Top of the Queue – Volume VIII Newsletter #3 -February 2, 2024
|
Click on the small white letters “VIEW IN BROWSER” at the top of the page to enlarge and enhance the photos and text on your cellphone.
|
TEXAS LEGACY SUPPORT shares a panoramic view of Longhorn sports history as seen through the eyes of those who created it.
|
TLSN is a 501 (c)(3) Longhorn Sports history educational website with a compassionate component.
Https://texaslsn.org
TLSN is not associated with the UT Athletics Department or any organization closely aligned with UT.
|
The 2003-2004 basketball teams have 7 of the 100 most important moments in Longhorn basketball sports history
The best moments in UT basketball sports history are at the link below.
MOMENT NO. 5
April 12, 2003: T.J. Ford concludes his collegiate career by capturing the John R. Wooden Player of the Year award in a formal ceremony at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. One day earlier, Ford received the Naismith Award during a banquet in Atlanta. Ford becomes the first person in UT history to earn National Player of the Year honors.
The Seniors On This Team Win The Most Games In School History (98)
Team Makes Sweet 16 But Loses To Xavier.
MOMENT NO. 87
Jan. 17, 2004: Royal Ivey hits a 16-foot fade-away jumper with 2.4 seconds left to give No. 18 Texas a 63-61 victory against Nebraska at the Erwin Center.
2000 – Brandon Mouton-Barnes says Mouton “might have improved as much as any player that I’ve ever coached, and he has become an iron man.”
MOMENT NO. 37
Jan. 5, 2004: P.J. Tucker goes coast-to-coast and drops a five-foot finger roll through the basket as time expires in overtime to lift No. 18 Texas to a 79-77 win at No. 25 Providence before an ESPN national television audience. With the score tied at 77-77 and 3.7 seconds left in overtime, Tucker took the inbounds pass in the UT backcourt, drove the ball to mid-court, used a behind-the-back dribble to cut to the middle of the floor, and then drove to the basket. Officials reviewed the play for 10 minutes using television replays before determining that Tucker’s shot had left his right hand before the red light behind the backboard (used to determine the game clock’s official ending) lit up. Barnes signs three McDonald’s All-Americans: LaMarcus Aldridge, Daniel Gibson, and Mike Williams. Many thought this was the best recruiting class in the country in 2004.
Freshman Daniel Gibson leads the Longhorns in scoring, assists, and steals. Gibson is no Ford look-alike. Gibson has his own style as a playmaker, gunner, and long-range threat.
|
MOMENT NO. 56
Jan. 13, 2004: P.J. Tucker tallies a team-high 21 points and seven rebounds to lead the Horns to a 94-81 upset over No. 4 Wake Forest at the Erwin Center before an ESPN2 national television audience. U.T. defeated the second-highest AP-ranked opponent at home in school history. Texas has beaten the No. 3 ranked team twice at the Erwin Center.
Two starters are lost after the team was off to a great start with a 14-3 record. Freshman forward LaMarcus Aldridge suffered a hip injury, and sophomore swingman P.J. Tucker was declared academically ineligible.
Brandon can never replace T.J. Ford, but Royal Ivey will take some pressure off him. The Horns have a deep and talented frontcourt and will be one of the best in the nation.
“Getting to the Final Four was a great experience, but we’re not satisfied with that,” says Mouton. “It gave us a taste of what could be.” Now, all they need is for someone to make them mad. –K.A.
|
|
|
|
|
Brian Boddicker
Brandon Mouton
|
|
|
|
MOMENT NO. 8
April 5, 2003: Texas falls to eventual national champion Syracuse 95-84 in the National Semifinals in UT’s first appearance in modern history at the Final Four. The teams play in front of 54,432 fans at the Superdome in New Orleans, marking the largest crowd ever to see a Texas basketball game.
MOMENT NO. 1
March 30, 2003: Texas players and coaches cut down the nets in San Antonio’s Alamodome following an 85-76 victory against Michigan State in the NCAA South Regional final. The game is played before a pro-Longhorn crowd of 30,169. The victory sends the Horns to the Final Four for the third time in school history and first since 1947, a span of 56 years.
MOMENT NO. 13
March 8, 2003: T.J. Ford scores 14 of his team-high 18 points in the second half to rally the No. 4 Longhorns from a 15-point deficit to a 76-71 win against fifth-ranked Oklahoma in Norman. Texas trailed 58-43 with 13:48 left before a Brian Boddicker three-pointer ignites the comeback. The contest marks the first time in school history that UT had been involved in a match-up of two AP Top Five teams.
|
Larry Carlson shares three moments where a failed pass cost the Horns a possible National Championship. The years were 1964, 2010, and 2024. The story about 2010 is told below. The link to the other two Pass/fail moments is at https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/the-three-biggest-failed-passes
|
# 2 – THE COLD SHOULDER
The Setting: Rose Bowl, National Championship, Jan.7, 2010, Pasadena, CA
It was the first title game featuring two 13-0 teams. Top-ranked Bama was a four-point favorite over second-ranked Texas.
The Situation: Texas, with touted but untested freshman Garrett Gilbert at QB, was trailing 17-6 after a Tide FG with 29 seconds left in the first half. Colt McCoy, out with a shoulder injury on the fifth play from scrimmage, was sorely missed. Texas had to settle for two short-range field goals for an early 6-0 lead and Bama countered with 17 unanswered points. It appeared, though, that Gilbert and the Horns might utilize halftime to re-calibrate and rally.
The Pass That Failed: Rather than take a knee and beeline it for the locker room, Texas elected to try to move the ball in the final seconds of ther first half. A hurried shovel pass from Gilbert bounced off the hands of DJ Monroe into the welcoming arms of 300-pound Bama DT Marcell Dareus, the man who had delivered the hit that crunched McCoy’s shoulder. Dareus steamed in for a TD from 28 yards out and Alabama suddenly had a daunting 24-6 halftime lead.
The Fallout: What the …. hell? What was Texas doing? Or trying to do? Greg Davis, the long-time Longhorn offensive coordinator who frequently served as a pinata for accusatory UT fans, was blamed by many. Gilbert looked tentative on the play, which most observers felt was all risk with very little potential reward, the Horns being 45 yards from even field goal range with just seconds left.
Bolstered by the sturdy Texas defense in the second half, Gilbert (15 for 40 on the day, for 186 yards and 4 picks) found some rhythm. He hit the incomparable Jordan Shipley for two TD passes that pulled Texas into contention. With six minutes left, UT trailed 24-21. Around the three-minute mark, the Steers had the ball at their seven with hope and momentum. Crimson Tide defensive coordinator Kirby Smart dialed up an outside blitz, and Gilbert got blindsided. He fumbled. Alabama went on to score two touchdowns in the last two minutes for a 37-21 triumph.
The Footnote: It has been well documented. Texas began a long, dark swirl down the drain, starting with a 5-7 mark the next fall.. Alabama would ride the coaching genius of Nick Saban to dominate college football, earning six natties in a 12-season span.
And Texas fans will always wonder what might have unfolded – for one night at the Rose Bowl and then for what turned out to be 13 largely nightmarish years-had Colt McCoy never been injured.
|
Here is the sequence that led to Colt’s injury.
|
LONGHORN BOWL QUIZ
1 Who is the head coach with the most bowl wins at Texas?
2 Name the Texas QB with the most bowl victories as a starter.
3 Who caught the winning TD pass when UT beat Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl following the ’08 season?
4 Name DKR’s two QBs who set Cotton Bowl total offense records.
5 Name the brothers who were offensive and defensive MVP in the same Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl.
6 Who was the legendary Longhorn QB who accounted for all 40 of his team’s points in a Cotton Bowl win?
7. Name the only UT head coach whose Longhorn teams were unbeaten in bowl games.
8. Texas has topped 50 points in a bowl game only once. Name the bowl and the year.
9. Name the Texas QB who passed for 473 yards in a Longhorn bowl victory: A. Robert Brewer
B. Chris Simms C. Major Applewhite D. Vince Young E. Colt McCoy
10 Which Longhorn led the Horns in rushing and receiving yards in a bowl win? A. Daniel Young
B. Ricky Williams C. Priest Holmes D. Bijan Robinson E. Earl Campbell F. D’Onta Foreman
11. Name the Longhorn who scored on the longest run (79 yards) in a bowl victory. A. Jimmy Saxton
B. Ernie Koy, Jr C. Jim Bertelsen D. Earl Campbell E. Ricky Williams F. Jamaal Charles
12. Which two Texas teams (season, not date of bowl) won a bowl game against the top-ranked team in the nation? A 1963 B 1968 C 1981 D 2004 E 1964 F 2005 G 1969 H 1977
Bonus Question: Name the Longhorns’ head coach and the opponent’s head coach from the ’94 Sun Bowl in which Priest Holmes was the MVP?
|
The Huddle
TLSN needs donations. Join us in the Longhorn huddle by giving back $20 to help TLSN fulfill its missions.
Click on the link:
|
|
|
|
|
Champions by Carlton Stowers and Wilbur Evans
|
|
|
|
Author Carlton Stowers was a member of that ’62 Longhorns sprint relay who also reported on meets as a sportswriter for The Daily Texan. Today, he is a member of the Texas Literary Hall of Fame.
TLSN has asked Carlton Stowers to write a few articles about Longhorn track and field, and he has agreed. Two more articles are planned.
With a sense of humor intended, Carlton says about himself,
“Like Dean Smith, I ran a lead-off leg on the Longhorns’ 440-yard relay in the early ’60s. Thereafter, the comparison abruptly ends.
|
|
|
|
|
Dean’s starts were explosive.
|
|
|
|
Dean far right won the race against teammate Charley Thomas.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dean – Gold medalist in the Olympics. Dean is far right.
|
|
|
|
Actor James Garner, a Sooner, gave Dean his first job as a stuntman.
|
|
|
|
|
Below is an edited version of Carlton’s piece, which originally appeared in American Way magazine and is reprinted here with permission of the author.
WORLD’S FASTEST COWBOY by Carlton Stowers
It’s not likely that you New Generation readers will remember him, but those of us with slightly higher mileage and reasonably good recall do. A University of Texas track standout, Dean came home for the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki with a gold medal earned as a member of the U.S. 400-meter relay and fourth in a blanket finish 200-meter dash. After flirting briefly with professional football as a member of the Los Angeles Rams, he became a familiar face to movie and television watchers for decades.
Things came naturally to the young West Texan, who was both a high school state sprint champion and gifted rodeo performer during his schoolboy days at Graham High School. It was at the National Theater on Saturday afternoons, watching B-movie westerns that seemed always to have titles like “Gunfight at Black Rock,” when his own dream began to take shape.
And, with the help of a friend named James Baumgarner (you know him best by his screen name, James Garner), he got his big break. Garner made some calls, Dean got an audition, and soon he was riding and roping, chasing down runaway stagecoaches, and engaging in more mock fistfights than you could shake a stick at. Lord only knows how many times he was shot and killed on screen. He quickly became one of Hollywood’s most-wanted stuntmen, stepping in for the big-name stars when the time came for the dangerous dirty work.
|
|
|
|
|
Coach Quick signs Debbie Risen a backstroker and says “she is a mystical emotional boost for the Horns”.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Debbie Risen wins the National Championship in the 100 back.
|
|
|
|
To Longhorn Swimming and Diving Fans and Supporters!
We are proud to announce our partnership with WME Sports, which will provide additional opportunities for the student-athletes we serve at UT and the non-profit organizations we work with.
Our swimming and diving program has a rich history of dominance in the sport, and we are committed to maintaining our position as the best annually. In order to do so, we need to keep up with the times and set the standard by which all programs aspire to be.
For more information, please visit
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Darrell Fick at 510-418-6450 or dfick@email.com.
Darrell Fick can be reached at 510-418-6450 or dfick@email.com
|
|
|
