ve been on the BYU bandwagon from day one. This team continues to win big games in the Mountain West and has a road win at UTEP that will come in handy.

No. 12 New Mexico: I’m still having a hard time digesting how well the Lobos are doing. Steve Alford and Craig “Noodles” Neal have found quite a blend of talent that went under the radar. The Lobos deserve this high ranking and it could be argued they should be ahead of the Cougs since they beat them at home. Circle the major showdown Saturday in Provo between these two teams.

No. 13 Georgetown: The Hoyas lost to Syracuse last week at home. Should they be higher? Maybe. This feels right.

No. 14 Michigan State: It’s still hard to see the Spartans slide so far down in the polls and look like a third-place Big Ten team. Seeing MSU, one of my Final Four picks, at No. 14, doesn’t make sense, but it is justified.

No. 15 Gonzaga: The Zags lost another WCC road game, this time at LMU. I know the Zags are better than they’re showing, but pushing them further down in the polls would've been fair.

No. 16 Pitt: Let me get this straight. Pitt beat West Virginia at home in triple overtime, won at Syracuse earlier and just knocked off Villanova at home. Why are the Panthers at No. 16 again? Please move them up.

No. 17 Tennessee: The Vols picked up a huge win over South Carolina. I picked it as an upset. I was wrong. I like the Vols here.

No. 18 Temple: The Owls will find out soon enough if they’re the best in the A-10. They are getting mileage out of the win over Nova. This is too high for me.

No. 19 Wisconsin: The Badgers barely beat Northwestern at home and lost at Minnesota. Sorry, but Wisconsin could be pushed down a few pegs this week.

No. 20 Vanderbilt: I know the Commodores lost at home to Kentucky but they were coming off a win at Ole Miss. I would have had no problem moving Vandy up a few spots.

No. 21 Texas: The Longhorns lost Dogus Balbay, but won at Texas Tech. That saved face for them after losing at Missouri. I know this team is more talented than it’s showing, but I wouldn’t have had a problem not ranking Texas this week.

No. 22 Northern Iowa: The Panthers get props for winning games, but still haven’t beaten anyone major outside of the win over Old Dominion last Friday. If they weren’t ranked I wouldn’t scream.

No. 23 Texas A&M: The Aggies couldn’t close out Kansas, but then won at Iowa State. We’ll find out more about this squad with a game at Baylor. Aggies should be up a few notches.

No. 24 Richmond: The Spiders are playing better basketball than Temple, so at least swap those teams in the rankings.

No. 25 UTEP: Finally. The Miners deserved to be ranked as they steamroll through Conference USA. The win over Tulsa spoke volumes as to why they should be the team to beat going forward. Derrick Caracter and Randy Culpepper have been big-time players for them this season.

I would have seriously considered putting in Maryland, Virginia Tech, Baylor and Xavier this week. There would have been some tough calls, but I might have tried to find a home for at least two of them, most notably the Terps.

After this, we can officially move on. I promise.

There's one stat you have to see, though, and it's this: Last night, Texas' assist leader was center Dexter Pittman. He had two assists. The rest of his team had four.

If you want to know why Texas is struggling, there it is. The Longhorns committed 17 turnovers last night, but that would be forgivable if they were finding open men on offense and getting easy baskets with ball movement. Of course, they're not doing that, and last night's result was a byproduct -- for all of Texas' supposed depth, they have no one who can run the show, who can make Pittman and Damion James' lives easier, who can guide Avery Bradley and Jordan Hamilton into high-percentage shots. Texas just doesn't have that player.

One potential option is freshman J'Covan Brown, who scored 28 points in 32 minutes Monday night. Brown is more of a scorer than a game manager, but he showed flashes of point guard-esque brilliance last night, including wraparound left-handed pass on a screen and roll late in the contest. The Longhorns' primary point guard option throughout the season has been Dogus Balbay, but Barnes seems concerned that Balbay can't give the Longhorns any offense, and so doesn't seem all that interested in keeping him on the floor. (This is where I'd assert that with Pittman and Bradley and James in your lineup you don't need your point guard to give you offense, but whatever.)

The bottom line is that the Longhorns have to figure out the point guard position. And fast. Whether it's a scorer like Brown or a "true" point like Balbay -- or whether it's a matter of following Ohio State, Purdue and West Virginia's leads and having your best offensive guard (say, Avery Bradley) bring the ball up -- something needs to change. If it doesn't, and the Longhorns keep posting microscopic assist-to-turnover ratios, this team isn't going anywhere.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Rick Barnes’ therapy was to talk.

And talk. And talk some more.

I'm not sure I have ever seen a head coach of Barnes’ stature vent in such a calm and therapeutic manner after losing a game of this magnitude.

Monday night's 80-68 victory by No. 1 Kansas -- the team Texas was supposed to challenge for the conference title and No. 1 seed -- was long over, well past an hour after the final buzzer, and Barnes was still discussing his Longhorns, why they have lost five of seven and how they’ll be just fine in due time.

But will they? Is the problem simple enough that the Horns can just fix their issues and start winning again?

"All I can tell you is that we’re 19-5 with seven regular-season games left," Barnes said. “How we got to 5-4 is pretty simple. If we had put our young guys out there early, then we wouldn’t have won whatever we did in a row [17 straight to get to No. 1 in the polls]. We weren’t going to do that. We knew at some point in time we needed to get them out there."

But the problem lies in whom to play, when to play them and for how long.

"If we would all play together," said Barnes, as he zig-zagged from point to point. "We’re going to fix this. We’ll be where we need to be. I knew there were issues that we were going to have to deal with and one of them was we weren’t totally together as a team."

And maybe that’s why Barnes is still searching for combinations. He played 12 players against Kansas, still unable to settle on a set rotation. He made a change in the starting lineup, inserting junior Gary Johnson for some offensive pop and sitting senior Justin Mason because, like Dogus Balbay, he had become an offensive liability.

Barnes leaned heavier on freshman J’Covan Brown off the bench, who played 32 minutes and scored 28 points. But just when you might get excited about Brown's steal, layup and 3-pointer to get Texas back in the game, he had a traveling call and then a poor shot -- a forced layup in traffic instead of giving up the ball to the hot hand of senior Damion James -- that led to Kansas stretching the lead again.

UT's one consistent player is James, who scored 24 points and made all four 3s. Center Dexter Pittman was a non-factor offensively, missing four of five shots and scoring three points. He had four blocks but was hardly a force. Freshman Avery Bradley had an ordinary game with 1-of-6 shooting, Balbay didn't do anything offensively (zero points and zero assists) and freshman Jordan Hamilton, who scored 27 points at Oklahoma State last week, continued to shoot too quickly and missed all six attempts and four 3s.

The Longhorns led 14-8 early in the game, but as soon as Barnes went to the bench, Texas wilted. Center Clint Chapman came in and played three minutes and had two turnovers.

Barnes said he had a hard time taking a senior like Mason out of the lineup because of what he has meant to the team. Barnes went back and forth on Brown. He said for all of Brown’s positives, there were still too many steps back. Yet, he hinted Brown will start over Balbay when the Longhorns play Nebraska Saturday in Austin.

"When we substitute, we get a couple of guys who get away from the gameplan," Barnes said.

Barnes said Hamilton has to understand how to get in the flow of the game, not to start "jacking up shots every time he gets them and think he has to go one-on-one and take really tough shots." But Hamilton can score points so he tosses him out there in case he can get going again.

"I didn’t feel everybody was in it together," Barnes said. "We were playing a lot of people, mixing and matching."

Brown showed he could produce in spurts. Bradley has had his run. Hamilton has been erratic. But Barnes said the reason Texas got picked high was because of those three newcomers.

And of course the expectation that Pittman would be a rock next to James.

"Dexter has to be a force in there," Barnes said. "Damion is trying really hard to do the right things and we tried him on the perimeter. What Dexter has to do is screen across. He can’t just get on the block and have the defender walk him across the lane while he stands straight up. He can’t do that. We knew they would double him."

Pittman has scored in double-figures only twice in the Big 12 this season.

And yet Barnes kept talking about how the Longhorns are still fine and will get this figured out.

At some point he will have to do what Kansas coach Bill Self did and go with a maximum of eight players. If someone isn’t happy about their playing time then so be it. He has to decide to ride the eight and finish strong with them. Time is running out to fix the erratic play.

Texas was No. 1 and now looks lost. The Big 12 title is out of reach now that the Longhorns are four games behind Kansas. So, too, is a No. 1 seed and the advantage of being the top team in Houston in the South Regional.

Barnes is still searching, talking and hoping he can find the answer by thinking aloud. He said he can.

He has to or else the Longhorns won’t be playing late into March, let alone early April.

STORRS, Conn. -- Texas’ mid-season slump that began with a late win over Texas A&M and has culminated with consecutive losses at Kansas State and Connecticut may force coach Rick Barnes to do something he didn’t anticipate weeks ago: cut down the rotation.

Texas played 12 players in the 88-74 loss to Connecticut as he searched for the right combination.

Center Dexter Pittman got into foul trouble (he fouled out in 15 minutes), as did Dogus Balbay (four fouls in 19 minutes). But outside of Gary Johnson and Jordan Hamilton the bench was ineffective.

“I might have to,’’ Barnes said of trimming the rotation down. “A lot of guys got a chance but I’m going to have to think long and hard if guys aren’t doing it.’’

Clint Chapman, Matt Hill, Alexis Wangmene all played under 10 minutes and produced four boards and two points. Clearly, Barnes will go with Jai Lucas as a backup to Balbay and Johnson and Hamilton have to play because of their talent and productivity. But J’Covan Brown was 0-for-5 shooting including 0-for-3 on 3s and offered little in 12 minutes off the bench.

Texas’ depth has been a selling point for this squad but it’s starting to seem like the rotation is getting unwieldy for a team that needs to focus a bit more when pressured and pushed.

Barnes said he was searching for the right combinations. But he also said Avery Bradley can’t play 36 minutes a game (he played 29). He said Bradley told him he was as tired as he’s ever been after the Kansas State game Monday. He said he has to maximize minutes for James, too, who can’t get worked too long. Of course Pittman has to give the Longhorns more than 15 minutes for Texas to be a title contender.

For Texas to be a title team the Longhorns may have to lock in on a rotation of James, Pittman, Bradley, Balbay, Justin Mason, Johnson, Hamilton, a bit of Lucas and maybe some Brown. But the latter may have to play in spots.

“We’ll be fine if we stay with the right attitude and they want to listen,’’ Barnes said.

What upset him more than anything was the Longhorns’ lack of offensive execution and their inability to defend on the transition. Barnes said he didn’t think the Longhorns’ poise was an issue but rather execution.

“We can guard better than that,’’ Barnes said. “We’ve been great defensively for the most part this year.’’

Texas won’t catch a break at home with Oklahoma State coming off a road win at Kansas State and then Baylor, which nearly clipped Kansas on the road.

“We’ll get back on a roll,’’ James said. “I know this team. Maybe we needed to get back down to reality. We’ll bounce back. I promise you.’’

A closer look inside Monday night's box scores.

1. In a win over Long Beach State, Dogus Balbay of Texas dished out 11 assists, while not committing a single turnover. That is tied for the most assists without a turnover in Division I this season. The last Longhorn with 10-plus assists and no turnovers in a game was Edgar Moreno, who did it coming off the bench in 2003.

2. Marshall’s Hassan Whiteside had his third career game with five or more blocks on Monday. He is now averaging 4.4 blocks per game, most among freshmen and behind only Mississippi State's Jarvis Varnado nationally. Through seven games, Whiteside already has more blocks than any Marshall player has had in a full season since 2006-07 (Jean Francois Bro-Grebe). Last season, Marshall’s top two shot-blockers combined for 31 blocks, which matches Whiteside’s current total.

3. Seton Hall’s Herb Pope matched a career-high with 22 points and added 15 rebounds in a win over Massachusetts that kept the Pirates undefeated at 7-0. He is just the fourth Pirate this decade to go for 20 and 15 in a game. Pope joins Charles Manga, John Garcia and Eddie Griffin (twice).

4. Charleston’s Andrew Goudelock was Monday’s top scorer with a season-high 28 points in a win over UNC Greensboro. Goudelock scored 28 while not attempting a free throw. However, that’s nothing compared to what Sam Houston State's Corey Allmond did against Kentucky a few weeks back. Allmond had 37 points without taking a foul shot.

5. Wofford lost to Appalachian State, 77-76, despite an impressive 18 assists and just four turnovers. The 4.5 assist-to-turnover ratio is the fourth highest in a D-I game this season, and the highest for a losing team.