Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Each morning, LonghornsWire will provide the top headlines in the Big 12. Today, BR, Twitter, and TexasTech.com provide the headlines.
Each morning Longhorns Wire will share the top stories from around the Big 12 Conference. For this edition of the Big 12 morning rush, Bleacher Report, Twitter, and TexasTech.com provide the headlines.
Continue reading “Thursday Big 12 Morning Rush: Headlines from around the conference”
Shaka Smart may be losing an assistant, as UK is looking to steal Jai Lucas. KSR is reporting that Calipari wants Lucas to join his staff.
Head coach Shaka Smart may be losing one of the assistants on his coaching staff, as Kentucky could be looking to steal Jai Lucas away. Kentucky Sports Radio is reporting that John Calipari could want Lucas to join his staff.
“Would be a big get if we could pull that off,” a source close to the Kentucky basketball program told KSR Tuesday morning.
“Jai Lucas is a specialist, knows everyone in the country. Limitless resources,” another source familiar with the situation told KSR on Monday evening. “Could be an assistant like he is now but more of a connections guy. Fits like a glove [at Kentucky].”
He would be replacing Kenny Payne, who recently joined the New York Knicks’ coaching staff.
Lucas joined the Texas staff in 2013 and began as the Texas director of basketball operations. Smart then gave him a promotion, making him an assistant coach beginning in 2016.
He is responsible for the great 2017 recruiting class that included Mo Bamba, Matt Coleman, and Jericho Sims.
Reports out of Kentucky indicate John Calipari is trying to lure Texas men's assistant Jai Lucas to Lexington.
— Brian Davis (@BDavisAAS) August 18, 2020
Before coaching, Lucas was a player at Texas for two seasons after transferring from Florida. He averaged just under three points a game with 2.9 and 1.2 assists per game during his time in Austin.
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The NBA season will now turn to the playoffs down in Orlando. Four former Horns will be in action across the Eastern and Western Conference.
After eight games in the NBA bubble, their season will now turn to the playoffs down in Orlando, FL. Four former Longhorns will be in action across both the Eastern and Western Conference.
Starting in the East, Jarett Allen of the Brooklyn Nets, D.J. Augustin of the Orlando Magic, and Myles Turner of the Indiana Pacers will be vying for their first NBA championships.
Turner has become a star for the Pacers, averaging 12.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. However, he did miss Indiana’s finale against Miami, dealing with a wrist injury and being listed as day-to-day.
Brooklyn was supposed to feature two former Longhorns in Allen and Kevin Durant. An Achilles injury has sidelined Durant for the entire year and the duo will have to wait another year.
In the meantime, Allen has been averaging nearly a double-double, with 11.1 points and 9.6 points per game. He is the Nets’ second-leading rebounder, only behind DeAndre Jordan, who has 10.0 per game.
Finally in the East, Augustin has a tough mountain the climb against the one-seed Milwaukee Bucks. The point guard finished the regular season second on the Magic in assists, having 4.6 per game and adding 10.5 points per game.
Moving over to the West and Houston Rockets’ star P.J. Tucker. The 6-5 forward is shooting 35% from three this year, averaging 6.9 points per game. He has been a consistent player for head coach Mike Dantoni, playing 34.3 minutes per game. Houston will be playing the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Game Day. #NBAPlayoffs
🏀 @_bigjayy_ (Nets) 🆚 Raptors
⏲️ 3 pm CT
📺 @espn #HookEm 🤘 | #WholeNewGame pic.twitter.com/JVHVQlx6rw— Texas Men's Basketball (@TexasMBB) August 17, 2020
All NBA playoff games can be found either on ABC, ESPN, NBATV, or TNT.
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Texas has landed its third and highest recruit of the 2021 class in David Joplin. A four-star PF, Joplin is a top-five player in Wisconsin.
Texas has landed its third and highest recruit of the 2021 class in David Joplin. A four-star power forward according to Rivals, Joplin is a top-five player in the state of Wisconsin.
| Stars | Overall | State | Position | |
| 247 | 3 | 147 | 5 | 30 |
| Rivals | 4 | 112 | – | 20 |
| ESPN | – | – | – | – |
| 247 Composite | 3 | 187 | 38 | 5 |
| Hometown | Brookfield, Wisconsin |
| Projected Position | Power forward |
| Height | 6-7 |
| Weight | 215 |
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#hookem 🤘🏽 pic.twitter.com/HzG6eSS8WE
— David Joplin (@David_Joplin24) August 16, 2020
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Following the dismissal of Texas Tech coach Marlene Stollins, they should give former Longhorns coach Karen Aston a call.
Early last week USA TODAY Sports writer Jori Epstein produced a report in collaboration with The Intercollegiate. The Intercollegiate is a college sports investigative media company. In the report they took exit interviews from players that detailed the abuse of players from the Texas Tech women’s basketball program. This led to the eventual dismissal of then head coach Marlene Stollings.
In a press conference that soon followed the announcement of the firing, Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt admitted that “We have failed them.” The one thing that Texas Tech and Hocutt need to do is find a coach that not only can heal them but can be a proven leader for the team.
One available head coach is former Longhorns women’s head coach Karen Aston. Upon the season’s cancellation, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte decided to move on from Aston in favor of Vic Schaeffer. Schaeffer left Mississippi State to take over in Austin.
Aston was coming off six straight NCAA Tournament appearances with Texas. She likely would have made it seven had the season not been cancelled due to COVID-19. She left Texas with a career record of 184-83 overall. Aston also had a conference record 93-51. Over her career from Charlotte, North Texas and Texas she has a career .661 winning percentage. It was .689 in Austin.
It isn’t just her ability to to win games in Austin that should make her an attractive target but she is quite familiar with Big 12 basketball. Before getting her first job in Charlotte, Aston spent time as an assistant with Baylor twice and once with Texas. It is what she meant to her players. Following her dismissal, senior guard Sug Sutton posted a message about Aston on Instagram.
Thank you for giving me the best 4 years I could ask for. There was nothing that you wouldn’t have done for us! You had our backs just as much as we had yours. You weren’t perfect to everyone else but you were perfect to us (this team). You instilled the importance of Texas pride and Texas tradition into this program better than anyone could have ever done. Your hard-work, sacrifice, and commitment did not go unnoticed to us. You are an inspiration and I am so thankful for the relationship that we have built because it’ll go way beyond our time together at Texas.
I love you coach
Freshman guard Celeste Taylor also posted a message for her first collegiate coach.
Given how respected Aston was on and off the court plus her proven track record on it, should be enough to at least be considered in Lubbock.
According to ESPN’s latest bracketology, Texas will be a four-seed in the Midwest region. UT was a three-seed in the previous projection.
College basketball is just around the corner, with the Longhorns season opener against Louisiana scheduled for Nov. 10 in Austin. Shaka Smart will enter the season with a warm seat, needing to make the NCAA Tournament.
According to ESPN’s latest bracketology, not only will Texas make the big dance, but they will be a four-seed in the Midwest region. This is one seed lower since analyst Joe Lunardi’s previous prediction, which had the Longhorns as a three-seed.
Lunardi has Texas facing Murray State in the first round, a team coming from the Ohio Valley Conference. The Racers were 23-9 last season, finishing first in the OVC regular-season rankings.
If Smart’s squad got a win in the first round, the winner of Tennessee/Western Kentucky would be on the cards.
Here is the full region:
Five other Big 12 teams are in Lunardi’s latest projection, the fourth most for a single conference in the country.
Baylor (one-seed), Kansas (two-seed), Oklahoma (10-seed), Texas Tech (three-seed), and West Virginia (three-seed) will join Texas in representing the Big 12.
Texas will have the opportunity to rise from a projected four-seed throughout the entire season. Once again, the Big 12 is going to be the toughest conference in all of college basketball. Playing teams such as Kansas, Baylor, and Texas Tech twice a season gives the Longhorns great opportunities to boost their resume.
Shaka Smart did an excellent job scheduling nonconference games as well, starting with Gonzaga. The Bulldogs are the preseason No. 1 team in the country and will be visiting Austin on Nov. 13.
Then, Texas will be traveling to Maui, Hawaii to play in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational. The field consists of Alabama, Davidson, Indiana, North Carolina, Providence, Stanford, and UNLV.
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The latest morning rush headlines from around the Big 12 including a local product heading to Kansas over Texas and Baylor.
Each morning Longhorns Wire will share the top stories from around the Big 12 Conference. For this edition of the Big 12 Morning Twitter, Sports Illustrated, and 247Sports provide the headlines.
Austin Westlake power forward K.J. Adams decided to stay somewhat close to home and play basketball in the Big 12 conference. However, he didn’t choose to stay in his hometown of Austin, Texas. Instead he chose Kansas over Georgetown, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor and yes Texas. The 2021 power forward is the 16th ranked power forward in the country and is set to play for the Jayhawks and Bill Self.
Future KU forward #KJAdams picks familiar school: “I’ve always been a Big 12 kid.”https://t.co/zQFgs8M0qc @KUHoops @UnivOfKansas @kualumni @CoachBillSelf @ebosshoops @GaryBedore @kj_atx #kubball #Kansas #KU #RockChalk #RCJH
— Douglas Holtzman (@DouglasHoltzman) August 2, 2020
It was recently reported by Matt Mosely that the Big 12 wouldn’t consider bringing in Brigham Young University. However, desperate times call for desperate measures right? AllSooners of Sports Illustrated highlighted how adding BYU even for one season would fix their scheduling woes in 2020.
Start with the numbers: 10 games spread over 15 Saturdays, from Week 0 (Aug. 29) to Week 14 (Dec. 5), although there’s been much discussion about adding yet another week and pushing the regular-season finales to Dec. 12 — 16 weeks in all.
Try to keep the Thursday and Friday matchups where they are for TV purposes, and build around that if possible. With the final games on Dec. 12 and the Big 12 championship game pushed back to Dec. 19 (essentially what the Pac-12 announced on Friday), that would give every Big 12 team seven open dates to cope with positive COVID-19 test results if they happen, and thus manage rosters.
To start, do away with all existing non-conference games. Simple as that. Let the FCS and Group of 5 opponents figure out their own schedules.
The Big 12 Conference is the last man standing so to speak. Commissioner Bob Bowlsby and the conference have yet to announce their 2020 schedule plans unlike their Power Five brothers. Jeff Howe of Horns 247 says that the announcement is coming in the next couple of days.
Texas has two Group of Five opponents left on the schedule, both of which are to be played at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium: USF on Sept. 5 and UTEP on Sept. 19. If the league is planning on beginning league play in late September and goes to a plus-one scheduling model, the likely scenario would be the Miners coming to Austin to play the Longhorns before Texas opens conference play Oct. 3 with a road trip to K-State.
In theory, there’s a way Texas could play a full 12-game schedule. The Longhorns have the option to move their season opener to Aug. 29 (Kansas and Oklahoma are both due to kick off on the last Saturday in August) and they could potentially add an in-state opponent to fill the void created by the LSU cancelation, likely from Conference USA if Texas went down that road (the Jayhawks added a game with FCS Southern Illinois while the Sooners merely moved their game with Missouri State from September to August, which allowed them to begin preseason practice Friday).
Two of the top centers in the 2021 men’s basketball recruiting cycle have named the Texas Longhorns among their top 10.
In the 2020 men’s basketball recruiting cycle, Shaka Smart earned only one commitment. That came from the number four power forward in the country Greg Brown II. Brown’s recruitment came down to signing with Texas or making the jump to the NBA’s G League. It is well known that his freshman season with the Longhorns will be his only as he will make the jump to the NBA.
As for the 2021 class, the Longhorns have already found a potential replacement for Brown at the power forward position. Keeyan Itejere of Grace Christian in Raleigh, North Carolina has already committed to the Longhorns. The Longhorns are also on the shortened list for two of the top centers in the 2021 class.
The number five center in the country, Daimion Collons of Atlanta, Texas has named the Longhorns among his top ten schools. According to crystal ball predictions on 247Sports, Collins is 100% to Texas based off of three predictions submitted.
🙏🏽💙 pic.twitter.com/kVRDj0wJHQ
— Daimion Collins (@CollinsDaimion) July 3, 2020
His top ten schools:
The second top 10 announcement came from Canada’s Charles Bediako. He is the number one rated player from Ontario, Canada and number three center in the entire class. Bediako stands at 6’11” and 215 pounds. His crystal ball is a little less clear cut as there are two predictions. One is for Alabama and one is undecided.
Thank you to all the coaches that have recruited me, but these will be the top ten I’ll be focusing on. Top 🔟‼️🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/1lCmaaZhWz
— Charles A. Bediako (@CBediako) July 3, 2020
Bediako’s top 10:
If Shaka Smart can land either of these two centers, it would be a major win for Texas men’s basketball. The Longhorns are looking to get back to the top of the Big 12 and they will likely need a dominant big man to help them get there.
Texas has announced for full non-conference schedule for the 2020-2021 basketball season. UT will be facing some of the best in CBB.
Texas has announced for full non-conference schedule for the 2020-2021 basketball season. With this being Shaka Smart’s final chance to get the Longhorns into the NCAA Tournament, it will be important to pick up a key win or two to build the resume.
Here is the full schedule:
One thing that pops out is there is not a true road game as of now. One could come from the Big 12 / Big East Battle or the Big 12 / SEC Challenge, but for now, Smart’s squad will only play games in Austin, Maui, and Houston.
Texas will be facing off against the biggest names in all of college basketball, including a big home matchup against Gonzaga. The Bulldogs are expected to be a preseason top-five team in the AP poll and will once again be a favorite to win the national championship.
The matchups of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational have not been announced, but with North Carolina and Indiana in the field, the Longhorns could face off against two of basketball’s blue bloods. Texas has a combined record of 9-4 against the Tar Heels and Hoosiers, with the latest win coming against UNC in 2018.
It will be an uphill battle for Shaka Smart, who is desperate need of a good season to retain his job. With new five-star recruit Greg Brown coming into the program, expectations will be sky high for Texas.
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Shaka Smart and the Longhorns have offered 2021 SG Anthony Black. A two-sport athlete, Black is also a highly recruited football player.
Shaka Smart and the Longhorns have offered 2021 shooting guard Anthony Black out of Coppell, Texas. A two-sport athlete, Black is also a highly recruited football player, currently a three-star prospect.
247Sports has yet to rate Black as a basketball player but he should be highly recruited there as well. Over the past week, he has picked up offers from Saint Louis, TCU, and Texas Tech.
Blessed to receive a basketball offer from the University of Texas !! #HookEm pic.twitter.com/Dj9qLdXIb5
— Anthony Black (@AnthonyBlack24_) June 28, 2020
On the football side, Tom Herman has yet to offer the three-star wide receiver. Baylor, Kansas, and Iowa State have offered Black on the gridiron, with Arkansas and Georgia Tech being the only other Power Five schools to extend an offer.
A Texas legacy, Black’s mother played soccer for the Longhorns for two seasons.
“Texas is definitely up there considering my mom went there for two years,” Black said.
Nobody is quite sure which sport he will choose, but Black possesses enough talent to be an elite prospect in both. Only entering his junior season, he will have the opportunity to increase his rating in both football and basketball.
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