[null, {"document_url": "http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/college_sports/longhorns/article/UT-s-youth-yields-very-little-buzz-3958298.php", "unformatted_src": "http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/15/60/61/3607635/4/rawImage.jpg", "src": "http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/15/60/61/3607635/4/rawImage.jpg", "formatted_filename": "rawImage"}, null, {"document_url": "http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/college_sports/longhorns/article/UT-s-youth-yields-very-little-buzz-3958298.php", "unformatted_src": "http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/51/23/36/10827697/4/255x471.jpg", "src": "http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/51/23/36/10827697/4/255x471.jpg"}, null, {"document_url": "http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/college_sports/longhorns/article/UT-s-youth-yields-very-little-buzz-3958298.php", "unformatted_src": "http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/51/54/76/10932119/4/300x471.jpg", "src": "http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/51/54/76/10932119/4/300x471.jpg"}, null]
UT's youth yields very little buzz

By Tim Griffin

Updated 1:42 am, Thursday, October 18, 2012

Photo: Orlin Wagner, Associated Press




Myck Kabongo is being investigated by the NCAA to see if he received improper benefits.


KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Texas coach Rick Barnes has never had a group of players so collectively young.

There are no juniors or seniors on the roster who were recruited by Texas. Only walk-on senior guards Andy Dick and Dean Melchionni are listed among a rotation of seven freshmen and five sophomores.

As a result, Barnes is preparing for the season with the greenest group he can remember in his 25-season coaching career.

But Barnes said his young team also is very talented, and he's expecting to play a deep rotation that could stretch to 11 players.

“I don't really buy into the young (thing),” Barnes said. “This is a group that we've got confidence in, and we think that they've got a chance to be good.”



UT's inexperience helps account for less preseason buzz than in any season in recent memory. The Longhorns finished 20-14 last season. It was the most losses in Barnes' 14 seasons at UT and marked the second time in three seasons they were eliminated in the NCAA tournament without winning a game.

The Longhorns return several players who started as freshmen — point guard Myck Kabongo, guard Julien Lewis and forward Jonathan Holmes from Antonian. But the Longhorns must replace leading scorer J'Covan Brown, who averaged almost nine more points per game than any teammate last season and took more than a quarter of the team's shots. The Longhorns' preseason work has been thrown into uncertainty after news surfaced last week that Kabongo is being investigated by the NCAA for receiving improper benefits. Kabongo has been accused of accepting payment from agent Rich Paul for a trip to Cleveland this past spring that included a workout with a professional trainer.

Barnes and his staff don't know to what degree — if any — Kabongo's eligibility was compromised.

Kabongo is practicing with the Longhorns with no indication of when or what kind of penalties could be forthcoming.

Despite the uncertainty concerning his team's playmaker, Barnes isn't altering his preparation for UT's Nov. 9 opener against Fresno State.

“We don't know anything, so we are going about our business,” Barnes said. “We'll do that until we find out what the situation might be.”

If Kabongo is lost, the only true point guard remaining on UT's roster is freshman Javan Felix.

“I haven't even thought about it,” Barnes said about contingency plans. “We're not going to make excuses of whatever it is. Myck has worked very hard at being a leader, and he's a guy who brings high energy every day. We'll just wait and see and go from there.”


Twitter: @TimGriffinBig12
