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Texas Basketball: 3 most important players for 2018-19 season

By Andrew Miller

AUSTIN, TX - JANUARY 14: Kerwin Roach Jr. #12 of the Texas Longhorns leaps to the basket against Nathan Adrian #11 of the West Virginia Mountaineers at the Frank Erwin Center on January 14, 2017 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images)
AUSTIN, TX - JANUARY 14: Kerwin Roach Jr. #12 of the Texas Longhorns leaps to the basket against Nathan Adrian #11 of the West Virginia Mountaineers at the Frank Erwin Center on January 14, 2017 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images) /
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PORTLAND, OR – NOVEMBER 24: The Duke Blue Devils bench reacts to a cal on Matt Coleman #2 of the Texas Longhorns during the second half of the game during the PK80-Phil Knight Invitational presented by State Farm at the Moda Center on November 24, 2017 in Portland, Oregon. Duke won the game 85-78. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
PORTLAND, OR – NOVEMBER 24: The Duke Blue Devils bench reacts to a cal on Matt Coleman #2 of the Texas Longhorns during the second half of the game during the PK80-Phil Knight Invitational presented by State Farm at the Moda Center on November 24, 2017 in Portland, Oregon. Duke won the game 85-78. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images) /

The play out of the back court should be more of a sure thing for Texas basketball for the upcoming season because of the combination of the injection of fresh talent and the returning experience. Putting that combination to its maximum effectiveness is a true test of Smart’s coaching ability this season. Wasting all this back court talent will not be a good look for Smart.

Among those back court key players includes sophomore point guard Matt Coleman, who needs to take a step forward. Coleman showed a ton of promise last season, but still has a ways to go before he can become a respected starting guard in the Big 12. The back courts in this conference are always in the midst of some of the best in the nation.

The way that Coleman will be expected to improve this season is with his defensive awareness and shooting ability. We know that Coleman can go through surprising spurts that sees him post some nice scoring totals, but it would be nice to see the field goal percentage get above 42 percent. He could also improve his shooting from beyond the arc, since he shot less than 29 percent from three-point range in 2017-18.

Last season, we saw Coleman post 10.2 points per game, 4.1 assists, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.2 steals. He did start all 34 games that he appeared in, which should continue again this season. Although, there is a true freshman point guard lurking in Courtney Ramey that could take some minutes away from Coleman.

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