Kyle's j349 blog

February 16, 2010 · 9:18 am

Longhorn Baseball

The Longhorn baseball team is another successful UT squad that has somehow fallen in the shadow of Longhorn football in the pigskin-obsessed state of Texas.

Hopefully most UT fans realize that the Longhorn baseball team is the winningest program in NCAA history. Football is ranked a shameful 2nd. And 2nd seems to be something that just isn’t good enough for the ‘Horns. That was after all the fate of the 2008-09 baseball team in a “disappointing” campaign. But that is all cured for the time being, as the UT baseball team enters the season ranked #1 in every major (or minor for that matter) poll in the country.

The team is coached by Augie Garrido, who has won 5 national championships – 2 with the Longhorns, and one against them in the 1979 final. In the past 9 seasons, Garrido has gone to the finals of the College World Series 5 times. He is also the winningest coach of all time with a record of 1,668-777-8.

The Longhorns were recently named the team of the decade by Baseball America, and two of their players (Kyle Russel, Huston Street) were named to the All-Decade team.

If that history, on top of successes in recent vintage, isn’t enough to inspire you, consider that the Longhorns had 3 players named to the preseason All-American team this year and return all but 3 starters. And also that Augie called this his “best staff ever.” So…we got that going for us.

What the Longhorns Basketball Team Could’ve Looked Like

There’s no arguing that the Texas men’s basketball program is one of the most rapidly rising programs in the country. It’s easy to overlook how astonishing their ascension has been because of the ungodly expectations that UT fans have for their teams. Especially once they start winning a little bit.

And barring some minor glimpses of success that are remembered by people in retirement communities, that success is pretty closely tied with the arrival of Rick Barnes. His predecessor, Tom Penders, did a great job in what can be considered a transitionary period into greatness, with a 208-10 record (.654), which was the winningest record in school history before Barnes (.732). However, this success didn’t really translate into national recognition, and Texas still wasn’t really considered anything of a basketball school.

Fans in Austin will tell you (especially considering their recent fall from their first-ever No. 1 ranking) that Rick Barnes is no John Wooden. He is a solid game manager, but hasn’t had the exceptional coaching performances that defined his career. Barnes is, however, regarded as one of the best recruiters in the country. If you consider the talent that he has brought in, to a NON-BASKETBALL school, in the past few years, you cannot possibly debate this.

2002 – T.J. Ford – the Naismith and Wooden award winner.

2006 – Kevin Durant – the AP player of the year, Oscar Robertson Trophy, Adolph Rupp Trophy, Naismith, Wooden, etc.etc. winner.

2007 – D.J. Augustin – a Naismith finalist and Cousy award winner.

And those are just the guys who stayed long enough to win awards (…one year was enough for Durant, the only freshman to ever win National Player of the Year). Imagine the current Texas team, which earned the school’s first-ever top ranking with a senior Kevin Durant! He’s averaging 30 points a night against the best NBA defender this year! If he was in college he could be averaging 45 without even scuffing his Nike Hyperizes. However, while I do think Durant would be the greatest college basketball player of all time, I don’t think that would be the best Texas team of all time.

If we’re doing what-ifs, I say what could’ve been the 2006-07 team could’ve been the greatest Longhorn/greatest college team of all time. Imagine if 1st Team All-Big-12 center LaMarcus Aldridge didn’t declare for the draft (where he went 2nd and on to the NBA All-Rookie team), P.J. Tucker, the reigning Big-12- Player of the Year, stayed for a senior season, and Big-12 Freshman of the year Daniel Gibson stayed in Austin. They would join what would be the all-time best freshman in Durant and future National Player of the Year finalists D.J. Augustin and Damion James, as well as the Big-12’s all-time best three-point shooter A.J. Abrams and NBA prospect Dexter Pittman.