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Fired: Matt DohertyTCU basketball hasn't been consistently good for 60 years or good at all in 15, since Billy Tubbs.
Texas had three schools make the NCAA tournament: Texas, Baylor and Lamar. There was just one single-digit seed (Baylor) in the bunch. Rick Barnes, remarkably, still has a job.
The University of North Texas and The University of Texas at Arlington barely missed out on the big dance losing in the finals of their respective conference championships. Only UTA was actually good at 24-9, the best mark in the state.
Texas schools in the Big XII went a combined 69-61 with Texas A&M (14-18) and Texas Tech (8-23) brought up the bottom of the barrel.
I get that basketball is not top priority for colleges and universities in Texas. Football is. That shouldn't take away from the fact that men's basketball is priority No. 2 and it's been woefully abused over the years.
It's inexplicable how bad things are. Consider that the same talent pool and drives the football programs is the same pool teams should be grabbing ballers. They're all young and athletic kids out of Houston, Austin, Dallas, East Texas and meaty, potato-eating white dudes in West Texas.
SMU and TCU are probably the biggest mysteries. Although the talent is spread thinner in basketball --- mid-major teams regularly compete well against major conference foes -- we see UTA put together better teams than TCU or SMU picking from the same crop of players.
Both schools have a amazing crop of talent in the Fort Worth and Dallas school districts. Putting together competent teams should not be an issue. Unfortunately, they can't put anything together. It's a mystery. As much as a mystery as to why Doherty kept his job as long as he did. Most of us knew that he was a phoney to begin with, but maybe he could succeed at a smaller school in a lesser conference. He was an abysmal failure. It's like they gave themselves the Death Penalty for no reason.
At least SMU's made an effort. TCU's baseball team's made a billion more headlines than the basketball team. Again, the talent pool is ready and waiting. UTA, UNT, SFA and other surrounding schools are taking advantage.
Things could get worse. I have zero evidence, but I would bet about everything I own that Baylor is doing all kinds of shady shit in recruiting. Not that they're alone. They're just playing the game. But if they get caught up with the NCAA, the only good Texas team could ride the pine.
That's the sad thing: There's no hope. I find more hope from women's basketball. Do you think Texas and Texas Tech will ever compete on a high level? Houston (15-15), SMU and TCU?
Depressing.
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