Horns247 Board

UT's Barnes struggling to get hoops program back on track

AUSTIN - Three years ago this week, Texas had possession of the football and a chance to win in the final minutes of the Bowl Championship Series title game. Heading into Wednesday's game against West Virginia at the Erwin Center, Barnes' Longhorns are 8-6 and in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998, the season before he arrived. [...] it's happened gradually ever since the week after that BCS title game three years ago, when Barnes' team jumped to No. 1 in the Associated Press rankings for the first time in program history. What followed for the basketball program wasn't an embarrassment quite like the football team's 5-7 meltdown in 2010, but it was noticeable nonetheless. Repeated early departures by star players have left Barnes with the nation's most inexperienced team in terms of career minutes played.