MASSIVE: Texas Longhorns TAKE DOWN AJ Dybantsa | Gonzaga Juggernaut Awaits

We break down Texas’ NCAA Tournament win over BYU and why the Longhorns’ defensive focus finally matches their offensive talent. We also preview the Gonzaga matchup, including foul trouble, turnovers, and the one fix Texas must make to avoid getting hacked late. 
• BYU scouting plan that lets the star score while shutting off everyone else 
• Tremont Mark’s defensive impact and timely shot-making 
• Modest dominating inside plus the free throw mechanics mystery 
• Why staying under three fouls per player changes everything 
• The play-in win debate and what the standard should be at Texas 
• Gonzaga concerns from points in the paint to Graham Ike 
• Offensive keys including ball security and smarter shot selection 
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Transcript

Welcome Back And Big Win

SPEAKER_02 0:28

Good morning.

SPEAKER_03 0:36

Welcome into another edition of the Texas Longhorns on SI podcast. I am your host, Matt Galaxan, and joining me on this live edition for the first time in it's been a minute. Patrick Davis. Patrick, how's it going, man? It's been a while. It's good to be back with you.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

It's good to be back, buddy, and doing this again. It's fun. Yeah. It's been a minute since we've done it. And uh, you know, it's fun. Now you have to host. You have to do the the the heavy lifting. I just get to sit around and make jokes. It's fun.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

I know. It's it's he carried me for so long. And like I didn't really know what I was what I was doing when I when I first started out. Uh, learned a lot from this guy uh over the last year, so I'm excited to uh to try and do it my way this time. Won't be as good as the way he did it, but it'll be it'll be pretty good. Uh

BYU Breakdown And Key Performers

SPEAKER_03 1:20

Patrick, huge win for Texas last night against BYU. Obviously, uh taking down a potential number one overall draft pick in AJ Devansa is one thing, but getting the round of 64 win, I mean, this is why you brought Sean Miller in at the beginning of the year, right? Like Rodney Terry couldn't get past the fat the first four. You expect to have a different thing with Sean Miller, and now you kind of have that. You you you move on to the round of 32 to face Gonzaga. But before we get into Gonzaga, what were your thoughts on the BYU matchup? Because I was really impressed with a few different things that Texas was able to do, including Tramon Marks' defense, four blocks. I thought that was incredible. He really came to play, hit some big shots, and uh obviously modest boy Katis was just dominant.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Yeah, I I mean this was I mean, this has been a team that all season long we haven't been sure if they're gonna be who's gonna show up. And you know, the end of the season was rough, and that team didn't seem like they really they it once they kind of felt like they were in the tournament, it feel felt like they didn't play hard enough, and now they're playing hard again, and they are playing good defense, and we're starting to see them go in. They had some good matchups. This is a really good match for uh matchup for Modus because he's able to go inside and be the biggest guy on the court and go in there and kind of get what he gets done. He gets 23 points in the game and becomes a big piece of it, which by the way, we'll get into a minute, but I I've done I've tried to figure out where his free throw went wrong, and I can't quite pinpoint it, but uh but overall we saw Modis be a really good player for them. He had a big block late in the game as well, so everyone kind of found out where they were, and it helped that BYU was really reliant on one player, their second best player is out. AJ DeBanza has to be the guy, and he was, but they were able to keep everybody else out. So it reminded me a little bit of what you were playing with Texas last year, where if you could stop Trey, you could stop Texas, or if you let Trey go and stop everybody else, you could stop Texas, but you couldn't let Trey and another guy go off. And that's what Texas did in this game. They took that model and said, okay, we just can't allow anyone else to go off. We know this guy's better than all of us, he's gonna be really good. He this guy may be the best player in college basketball, so we're gonna go ahead and he's gonna score his points. Don't foul him a bunch, don't put him on the line a ton, don't get everybody in foul trouble, which by the way, that was another thing to point out is this team did uh no one would have over three fouls for Texas in this game. Which we get to dag is going to be a huge point of uh of emphasis. But no one really has to sit out a bunch of minutes, no one was in really in major foul trouble for Texas. Uh, it lets them have the game that they had, which was taking control, having some moments where it would get a little bit too close and they'd be able to push back out again.

SPEAKER_03 4:17

Yeah, and you know, obviously Sean Miller has a little bit of experience in that arena. Uh, having faced Trey Johnson last year in the first four, he knew the model. Uh, and and he I think he did a wonderful job of deploying that. Uh, there were a few issues, obviously, that Texas had in that game overall. Uh, you know, you point to Monas' free throw shooting, that's something we'll talk about. Uh, I still am not so sure about Simeon Wilcher and Nick Cody. They made some uh some interesting plays uh during that game, but but overall, I was very impressed with the effort. Uh, and I think that you know, it it really helps that uh the the way that they ended the season, you know, it's like they it felt like they really had their backs against the wall. Like it was kind of a put-up or shut up moment in the first four against NC State, and then obviously they they get through that one, they come through against BYU, and they and they kind of dominated the game, especially in the second half, which isn't something that I necessarily expected from it from a team that really struggles defensively. You know, it has throughout the season. The offense has been pretty good for the most part throughout the whole year, but the defense has been atrocious. They're able to lock down basically everybody else, and uh it was it was really great to see in in terms of like you know where this has come, Patrick.

How Texas Finally Found Roles

SPEAKER_03 5:32

From I remember like when we were doing open gym, we started the season, and you were like, This team's might not win an SEC game.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

And now they're going into January. I thought that. Yeah, they're a wildly different team in 2026 than they were in 2025. It's a weird thing to say, but they're a wildly different team.

SPEAKER_03 5:48

Yeah, and and that's kind of kind of my next question for you is like, what like where did this thing change? How did it change, and how have they been able to kind of sustain that up until now? Like moving on to face a really good Gonzaga team.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

I I mean, I think the turning point was when Sean Miller realized he didn't have his team any better coach this team. And it felt like he just kept trying to put, you know, a round peg and a square hole for the entire first half of the season. And they got the SEC play, and he went, you know what? Tremot Mark probably should shoot some twos. And you know what? We should just let Dalen Swain kind of run this offense a little bit more, and we should let Jordan Pope see get a heat check. And if he's going, let him go. And then if he's not, tell him to pass the ball. Uh, we should get the ball into modest voices Titus and then just try and get him the ball as he's running to the basket. Don't let him have as many post-up opportunities where they can double on him, get him the ball moving to the basket. And I think those things, when he found out the strengths and the abilities of what they could do, you saw this team start to grow into what they were going to be. And when they are all doing that, and when the opportunities present themselves, this team plays really well. The problem you had at the end of the season was teams start to figure out some of those pieces, which is stop fronting Modus, let him get the ball in the post and just double him every time. He's not passing, he's never gonna pass the he's not gonna pass the basketball. You could put five guys on him, and he's gonna try and go up with that basketball. So, you know, and I think teams know that we unfortunately saw at the end of the game they started doing hack of modus. We saw

Modest Free Throws And Hack Threat

SPEAKER_00 7:22

that at the end of the game. He was three of eleven on free throws. I so I went back before the show, before we did this today, and I was like, I don't remember his free throw being this bad. And I went back and you watched all non-conference shoots a free throw regularly. And then beginning of SEC play, and about where Texas struggle started, about that last two weeks of the season, two, three weeks, he started going on the same free throws. You can watch some of them, and he'll shoot his first one and he doesn't use his wrist. It's an arm motion, it's a shot put. And then he'll do the second one and he'll flick his wrist again. And when he flicks his wrist, he's a probably a 60% free throw shooter. So not great, but maybe 60, 65%. So not great, but not bad for a big guy. And maybe he could be even a little bit better earlier in the season, but he's all right there. When he's shot putting it, 10% free throw shooter. And so we we just see that difference of like, I don't know what went wrong in his brain, where the where what changed of what he's doing, but they need to fix that because if Gonzaga's anywhere, if it's a close game at all, they're gonna have to pull Modus out because they're just gonna start fouling. Yeah. Like every time he touches the ball because it's stupid not to at that point.

SPEAKER_03 8:36

Yeah. And and you know, I think Texas got like a was it a 17-point lead at one point, and then BYU just started chipping away and chipping away. Like, I kind of had stopped watching the game for a minute so I could do some other things. Uh, like we were putting up some stories and getting, you know, for for our other sites and all that stuff. And I looked up and I was like, oh my god, it's a six-point game. Like, I gotta lock back in. And I couldn't really figure out what happened. And then, like, you know, had had anything else like if BYU had had their second player in this game, it probably wouldn't have been that much of a difference to begin with. But I mean, Texas almost blew this thing, and that would have been an absolute disaster. Luckily, they hold on. Luckily, Sean Miller now already has more wins than Chaka Smart in the NCAA tournament. Uh, you know, it it's it's a it's a good thing, it's a good way to end uh to you know, start to end your first season. I don't expect them to go much farther, but this matchup, and we'll get into Gonzaga now, Patrick.

Why The BYU Win Matters

SPEAKER_03 9:32

This matchup is is pretty interesting because Gonzaga's kind of facing some similar issues that that the BYU faced with injuries.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Yeah, and for the record, they've won one game in the tournament. They won, they won zero games last year. The playing game does not count. Thank you. Stop counting that a point as a as a tournament win. You're not in it. 64 teams, that's what matters. Because you can't say, well, we win three games, and they were like, Oh, you're in the elite eight. And you go, No, we were in the Sweet 16. Go, no, that's not how it works, because you can't win more games than everybody else.

SPEAKER_03 10:01

64, even playing field. I'm I'm really glad that you said that because that's a point that I've been trying to make over the last couple like last few days. It's like sorry, like yesterday when we did our show, I was like, Okay, Texas is now officially in the incidentally tournament, and I got a little flag for it.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

It's like, no, that it's like I get it, but again, this is the thing. We say this about football all the time, Matt. The standard is the standard, yeah. And the standard at Texas is not we made the tournament because we won a play in game. That's not the standard. The fact they lost, what, five out of the last six to have to be in that playing game at all, and maybe shouldn't have even been in it. Now they've won, and so they clearly are playing better. But the way they're playing down the stretch, you can go there. There's probably 30 more teams that were playing better at the end of the season than Texas was. Now, their record, their resume overall should have put them in. I'm not gonna go on that debate, but I am gonna say that you know, you when you go in the play game, that doesn't count. It's not a win. You don't get a go that the teams Howard didn't win a game in the tournament. They didn't. Yeah, they look, they won a playing game, and that's awesome for them. And they got to be in the tournament, which is awesome, because the difference of Texas not making the tournament and making the tournament is big. There's a big point of this for what Sean Miller's going to be able to do to try and get the funding and the NIL and everything they need going forward, showing that he is showing the progress through this season of the way it looked, where tickets were going for you know six bucks at the mood at the end of at the end of December. And I mean, I went to the South Carolina game, we paid eight bucks for tickets.

SPEAKER_03 11:35

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

And that can't be what you want if you want to have a winning program. Uh, and so I think you know, there's ways to build on this where, for whatever reason, there's plenty of reasons that we know and some others, but that people were really not bought in on Rodney Terry. And, you know, part of it is he's a lame duck coach, and everybody knew it. He's just kind of there that CDC never wanted to hire him. He wanted to hire Sean Miller two years ago. So for all those reasons, it just lost a lot of steam after Chris Beard. And Sean Miller now, even though he hasn't really been rallying the troops so much of going out on campus and doing all the things to rally up everybody. Winning games matters, and winning tournament games when everybody's watching right now, that matters. So it's really big that he gets this win, and it's big that we have Gonzaga now. That is a winnable game. It is not a complete foregone conclusion. Like we're not playing, you know, if we play Purdue, that's pretty much a foregone conclusion. But I think yeah, and so you go, yeah, the one and two seeds, those guys are in there. Uh, I think

Gonzaga Scouting And Foul Discipline

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Gonzaga, uh, you also got to remember Gonzaga's second best player, second leading scorer, is out for this game. Uh, he's somebody that Texas is not going to have to see. He's another 6'10 guy uh coming in. Braden Huff is not playing in this game. Uh, but you are gonna have to worry about, man. And Gonzaga, Graham Icke, man. Graham Icke is going to be a huge factor for what Texas is gonna be able to keep on the court because that dude scores in the paint as much as he wants. Gonzaga leads the NCAA in points in the paint, and we know what Texas does when teams drill the ball inside. They foul. And so playing defense without fouling is my number one. Do you want to have a chance in this game? You can't have Modus and Jalen Swain and Jamal Mark all on the bench with three fouls in the first half. Yeah, that cannot happen. And if they're just gonna pound the ball inside and just try and go right at you, you have to just try and hope that the reps are gonna let you play a little bit tougher and hope that you can get your hands up and just go play.

SPEAKER_03 13:48

Yeah, I I I mean, I completely agree. I I don't know uh how Texas exactly defends uh Graham Ike because they they've been even with Modest being seven foot, whatever he is, they've been very susceptible in the paint, not just because of fouling, just because they don't really have a true rim-protecting, big shot blocking guy. Like, I mean, you you hope that it would be Modest because he's seven feet with a really you know freaky wingspan, but he's that's just not his game right now. So, like, how does Texas defend him without fouling? I'm not so sure. It it maybe it'll be a similar situation to you know AJ DeBonsa, where they just kind of let that guy uh, you know, he's gonna do him, but you got to slow down everybody else. So, like, who are some of the other players that Texas needs to watch out for in this game, in your opinion? Because like, I mean, Gonzaga's a number three seed for a reason. They're a really good, they're a really good basketball team. Uh, I know that Huff is out, but they're still 31 and three, and that doesn't happen by accident.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

Yeah, uh Mario St. Suppri is a guy that I'd worry about. He's a 41% three-point shooter. Uh, he's a guard that can probably get open on some. He may get matched up. They may be able to flip him onto Jordan Pope at times, and then, you know, you're able to get some points that way when the pre when everybody's kind of leaning off. But I I look, this is really gonna be a game for Texas defensively that you do a little bit what you do with BYU, which is try and stop them as much as you can, try and put up, don't get in foul trouble, so just try and slow them down and realize you're gonna win this game on the offensive end of the basketball court, you're not going to win it on the defensive end. This isn't a defensive juggernaut of a basketball team. So you're gonna make some stops, but you want to lower their percentage. If you drop, if you drop Gonzaga to a 40% field goal shooting team, that's still 40%. It's not great, but it's way better. Like, and then all you gotta do is shoot 45%. You got a pretty good shot in this game. And so that you're kind of trying to shoot five to six percent better than they shoot, and if you can do that, and then this is another key factor can't turn the ball over. Gonzaga turns guys over a lot. Uh, so you're gonna have to really be careful about not turning the ball over. But overall, this is this is a game that if Texas does get a couple guys going, if Tramon Mark keeps playing at the rate he's been playing at, uh, if maybe we get Dalen Swain to start feeling it a little bit more, because maybe these last couple weeks he hasn't been Dalen Swain's superhero, Dalen Swain, because there's been so much emphasis on guarding him. Uh, and then, you know, if we get a Jordan Pope game, you know, we don't always get him, but this is hey, for Jordan Pope, this is the last probably chance you have to have a great outing. Because again, you win this, you go on to play Purdue, and that just becomes a much more different ball game. There's a week of prep before that game as well. You're walking into this game with Gonzaga with a couple days prep, uh, so they're not able to build out a really much more grandiose game plan. They're not able to watch a ton of film on you. Like they have guys who have watched film on both Texas and BYU before this game, they have that done, but you're not literally having your head coach go sit in and be able to put together the game plan. And that's kind of what you're gonna have to use that element of surprise a little bit because you see when a team game plans you theyu said, let's let's hack them.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

Yeah, let's go. Uh yeah, absolutely. And by the way, first comment on the live stream, Victor. It's good to see Patrick again, too. I totally agree. Thank you for chiming in. Um, so uh, by the way, speaking of the Gonzaga game, Patrick, Jay Billis, I don't know if you I'm sure you saw this, but he predicted Texas to beat Gonzaga and head to the Sweet 16. This was before last night's game. When you first saw that, were you just like, come on, man, like that that's insane, or did you actually see it like, yeah, this is actually a possibility because like both of these teams have their issues.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

I think Seth Davis had him beating BYU as well, uh, and winning two games before they before they won the first one. So a couple people did, but that was kind of the thing is you saw BYU and they were not playing well down the stretch. And they really were so they did it better than Rutgers did last year, but they spent a lot of money on two guys, and then they kind of had a rest of a team. And when you lose one of those two guys, it goes down. Rutgers last year had Dylan Harper and uh Ace Bailey. I still can't believe they were bad, and they were bad, they had two amazing players and were not good. Uh and BYU is better than that, they have a better system, they have better things going, but when you lose one of those two players, that's most of your NIL, you know, it it does it becomes harder, and it became a place where they still could have beaten Texas, they're still a good team, uh, but it became a winnable game. And that's what you say about Gonzaga, too. If Brayden Huff is there, it becomes a less winnable game because now you got another 6'10 guy who's gonna come down and put you in foul trouble and score in the paint. So it becomes harder the more guys they have on that roster, the more talent you're competing with. We saw it with Duke Sienna, right? Where Duke felt no pressure walking into that game, kind of took it too easy, and Sienna got up on him early, but late in the game, talent wins. And the the talent level is so widely disparated. Like, you know, there's guys, eighth guy for Duke is probably would have been the best player on Sienna. So you just go, the talent was gonna win out in the end, even though Duke really just wasn't ready to play. And you kind of, you know, I I think now you're getting into the past of first round where Gonzaga didn't have a game, a good game against Kennesaw State. Uh, they didn't necessarily look very good. They played better down the stretch to pull away and get the win. Uh, but it wasn't necessarily an you know an easy game for them. I don't think as easy as they would have wanted it to be. So you there's a little bit, but I think they got their wake-up call enough that they're not gonna walk into this Texas game and take it as lightly as they took Kinnesaw State.

SPEAKER_03 19:47

Yeah. And I saw um a couple of people on the on the I think it was Jamal Mashburn maybe on the halftime uh of last night's game. Uh, I don't know if it was Charles Charles Barkley. By the way, Charles Barkley's suit looked awful. Like, can we get this guy a new Taylor? Um, way over.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

We also not do Charles Barkley and Dick Vitel as a look, I I get it's fun, and I would have loved it if it wasn't my team. The problem was it was my team, and so it's like this is not what I want when there's a game going on that really matters for what I'm watching, and then they're just having fun.

SPEAKER_03 20:21

Yeah, but like uh a couple of guys on the halftime show last night, they they said that Texas had an advantage heading into this game already because they had already played a game against C State and they were kind of warmed up, whereas BYU was a little cold. Do you think that that played any factor into it? Because I I'm not so sure if I buy into that or not. Uh I mean it's it's not like they played a month ago, you know.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

No, I I mean I would say they're more tired. I mean, I wouldn't go with that. They they played in Dayton, Ohio at what they finish at what 11 midnight that they probably get out, get on a plane, and go to Portland, Oregon. That's not that's not right down the road. You're changing time zones. Uh, and then you go off to go play a game, you know, less than 48 hours later. You're playing an afternoon game. I I think that, yeah, I think you're more so yeah, maybe they're a little, but you're playing on different courts. It's not like it's the same where you're like, okay, we know the building. There's plenty of reasons. And so you could say, yes, they they went into it. I think that you could put on more of it. They really felt like their back was against the wall and they had already had that pressure walking in. And BYU was a favorite. They hadn't been in that the pressure moment, they hadn't felt March madness yet of what we've seen in so many of these games that are really close games and fight back, that it takes you a minute to get your bearings when it's not SEC play. It's not even it's not it's not conference play. It's way more than non-conference play. But you're like, yeah, our season ends if we lose, is a wildly different place to try and put somebody out of their misery. And I think BYU thought they could just play a regular game, and Texas came out and just wanted it more early on, and you know, takes that lead at halftime. And taking the lead at halftime, they were able to, you know, make BYU expend too much energy. If you looked at how much how tired AJ looked at the end of that game, which I get he was carrying BYU on his back, then you're like, yeah, he's tired because he's the one fighting that he doesn't want to go home.

SPEAKER_03 22:19

Yeah, and and he also looked super frustrated too, because Tremont Mark was kind of getting into him. Uh that was kind of nice to see. You spoke about the travel. And I said this yesterday, but I want you to hear it too, because it's a really interesting stat.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:33

Uh Texas had to take a roughly a seven-hour flight to uh to Portland, where they, you know, where they played last night. And they will play, they will now play two games in three days after, or they were going to play two games in three days from NC State to BYU, which is something that college teams don't have to do very often. And this season, Texas has played uh before that game, they had played seven or six games that met a similar criteria, playing two games in four days with travel uh a day in between. Uh and that excludes back-to-back home games or uh or the Maui invitational where they didn't have a travel day between games. But in those situations, Texas went four and two in the second game with wins over Texas AM, Georgia, Oklahoma, and LSU. So they were actually really good on short rest and long travel. Which is which is kind of weird, but like I don't think it's I don't think it's weird at all.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

I don't think it's weird at all because I think this is one of my things with Sean Miller. I don't think Sean Miller does enough prep for this team. And I don't know if it's he doesn't know what it is, but we see Sean Miller and this team look kind of like they're just out there playing street ball for a while, and then they make in-game adjustments, and then at halftime they may come out and have some different plans. But a lot of times it doesn't feel like they build a game plan based on who they're playing. And so I think those are some times where he's just like go out there and play. Like again, it doesn't feel like and I'm really interested to see what Sean Miller's team start to look like going forward uh when he builds what he wants to build. But this doesn't feel like this is it doesn't feel like he walked in and had any idea what he was walking into, and he's got a team that he thought he could mold and they were unmoldable, and now he's just kind of trying to get him the best way through. He's got coaches running out on the court halfway through uh before games. He's got there's so many things going on that it just like it I I think he's a good coach. It just doesn't feel like this has ever been what he expected it to be walking in, and he's just constantly had to run and change his change his attitude throughout the season. Uh, and that's you know, I think in these short notice games, he's just able to kind of let guys be guys, and that's when Texas plays really well. I mean, I I was still laughing the NC State game in the postgame. Tramon Marcos, you know, coach drew up the play, and I go, What that what play did he draw up? That can't get the ball to the guy, have to pass it off a couple times to get it to Mark, and then he takes one of the lowest per like one of the worst, like analytical shots you can take in a game, which is a foot inside the three-point line. Like all those things, like there's no way that's what was supposed to happen. I get the ball was supposed to go to Mark, and that was it. Mark, get over there, get to your spot, and take the shot. That's the play, which I get. Uh, but I'm sure his spot is probably three or four feet in. And they play good. I would assume he gets a shot. By the way, Wimby hit that same shot last night to win a game. So it was fun to watch it again.

SPEAKER_03 25:36

Last night, last night was a great night of basketball, I think, for both of us. Uh, Texas, you know, wins against BYU. Wimby hits a uh you know that go-ahead shot, and Luca drops 60.

unknown 25:47

Oof.

SPEAKER_03 25:49

He's he's been on a tear since his uh since his fiancee took the kids, I'm telling you. It's crazy.

Offensive Keys And Smart Shot Choices

SPEAKER_03 25:56

Um okay, before we before we move on to our kind of our last segment about the the team as a whole, uh give me a couple of keys to the game offensively for Texas. You know, they've been really good offensively all year, uh, in terms of like, you know, scoring a lot of points, efficiency, all that stuff. Um, but they've kind of I feel like it's kind of been a little uh what's the word I'm looking for here? Um I can't really think of the word. Like it's it's it's it's just like they've done it a different way, you know. Um and I think a lot of it has to do with like if if Dalen Swain and Tramon Mark are both playing well, and then you add a third guy who plays pretty good offensively, then Texas. Yeah, like then then they usually do pretty well. It's kind of unit's kind of an unprecedented, really good offense, I think, in in some kind of ways. But regardless, um, you know, what what do you think that Texas has to do against Gonzaga to be successful offensively?

SPEAKER_00 26:53

Uh, first off, don't turn the ball over. Uh Gonzaga's gonna go for a lot of those. You have to be sure-handed with the ball. You can't, you know, dribble too much. Uh, Texas gets in trouble with that a lot of dribbling too much, and you know, you dribble in the traffic, and all it takes is one guy to poke a hand in. Uh, I think you're gonna want to go to modest rolling to the basket a lot uh early and try and get him in there. If they're gonna foul him, great. Put him in foul trouble. Get him in foul trouble. Let their starters get in foul trouble trying to foul modest rolling to the basket. Let Ike get foul trouble. Please put him in foul trouble and get him off the court. Uh, so I try and go to that early a lot. Uh, and I mean, in reality, this is gonna be a difficult game of trying to get to the basket, trying to get into open shots. Uh, Gonzaga plays really good three-point defense or pretty good around the basket, too. So this could be a Tremot Mark specialty game, getting inside, getting those two-footer, those, you know, two-pointers that are 10-footers, 15-footers that are not that bad of shots uh for him to take. They're not analytically great, but overall, they're, you know, if you're able to put points up on the board, you just can't let Gonzaga get in transition. You, you know, you have to be able to shoot and rebound and at least pressure a rebound enough that they can't outlet that ball and get you on your heels. Because if you're not even uh, you know, setting up a defense, you have no shot. Uh, and so offensively for them, you want to take good shots and you know, drop back a couple guys and uh after you take it, but try and go and contest for offensive rebounds. But yeah, I mean, I like modest rolling to the basket still. I know his free throws are a problem. I'm telling you, I I don't know what he's doing. He can shoot free throws. Like, this is a thing for people watching it for the first time. They're like, that guy can't shoot free throws. He shot them for 80% of the season. He shot them okay. And in the last two to three weeks, it's just started to go downhill. And you'll watch. If he shot puts, no good. If he's it's a wrist flicks, okay, we're back in action. Even if it misses, you want to see the wrist flick. Uh, but yeah, I mean, and then it's Dalen Swain, it's always Dalen Swain. Like, can he be Dalen Swain again? He was what, six for 12 uh last yesterday, 14 points. It's okay. I'd like to get him closer to 20 uh and have him have some of those moments, really start to feel it. But I again, you're you're probably this is probably not a Cam Heidi game. This is probably not a Jordan Pope game just because they're gonna guard the three well, unless Jordan Pope wants to attack. Uh, he can attack well. I'd love to say pass the ball, but we know this is not a team that does that very well. I will give him they had 14 assists last night. That's that's better, that's better than they've had in a lot of games, but like there were so many plays that you just watched. There was one I just remember, Jordan Pope comes through, dribbles, draws the whole defense, comes around, Dalen Swain's wide open for three, and Pope turns around to look at the basket, and Swain's defender comes back on him, and then he passes the ball to Swain. And you're like, it's that difference why we're we're not getting a well-run offense. Because if it's well run, he comes out, immediately looks up, sees if there's somebody wide open, and goes, I don't have to take the shot. And I think Texas too often says, I have to take that shot. And when you're playing a good defensive team like Purdue, that could get you in a lot of hot water. So I think when you look for the best shot a lot of times, that's not passing stuff up. You know, I'll get on Cam Heidi on the opposite, where Cam Heidi will have a pretty open three and pass the ball off. Uh, you just have to play smart. Just, I mean, like that's really Skinzak is gonna play smart. They always do. They're a really well-coached team for Mark Few. They're gonna play smart basketball. Uh, you can't give away the game. If you don't, if Texas does not give away this game, very good chance that they're in it at the end of the game.

SPEAKER_03 30:51

Okay. I like that. Patrick has such a big basketball brain. I love it. Um, all right, so real quick, final prediction

Predictions And Offseason Standards

SPEAKER_03 30:59

for tonight. Purdue sorry, uh, Gonzaga's favored by six and a half. ESPN's matchup predictor has Gonzaga with a 74.8% chance to win the game. Over-under is at 146.5. Uh, I'm gonna pick, like, I'm gonna go with my my brain instead of my heart. I think Gonzaga edges this one out and Texas ends it in the round of 32. What you got?

SPEAKER_00 31:20

Yeah, I do too. Uh I, you know, because I look the the way Gonzaga could win this by 20 and they could win it by two. And yes, Texas can win, but then again, that's a one-third percent chance of all the options. You're not winning by 20. Texas will not win this game by 20. Uh, so uh, you know, they've had a couple games this year where they've kind of ran away with it. I I just don't see it against a really good Gonzaga team. I do think they can win. Uh, but if if I'm putting money on it in my bracket, Gonzaga is is winning this game. Uh I and I I look, I think, I think they've already overachieved. So I will put it that I think this Tex team winning that game against BYU kind of already overachieved where we were at in year one. Uh, I do think it helps. Now, if they play in weekend two, then it changes the entire complexion of what the offseason looks like now. It changes a lot of things for Sean Miller. Uh, so very much so I'm gonna be rooting for Texas. Uh, but if I put my money on it, I would probably put it to be Gonzaga. And and I the line's probably pretty good. So I I may put it for Texas to be in there. Uh, I'll say Gonzaga by like four. I'll say that. I'll be nice. Gonzaga by four.

SPEAKER_03 32:32

Yeah, I'm I'm right around the same area. I think I think it's like a four to six point game. Those are just hard in these moments because you're like, who gets the last shot up?

SPEAKER_00 32:40

Is it a four-point game or a six-point game?

SPEAKER_03 32:43

Yeah, right. Uh, all right. So you you kind of you kind of led into my final topic here, Patrick. Uh, and I appreciate you staying on with me so long. Patrick Davis, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 32:53

We haven't done this in a while.

SPEAKER_03 32:54

Yeah, my my my former uh my former host on Open Gym. We're back together again, bringing the band back together for uh and we may do this again, who knows? I I like having Patrick on. So uh did this season exceed your expectations from from a couple of different ways. From one from where we started at the very beginning, like before first tip of the first game, to when they went on that huge hot streak, you know, won however many games it was in a row, looked like a surefire tournament team. And then at the end of the season, like there's kind of three different ways you can look at the season, I think. Uh like before the season started, I was like, I think that they could probably make the tournament if they play really well, because I think Sean Miller's a really good coach. And then they went on, and then when they like at the beginning of SEC play, I was like, wow, this team's dog shit. And we got to they when they went on the hot streak, I'm like, oh, they're really good again. And and now it's like, and at the end of the season, I was kind of wavering. But like, I think overall for me, it has certainly exceeded expectations because I thought they would like before the first tip of the first game, I was like, I think they'll probably either be in the first four or barely make the tournament, and then they'll lose in round one. Uh, but they proved me wrong. Have they proved you wrong?

SPEAKER_00 34:04

So I'll I'll line it up from the Sean Miller hire.

unknown 34:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

From when they hired Sean Miller, they have not exceeded my expectations at all. I don't think they necessarily went lower. Uh in certain things they did, certain things I still have the problem with Sean Miller of I don't think he at all put any work in this offseason, and that pisses me off. Because I think we could have had a much better roster. I think we could have, you know, changed some things around to make this team a little bit like actually more competitive uh into big games and be a little bit closer. I think we could have. Uh so on that aspect, that I'm still not loving because and and look, I'll say this. If he changes it this offseason and puts in more work this offseason, and next season we come in and we feel good about the team, then great. Sean Miller just it was hard for him to make that transition. If he doesn't, then we hired the wrong guy. He's not a program builder, and I'll already be like, We're good, we should give him more years. He's gonna be a good coach for us, but I don't think he'll ever get us close to winning like a final four. Uh no, he could though, but we'll I'll know that this offseason. Like, does he make it? Does he actually turn this program and start to be a program builder, or is he a coach? That's what I want to see this offseason for him. So we didn't see that. He was a coach throughout the offseason. He was a coach who didn't do a great job. So starting the season probably matched expectations of the early part of the season of we should be a play-in team level got team. Uh, and then SEC play, once we started playing, you beat Alabama, you start to win some of those games. Uh, then you thought you shouldn't have been a playing team. So lower than the expectations there. He beat by YU, though, it changes things. If he beats, if he ends up beating in Zaga, then you sit there and you go, I don't like that we had to take this route. I would have preferred not off-roading it for the end of the season. We could have just been on the highway having a good time. Uh, but you decided, no, I know a shortcut uh through Dayton, Ohio that no one wanted to take. So I look I I think the reality is you could judge it through a lot of things. Uh as a coach, Sean Miller this season has probably been a better grade than he would be as a coach in 2026, where you do have to do so much more that that's really where I'm still at with him. Of you know, he's he's winning me over of winning some of these games. I still like I'll watch some of this stuff and go, I don't get what he's coaching. Like getting the ball to Tremon Mark, I don't know what that play call is. It's not like, oh, they ran this really great play for their season. Like their seasons on the line, and they run a play that's just basically ISO ball, but we're not even really gonna fully ISO with him. Uh that's not exactly what I would run, but Sean Miller has done well enough. So uh, you know, it's I if you if you even all about what I just said, they're right around expectations of they haven't pissed anybody off, I don't think. I don't think anybody's really mad about it. Uh I think for a first year of a coach, you don't expect him to make a huge run. Uh, you know, I don't, I don't, you know, even if he would have had a better offseason, I don't think you're really aiming higher than Sweet 16 anyway. Uh just because it's really hard to turn a team completely around into we don't really have any of the players that are gonna get us there. Uh so there's a lot of positives. There's a lot of positives you can take out of it, and a lot of negatives, and a lot to learn on for next season. But you still got a game on tomorrow. So there's still another game.

SPEAKER_03 37:39

Absolutely. Um, you know, it's kind of crazy to think that if one of those wins in the SEC that were close, like LSU or Texasan M or you know, one of those games, Alabama, would have gone the other way and they wouldn't have been able to hold on. We're probably not sitting here having this conversation at all because they probably don't even make the tournament. And uh, especially with the way it ended with that loss to Ole Miss that was just egregious. Like everybody knows that I'm a rebel, but like I was still pretty pissed off because I was like, I need this team to make the postseason for my bank account for for one thing, so I can keep so we can keep covering this stuff. But yes, uh, I'm glad that they you know they are able to make it, and I'm glad that they have an opportunity against Gonzaga. Who knows what's gonna happen? Like, you know, uh anything can happen in the NCAA tournament. I know that's really cliche, and but it's already happened. I uh you know, didn't high point beat uh who they beat yesterday? Uh high point beat Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_00 38:34

Wisconsin by the way, called in my bracket.

SPEAKER_03 38:36

Hell yeah, nice. And Kentucky barely holds on against Santa Clara, Duke barely holds on against LA. I had Santa Clara nowhere in that one.

SPEAKER_00 38:45

Look, there's realities in this. If you play defense, you have a much better shot to pull off upsets in March Madness. It just is what it is. You can play defense, you can stop some of these teams, it gives you a chance. Now, you have to have scores with defense. That's where you're hoping Sean Miller eventually ends up. I have a guess we'll have some different assistant coaches next season. I can guess one guy off the top of my head that may be a little bit, you know, quick at running out, that maybe isn't gonna have his job next season. Who knows?

SPEAKER_03 39:12

Imagine if he had got if he had gotten the technical foul in season, hits the free throws.

SPEAKER_00 39:17

Like, that's a don't board the plane home thing.

SPEAKER_03 39:20

Yeah, like can you imagine Sean Miller's like I think his head would have exploded.

SPEAKER_00 39:24

Well, I know, but that's what I'm saying is like that literally that guy finds his own way home.

SPEAKER_03 39:28

Yeah, it's like it's like leaving Lane Kiffin on the tarmac.

SPEAKER_00 39:33

Get on the plane for that.

SPEAKER_03 39:35

Absolutely not. All right, Patrick. Well, this has been fun. I appreciate you joining me. Uh, it's it's nice to do this throwback. Hopefully, we'll do it again sometime. Hell, maybe if Texas wins, we'll we'll get back on next week or something. We'll just kind of have to see how it goes. Uh, but thank you everybody for joining us for this edition of a special edition of the Texas Longhorns on SI podcast. Make sure to like the video, subscribe to our channel, rate everything. Uh, and uh in honor of Patrick, I'm going to say be kind, be safe, keep your underwear clean, and we will see you back here again on Monday for another episode of the Texas Longhorns on SI podcast.