Even though I believe that in the grand scheme of things we were going to be ok, no matter what transpired tonight, every loss stings.  Our number 9 Bruins lose a tough, hard fought game against the number 8 Horns in another nail biting game.

Despite heroic efforts from DC and AA2, Ben Ball warriors go down in the Lone Star state by a score of 64-69:

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Harry Cabluck (ESPN)

Here is the raw box score.

The game was another heart breaking and frustrating loss against one of the better teams in the country. A. J. Abrams killed us by scoring 31 points and reminding JH that he has a way to go to turn himself into a one and done, first round pick.

Bruins came out looking sloppy on offense and slow on defense. We were not moving around the ball well and looked a step slow in our rotation falling behind by 9 points in second half.

Then we made our charge and probably the most encouraging aspect of tonight's game was the way this team responded to a 10 pt deficit against a very tough team on the road. They figured out how to play that classic Ben Ball defense, rebound the ball, and show grit and fight, erasing that deficit and going up by against the Horns.

Bruins fell short at the end. They have a lot of work to do. They need to figure out a way to solve their FT issues (which killed them tonight), hustle for the entire game for boards and loose ball (taking their cues from AA2), and for freshmen like JH and JM get in better game shape.

They will get it done. They will get better. From what I saw in the second half tonight, I am optimistic about how this team develops through rest of this season. There is so much room for improvement and we know CBH and his staff are going to make sure our Ben Ball warriors do just.

Fire away with your post game thoughts.

GO BRUINS.

Let’s get the party started in a huge week in Bruin Nation.

As we have been discussing this week for our Ben Ball warriors to pull of an upset against one of the better teams in the country and possibly the best team in the Big-12, it will be up to DC and his backcourt mates to come up with a huge game:

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Frank Franklin II (via ESPN)

To check out all of notes on Texas Longhorns check out our game coverage here. Bruin Basketball report also has its game preview up.

The tipoff is scheduled for 6:00 pm PST.  It will be on ESPN2. You can also track it on our official site.

Our guys have been amped up for this game for a while calling it a "test". Should be interesting to see how they perform in this big quiz (I wouldn’t call it a mid-term yet since this is only the 6^th game of the season) to see what they have learned in first few weeks in Professor Howland’s classroom.

Fire away.

GO BRUINS.

So our huge triple header week – Ben Ball v. Texas, Soccer Final-4 v. UNC & Southern Cal – gets officially started tonight in Austin. Per Dohn’s game reports our players are putting a lot of stock into this marquee non conference matchup early in this season calling it a big test:

"Last year we were more half-court set, and this year we're more up-and-down, motion because of the quickness that we have," Bruins senior center Alfred Aboya said. "This will be a test for us because they're a great team and they love to pressure, and they're playing at home. This game will really tell us about who UCLA is in 2008-09."

Texas plays with pressure defense, capitalizing on teams that dribble too much by extending their defense in half-court situations. The Longhorns also possess length - five of their top eight players are 6-foot-7 or taller - and athleticism.

Bruins senior point guard Darren Collison said the amount of practice time since playing in the Coaches vs. Cancer classic, during which UCLA lost to unranked Michigan two weeks ago, should be evident.

I appreciate the fact that DC and AA2 are saying all the right things in press. However, we also have to keep things in perspective. I think our young team is going to evolve a lot as we go through rest of this season. I will keep harping back to 2005-06 when we suffered losses against California and Washington at Pauley during first half of the season. I fully expect tough games like that early this season and this seems to be one of the games in which we are going to be clear underdogs.

One of the major adjustments our five freshmen will go through this season is learning to play in a hostile college road game. We can’t expect all freshmen to put on Kevin Love at Oregon performance in his first true collegiate road trip. For kids like JH and ML tonight could be an eye opening experience:

For freshmen such as Jrue Holiday and Malcolm Lee, this will be the first real taste of college basketball on the road. Though Texas fans are still focused on football, Frank Erwin Center should be loud.

"These young guys are going to learn what it's like to play in a hostile situation," junior swingman Michael Roll said. "And we're obviously going to have that during the Pac-10 season."

The upperclassmen have been slipping hints to the newcomers: Ignore the taunts. Listen harder to calls from teammates.

FYI Texas fans are fired up for this home game and are planning to arrive early and be as raucous as they can be.

Hopefully our guys are ready for this mega test. The game is scheduled to start around 6 pm PST on ESPN2. Our game thread will go up about half an hour before the tip-off.

GO BRUINS.

How big is the game against the Longhorns tomorrow night? Per Coach Howland Bruins are taking on a squad that is talented enough to win the Big-12 conference and end up in the Final-4:

"They're a team that would not surprise me at all if they were playing in Detroit (in the Final Four) in April," Bruins coach Ben Howland said. "They'll win the Big 12, in my opinion."

In my last post on Texas, we talked about the matchup nightmares against Damion James (now I know what our opponents must have felt like when they were scheming against LRMAM). According to the LA Times today Howland will start the game with JS guarding James:

Coach Ben Howland said his team would begin the game at Frank Erwin Center with Shipp guarding Damion James, a 6-foot-7, 222-pound junior who is averaging 14.5 points and eight rebounds.

"We can't simulate Damion" in practice, Howland said. "This guy's like a pogo stick. He stops and goes up on a dime."

Shipp, who is 6-5, 220 pounds, did not seem overly concerned, saying that it's all about sticking to principles. Not like compassion and honesty. The basketball kind.

"Stay in front of your man," he said. "Box out. Contest shots."

James isn't the Longhorns' only scorer. Speedy guard A.J. Abrams is averaging 15.8 points and guard Justin Mason adds almost 10.

"It's going to be a real matchup for our defense," forward James Keefe said. "It'll show how well we can come out and play against a ranked team."

As I have said before I am not confident about JS’s ability to handle James. It will be interesting to see whether JS can stay with James or how long Howland stays with JS. I think what might be a good solution is to try out JK on James, put JS on Atchley (who likes to operate out of the peremeter), and have AA2 cover the interior against Pittman and Johnson. Should be interesting to see how it plays out but if I were to give a team an edge heading into Thursday night, it would be Texas.

Meanwhile, we also noted how at least by early pre-season numbers it appears that the Longhorns have a better defense compared to what they had in previous years. Howland noticed the improvements in their defense:

When the Longhorns beat UCLA 63-61 last year at Pauley Pavilion, Howland said Texas played plenty of zone defense. In scouting Texas this season, Howland said they have not played zone.

"They're a much more defensive team in terms of getting pressure (on the ball), switching everything, doubling ball screens, doubling the post," Howland said. "Their defense is way different than it has been in the past. I think it's made them really difficult to try and score on because they're so athletic, so long."

Texas' opponents are shooting 34 percent from the field and averaging 55.5 points per game.

On the offensive side of the ball, Longhorns are a work in progress. Trips Right, who follows his Longhorns on Barking Carnival, noted the following issues re. the Texas offense after their tough loss against Notre Dame:

Lack of a true point guard. There are solutions to this problem. Hell, look at most Big 10 teams, and their lack of a truly dynamic lead guard. Texas has Mason, the ability to get out and run, a hybrid forward in Damion James, and some viable post options that can be solutions to half court woes. It’d be nice to have Chris Corchiani, but we don’t NEED him.

Lack of a true identity. This problem will solve itself before conference play. Barnes is a great coach, and he’ll push the right buttons. Finding it sooner rather than later can be the difference between a 5 seed and a 2 or 3 seed. Are we going to press and run? Or are we going to hammer people with our bigs and offensive rebound? Should we do both? Do we trust our kids to know when we’re doing which?

AJ Abrams. Quite frankly the kid is killing Texas’ continuity on offense. The obvious fallout from his quick catch and shoots are, well, quick catch and shoots. They bail out inferior defenses and rebounding teams, play away from Texas’ strength on the interior, fail to get other good offensive players involved, and generally hurt team chemistry which leads to another concern which I like to call the blackhole or magic trick affect.

Right now, AJ is playing for a contract. And as a teammate, I know everytime Abrams touches the rock, it’s going to disappear. That’s tough enough on patient, unselfish players like Justin Mason and Connor Atchley, but for another player in a contract year like Damion James, it’s downright killing him. It’s the sole reason he’s taking so many horrible midrange shots or out of rhythm 3’s. Damion knows he’ll never get the rock back if he gives it up. And in Damion’s mind, he’s got to get his. Throw in the fact that our talented bigs don’t get but one or two entry passes a game, and you can see how AJ’s lack of involving other players is killing this team.

Well we have all been there in terms of experiencing frustrations after a tough loss. Texas is definitely working to develop team chemistry, just like our team with 5 freshmen (and without all those departing upperclassmen) during this non conference season. FWIW, Trips was happier with AJ’s performance in the Oregon game, in which he was “bit more selective” in his attempts.

I think for the Bruins to defend against the Longhorns, it will be mission critical for DC, JH and rest of our guards to clamp down on Abrams and Mason. If our guards can disable the triggers for Longhorns offense, perhaps that would be our best shot to prevent the Longhorns from getting their inside game going via James et al.

Can’t wait to see how this game unfolds. It should be a fun chess match between Howland and Barnes.

GO BRUINS.

In case you haven't done it yet, check out the notes Bald Eagle graciously shared with all of us from his Thanksgiving vacation in Maui. BB had a chance to scout out couple of future Bruin opponents - Texas and Notre Dame - in the 2008 Maui Invitational when he had chance to check out the great game between those two teams. Notre Dame won that game barely before getting pummeled by UNC but it's pretty clear based on BB's observations and from what we have seen from both UCLA and Texas this season, our Ben Ball warriors (now back in the top-10 at least according to one poll) will be underdogs when they take on the Horns (ranked number 8 in both polls) this Thursday night in Austin (tip off scheduled for 6 pm PST on ESPN2). Here were BB's early impressions on the Longhorns:

As expected, this is a very athletic team.  They return 4 starters and 9 of their top 10 scorers from last year’s team that went 31-7, including a gut-wrenching, last second victory at Pauley last year.  They return 73 percent of their scoring from last year.

Their backcourt is absolutely terrific.  A.J. Abrams is their floor leader.  They went to him consistently at the end of the game to make threes to bring UT back from a late 7 point deficit.  Justin Mason also ran the point some and was lighting fast on D and created numerous shots driving to the hoop. 

Dexter Pittman started at center and he is Tight End in hoops shorts.  At 6-10 298 he is a load down low.  Thankfully he is a foul waiting to happen.  Worse than AA2 on his worst day.  Connor Atchley, a 5th yr. Senior was active around the hoop but really nothing to write home about.  I got the same impression last year when I watched him at Pauley.  If you don’t put a body on him he’ll sneak in for some put-backs and easy hoops.

Damion James is arguably their best player.  He killed us last year.  A 6-7’ G/F who can leap out of the building, he is a nightmare match-up.  He didn’t have a huge game today, but every time you looked up he was flying above the rim grabbing rebounds or slashing to the hoop for easy points off the glass.  If JA can’t guard him this year, he could be our Achilles Heel again.

I am assuming BB meant JS instead of JA because last year it was JS who simply got abused by Damion James. I am extremely worried about this game on Thursday night because I am not sure if we have the answer for James. He is a matchup nightmare and based on what I have seen from JS this year, I am not sure if he is ready to guard him.

I am not sure how Howland will scheme his defense to help out JS because he will need a lot of it. If JS can't handle James (which he didn't much of last year) who will get to step up?  Can we feel confident about either ND or MR handling James? Oy vez.

As for rest of the team, just like Rick Barnes has done in previous years he has reorganized his talented roster to fill in for the departure of D.J. Augstin just like his teams stepped up in previous years to make up for the losses of college stars such as Durant, Ford, Mim and on and on. From Sportsline.com:

Returnees abound for Texas, though the biggest question entering the season is how the Longhorns will function without All-American point guard D.J. Augustin.

It's not as if coach Rick Barnes hasn't fielded such inquiries before.

This is the same coach who's sent the NBA other lottery picks, such as Kevin Durant, LaMarcus Aldridge, T.J. Ford and Chris Mihm, so the Longhorns are accustomed to reloading and doing so before players exhaust their eligibility.

"We don't replace those guys," Barnes said. "This is a new year with a different team, so roles will change."

So who has stepped in for Augustin? Well Bald Bruin mentioned Abrams. Apparently per Burnt Orange Nation (BON), Justin Mason is now the point guard:

Mason is your point guard. The Abrams at point experiment is over. Unless Balbay was also in the game, Mase handled the duties at the point. Again, this is not a knock on Abrams. In fact, AJ is better able to score off catch-and-shoot jumpers when he plays off the ball and can run the baseline as well. Abrams is also able to make plays for his teammates off baseline curls when he is off the ball. This may not bode well for Abrams’s future as a point guard in the NBA. It does, however, bode well for the Texas Longhorns this season.

Imagine DC and JA will get the assignments to take him on while JH will get the duties to take on Abrams.

As Mason and Abrams make up the starting backcourt for the Long Horns, keep an eye on Dogus Balbay, a soph guard from Turkey who sat out last season due to a knee injury. Per BON Balbay has emerged as a key contributor off the bench for the Longhorns as they dubbed the kid the defensive MVP of their last game (a blowout win over Rice):

The Defensive MVP was: Dogus Balbay. Again, this designation could go to a couple of players. James played well defensively and ended with two steals and a block and Mason added three steals of his own to complete a solid overall performance. However, Balbay stood out with the most memorable defensive play of the game.

Rice had an easy two on zero fast-break lay-up erased by an incredibly athletic block by Dogus. Balbay caught the ball from behind, slashed across the lane, and threw a one-handed attempted lay-up backwards. For the second game in a row, he made a block that most players six inches taller than him can’t make.

The combination of Balbay, Abrams and Mason no doubt will be a huge test for our backcourt which is deep but of course laden with freshmen inexperience. It will be interesting to see how our cubs respond in a true environment.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the court we mentioned about the nightmare matchup against James. Also look out for Dexter Pittman, who BB noted is built like a football TE. The guys at BON think that Pittman has some developing to do:

The Dexter Pittman Watch: 6 points (1-of-3) and three rebounds in eight minutes. Big Dex is a starter in name only. He has started the last few games and played until just shy of the first tv timeout before he becomes visibly winded. When he is in the game, he is a force in the paint. Unfortunately, he is still not able to stay on the floor long enough to be a real factor in the game.

In the last couple of games, it has been foul trouble that plagued him; this afternoon, it was probably stamina and the pace of the game being too fast for him. Most of you are bigger Dex supporters than I am. However, I really want to see him succeed and I want Texas to have an interior force that opponents must game-plan to stop. Call me pessimistic, but I don’t see that happening this season. Dex is still not able to play more than four or five consecutive minutes, is slow on off-the-ball defense, and has trouble elevating on jump hooks and rebounds.

Yet, I am sure AA and rest of our front court guys will not take this kid lightly. Inspired by a marquee matchup and a fired up home crowd, I can see this kind having a great game against a Bruin front court which is going through its own development process during this early non conference season.

Speaking of going up against a marquee opponent early in the season, I think it's too early to make too much out of data points available on Kenpom.com but for those who are curious here are the scouting stats on a 5-1 Texas team. The number that sticks is that they are ranked number 5 (adj. efficiency) in the country in defense while 114th on offense. That is off compared to the defensive/offensive rankings in the same category from 2008 (36/3), 2007 (62/5), and 2006 (10/4). Again, I am not sure if you want to put a lot of stock in their early 2009 numbers but at least judging by their offensive output from their first 6 games, it looks like they are still figuring out a way to replace the lost offensive firepower from the departures from studs like Augustin and Durant. FWIW they are making it up early on a via strong defense. As for UCLA as we have discussed heading into the FIU game we have a lot of work to do on our defensive front, as at least in the early going our defensive stats are no where close to what they have been in recent years. Here are the early 2009 numbers which show UCLA with the 75th ranked defense (adj efficiency) in 2009. Anyway, like I said above I don't put a lot of stock in these stats at this point of the season even though they are kind of fund to play around with.

So with all that said here are my three key factors for Thursday night's games:

• DC's performance. I don't need to go over how he went missing against Michigan. Although he rebounded well against the Salukis, the spotlight is going to be on him in this matchup against a great Texas backcourt. Given DC's performance (or lack thereof) against Michigan guards and the nightmarish Final-4 against Memphis, this could be a huge opportunity for DC to make a statement (don't forget he was also somewhat of nonfactor in this game last year as he was trying to come back from a serious injury)
• JS v. James. I am having nightmares about it and unless someone can talk me down, I think this could be the potential matchup that might cost us thsi game
• The composure of our young freshmen. Huge opportunity for JH as he will probably get the chance to guard against one of the better guards in the country in Abrams. Also, the guys like JMM and DG (if they see action) will have a big challenge in dealing with an experienced Texas frontcourt.
  

That's what I got for now on this game. As we get more notes, I will keep sharing them on BN and as always feel free to share your thoughts and takes on Thursday night, setting of a huge week in Bruin Nation.

GO BRUINS.