ESPN’s Dana O’Neil thinks that Texas’ Rick Barnes has been the best coach in NCAA basketball to this point.  Coming off a 2009-10 season in which the program experienced quite the slide down the stretch, Texas has bounced back this season in a big way.  Jordan Hamilton’s much0improved shot selection certainly has been a big reason, but Barnes deserves a lot of the credit.  It’s been the stifling Longhorn defense that has carried the team this season, so much so that some are predicting that Texas will be the top seed in the NCAA Tournament this March.

“The Longhorns have also done what no one can seem to do this season — win on the road,” O’Neil writes.  ”Texas has beaten three top-25 teams in fiercely hostile environments — at Michigan State, at Kansas and at Texas A&M — and are arguably playing the best basketball of any team in the country right now, including unbeaten Ohio State.”   Barnes might not get a ton of credit for rebuilding this team, as Texas doesn’t have much trouble convincing top recruits to join the program, but it’s not as easy as people assume.  The Longhorns are playing great right now and could very well be the best team in the nation.

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