Texas Basketball: 3 reasons keeping Shaka Smart is the wrong move

2. Lack of recent recruiting success

All of this part of the list depends on what the 2020 Texas basketball recruiting class does in the race to land the elite five-star Vandegrift power forward and Austin, TX, native Greg Brown. If the Longhorns manage to snag Brown over the likes of the Memphis Tigers, Auburn Tigers, and Kentucky Wildcats, then Smart will be in a good position on the recruiting trail still.

But Smart looks to be literally putting all of his recruiting eggs in one basket for the 2020 cycle. If Smart doesn’t land the commitment of Brown, then Texas could be without a single highly touted four or five-star signee for the first time in a long while. Texas not landing a single four or five-star commit in basketball recruiting would be considered somewhat of a travesty.

The risk that Smart is taking for this recruiting cycle is great, but the reward could be too. The 247Sports Crystal Ball Predictions have nine of 10 experts picking Texas, with only one going to Memphis. Smart looks to have a significant edge over Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway in this regard. The Rivals FutureCast also gives a 75 percent chance to Texas to land Brown.

Smart landed former five-star center recruit and Austin, TX, native seven-footer Will Baker as part of the Longhorns 2019 signing class. But Baker didn’t pan out until way down the stretch in Big 12 play this season.

Combine the risk that Smart is taking with Brown, along with the failure to develop his latest five-star recruit during his freshman season, and the fact that he doesn’t have any 2021 or 2022 commits yet, and you arrive at a bleak conclusion for the basketball recruiting future.