Being Texas' Myles Turner isn't easy
— -- AUSTIN, Texas -- He's standing in a corridor and the walls will soon collapse around him. Rick Barnes' frustration with the losses and the tumbling in the Big 12 standings spills into the hallway of the Frank Erwin Center.
Minutes after a Jan. 24 loss to Kansas, which starts a four-game losing streak that ultimately tosses the Longhorns from the Big 12 title conversation, he vents to a smattering of bystanders still lingering between the concrete interior of the 38-year-old edifice.
"Myles has to want the ball," he says. "He has to want the ball."
Myles Turner, who has wrestled with inconsistency all season, isn't the sole culprit in this mess. But he's also not spared.
Not in this one-and-done climate.
The 7-footer was the No. 2 prospect in the country last summer, per RecruitingNation. He's a top-10 pick on most NBA mock draft boards. He's an efficient, shot-blocking terror who's still growing.
Into his body.
Into his game, one that prefers jump shots over banging in the paint.
Into this role of the young cowboy who was sent to Austin to save a Texas program that's clearly in distress.
His youth is irrelevant.
The legacies of college basketball's Myles Turners are defined by their lone seasons at the collegiate level these days. When you're ranked ahead of every player in America not named Jahlil Okafor in high school, the pressure to perform rises.
This is probably it for him. His parents have secured a multimillion-dollar insurance policy for the big man who will protect him financially if he suffers a career-altering injury. That's often evidence that a player will declare for the NBA draft and sign with an agent shortly after the season ends.
There is just one month to go before Selection Sunday.
So Turner, much like the entire Texas program -- which has lost four of five and six of its past nine heading into Wednesday's game against TCU (8 p.m. ET, Longhorn Network) -- is running out of time to show what he's capable of.
The NBA is watching. Barnes is watching. Texas fans are watching.
It's all happening so fast for a youngster who's been instructed to take his time -- and improve as quickly as he can.
"That form of player is difficult to guard," said T.J. Ford, a former Longhorns star and Wooden Award winner. "Basketball is instincts, and if you can't use your instincts, then you're limited at the end of the day. I don't care how good you are. If you don't have good instincts, you're limited."
The same could be said about some of the criticism.
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