20 Texas

Early last season, when the only W's in Austin were in the governor's name, new coach Rick Barnes sat down for a talk with his struggling 7-foot sophomore center, Chris Mihm. "Do you have any idea how good you are?" Barnes asked. Mihm shook his head. "Well, there's not one thing in basketball you can't do." Duly informed, Mihm became the Big 12's best player, averaging 13.7 points and 11.0 rebounds a game and helping the Longhorns shake off their 2-7 start to win the conference title.

Now the scary news: Already imposing in the post, Mihm is improving his range. All summer long, he worked on facing the basket, driving and kicking, and shooting the three. "Last year I was getting double-and triple-teamed whenever I had the ball," he says. "This year's going to be harder, so I need to be able to move around."

Barnes has also had numerous sitdowns with forward Gabe Muoneke, who led the Longhorns in scoring (16.5 points a game) but had a disturbing tendency to throw sucker punches at foes and whine to officials. Muoneke had his own epiphany, though, during a tour of Greece with a college all-star team. He was on the bench when a teammate, angry at a call, grabbed the European ref's whistle and flipped it in the official's face. Muoneke turned to his coach and criticized the player, only to be told that's how he behaves. "I'm a grown man, but I've been a baby," says Muoneke. "That's a habit I want to lose."

Blessed with a talented frontcourt, Texas should improve on last year's 19-13 record as long as its guards, Ivan Wagner and William Clay, cut down on their turnovers and bad shots. If that happens, Muoneke's temper might be one of the few Longhorns losses this season.

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