Texas Longhorns men's basketball

Texas Longhorns
University	The University of Texas at Austin
Conference	Big 12 South Division
Location	Austin, TX
Head Coach	Rick Barnes (10th year)
Arena	Frank Erwin Center (Capacity: 16,755)
Nickname	Longhorns
Colors	Burnt Orange and White
Uniforms
Home     　 Away
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 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 team has played its home games in the Frank Erwin Special Events Center, where it has compiled a record of 346-88 (.797) as of the end of the 2006-07 season.

History

The University of Texas began varsity intercollegiate competition in men's basketball in 1906.^[1] As of the end of the 2006-07 season, the Longhorns rank 18th in total victories and 29th in all-time win percentage among all NCAA Division I college basketball programs, with an all-time win-loss record of 1532-928 (.623).^[2]

Despite this record of historical success, Texas is not generally regarded as having a traditionally significant or powerful men's basketball program. The Longhorn program experienced substantial success during the early decades of its existence, but its success in the modern era is of relatively recent vintage. While Texas achieved some measures of national recognition during the tenures of head coaches Abe Lemons (1976-82) and Tom Penders (1988-98), the program has risen to its present level of prominence under the direction of current head coach Rick Barnes (1998-present). The preponderance of the Longhorns' previous men's basketball success took place prior to 1950.

The Longhorns have won 26 total conference championships in men's basketball and have made 25 total appearances in the NCAA Tournament (29-28 overall record), reaching the NCAA Final Four three times (1943, 1947, 2003) and the NCAA Regional Finals (Elite Eight) six times. As of April 2007, Texas ranks fourth (tied with Notre Dame) among all Division I men's basketball programs for total NCAA Tournament games won without having won the national championship (29), trailing only Illinois (38), Temple (31), and Oklahoma (31).^[3]

The early years (1906-36)

The Texas men's basketball program began in 1906 under the direction of Scotland native Magnus Mainland, a lineman for the Texas football team who organized, coached, and played on the University's first varsity basketball team.^[4] Texas won seven of the eight games scheduled in its inaugural season. The University Athletics Council canceled the program after two seasons, leaving Texas without a basketball team for 1908, but revived the program in 1909, thanks in large part to the efforts of Longhorn player Morgan Vining.^[5][6] Language professor, German native, and Longhorn football head coach W.E. Metzenthin (1908-11) assumed head coaching duties for the three seasons following the re-establishment of the program. J. Burton Rix (1911-12) and Carl C. Taylor (1912-13) each coached for one season following Metzenthin's stint as head coach.

L. Theo Bellmont, the first Athletics Director at The University of Texas, and a man instrumental in the formation of the Southwest Conference, took the reins as head coach from 1913-15 and directed the Longhorns to 11-0 and 14-0 records in the 1913-14 and 1914-15 seasons, respectively, as well as the inaugural Southwest Conference championship during the latter season.^[7][8] Bellmont's teams contributed 25 victories to a winning streak that would ultimately grow to 44 games. The Longhorns began the streak on February 15, 1913 with a 70-7 win at Southwestern and finished the season with two additional victories. After Theo Bellmont's teams extended the winning streak to 28 games, head coach Roy Henderson's team recorded Texas' third consecutive undefeated season in 1915-16 to extend the total to 40 consecutive victories. Head coach Eugene Van Gent's 1916-17 team added the final four wins to the streak before suffering a 24-18 loss to Rice in Austin. Texas' winning streak stood as the NCAA record for consecutive wins in men's basketball for almost 40 years (until Phil Woolpert's San Francisco teams won 60 consecutive games from 1955 to 1957), and the achievement today remains the fifth-longest winning streak in Division I history.^[9]

Following Van Gent's single year as head coach, Roy Henderson returned to coach Texas for two additional seasons, guiding the Longhorns to the SWC Championship in his final season (1918-19) — Texas' fourth basketball conference title during the five years the conference had existed.^[10] From 1910 through 1919, Texas recorded an overall winning percentage of .789. Only three NCAA schools — California, Navy, and Wisconsin — recorded better winning percentages for that decade.^[11]

Berry M. Whitaker coached for a single season (1919-20) before Athletics Director L. Theo Bellmont designated him as the Longhorn football head coach.^[12] Bellmont himself would assume basketball head coaching duties for two more seasons, leading Texas to its first 20-win season during his final year.^[13]

Milton Romney directed the Longhorns to an unremarkable 11-7 season before Bellmont hired E.J. "Doc" Stewart from Clemson University to lead both the Longhorn football and basketball programs in 1923. A medical school graduate, a piano enthusiast, a former sportswriter, a one-time automobile dealership owner, and a veteran coach, E.J. Stewart quickly became a popular figure across diverse segments of the University population. His oratory eloquence landed him an open job offer from the head of the UT English Department, should he ever decide to quit coaching and desire other work. Some have speculated that Stewart's devotion to his varied non-athletic interests was the root cause of his football and basketball teams' decline in performance over his tenure.^[14] Stewart led the Longhorn basketball team to a perfect 23-0 mark and SWC Championship during the 1923-24 season (after having coached the football team to an undefeated season as well), but his subsequent teams finished 17-8, 12-10, and 13-9. This slide coupled with his football teams' similar decline in performance resulted in the popular Stewart's controversial dismissal following the 1926-27 season.

Texas maintained this level of relatively unremarkable performance in basketball for the better part of the next decade, producing a combined win-loss record of 122-72 and a single SWC Championship (1933) under head coaches Fred Walker (1927-31), Ed Olle (1931-34), and Marty Karow (1934-36).^[15] (REVISE/CORRECT)

Jack Gray / Bully Gilstrap era (1937-51)

1952-76

Abe Lemons years (1976-82)

Abe Lemons, Texas Longhorn men's basketball head coach from 1976 to 1982

Under Abe Lemons, the Longhorns won the 1978 National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and ended the season ranked 17 in the AP. After guiding the Longhorns to the Postseason NIT title, Abe Lemons was named National Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). Lemons is the only coach in UT history to earn National Coach of the Year honors[1].

Notable Players during Abe Lemons' tenure included future NBA stars LaSalle Thompson and Johnny Moore; 1978 NIT co-MVP's Jim Krivacs and Ron Baxter; Gary Goodner and Mike Wacker.

Bob Weltlich years (1982-88)

Second-year Athletics Director DeLoss Dodds hired Bob Weltlich, a former assistant coach under Bob Knight at Army and Indiana, from the University of Mississippi to serve as the next Texas men's basketball head coach. Nicknamed "Kaiser Bob" by Longhorn fans for his harshly disciplinarian approach, Weltlich was almost immediately faced with such a manpower shortage from the departures — both voluntary and involuntary — of so many Texas players that he famously had to press Texas male cheerleader Lance Watson into service during the Longhorns' abysmal 6-22 season of 1982-83.^[16][17]

Weltlich's next three teams posted yearly improvements in overall records, with the 1985-86 team — which finished with a 19-12 mark and a share of the SWC Championship — representing the zenith of his tenure at Texas. After his teams finished 14-17 and 16-13 in the 1986-87 and 1987-88 seasons, respectively, Weltlich was dismissed with two years remaining on his contract.^[18][19]

Weltlich compiled a 77-98 record during six seasons as the head coach at Texas. None of his six teams managed an appearance in the NCAA Tournament; only the 1985-86 team participated in postseason competition, losing 71-65 to Ohio State in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament.^[20] With the combination of poor overall results and an ultra-slow-tempo style of play that fans found unappealing, attendance plummeted from the lofty marks achieved during the tenure of the wildly popular Lemons to an average of barely more than 4,000 fans per game during Weltlich's final season (far below the turnout for Jody Conradt's Lady Longhorns teams at that time).^[21]

Tom Penders era (1988-98)

Penders resigned on April 3, 1998 following 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."^[22][23]

Rick Barnes era (1998-99 season to present)

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" following Tom Penders' resignation.^[24]

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 hundredth anniversary of basketball at UT. Special logos were placed on the uniforms to commemorate this anniversary.

All-time season results

All-time series records against Big 12 members

Rivalries

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).

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.

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.

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.

Notable players

Kevin Durant, Texas Longhorn freshman forward and unanimous 2007 National Player of the Year

• LaMarcus Aldridge — 2006 NBA Draft 1st-round pick, 2nd overall; NBA All-Rookie Team
• D. J. Augustin — 2007 All-Big 12 second team guard
• Ron Baxter — 1980 Southwest Conference Player of the Year; three-time first-team All-SWC (1978-80); 1978 NIT Co-MVP
• Kevin Durant — 2007 NBA Draft 1st-round pick, 2nd overall; Unanimous first-team All-American Longhorn forward (2007); Unanimous 2007 National Player of the Year (seven awards); 2007 Big 12 Player of the Year; 2007 NBA Draft 1st-round pick, 2nd overall
• 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
• 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
• Jim Krivacs — Two-time All-SWC (1978-79); 1978 NIT Co-MVP
• 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
• Johnny Moore — First-team All-SWC (1979); 1979 NBA Draft 2nd-round pick, 43rd 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; 2006 NBA Draft 2nd-round pick, 35th overall

See also

• Texas Longhorns women's basketball

Notes and references

External links

• Texas Athletics
• The Longhorn Foundation
• The University of Texas at Austin

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