Texas Basketball: 3 reasons Shaka Smart should be fired after ACU loss

Why Shaka Smart should be fired No. 3: Weird rotations down the stretch

For most of the season, it was admirable the way that Smart and his coaching staff were constructing the rotations for the Longhorns. There was consistency in each area of the depth chart, and it was hard for opponents to prepare for all of the talented players in this deep and experienced rotation no matter what.

Texas being able to beat teams that knew what was coming anyway was something new for this fan base to get used to in a positive sense. But that feeling quickly faded when Texas ran into Abilene Christian in the “Big Dance”. The effectiveness of really any player in the rotation against ACU, outside of senior big man Jericho Sims, largely dissipated.

It was really weird how the playing time and role in the starting frontcourt just went away for freshman power forward Greg Brown in the final games of the season. Brown did have an emotional end to his game action in the Longhorns quarterfinals win in the Big 12 Tournament over the Texas Tech Red Raiders. And his playing time never consistently returned after that.

Brown was the prized and lone signee in the Longhorns 2020 recruiting class. And while he got off to a decent start during the regular season, his role with the team quickly faded down the stretch. Texas also didn’t make the best use of Sims for most of the season. He did breakthrough when it mattered most for the team, though.

All in all, it’s easy to get upset with the weird distribution of playing time for someone like Brown whilst junior guard Courtney Ramey was still in the starting five in the final games of the season despite laying an egg on the offensive end of the floor.