The Texas Longhorns concluded their 2011-12 season on Friday by losing 65-59 to the Cincinnati Bearcats in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. For most of the 1st half, it didn't appear that the Longhorns came to Nashville ready to play at all. Texas opened the game missing 13 straight shots from the floor and finished the 1st half shooting a dismal 16%. It allowed the Bearcats to go up by as many as 20 points before the Longhorns mounted a furious 2nd-half rally which tied the game with a little over 3 minutes left on the clock. But that's exactly where Texas fell apart for good, allowing Cincinnati to score on 5 straight possessions down the convincing home stretch. And just like any Rick Barnes-coached team is prone to do, the Longhorns offense went excrutiatingly anemic during those most crucial closing moments. The guards stopped moving to get open and refused to comply with Clint Chapman visibly begging for the ball in the post, which at the very least could have opened up shots on some inside-outside action.
It's become infinitely frustrating to watch these Rick Barnes-led teams fail in the exact same manner over and over and over again. Texas had Arizona in the bag last year, only to have a last-minute collapse cost them their season. And despite the Longhorns already losing multiple games this season the same way, it happened yet again in Nashville. There is no excuse for an offense to come out of a time-out during crunch-time and it doesn't even look as if any play was called, let alone run. And having a confused freshman point guard frantically screaming at his despondent teammates isn't quite the way to set up an open, game-winning shot. It all runs through Barnes and quite frankly, the guy becomes more and more of a joke every time this same exact scenario plays out again and again and again.
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