At least one Longhorn legend wants Smart to come back

While I got ya, here are nine things and one crazy prediction:

1. At least one Longhorn legend thinks Shaka Smart deserves another season. Former guard Lance Blanks, who’s also a former Virginia Cavalier, told our “On Second Thought” podcast that he believes it will be fair to “give him another year" in spite of a 17-16 season and zero NCAA Tournament wins in four years. “Let’s give him a chance to succeed or fail," said Blanks, who's a Longhorn Network commentator. "We have to allow him to run through the finish line. He is still in the midst of that. Shaka has not found his comfortability level with the UT-Austin ecosystem.” Asked why Smart hasn’t established a clear identity, Blanks said, “He has an identity of being sub-par or average in terms of success, but if he was pressing and creating Havoc, who cares if they’re still .500? I think you’ve got to give him one more season.”

2. I don’t know who’s more stupid, Mike Trout or the Used To Be Anaheim Angels. I doubt the Angels will have any money left over to actually come up with a starting rotation of anything beyond junior-college pitchers now that they owe the best player in the game $430 million over 12 what I’m guessing will be really bad seasons. I just don’t understand why Trout — who has played in three post-season games in his career with 15 post-season at-bats — would tie himself to that team and risk becoming the best player ever never to be in a World Series, much less win one. Mike, look at Anthony Davis’ NBA decision. He wants a legacy beyond his bank account.

3. On a late Tuesday night in Year 4, Smart got his very first post-season basketball win at Texas, and that in itself is a sad comment. The win came in front of a cozy crowd of 1,739 at the Erwin Center against a very good South Dakota State team with a highly skilled player in career 3,000-point scorer Mike Daum. Blanks saw the crowd and said, “We had that (many) in a practice.” … Give it up for Dylan Osetkowski, who hit a career-high 26 points and has been amazing. “That’s our leader,” junior guard Eli Mitrou-Long said. “He’s a great impact player.” Kerwin Roach II said it “never came into my mind” it could have been the last time he put on a Longhorns uniform. “We wanted to seize the opportunity," he said. "We see every game as a gift. There’s a thing called Big Mo, and it’s on our side. We really want to make it to New York.” … Texas played great against the Jackrabbits, but where was this effort on senior day against TCU? Seems this is a team that plays uptight and is afraid to make mistakes in games that really matter.

4. Bob Bowlsby didn't mince words when he addressed the current college admissions scandal with me and three other reporters at last weekend’s Big 12 tournament. When I asked him if these allegations could lead to a loss of faith in our academic institutions, Bowlsby said, "How can you not? Just when you think you've heard it all. The level field is largely a mirage. My hope is when all this is done, we’ll make sports better and cleaner and hold it in higher esteem.” He’s more optimistic than I am. He did say he’s “not sure how you oversee” such examination of student’s academic tests and eligibility qualifications. “Stanford,” said Bowlsby, who was a former athletic director there, “has something like 40,000 applicants. How do you check all of them? I don’t have a sinister mind. The real victim are the kids who got squeezed out.” The best start would be for compliance officers to delve deeply into the qualifications of those non-revenue sports who award partial scholarships and whose recruits frequently escape media scrutiny. I’ve heard stories for years about coaches in one sport adding “walk-on” athletes who are given scholarships in other sports they’re not qualified for.

5. I’m thinking this may be the toughest baseball schedule in school history for Texas. Of course, Cliff Gustafson’s teams rarely left Disch-Falk Field for non-conference games other than one trip a year either to Arizona State or Miami. But David Pierce’s bunch has already played 11 games against teams ranked in the top 11 and have a 6-5 record. Arkansas pummeled UT on Tuesday night and has now beaten the Longhorns four times in the last two seasons, including at the College World Series.

6. While Texas Tech's Mason Montgomery from Leander took a no-hitter against Texas into the sixth inning on Sunday, I texted Longhorns historian Bill Little to see if he knew the last time Texas was no-hit. Between us, we couldn’t remember a single time that had ever happened, which couldn’t be true. There’s no mention of one in past Longhorns media guides.

7. Received so many nice emails that were remembrances of Johnny Lam Jones and his greatness, including one from his hometown of Lampasas from Scott Lesley, who tells me he was 8 years old when he witnessed the stunning anchor leg of the Badgers’ mile relay squad at the 1976 state track meet. Lesley also told me to “keep an eye out for sophomore Ace Whitehead from Lampasas.” Lesley tells me Whitehead, who plays a very good quarterback, is a 90 mph-throwing left-hander on the baseball team with an ERA under 1.00 and also runs on the state-qualifying relay team, “is the best athlete to come out of here since Johnny.”

8. Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to former Rice pitcher Allan Ramirez, who broke Texas’ NCAA-record 34-game win streak in 1977 when he threw 232 pitches in a 4-3 win. Yes, I counted. I kidded the Owls iron man between games of that doubleheader and told him, “You’re starting Game 2.” Ramirez threw 39 complete games and seven shutouts in his Rice career, one of the best pitchers I ever saw.

9. Rented “Instant Family.” Sweet, cute movie about adopting foster kids without being sappy. Best line from Mark Wahlberg’s character who said, “I bet you’d have more success if you called them rescue kids.” Gave it seven ducks.

10. Crazy prediction: LSU will strongly consider hiring Houston’s Kelvin Sampson, and Virginia Tech’s Buzz Williams will get the Texas A&M job.