January 19, 20214 yr Tamar Bates is Shaka's latest unearthed gem, a la Jaxson Hayes and Kai Jones, only Bates is a guard who may very well have a starting role from day one next year, even if Jones and Ramey both return. If you're wondering who is next in Shaka's diaper dandy pipeline, this is the guy. When 24/7 updated their 2021 rankings on 8/15/20 Tamar was ranked the #114 prospect in his class. Even as recently as December 12th he was ranked #97 in his class. He's now all the way up to #61 and still climbing. The kid has been turning heads left and right ever since he committed to Texas, and especially now that's he's left Kansas and is playing for IMG. the great thing about Bates, in contrast with guys like Jaxson and Kai, is that he isn't rising the ranks because he's some freak athlete with crazy upside/potential, he's simply showing and proving that he can really really hoop at a very high level. Guards who come into a P5 league and are ready to start/contribute right away are fairly rare, but that's who we have committed to us in Tamar Bates. He's the next one up for Shaka and Texas, and at this point he looks to be perhaps our best hope for the future after we lose the bulk of this current team. So remember the name. Highlights of his game last night against Monte Verde: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKPHS8PlIVo/?igshid=yd3u4grzfrmz Edited January 19, 20214 yr by shadow_operative
January 20, 20214 yr Yeah Ive been hearing about this Tamar cat a lot lately. He looks to be an immediate impact contributor along with David Joplin who looks to be in the John Holmes/Damion James tweener mold. The the underrecruited, skinny, athletic big man "project" in this upcoming recruiting class who most closely compares to Kai and Jaxson as far as his profile seems to be Keeyan Itejere. Although he seems to be further behind them at this stage of his development.
January 20, 20214 yr Author meant to say this earlier, it in the very first clip from that IG link the kid immediately reminds you of Matt Coleman, right down to the jersey number.
January 20, 20214 yr 2 hours ago, Catdaddyhorn said: who looks to be in the John Holmes/Damion James tweener mold. I giggled. Jonathan.
January 20, 20214 yr 2 hours ago, gsoda3 said: I have an unreasonable dislike for left handed guards. Mavs fan, huh?
January 20, 20214 yr 3 hours ago, gsoda3 said: I have an unreasonable dislike for left handed guards. Who is Texas's best left handed player? Edited January 20, 20214 yr by runthebone
January 21, 20214 yr One thing Shaka deserves credit for is his ability to scout under recruited talent. They seem to get a guy like that who blows up every year. I'm also interested to see how Keeyan Itejere develops
March 29, 20214 yr This thread title did not age well. Moral of the story: Wait for a recruit/commit to step on the court in uniform before anointing.
March 29, 20214 yr 34 minutes ago, HtownHorn said: Good luck winning nothing at Marquette. Does that really sting coming from a Texas basketball fan?
March 29, 20214 yr 3 minutes ago, formermav43 said: Does that really sting coming from a Texas basketball fan? Well there is the little bit of the unknown with whoever is the next coach at Texas. We do know Marquette will win nothing with Shaka Smart there.
March 29, 20214 yr Is anyone surprised? This incoming class committed to Shaka and we made the decision to part ways with the guy. Write them off if they don't feel comfortable with the current situation in austin, hire a good coach and get shit headed back in the right direction. Its the price of doing business when you need to dump your coach. Next year was going to suck regardless.
March 29, 20214 yr 8 minutes ago, HtownHorn said: Well there is the little bit of the unknown with whoever is the next coach at Texas. We do know Marquette will win nothing with Shaka Smart there. Maybe the kid really wants to win an NIT title?
March 29, 20214 yr Brian Davis: Rather stunning honesty from Tamar Bates on his Texas basketball commitment. He tells Rivals, "I wanted to play for a Black head coach with everything that is going on." Surprised that nobody's posted the "That's racist!" GIF yet.
March 29, 20214 yr I don't fault the young man at all for wanting to play for a Black Head Coach. His talent and work ethic certainly warrant him to be a part of a team that suits his needs and viewpoint. I wish him all the best. My only word of warning to him would be---Shaka is Black Head Coach. But he is also not good at coaching high-level basketball.
March 29, 20214 yr Those comments were made during the summer when he committed and they were referenced in his recruiting thread at the time.
March 29, 20214 yr Texas could theoretically hire a black head coach and this kid will still want to bail. In reality, he was committed to Shaka, not UT. And that's fair, so release him from his LOI and let the young man move along. One more scholarship for the next coach to work with.
March 29, 20214 yr Author 3 hours ago, CurlyDumps said: Another victim brainwashed by Shaka. Sad. remember when Greg Brown Jr was essentially threatening to have GB III commit anywhere but Texas if we fired Shaka? i wonder how he felt watching his boy helplessly sit on the sideline all night while ACU sent us packing? Shaka Smart is the fucking pied piper, and i don't mean that in no nice way.
March 29, 20214 yr 3 hours ago, CurlyDumps said: Another victim brainwashed by Shaka. Sad. Yep. I still feel bad for Coleman thinking he let Shaka down when it’s the complete opposite. I really hope for Bates’ sake that he goes somewhere other Marquette, but I doubt it.
March 30, 20214 yr 3 hours ago, Royale with cheese said: Brian Davis: Rather stunning honesty from Tamar Bates on his Texas basketball commitment. He tells Rivals, "I wanted to play for a Black head coach with everything that is going on." Surprised that nobody's posted the "That's racist!" GIF yet. It is. He’d rather play for any black coach over a great white, hispanic, asian, or Arab coach? That shit doesn’t work in reverse, at least not spoken publicly.
March 30, 20214 yr Author there's nothing wrong with a black kid saying he'd like to play for a black coach.
March 30, 20214 yr 28 minutes ago, Murfdogg21 said: It is. He’d rather play for any black coach over a great white, hispanic, asian, or Arab coach? That shit doesn’t work in reverse, at least not spoken publicly. I don't know bout Hispanic or Asian, but you can absolutely make the argument that black coaches are drastically underrepresented in Div I hoops. If anything, more black players should take that position to encourage the practice of hiring black head coaches. Its interesting that you consider the players choice of who he wants to play for "racist" instead of asking why he would take that stance in light of the dearth of black head coaches in Div I. Quote There are 353 Division I men’s basketball programs, and just 103 of them — or 29.2 percent — have black head coaches. When HBCUs are taken out of the equation, the number falls to 24.1 percent. In the sport’s Big Seven conferences, that number is 22.9 percent. Half of the head coaches in the Big East and the American are black, so when looking at just the Power Five leagues, the number is a paltry 13.8 percent. The Pac-12 does not have a single black head coach. The only black head coach in the Big Ten is Michigan’s Juwan Howard, who was hired in May after John Beilein left for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Edited March 30, 20214 yr by Blotto
March 30, 20214 yr 39 minutes ago, Murfdogg21 said: It is. He’d rather play for any black coach over a great white, hispanic, asian, or Arab coach? That shit doesn’t work in reverse, at least not spoken publicly. Are you actually, truly offended or just being a bitch?
March 30, 20214 yr Was Shaka the only black coach that offered him because that's the only reason his decision to commit to him would make sense in the first place.
March 30, 20214 yr 1 hour ago, longhornmatt said: Ten years from now, Shaka will be coaching the most talented team Guyana has ever seen. Just don't hydrate at half-time.
March 30, 20214 yr If his name was Ted he doesn't get 1/10th of the attention he's gotten in his career.
March 30, 20214 yr 5 minutes ago, HtownHorn said: Jonas Aidoo, high 4 star 6'11" center just decommitted from Marquette. Kind of surprising, the one thing Shaka could do right was send bigs to the NBA.
March 30, 20214 yr 6 minutes ago, HtownHorn said: Jonas Aidoo, high 4 star 6'11" center just decommitted from Marquette. Smart kid. He actually wanted to win a NCAA tournament game in his collegiate career.
April 1, 20214 yr On 3/29/2021 at 8:28 PM, Murfdogg21 said: It is. He’d rather play for any black coach over a great white, hispanic, asian, or Arab coach? That shit doesn’t work in reverse, at least not spoken publicly. Yeah all you have to do is ignore the past 250+ years of American history to not understand where the kid is coming from or why it doesn't work in reverse. Edited April 1, 20214 yr by MotownHorn
April 1, 20214 yr On 3/29/2021 at 5:38 PM, shadow_operative said: remember when Greg Brown Jr was essentially threatening to have GB III commit anywhere but Texas if we fired Shaka? i wonder how he felt watching his boy helplessly sit on the sideline all night while ACU sent us packing? Shaka Smart is the fucking pied piper, and i don't mean that in no nice way. I generally think you're a clown but I had the same thought Brown helped saved Shakas job with that recruitment stuff. And we win against ACU if Brown plays 20 minutes instead of 6. His benching seemed like a big overreaction to a few emotional minutes against Tech. Maybe more went on behind the scenes that I don't know about, but Shaka really seemed to over punish him for that fuckup. Edited April 1, 20214 yr by MotownHorn
April 1, 20214 yr Shaka can fuck off back to Wisconsin and make Marquette suffer for even offering him the job.
April 1, 20214 yr 7 hours ago, MotownHorn said: I generally think you're a clown but I had the same thought Brown helped saved Shakas job with that recruitment stuff. And we win against ACU if Brown plays 20 minutes instead of 6. His benching seemed like a big overreaction to a few emotional minutes against Tech. Maybe more went on behind the scenes that I don't know about, but Shaka really seemed to over punish him for that fuckup. If Brown had been well coached, we win easily. If Brown is out there with Sims & Jones, we win easily. If Brown replaces Sims or Jones and plays like a chicken with his head cut off like he did late in the season, then he fouls out in about 11 minutes and we lose by 5 or more. His +/- late in the season had to have been the worst on the team. He was awful. Athletic, but awful.
April 1, 20214 yr Greg Brown's last 10 games: WV: 0 points in 24 minutes, 0-4 FG (0-4 from 3), 8 rebounds, 4 fouls, 1 block, 1 steal Kansas: 13 points in 20 minutes, 4-8 (2-5 from 3), 4 rebounds, 1 turnover, 1 block Texas Tech: 5 points in 13 minutes, 2-7 FG (0-4 from 3), 1 rebound, 3 fouls, 3 turnovers Iowa State: 12 points in 27 minutes, 3-7 FG (1-3 from 3), 4 rebounds, 3 fouls, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, 1 block, 1 steal OU: 9 points in 20 minutes, 3-7 FG (0-3 from 3), 4 rebounds, 4 fouls, 3 blocks TCU: 4 points in 24 minutes, 2-6 FG (0-2 from 3), 4 rebounds, 2 fouls, 4 assists, 5 turnovers, 1 block, 1 steal Texas Tech: 2 points in 13 minutes, 1-1 FG (0-0 from 3), 6 rebounds, 1 foul, 5 turnovers, 1 gigantic hissy fit Ok State: 0 points in 6 minutes, 5 rebounds, 1 turnover ACU: 3 points in 6 minutes, 1-1 FG (1-1 from 3), 1 foul I don't know what the fuck happened. Outside of KU and ISU and maybe OU, he was worthless in most of his final 10 games. Any other coach would have gotten a lot more out of Brown, but I don't know if his head was in the draft or what, but down the stretch, he seemed checked the fuck out.
April 1, 20214 yr The fact that Brown has yet to announce he's entertaining the draft is interesting to me. Despite his, at times, less than aesthetically pleasing offense, Beard has a track record for incredible development. Jarrett Culver and Zaire Smith didn't exactly have potential top 10 or 1st round pick pedigree as high school recruits. And several other players on his Tech teams have increased their profile. Mac McClung's time at Georgetown was a bit underwhelming relative to his high school prospects and suddenly he was a conference player of the year candidate immediately upon transfer. Maybe Greg Brown sees this and can be persuaded to having a Blake Griffin freshman to sophomore type improvement.
April 1, 20214 yr Author 7 hours ago, Js1 said: Greg Brown's last 10 games: WV: 0 points in 24 minutes, 0-4 FG (0-4 from 3), 8 rebounds, 4 fouls, 1 block, 1 steal Kansas: 13 points in 20 minutes, 4-8 (2-5 from 3), 4 rebounds, 1 turnover, 1 block Texas Tech: 5 points in 13 minutes, 2-7 FG (0-4 from 3), 1 rebound, 3 fouls, 3 turnovers Iowa State: 12 points in 27 minutes, 3-7 FG (1-3 from 3), 4 rebounds, 3 fouls, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, 1 block, 1 steal OU: 9 points in 20 minutes, 3-7 FG (0-3 from 3), 4 rebounds, 4 fouls, 3 blocks TCU: 4 points in 24 minutes, 2-6 FG (0-2 from 3), 4 rebounds, 2 fouls, 4 assists, 5 turnovers, 1 block, 1 steal Texas Tech: 2 points in 13 minutes, 1-1 FG (0-0 from 3), 6 rebounds, 1 foul, 5 turnovers, 1 gigantic hissy fit Ok State: 0 points in 6 minutes, 5 rebounds, 1 turnover ACU: 3 points in 6 minutes, 1-1 FG (1-1 from 3), 1 foul I don't know what the fuck happened. Outside of KU and ISU and maybe OU, he was worthless in most of his final 10 games. Any other coach would have gotten a lot more out of Brown, but I don't know if his head was in the draft or what, but down the stretch, he seemed checked the fuck out. it's really hard for anyone, much less a true freshman with a terrible HC, to get going when you're playing 20-24 mpg. that's such sporadic PT that you're never going to find yourself in any kind of flow or rhythm. Shaka asked GB III to stand around the perimeter waiting to shoot threes, then they had some kind of beef, and then GB III's minutes, confidence, and production disappeared. Shaka could fuck up a wet dream.
April 1, 20214 yr Author 6 hours ago, Catdaddyhorn said: The fact that Brown has yet to announce he's entertaining the draft is interesting to me. Despite his, at times, less than aesthetically pleasing offense, Beard has a track record for incredible development. Jarrett Culver and Zaire Smith didn't exactly have potential top 10 or 1st round pick pedigree as high school recruits. And several other players on his Tech teams have increased their profile. Mac McClung's time at Georgetown was a bit underwhelming relative to his high school prospects and suddenly he was a conference player of the year candidate immediately upon transfer. Maybe Greg Brown sees this and can be persuaded to having a Blake Griffin freshman to sophomore type improvement. he could definitely see his draft stock go way up with a good year under Beard. he'll get 30-35 mpg and have every opportunity to shine. i really hope he decides to return.
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