Texas Longhorns basketball

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Texas Longhorns
Texas Longhorns athletic logo

University The University of Texas at Austin
Conference Big 12
South Division
Location Austin, TX
Head Coach Rick Barnes (9th year)
Arena Frank Erwin Center
(Capacity: 16,755)
Nickname Longhorns
Colors Burnt Orange and White

             

NCAA Tournament Final Four
1943, 1947, 2003
Conference Tournament Champions
Southwest Conference: 1994, 1995
Conference Regular Season Champions
Southwest Conference: 1915, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1924, 1933, 1939, 1943, 1947, 1951, 1954, 1960, 1963, 1965, 1972, 1974, 1978, 1979, 1986, 1992, 1994, 1995

Big 12 Conference: 1999, 2006


The Texas Longhorns men's basketball team represents The University of Texas at Austin and competes in the Big 12 Conference.

The men's basketball team has achieved national prominence under head coach Rick Barnes in recent years. Barnes has guided Texas to a school-record nine consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and a school-best eight consecutive 20-win seasons as of March 11, 2007.

Since 1977, the Texas men's basketball team has played its home games in the Frank Erwin Special Events Center, where it has compiled a 346-88 (.797) record as of the end of the 2006-07 season.

Contents

[edit] Texas Longhorns men's basketball history

[edit] The early years (1906-36)

[edit] Jack Gray/Bully Gilstrap era (1937-51)

[edit] 1952-76

[edit] Abe Lemons years (1976-82)

[edit] Bob Weltlich years (1982-88)

[edit] Tom Penders era (1988-98)

[edit] Rick Barnes era (1998-99 season to present)

100 years of University of Texas Longhorns basketball.
The Frank Erwin Center during a UT basketball game
The Frank Erwin Center during a UT basketball game

Hired as the 23rd men's basketball coach in Texas history on April 12, 1998, Rick Barnes left Clemson University to take over a Texas program coming off of a losing season and "in disarray."[1] Former head coach Tom Penders had resigned after a scandal involving his unlawful release of player Luke Axtell's grades to the media. Longhorn players Axtell, Chris Mihm, Gabe Muoneke, and Bernard Smith had met with Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds "to say that they had lost faith in Penders and his program."[2][3]

Despite playing with just seven scholarship players for the majority of the 1998-1999 season — and opening the season with a 3-8 record — Barnes engineered one of the greatest midseason turnarounds in school history. The Longhorns won 16 of their final 21 games, posting a 13-3 record in conference play and winning the school's first regular season Big 12 Conference championship by a two-game margin, and finishing the year at 19-13, with a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

In 2002, Texas advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen for the first time since the 1996-97 season, and for only the third time since the expansion of the tournament to 64 participants in 1985. The 2003 Longhorn basketball team matched the school record for most basketball victories in a season with their 26-7 mark and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Final Four round for the first time in 56 years, and for the third time in school history. Along the way, Texas earned its highest ranking in both the Associated Press and the ESPN/USA Today polls in school history (No. 2 in both polls on Dec. 2, 2002) and received its first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Sophomore point guard T.J. Ford became the first UT male player to earn the Naismith and Wooden Awards as college basketball's Player of the Year in 2003.

Despite the early departure of Ford to the NBA as the eighth overall pick (Milwaukee Bucks), Texas compiled a 25-8 overall record in 2004 and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen round for a school-record third consecutive year. The four senior starters on the 2004 team graduated as the winningest class in school history (98 wins) to that point. In 2006, the Longhorns recorded the program's first 30-win season (30-7), claimed a share of the Big 12 Conference regular season championship, received a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and advanced to the Elite Eight (Texas fell to LSU in overtime), marking the fourth time in five years that Texas had advanced to at least the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. The 2006 class, which finished with 101 wins in four years, bested the 2004 class' mark of 98 wins to become the winningest class in the history of Longhorn basketball.

The 2005-06 season also marked the 100th anniversary of basketball at UT. Special logos were placed on the uniforms to commemorate this anniversary.


** final Coaches' Poll not yet released

[edit] All-time season results (1906-2007)

** final Coaches' Poll not yet released

[edit] All-time series records versus Big 12 members

[edit] Rivalries

[edit] Oklahoma

With the formation of the Big 12 Conference in 1996, the University of Oklahoma (OU) has become The University of Texas' main rival in basketball. While Texas and Oklahoma are not traditional rivals in any sport other than football, due to their prior residence in different conferences (UT in the Southwest Conference and OU in the Big Eight Conference), the shared enmity from that historic rivalry has naturally extended into competition in basketball and other sports in the Big 12. The competitiveness of the Texas and OU basketball programs — which are second and third in all-time Big 12 regular season conference wins, respectively — has only accelerated the development of the divisional basketball rivalry. The Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners play one game in Austin, Texas and one game in Norman, Oklahoma each year during the regular season. Oklahoma leads the overall series 45-24. OU leads 16-11 in games played since the inception of the Big 12, though Texas has held the upper hand in recent years, winning eight of the last 11 meetings (2003-07).

[edit] Texas A&M

The rise of the Texas A&M Aggie basketball program under third-year head coach Billy Gillispie has led to the rapid intensification of the basketball rivalry between Texas and Texas A&M, and its progression toward roughly equal status with the Oklahoma rivalry for Texas fans. Texas is 4-3 against Texas A&M since Gillispie became the Aggie head coach for the 2004-05 season. The Longhorns had won 34 of the previous 37 meetings with the Aggies before Gillispie's arrival, and 15 of the 16 contests in the Big 12 to that point. The lopsided nature of the series — and the lack of Aggie fan interest in a program that had gone ten consecutive years without a winning season or postseason appearance under prior coaches — had strongly diminished the stature of the rivalry. The Longhorns and the Aggies play two games during the regular season, with the venue alternating between the home courts of each school. Texas leads the overall series 129-82.

[edit] Kansas

The past several years have also witnessed the emergence of a cross-divisional rivalry between Texas and the Big 12 Conference's traditional basketball powerhouse, the Jayhawks of the University of Kansas (KU), with the Longhorns' emergence under Rick Barnes as the Jayhawks' most consistent competition for Big 12 Conference supremacy. From the inception of the Big 12 through the 2006-07 season, Texas has produced a 123-53 (.699) mark against conference competition during the regular season, trailing only Kansas' record of 145-31 (.824). Texas and Kansas play one game during the regular season, with the venue alternating yearly between the home courts of each school. Kansas leads the overall series 14-5 and has won 10 of the 14 contests since the Big 12 was formed. Current KU head coach Bill Self is 4-3 against Texas since becoming the Jayhawks' head coach for the 2003-04 season.

[edit] Other schools

The Longhorns also share rivalries with divisional competitors Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and Baylor.

Several members of the former Southwest Conference that do not belong to the Big 12 Conference, such as the Razorbacks of the University of Arkansas and the Cougars of the University of Houston, still consider the Longhorns to be their primary rivals, despite presently infrequent and irregular competition between Texas and these schools.

[edit] Notable players

  • LaMarcus Aldridge — 2006 NBA Draft 1st-round pick, 2nd overall (Portland Trail Blazers)
  • D.J. Augustin — 2007 All-Big 12 second team
  • Ron Baxter — 1980 Southwest Conference Player of the Year; three-time first-team All-SWC (1978-80)
  • Kevin Durant — Unanimous first-team All-American Longhorn forward (2007); 2007 Big 12 Player of the Year; National Player of the Year candidate
  • T.J. Ford — Consensus first-team All-American Longhorn guard (2003); 2003 National Player of the Year; 2003 NBA Draft 1st-round pick, 8th overall (Milwaukee Bucks)
  • Daniel Gibson — 2006 NBA Draft 2nd-round pick, 42nd overall
  • Jack Gray — Consensus first-team All-American Longhorn guard (1935); three-time All-SWC (1933-35); Longhorn basketball head coach (1937-42, 1946-51)
  • Royal Ivey — 2004 NBA Draft 2nd-round pick, 37th overall
  • Clyde Littlefield — First-team All-American Longhorn center (1915); two-time All-SWC (1915-16); acclaimed Longhorn head coach in football (1927-33) and track (1920-60)
  • Slater Martin — First-team All-American Longhorn guard (1949); two-time first-team All-SWC (1948-49); seven-time NBA All-Star during 11-year career (1950-1960); UT's sole Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member (1982)
  • Travis Mays — 1989 & 1990 Southwest Conference Player of the Year; three-time first-team All-SWC (1988-90); 1990 NBA Draft 1st-round pick, 14th overall
  • Chris Mihm — Consensus first-team All-American Longhorn center (2000); 2000 NBA Draft 1st-round pick, 7th overall
  • LaSalle Thompson — First-team All-American Longhorn center (1982); two-time first-team All-SWC (1981-82); 1982 NBA Draft 1st-round pick, 5th overall
  • P.J. Tucker — 2006 Big 12 Player of the Year; NBA Draft 2nd-round pick, 35th overall

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Rick Barnes Leaves Clemson for Texas", Associated Press
  2. ^ "Rick Barnes Leaves Clemson for Texas", Associated Press
  3. ^ "George Washington; Penders Hired," New York Times
  4. ^ Big 12 Men's Basketball Record Book. big12sports.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
  5. ^ NCAA 2007 Men's Basketball Record Book. ncaasports.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
  6. ^ 2004-05 Big 12 Men's Basketball Media Guide. big12sports.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
  7. ^ 2004-05 Big 12 Men's Basketball Media Guide. big12sports.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
  8. ^ 2006-07 Big 12 Men's Basketball Media Guide. big12sports.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-18.

[edit] External links


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Texas Longhorns Head Basketball Coaches

Mainland • Metzenthin • Rix • Taylor • Bellmont • Henderson • Van Gent • Henderson • Whitaker • Bellmont • Romney • Stewart • Walker • Olle • Karow • Gray • Gilstrap • Gray • Hull • Hughes • Bradley • Black • LemonsWeltlichPendersBarnes