Texas Basketball: 3 most painful Shaka Smart recruiting misses

As an under-the-radar finalist school in the running to land the commitment of former four-star highly touted 6-foot-6 and 175 pound Chattanooga, TN, native combo guard recruit Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Smart and the Longhorns almost pulled off a big recruiting feat. Shai wound up taking his talents to join head coach John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats, but the Longhorns were in the thick of the running behind them to steal away his pledge.

SGA ranked as the nation’s No. 31 2017 high school prospect, No. 2 combo guard, and No. 1 prospect out of Tennessee (247Sports Composite). Texas, Kentucky, and the Syracuse Orange were the three schools it seemed that were in the running as finalists in the end to land the commitment of SGA, but the Wildcats came out on top.

The UNLV Rebels were also a school mentioned in his top four finalists at one point.

However, the final visit that SGA took before committing to Kentucky was with Smart and the Longhorns. Texas was very close to snagging him away. But instead he would star for Kentucky, averaging 14.4 points per game, 4.1 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.6 steals, and 0.5 blocks, while shooting 48.5 percent from the field and 40.4 percent from beyond the arc.

SGA would be a one-and-done at Kentucky. He was selected by the Charlotte Hornets (later traded to the Los Angeles Clippers) in the first round of the 2018 NBA Draft, 11th overall. He registered SEC Tournament MVP, and SEC All-Freshman Team honors during his one season in Lexington.