Texas Basketball: 3 bold predictions for the Maui Invitational

2) Texas basketball bold predictions for Maui Invitational

Jericho Sims and Greg Brown are the best frontcourt pairing

This is where the bold predictions on this list can start to get a bit carried away. But there is reason to believe that the Longhorns are going to get really solid play out of the frontcourt pairing of the true freshman former five-star recruit Greg Brown and the standout senior power forward/center Jericho Sims.

There were some nice flashes of brilliance of Brown in the season opener. Namely he got one monster dunk in the game. He also registered 11 points, 10 rebounds, no assists, no steals, and no blocks. Brown only shot 22.2 percent from the field and 77.8 percent from the free-throw line. All that amounted to was a 4.2 player efficiency rating.

But Brown did have a nice debut in some respects. Expect him only to get better from here on out.

Another rather inefficient season opener among the Longhorns big men was delivered by Sims. That is pretty surprising, though, given that Sims was so reliable down low for the Longhorns last season. He registered four points, 10 rebounds, no assists, one steal, and one block. And Sims shot 33.3 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from the free-throw line.

A poor start purely in terms of efficiency from both Brown and Sims is something that can be turned around in the midst of a bright spotlight at the Maui Invitational. There’s just too much talent and persistence between those two bigs for them to flatline for all too long to start off this season.