Can Barnes take Texas to the top? (Yahoo! Sports)

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:23:00 PDT

For years, Rick Barnes has fallen short of the Final Four. The pressure is on the Longhorns to advance.

Texas Team Report (Yahoo! Sports)

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:06:48 PDT

With the quality Rick Barnes assembled in the latest recruiting class, Texas was going to win basketball games—probably at a high rate.

But with the return of senior Damion James, a 6-7 forward who averaged 15.4 points and 9.2 rebounds during a 23-12 run last season into the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the Longhorns have an identifiable leader.

"Damion's experience will really help with these young guys," Barnes said. "He probably will talk to these guys about how tough it really is to get to that league, what you have to do and the brevity of how quick your college career goes."

That league would be the NBA, something James pondered for several weeks before withdrawing his name from draft consideration three days before the deadline.