Texas Basketball: Shaka Smart’s seat is scorching hot after ACU loss

It was not a good weekend for either of the last two head coaches for the Texas basketball program in the Round of 64 in March Madness. Former Texas head coach Rick Barnes and the five-seed Tennessee Volunteers ultimately fell short to the reigning PAC-12 Champion and 12-seed Oregon State Beavers in the Round of 64 on March 19.

The loss for Barnes and the Vols to Oregon State paled in comparison, though, to what current Longhorns head coach Shaka Smart and his team experienced on the night of March 20. Smart and the three-seed Longhorns were nine-point favorites ahead of tip-off against the 14-seed and reigning Southland Conference Champion Abilene Christian Wildcats this weekend.

However, Smart continued his team’s woeful ways in the NCAA Tournament by falling short by a narrow one-point margin at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN, on March 20. This gave the Longhorns their eighth loss of the season, and it came in one of the worst ways possible.

A 53-52 last-second loss to the Wildcats that came off of two made free throws from junior big man Joe Pleasant knocked off the Longhorns before they really got started in the “Big Dance”. Texas was a heavy favorite coming into this game, but couldn’t come through when it mattered most. And they put to waste a last-minute three-point make from redshirt junior shooting guard/wing Andrew Jones that had put them up by one point late in the second half.

What does the early exit mean for Texas basketball HC Shaka Smart?

There was a lot of hype for Smart and the three-seed Longhorns coming into the NCAA Tournament. They looked good in their complete-game win over the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the final round of the Big 12 Tournament last weekend.

Texas had won five straight games coming into the Big Dance, and they nabbed the first Big 12 Tournament crown in program history. A head coach in Smart that entered this season on the hot seat looked to make a statement this postseason.

But nothing of the sort came to fruition as the Longhorns head into this offseason with an abundance of question marks and overarching concerns. It all starts with the hot seat really ratcheting up on Smart following this loss to ACU.

Texas athletic director Chris del Conte gave Smart a vote of confidence heading into this season. There was already a hot seat that Smart was on heading into last offseason. But in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA Tournament and Big 12 Tournament were canceled last year, which made it a tough decision to part ways with Smart. Thus he returned for Texas heading into this season.

The season was going very well for Smart up until the NCAA Tournament arrived. After this Round of 64 loss to the Wildcats, Smart now holds a record of 0-3 in the Big Dance during his time as Texas head coach. He’s also missed the NCAA Tournament two other times during his run on the Forty Acres.

The losses that Smart has during his time as the Texas head coach in the postseason don’t look good at all. He’s now fallen short to a seven-seed Nevada Wolfpack, 11-seed Northern Iowa Panthers, and 14-seed Abilene Christian in three tries in the Big Dance.

March Madness was truly a crushing time for Smart and this Longhorns basketball program. All of the success this team found prior to the loss to ACU inspired confidence as to the direction of the program under Smart’s guidance.

However, the same question marks that came up after the last three offseasons (outside of last year in the wake of the pandemic) are present once again in 2021. This same old storyline of Smart’s hot seat is getting old, and it will put CDC in a tough spot yet again.

Texas now finishes up with a record of 19-8 (11-6 Big 12) after their Round of 64 loss to Abilene Christian from March 20. A disappointing and concerning finish to this season is likely to lead into an offseason that could have change on the horizon for this program.