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One of the most surprising things that happened this season was the collapse of the Texas defense. While Texas’ offensive struggles earned all the press, the defense during Big 12 games wasn’t very good either. During non-conference play, Ridley and Ibeh dominated the paint, making Texas one of the very best defenses in the nation. But during conference season, Texas allowed 1.04 points per possession, ranked sixth in the Big 12. The average Big 12 team gave up 1.02 points per possession.

It goes without saying that the Texas Longhorns had a disappointing hoops season. While it is easy to come to snap judgments about what went wrong for Texas, it is worth taking a little bit of time to really understand what happened and why. In the coming weeks, we will look more deeply at the long term issues surrounding the Texas basketball program, but as a starting point is is useful to understand exactly where things stand, and exactly what went wrong this season. This post will look at the Texas offense, while tomorrow’s post will look at the defense.

The year 2013 has again brought us a surprising mix of teams to the Final Four. But when we look at things from the perspective that the best teams generally defend the rim, the quartet starts to make more sense. Three of these four teams excel at defending the rim. In an average NCAA game, 34 percent of all shots are taken at the rim and these shots are made about 61 percent of the time, while 10 percent of all shots at the rim are blocked. Here are what those percentages look like for Louisville, Syracuse, Wichita State, and Michigan.

In the wake of their historic upset over Georgetown, there have been thousands of articles and blog posts written about the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles. Many have focused on coach Andy Enfield’s unusual background, on his swimsuit model wife, or on the fact that FGCU wasn’t even a university 20 years ago. These are all great stories, but they are only being written because of the Eagles’ on-court performance.

Florida Gulf Coast won on Friday because they did something good basketball teams have been doing since the peach basket days: Drive the ball to the hole. It is something they have been doing since Enfield arrived on campus a season ago.

While it would be wrong to call the Duke loss to Maryland shocking, whenever a likely No. 1 seed loses on a neutral court to a bubble team, the result should be considered a surprise. So how did it happen? Whenever a surprising outcome occurs in a basketball game, three point shooting is the first place to look for answers.

Last night, Texas busted out of the Big 12 tournament. Let’s take a look at the numbers, and pick apart what happened in the Longhorns’ two tournament games. There will be time in the coming weeks to dive deeper into this season, and to understand what went wrong.

What happened next is hard to describe. For the next half hour, the Longhorns played without fear — angry, aggressive, powerful — while total panic engulfed Oklahoma. Kruger’s team came unglued, with Sam Grooms completely rattled by the Texas press. Enough Sooner tears were produced to fill many an IV bag; Peter may drink the sweet-yet-salty elixir, but I prefer to shoot it straight into my heart.

The 2012 Missouri Tigers finished the season on a roll, winning the Big 12 postseason title and claiming a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. Led by first-year coach Frank Haith, the Tigers overwhelmed opponents with the most productive offense in college basketball, scoring 1.21 points per possession.

We all know what happened next. Missouri lost to Norfolk State in its first tournament game. Although no one predicted the Tigers would lose to the MEAC champions, Haith’s team suffered from a major flaw that made a title unlikely. The Tigers’ defense allowed 1.00 points per possession on the season, and 156 Division I teams allowed fewer points per trip.