Is patience already waning for Rodney Terry? Say it ain't so, Texas fans | Bohls, Golden

We're into February, which means March is right around the corner, which means that the NCAA Tournament is nearly upon us. The Texas men have had their ups and downs, and the Texas women are trying to overcome the loss of their best player. Talk about madness.

Is it still 'In Terry We Trust' for Texas basketball?

1. Are Texas fans patient enough with Rodney Terry?

Bohls: That’s hard to tell because it's hard to gauge. Plus, it doesn't really matter. No matter how unhappy the fans are, Terry is safe for this season and next and absolutely should be after taking Chris Beard’s roster to the Elite Eight under rocky circumstances. He has to hold onto his recruits this year, unlike last March, and needs to do better in the portal, but he deserves time to build his own program. Steve Sarkisian got time, and look now.

Golden: No, not really, but they should give him the same grace that was afforded to Shaka Smart, who got five seasons with zero tourney wins, and Sarkisian, who's one of the most popular figures on campus after going 5-7 and losing to a bad Kansas team his first year. Terry took over the program during a turbulent time and turned in a great season. He should be allowed to show he can capably work the portal and recruiting over these next two seasons.

Call your shots: who's Final Four-bound?

2. We’re just over a month away from Selection Sunday, so pick a potential Final Four.

Bohls: Houston’s going to win it all. Book it. Hey, I picked Michigan football in the preseason, right? I’ll say the Cougars cut down the nets after a Final Four with defending national champion UConn, very underrated and offensive-minded BYU, and a tough Auburn team that's ranked in the top 17 in offense and defense.

Golden: Man, the season is flying by. It’s too early for yours truly to take too much of a flying leap, so forgive me if this feels a little chalky. Give me Houston, UConn, North Carolina and Arizona. I really like what Kelvin Sampson is doing with the Cougars. They have tremendous balance and an elite point guard in Manor’s Jamal Shead. It’s a chance to make history. Notice they’re the only team on my list without a national title. That could change in April.

More: Gulp! Texas men's basketball is at risk of missing the NCAA Tournament | Bohls

Over-rated!

3. Who's the most overrated team in college basketball?

Bohls: I know 7-foot-4 Zach Edey is big and tall and strong and all that. But Purdue (20-2) never seems to live up to its billing. This may be a different team with point guard Braden Smith, who just had a 16-assist, two-turnover game against Northwestern. He could alter the perception of the Boilermakers, but I’ll let ’em prove me wrong in March.

Golden: Smart’s Marquette team plays as hard as anybody, but like some of his old Texas teams, it sometimes runs into those scoring droughts, as we saw in a listless 69-62 home loss to Butler. The .334 3-point shooting percentage is decent, but I wonder if they will be able to knock down big shots come tourney time.

A gut-check game for Texas women's basketball

4. Is Sunday’s Kansas State game in Austin a must-win for the Texas women to win the Big 12?

Bohls: Absolutely. Even though Vic Schaefer said the race “will probably go down to the wire,” his Longhorns are two games behind the Wildcats. Yes, K-State center Ayoka Lee should return in a week or two after ankle surgery on Jan. 13, and the Cats have five road games left to the Longhorns’ three. But Texas has to start making up ground if it wants to repeat.

Golden: No. The Horns can still catch the Wildcats. A loss would put them three games behind in the loss column, but the conference is so fluid that Texas would still make up ground. The Horns have shown an ability to go into hostile environments and get wins. Plus, with Lee limping around with a bad ankle, the field is still open.

Tipping our cap to Texas women's basketball

5. What's the Texas women's basketball team's biggest strength?

Bohls: It clearly has to be resiliency. After losing Rori Harmon for the season and DeYona Gaston and Taylor Jones here and there, the Longhorns have withstood self-pity and a depleted roster to remain in the thick of things in the Big 12. That bulldog mentality can carry Texas a long way. Heck, they’re even playing effective zone defense now and are doing whatever it takes.

More: In perhaps the final game between Texas and Baylor, the 12th-ranked Longhorns laugh last

Golden: It’s their mental toughness. The Horns are a chip off the old Vic Schaefer block. With Harmon out for the season, they have continued to stack up wins despite the obvious lack of depth at point guard. They have rallied behind sensational freshman Madison Booker and are quietly one of the most dangerous teams in the country. Foul trouble is their kryptonite, but the team that beats them will have to bring two lunch pails to work.

Fixing the madness

6. Would you change anything about the NCAA men’s tournament?

Bohls: Except for moving it back a month and starting the season later so it doesn’t get swallowed up by the NFL and college football, I wouldn’t change much. I wouldn’t penalize the less prominent programs as much as the selection committee usually does because it's hard for them to schedule the marquee teams and even then they almost always have to play them on the road. After all, last year’s Final Four included 9 seed Florida Atlantic and 5 seeds San Diego State and Miami.

Golden: It won’t happen, but I would get rid of conference tournaments and that dreaded automatic bid. They serve no purpose other than to make some extra money. The bad part is they often keep deserving teams in smaller leagues from getting into the Big Dance because they didn’t pull the regular season-conference tournament double title. Maybe it’s good for TV to see a Cinderella team like 14-20 Texas Southern a couple of years ago make the field, but it’s a slap in the face to teams that consistently won during the regular season only to be denied because a bad team got hot at the right time of the year.

Too little, too late for the NCAA

7. Should the NCAA come down hard on schools abusing NIL rules?

Bohls: Of course not. No one even knows what the rules are. The NCAA and new prez Charlie Baker want it both ways. They are advocating in favor of the student-athletes at the same they are singling out schools like Florida State and Tennessee for facilitating meetings with recruits or flying them for campus visits. Get off your high horse, NCAA. It has totally abandoned common sense and fairness. It can’t put the NIL genie back in the bottle, no matter how hard it tries.

Golden: Now the NCAA wants to get serious? No, it shouldn’t because there was an opportunity to put some guidelines and regulations on this thing, but the NCAA cowardly passed the buck to the states. Now it’s out of control, and it’s the NCAA’s fault for not being proactive. Besides, how do you define abuse? It’s essentially a free market, and the players and schools with deep pockets are taking full advantage. Good for them. The NCAA created this monster. Now deal with it.

Looking for inspiration in Nick Saban and Pete Carroll

8. If Steve Sarkisian truly credits Pete Carroll and Nick Saban as mentors, what traits of theirs should he emulate?

Bohls: Two things. He should adopt Carroll’s lightheartedness and open access to the media and mimic Saban’s red-zone prowess with more of fourth-and-31 but less of goal-line offense against Michigan.

More: Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian: Portal helps, but recruiting high schools still key

Golden: I have no doubt Sarkisian has the utmost respect for these two. As for traits, I wish he would adopt Carroll’s more media-friendly approach when it comes to access to the program. Carroll opened his practices and created a cultural phenomenal in Southern California. Unfortunately, Sarkisian is already emulating Saban’s arm's-length approach. He rarely grants walk-off interviews and just doesn’t seem interested in having friendly conversation away from the podium that can give reporters even more insight into what he’s building here. Winning multiple titles would be the Nick trait he should strive for. Shouldn’t we all?

On the rise: Longhorns in the NFL draft

9. Who’s the Longhorns football player whose NFL draft stock can rise in the next two months?

Bohls: Since Byron Murphy II and Adonai Mitchell are probably already rising, I’ll go with tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders, who should test off the charts at the NFL combine and impress with his football IQ and athletic ability.

Golden: Wideout Xavier Worthy is undersized, but after he clocks under 4.4 in the 40 at pro timing day and the scouting combine, I expect him to get more love in these mock drafts. Right now he’s projecting as mostly a third-rounder. Speed is the ultimate aphrodisiac when it comes to league executives. If he goes 4.3, he will move up to the early second round or higher.

Where Andy Reid fits among the all-time greats

10. Where does Andy Reid rank among all-time NFL coaches?

Bohls: This is a tough one. As great as the future Hall of Famer is, he’s not in my top five yet. Bill Belichick stands alone with six Super Bowl trophies but won ’em all with Tom Brady. My top five in order in the modern era are Chuck Noll (four Super Bowls in six years), Don Shula (most wins with 328 and 16 division titles), Belichick, Vince Lombardi (five championships in nine seasons) and Joe Gibbs (four Super Bowl appearances and three titles).

Golden:  He’s definitely top 10. I would have to go with Belichick, Lombardi, Gibbs (who won three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks), Shula and Noll as my top five. Reid is in the same class with Tom Landry, Bill Walsh, Bill Parcells and the late John Madden. At a spry 65 years of age, if he decides to stick around another five seasons with Patrick Mahomes — who's only 28 years old with two rings —  he could rank top five by the time he’s done.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas men's basketball coach Rodney Terry's first year has been rocky