Welcome to Bevo’s Fake Nuts, our weekly-ish column on the Texas Longhorns.
This is one of those weeks when I should probably start by saying that I like the University of Texas. Not my favorites, but I like ‘em. Positive vibes. I think it’s a good school, most of the Longhorns I know are good folks, I generally want them to win unless they’re playing someone I like even more than them (or if it would be funny if they lost, that’s another big one).
That all said, the fanbase treated Shaka Smart like shit. And while he’s above that mess, I’m not. You bastards had this coming. You bastards had this all coming.
Last night, for readers unaware, the University of Texas at Austin’s men’s basketball team lost at home to last-place Kansas State. It was a bad loss, and while the Horns are still likely to miss the NIT on the high side, it had people talking. Talking NIT. Talking NITexas. Frustration with Chris Beard, who came in, brought a ton of great transfers to the school, then coached exactly as he’s been expected to coach has begun to boil over. Texas basketball fans are nothing if not utterly detached from reason.
Entering the year, KenPom, the preseason ratings of which take things like transfers into account, had the Horns as the 14th-best team nationally. Today, they’re rated 17th. This team is almost exactly as good as they should have been expected to be, but a top-five ranking in the preseason AP Poll contrasted with a projected 8-seed in a certain tournament (at the moment, per our own Joe Stunardi) has grumblers grumbling, and the fact the team’s best win may have come over a shorthanded Kansas State on the road (yes, last night was a revenge game for the Wildcats) has the panic button getting a workout. The Big 12 famously does not take prisoners, and with Texas drawing Tennessee in the Big 12/SEC Challenge, a stretch is coming up in which Texas has to play seven straight games against teams projected as 9-seeds or better, six of those against teams projected as 6-seeds or better, and three of the seven on the road. That stretch begins after these next two games against Oklahoma State and TCU, effectively bubble teams (the Pokes are ineligible due to NCAA tyranny).
In short, it’s fair to be scared. It’s reasonable to be scared. Texas is aimed close enough to the NIT that two or three misfires could be all it takes to land them in my world, and if they come to my world, you know they’ll be welcomed with open arms. Because the thing about Chris Beard is that I like him. And going off of that, I can think of few things funnier than Texas fans treating him with the same ignorant spittle they showered upon his predecessor while I get to extol his virtues.
Bring it on, Texas. We’re ready for you.
