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Texas Basketball: Roster Turnover Gives Shaka Smart a Clean Slate for 2016-17

By Tyler Brett

Dec 12, 2015; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Shaka Smart reacts against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the second half at the Frank Erwin Special Events Center. Texas beat UNC 84-82. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 12, 2015; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Shaka Smart reacts against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the second half at the Frank Erwin Special Events Center. Texas beat UNC 84-82. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports /
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Shaka Smart showed he could have success right away with Texas basketball last season. But with most of the players from that team now gone, Smart has the opportunity to mold the Horns into exactly the type of team he wants them to be.

Coming from VCU, Smart faced some serious questions about how well he would transition to Texas and the Big 12. The biggest hurdle for him was adjusting to a roster that was far from what he was used to. At VCU, Smart built athletic teams that could pressure opponents up and down the floor. With the Horns, he inherited a more plodding, beefy lineup from his predecessor Rick Barnes.

He answered those questions, however, with resounding success. In year one, Smart took a roster that didn’t fit his style of play and led them to a 20-13 record, matching Barnes’ win total from the previous season, earning a bid to the NCAA tournament (where they lost in the first round). In a year of transition, Smart still managed to find success as he built for the future.

But the bulk of the players that contributed to that quick success last year are no longer in Austin. Players like Javan Felix, Prince Ibeh, Connor Lammert, Demarcus Holland, and Cameron Ridley were all seniors and have since moved on from UT. The Horns’ best player last season, Isaiah Taylor, was a junior but decided to leave school early for the NBA. The end result is a roster that is down six key contributors from the previous year.

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While that might be a negative for most programs, it’s actually a point of excitement for Smart and the Horns. Sure, the team will miss some of the experience that those players who have left brought to the table but in their place Smart is recruiting some of the nation’s most elite talent to bring his brand of basketball to the Forty Acres, resulting in the No. 11 ranked 2016 class by ESPN.

The crown jewel of this reloading effort for Smart is incoming freshman Jarrett Allen, the No. 1 center in the 2016 class according to ESPN. The 6-foot-11, Austin, Texas, native is a dynamic big man who can run the floor and has shown the ability to score with his back to the rim or facing up from distance.

Even if his offensive game is slow to transition to the college level, though, Allen provides a back-line rim protector that will allow Smart to unleash his guards to apply full-court pressure without fear of getting beat over the top. If he makes the leap more seamlessly than that, though, Allen could become one of the top two-way players in the country.

Joining Allen in the Horns’ 2016 class is Andrew Jones, an athletic wing player who enjoyed a meteoric rise during his recruiting process. He has developed his game at an incredible rate during his prep career and that trajectory could launch the 6-foot-4 point guard prospect right into the starting lineup this season.

When you add that dynamic talent to some of the young players ready to step up into larger roles this season (like Kerwin Roach, arguably one of the most athletic players in the country), Texas has an opportunity to put a prototypical Shaka Smart team on the floor in 2016-17. With Smart’s track record of success, that should lead to plenty of excitement in Austin this basketball season.

Next: Texas Football: Tyrone Swoopes Will Have Significant Role in Longhorns Offense

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