Texas

AJ Abrams to Return to Texas

Press Release — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:18:08 -0700

AUSTIN, Texas — University of Texas guard A.J. Abrams has withdrawn his name from the 2008 NBA Draft and will return to school for his senior season, he announced today. The all-time career leader at Texas in three-point field goals made (284), Abrams enters his senior year ranked 15th on the school’s career scoring list (1,389 points), second in free throw percentage (.872) and sixth in three-point field goal percentage (.399).

“I’d like to announce my intentions to remove my name from the 2008 Draft and return for my senior year at The University of Texas,” Abrams said. “I entered the draft to receive feedback and take advantage of the opportunity to that was presented to me by the NBA to pursue my dream of playing professional basketball.

“I received some positive feedback and constructive criticisms from the NBA teams that I worked out for, all of which should help me next year when I go through the process again,” Abrams continued. “When I sat down with my family and looked at my options, I knew I wanted to come back, finish what I have started and continue to represent The University of Texas to the best of my ability, both on and off the court.”

Abrams earned a spot on the USBWA (United States Basketball Writers Association) All-District VII Team and was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team (coaches) and NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches) All-District 9 second team as a junior. He ranked second on the team in scoring (16.5 ppg) and minutes played (35.9 mpg) and led the squad in steals (59) and free throw percentage (.809). In four NCAA Tournament contests, Abrams averaged a team-best 20.3 points per contest while converting 19-of-38 (.500) three-pointers.

Abrams has played in 109 career games entering his senior season. He is on pace to break the UT record for career games played (134 shared by Brian Boddicker and James Thomas, 2001-04).

“We are obviously very pleased with A.J.’s decision to return for his senior year,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said. “He did exactly what the system allows to get all the information he could. We’re proud of him for how he represented himself and our program along the way. He has been a huge part of our success over the last three years, and we know that he’ll again be a leader for our team this coming year.”

With Abrams’ announcement, Texas will return four starters and nine of its top 10 scorers from last year’s team which posted a 31-7 record, claimed the Big 12 regular season championship and advanced to the “Elite Eight” of the NCAA Tournament.

Big 12 / Pac-10 Hardwood Series Schedule

Press Release — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:57:07 -0700

Irving, Texas - The Big 12 and Pacific-10 Conferences have announced the dates and matchups for the 2008 Big 12 / Pac-10 Hardwood Series. The series is in its second year after beginning competition during the 2007-08 season.

The majority of the games are scheduled for December 4-7, with three taking place outside the four-day series window. Each matchup is a return contest from 2007. The 2009 games in the series will be played December 3-6, while meetings in 2010 will take place December 2-5. After this season, new pairings will be in place for the next two years of the arrangement.

Last season, the Pac-10 held a 7-5 edge over the Big 12 in Hardwood Series games. Overall, the Big 12 posted an 11-8 advantage between the conferences in regular season and postseason play. The 12 contests averaged more than 10,000 fans, drawing a total of 123,035 to the arenas.

Additional components of the series, including the times and television information will be announced at a later date.

BIG 12 / PAC-10 HARDWOOD SERIES

Thursday, December 4, 2008
Oklahoma State at Washington
UCLA at Texas
USC at Oklahoma

Friday, December 5, 2008
Arizona at Texas A&M

Saturday, December 6, 2008
Baylor at Washington State
Oregon State at Iowa State

Sunday, December 7, 2008
Kansas State at Oregon
Nebraska at Arizona State
California at Missouri

Outside the four-day series window
Colorado at Stanford (Sat., Nov. 29, 2008)
Kansas at Arizona (Tue., Dec. 23, 2008)
Texas Tech at Stanford (Sun., Dec. 28, 2008)

Poll: Which NBA Prospect is the Best Passer?

Shawn Siegel — Thu, 08 May 2008 10:27:53 -0700

DJ Augustin: NBA Draft Profile

Jeff Fox — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:44:59 -0700

DJ Augustin

College: Texas

Class: Sophomore

Position: PG

Height: 6’0”

Weight: 180lbs

Accolades: Wooden Award All-American (08), First Team All-American – USBWA (08), All-Big 12 First Team (08), Bob Cousy Award Winner (08), First Team All-American - AP (08), NCAA Tournament South Regional Team (08), Big 12 All-Tournament Team (08), First Team All-American – CHN (08), Honorable Mention All-American – AP (07), Freshman All-American (07), All-Big 12 Second Team (07), Big 12 All-Rookie Team (07), First Team All-Freshman Team – CHN (07), McDonald’s All-American – high school (06), Fourth-Team All-American – Parade – high school (06).

Scouting Report: A diminutive floor general with lots of game.

Strengths: Lightning quick. Can get into the lane with ease. Good leaper. Uncanny knack for splitting double-teams. Good ability to use the rim as a shield and hit tough lay-ups to avoid defenders. Excellent playmaker and passer. Takes great care of the ball – twice as many assists as turnovers. Solid physique. Prolific scorer – nineteen 20-plus point games his sophomore year. Good three-point shooter – hit about two a game this year. Solid free throw shooter. Used to playing heavy minutes.

Weaknesses: Height – will be vastly undersized for the NBA - may actually be 5’11”. Bigger, stronger NBA guards will give him problems on both ends of the floor (like against Memphis in the Elite Eight). Can be a streaky scorer – went 3 for 25 from the field combined in back-to-back games. Doesn’t shoot for an extremely high percentage.

Projected 2008 Draft Range: Lottery to late first round pick.

Consensus: If D.J. Augustin is to excel in the NBA he will have to be a trendsetter - there are currently no sub-six foot stars in the League. There is no doubt he has the speed, skill-set and intelligence to play at the next level, but to become a star he will have to be find a way to slay the NBA’s Goliaths.

CHN's Six-Star Ranking System

= Superstar/All-NBA Potential

= Potential NBA All-Star

= Consistent NBA Starter

= 6th Man/Fringe Starter

= Career Reserve

= Fringe NBA Player/12th Man

0 stars = Life in the Minor Leagues

More 2008 NBA Draft Profiles

Current NBA Mock Draft Position

Complete NBA Draft coverage

Poll: Who Who Will be Preseason #1 for 08-09?

Shawn Siegel — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:57:29 -0700

Cheerleader of the Day: Texas #3

Shawn Siegel — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:32:23 -0700

Thanks to our friends over at Icon Sports Media, we now have access to thousands of great college basketball photos to use on the site. Each day, along with our Picture of the Day, we'll be featuring a Cheerleader of the Day. We'll be mixing up the schools & cheerleader so check back daily!

Texas

- Check out past Cheerleaders of the Day!

- Also check out the Picture of the Day!

Picture of the Day: Connor Atchley in White Men Can Jump..

Shawn Siegel — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:07:00 -0700

Thanks to our friends over at Icon Sports Media, we now have access to thousands of great college basketball photos to use on the site. Each day, CHN will feature a Picture of the Day, which might include a newsworthy, funny, or simply interesting subject. At the bottom will be a caption or headline that might be informative or amusing. The possibilities are endless!

White Man Can Jump..

Following the other day's popular Hansbrough pic, here is another in what is apparently a week of "White Man Can Jump" photos. Here, even though Robert Dozier and Joey Dorsey are just bystanders, the photo gives the appearance that Connor Atchley is throwing it down over three guys.

- Check out recent Pictures of the Day!

- Also check out the Cheerleader of the Day!

2008 CollegeHoops.net Program & Conference of the Year

Shawn Siegel — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:18:53 -0700

After a lengthy run of individual awards, we finally reach CHN's program and conference awards. As always, CHN writers voted for the best of the best:

CollegeHoops.net Program of the Year: Drake

By now, Drake’s surprise success has been discussed many times over. The 28-5 record, the MVC Championship, the Top 25 Ranking. The unknown players like Adam Emmenecker turning in all-star seasons, and a first year coach earning National Coach of the Year plaudits. But every time you read about the success of Keno Davis’s squad, the more shocking it truly seems.

Here at CHN, we pride ourselves on our top quality season preview and preseason rankings. Yet when it came to Drake, like everyone else, we were completely wrong. 165^th place was our prediction.. and we were only about 140 places off. In fact, Drake was projected to be 85 places worse than the 2^nd lowest team (Western Kentucky) that ended up in our Final Top 40. For shocking CHN’s experts and college basketball nation, Drake is a worthy program of the year.

Runner Up: Texas

After losing NBA All-Rookie performer Kevin Durant to the Draft, many thought that the Longhorns would regress. But instead, Rick Barnes led Texas to a record 31 win season as well as their 3^rd Elite Eight trip of the last six years. Amazingly, not one major contributor from the co-Big 12 champion is a senior, and the program’s continued success seems like a lock.

CollegeHoops.net Mid-Major Program of the Year: Davidson

Davidson was arguably the national Program of the Year due to their amazing Elite Eight tournament run, but their success wasn’t nearly as surprising as Drake’s. After losing some close games to major Top 10 powers like UNC and UCLA, the Wildcats bounced back to utterly dominate the Southern Conference. They won all 20 league games, and swept the conference tournament with an average margin of victory of 26 points. Their overall 25-game winning streak was the best in the nation, and helped Coach Bob McKillop and star guard Stephen Curry amass some impressive hardware. More impressive than their 29-7 record or any individual’s numbers is the way they captivated the country by letting it all out during the NCAA Tournament.

Runner Up: South Alabama

The Jaguars had an impressive season this culminated in at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. This was the first time in 14 years that a Sun Belt team had received at-large consideration. Their 26-7 overall record included two wins over Sweet Sixteen team (and conference rival) Western Kentucky, as well as tournament squads Mississippi State and San Diego. Coach Ronnie Arrow won Sun Belt Coach of the Year honors, returning to a position he once held 13 years ago.

CollegeHoops.net Conference of the Year: Pac-10

Simply put, no league offered more exciting individual and team matchups than the Pac-10 on a weekly basis. With the exception of Oregon State, every team in the league was capable of beating every other team.. and this overall depth of talent lead to an amazing 9 postseason bids for the 10 team league.

At the team level, UCLA was the true class of the league leading the way with a 16-2 record. The Bruins were led by Kevin Love, just one of many potential NBA lottery picks scattered throughout league rosters. Brook Lopez, OJ Mayo, Jerryd Bayless, Ryan Anderson and others lit up the scoreboards on a nightly basis.

Overall, the Pac-10 ended up 2^nd in RPI to the ACC, but the league members led the country with an amazing .798 out-of-conference winning %. This is even more impressive when you consider that as recently as 2004, the Pac-10 was 9^th in overall RPI. With big time coaches and big time programs, there’s no reason not to expect another great Pac-10 run next year.

Runner Up: Atlantic 10

This was somewhat of a renaissance season for the A10, as the league finished 7^th in overall RPI, easily its best season in a decade. Conference leader Xavier made an impressive run to the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight, and they were joined in the Big Dance by conference tournament winner Temple and St. Joseph’s. Even more impressively, the league had great depth as teams like Dayton, UMASS, and URI all made strong claims to Top 25 consideration at one point or another.

Check out all the: CHN 2007-08 Postseason Awards

All-Americans, All-Rookie, Top Coaches & more

DJ Augustin Wins Bob Cousy Award

Press Release — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:01:32 -0700

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — University of Texas sophomore guard D.J. Augustin has been named the winner of the 2008 Bob Cousy Award presented by The Hartford, an honor presented annually to the nation’s top collegiate point guard. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in conjunction with The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., made the announcement on Thursday. Mr. Cousy will present Augustin with the award during a press conference at the Marriott River Walk hotel in San Antonio on Monday, April 7 at 11 a.m. (central).

Augustin was chosen from a pool of over 50 top candidates and 16 finalists from NCAA Division I, II and III institutions across the country. He was selected by a Blue Ribbon Selection Committee comprised of 30 members made up of coaches, Hall of Famers, Sports Information Directors and media from around the nation.

A first-team Academic All-American, Augustin has earned first-team All-America honors from The Associated Press, the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News. He is one of five finalists for the John R. Wooden Award and the Oscar Robertson Trophy (USBWA National Player of the Year).

Augustin leads the Big 12 Conference in assists (5.8 ppg) and ranks second in the league in scoring (19.2 ppg). He led Texas to a school-record 31 victories (31-7 record), a Big 12 Conference regular season title and an appearance in the “Elite Eight” of the NCAA Tournament this season.

“The Bob Cousy Award presented by The Hartford has established itself as one of college basketball’s premier awards,” said John L. Doleva, Hall of Fame President and CEO. “Mr. Cousy has set a standard for the point guard position which is represented with this award. Leadership, vision and integrity are just a few of the traits that each of the finalists for this year’s award has demonstrated both on and off the court.”

This marks the fifth year that the Cousy Award has been presented. Augustin joins a prestigious group of past winners that includes Jameer Nelson (St. Joseph’s, 2004), Raymond Felton (North Carolina, 2005), Dee Brown (Illinois, 2006) and Acie Law (Texas A&M, 2007).

Picture of the Day: DJ Augustin

Shawn Siegel — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 10:48:23 -0700

DJ Augustin

Most likely due to the setup of Ford Field, some of the images of the Memphis/Texas Regional Final look pretty odd. Here, DJ Augustin looks like he's using a pair of Memphis defenders to simply take a seat in mid air.

- Check out recent Pictures of the Day!

- Also check out the Cheerleader of the Day!