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^ Starting PG for the next three years.
Small in stature, Abrams a big talent
At 5-feet-10-inches and 155 pounds, freshman guard A.J. Abrams rarely awes the opposition with his physical stature alone. But that's all right with the Round Rock rookie; he's got all the confidence in the world.
"One thing my dad always told me was have confidence in everything you do," Abrams said. "If you have that, everything will take care of itself."
Luckily for No. 5 Texas, that confidence has translated into a solid third backcourt option on a team with little depth. Call it a premonition, but Texas coach Rick Barnes saw Abrams' potential from the very beginning.
"I told a person before the season started that I really thought that before January first, A.J. Abrams would be a big part of our rotation," Barnes said. "So I'm not surprised."
Texas will look for continued productivity from Abrams this Saturday when they travel to Waco for their second conference road match of the season versus Baylor.
The Bears' are serving the first of a five-year probation for multiple NCAA rules infractions committed during the tenure of previous head coach Dave Bliss, in which they are banned from any non-conference games during the year.
Although Baylor has only played three games so far this season, all losses by a combined 69 points, the Longhorns know better than to overlook any Big 12 foe.
"Baylor's only played three games so far, but they're still a very capable team," Kenton Paulino said. "We're definitely not looking past them."
On Jan. 9 in Texas' first conference road match versus Iowa State, it was Abrams, coming off the bench, who led Texas with eight assists.
"I had a blast," Abrams said. "I came in, and it was everything I expected. The crowd was full, it was loud. I just went in there and did what I practiced on and helped them out."
With a game-high 20 points coming from six 3-pointers, Paulino was the recipient of several of Abrams' assists.
"A.J.'s come a long way since we started practice," Paulino said. "He's growing up fast, and that's something you have to do. Every day in practice, when we're out there during the game, I'm constantly talking to him and trying to help him."
Abrams credits the mentoring of Paulino and Daniel Gibson and says that things finally started slowing down for him over winter break.
"I think [it started to click for me] over the Christmas break," Abrams said. "It was just all basketball over Christmas break. I got a lot of time to spend in the gym, getting to know what I can and cannot do. I think just playing basketball and just getting accustomed to all the plays and everything really helped."
Abrams' hard work has paid huge dividends so far. Barnes cites earning his teammate's confidence as Abrams' biggest accomplishment to date.
But it's Abrams' own unflappable confidence that has him feeling like an elder statesman on the court - no matter what size.
However, when it comes to roaming the 40 Acres, he's just like every other wide-eyed freshman finding their way.
"I feel like I've been here eight years," Abrams said. "[But] I feel like a freshman in the classroom, and I don't know where I'm going on campus. Today I had to stop and get a map, cause I didn't know where I was going."
^ Starting PG for the next three years.
Maybe, I like the way he plays for a true freshman. D.J. Augustin is said to quite a talent at PG as well:
hahaha i thought that was a police lineup photo
^ Has Augustin committed to Texas yet? I know he was down to us and LSU, hadn't heard if he made a final decision yet.
Yeah, Texas got 6 commitments. He was down to LSU and Texas, and he chose Texas. Part of it was that he relocated because of hurricane Katrina, and was a little scared to move back to Louisiana. I guess he also liked it in Texas. Ranked the #8 PG in the country this year.
Young Chinstrap is makin some noise tonight....
6-7 threes, he had 4 threes in the first 2 minutes of play. Started at SG.
Ends up 8-11 three pointers with 28 points.
Lil man can score. Iverson is his role model. Maybe he can be texas' iverson jr.
Last edited by Cant_Be_Faded; 11-10-2006 at 11:27 PM.
Damn....Young Chinstrap is makin some noise tonight....
6-7 threes, he had 4 threes in the first 2 minutes of play. Started at SG.
Ends up 8-11 three pointers with 28 points.
Lil man can score. Iverson is his role model. Maybe he can be texas' iverson jr.
CBS has him with 29 pts
paulino makes chinstrap look like threejay
bump. can he handle the transition to pg?
its going to be a final four babality this year
chinstrapped
AJ
The Baby
Abrams.
4-9 from 3 last night, 57 threes in the last 14 games for the baby!
ROFL threejay
keep a chinstrap for the wolfpack out here trying to jack
lol at him being 5-10, he's clearly shorter than that.
Too bad my other nickname for him "quick release" never caught on. They actually use that term alot during games this year. Should be his nickname. The only senior on the team can't still be called The Baby....could he?
i'm sitting on the baseline for the game saturday. i did it for the OU game last year and sat right next to the baby's incredibly hot dancer girl. her ass bumped my head twice
Quick Release is about as accurate as anything.
well quans the playa with tru upon his back or Lord Quan
we know this
the babys a top longhorn nickname
blake gideon will now be known as coachs son
distant memory. uninspired play. this dude is not sniffing the d-league.
conner ashley and baby are killing me softly this year
UT is ed.
I don't get how Barnes could have been so incredibly short sighted, to have no real point guard option after DJ Augustin left. Even if the guy sucks , get an extra ball handler Barnes, you moron. JD ing Lewis could handle the rock better than Balbay and Mason combined, and would actually knock down the open three.
We have 1 outside shooter, The Baby, and hes being completely taken out of the game, every game, and its getting worse. It's not his fault. What do you expect when you are the only real shooting threat on your team and noone else can knock down an open J to save their lives?
Barnes has assembled a team of defensive, non ball handling point guards, tweener 3/4's with nothing really resembling an outside game, big bodies, and one 5'10" shooting threat, who is amazing as a second or third option, but is forced to be the first.
Everyone knew the baby could not play PG, everyone knew he was not a viable first option. We knew this back in his freshman year. Now, instead of The Baby crominating the B12 three point record, hes chunking up to save his scrot and put points on the board by any means necessary.
I feel sorry for Abrams. He has no ing help outside.
UTs offense has became absolutely painful to watch. Every team we play now presses us the entire game, and we can't convert that into an easy bucket to save our lives. The other team constantly doubles The Baby, and sags off of everyone else, completely clogging the lane. We have become the easiest team to shut down in Texas history. And all this has started to effect our one saving grace, the defense.
Our season is officially
On The Brink.
rumors about Barnes' job security, texas may be in negotiation with Brian Denehey
A season.
On the brink.
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