Texas Basketball: 5 thoughts regarding Shaka Smart’s potential return

3. Highs and lows

All that the Texas basketball program could do in terms of the NCAA Tournament this year was sit and watch as other talented Big 12 teams tried to make the way to the Final Four. The Texas Tech Red Raiders were able to reach the National Championship Game after defeating the two-seed Michigan State Spartans in the Final Four on April 6.

It’s hard to think that this Texas team didn’t have comparable talent across the board compared to Texas Tech. The problem was that Smart didn’t have his team in the same place as Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard. That’s a large reason why Beard was able to win AP Coach of the Year while Texas was one of the biggest disappointments among the NCAA Tournament teams left on the outside looking in.

However, this is just something that Horns fans have to deal with as the long 2019 off-season will take hold as we reflect on what went wrong and what went right. Among those thoughts and reflections is the idea that the Horns could keep up with any team in the nation. Texas might’ve earned the award for the biggest roller coaster of a regular season in the Big 12.

Just refer back to the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational to see what the potential of this Horns team truly was. Barring a late second half rally from Michigan State, Texas could’ve won the Las Vegas Invitational with solid outings against the Spartans and North Carolina Tar Heels. Low points included losses to the Radford Highlanders and Oklahoma State Cowboys.