Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Can Myck Kabongo be the answer to Texas’ troubles?

Myck Kabongo

Texas is playing without the guy that is probably their most talented player.

That would be Myck Kabongo.

If you haven’t been paying attention, the NCAA has Kabongo in their cross hairs because they are concerned about how he paid for a trip to Akron for a workout this summer.

Without Kabongo in the mix, Texas has been ... (how can I put this nicely) ... awful? Abysmal? Masochistic viewing?

It came to a head on Monday night, when the Longhorns got routed in the first round of the Maui Invitational by Chaminade. Things weren’t any better on Tuesday night, as Texas managed just 53 points in a 59-53 overtime loss to USC, who was coming off of a 30-point whipping at the hands of a thoroughly mediocre Illinois team.

The Longhorns looked like a team whose offense was stuck in neutral. They’re not shooting well, they’re not moving well, they lack creativity on the perimeter, there’s no go-to guy. It’s a mess.

And it’s not necessarily one that Kabongo can fix by himself, whenever he actually ends up being cleared.

He’s better than Javan Felix. He’ll take some pressure off of his teammates by getting them easier shots on the offensive end of the floor. He’ll provide the Longhorns with another scoring punch. All that is important. But if Kabongo hasn’t made a significant jump from last season, all his addition will be is yet another young-but-talented player on a roster that’s full of young-but-talented players.

One pretty good player joining a pretty bad team isn’t exactly a recipe for a Big 12 title.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.