Texas Basketball: 3 goals Shaka Smart should have for 2020
1. The founding to a good NCAA Tournament run
Not only does the Texas basketball program need to make it to the NCAA Tournament soon to satisfy the fan base, they need to make a good run at least to the Sweet 16. Smart has yet to even win an NCAA Tournament game, now in his fifth year with the Longhorns. That narrative needs to change, and fast.
Smart wasn’t hired from the VCU Rams basketball program to just get to two Round of 64’s in the span of four years. And the Longhorns were bounced in the first game in both of those NCAA Tournament appearances under Smart’s direction.
VCU made a good amount of deep NCAA Tournament runs under Smart’s watch. He just needs to figure out how to get that done on the Forty Acres. But it won’t be easy given the nature of the competition in the Big 12.
While this is a conference that can send six or eight out of its 10 teams to the NCAA Tournament, it’s also a gauntlet that can swallow up bad teams easily. If Texas loses to Oklahoma on Jan. 8, they will come dangerously close to entering that territory.
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If the season ended today, Texas would likely be a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament at-large selections. The Longhorns have a handful of good wins, but one or two bad losses. Get on the right side of the win column in Big 12 play more often than not, and the Longhorns will find themselves headed into the “Big Dance” this season with a good amount of momentum.