All of the talk around the Texas basketball program of late has surrounded the hot seat of sixth-year head coach Shaka Smart. The longtime former head coach of the VCU Rams hoops program is now on one of the hotter seats of any major conference team in the nation. Texas had a very tough upset loss at the hands of the 14-seed Abilene Christian Wildcats in the Round of 64 in the NCAA Tournament on March 20.
Not being able to get by the 14-seed Abilene Christian and head coach Joe Goulden when Smart and the three-seed Longhorns entered as a nine-point favorite was a mark that this head coach couldn’t afford. Smart already came into this season on a hot seat, after a vote of confidence last offseason from Texas athletic director Chris del Conte.
Abilene Christian got the best of the Longhorns in the Round of 64 last weekend on last-second free throws from junior big man Joe Pleasant. Texas almost walked away with the win after redshirt junior shooting guard/wing Andrew Jones hit a three-pointer in the dying seconds of the second half.
How Shaka Smart and Texas basketball will proceed this offseason
There’s no public statement that came out from the Texas athletic administration concerning the job status of Smart following the loss to ACU on March 20. With the public outcry and a lot of discussion in the college hoops media landscape surrounding Smart’s job status heading out of the weekend, it’s likely that something like that will come soon.
Texas needs some level of change this offseason, and the roster attrition is likely to be extreme no matter what. But the real question remains what happens with Smart and this Texas coaching staff heading into a long offseason.
Here’s a look at three reasons why the Longhorns should part ways with Smart following the upset loss to ACU on March 20.
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.
Why Shaka Smart should be fired No. 2: Existing expectations of attrition
The aforementioned factor of attrition is already going to be a factor for Texas this offseason. It might be time for an entire shift for this hoops program while the roster is already expected to look a lot different ahead of the 2021-22 season.
Texas had a very experienced and deep rotation heading into the 2020-21 regular season, featuring mostly upperclassmen across the board (Brown being the exception starting at the four). Ramey was a junior, Jones was a fourth-year junior, and Matt Coleman was in the midst of his senior campaign.
This was supposed to be the year where the likes of Sims, Jones, Coleman, and Ramey, could all band together and finally get that postseason struggle off their mind. Instead, this was an incredibly disappointing way for talented players like Brown, Sims, and Coleman, to potentially end their college careers with Texas.
Really the only factor, in terms of future roster construction and stability, that is keeping the Longhorns attached to Smart is the already deep 2021 recruiting class. Texas does have a top 25 ranked recruiting class in the nation for the 2021 cycle in store with multiple blue chip commits. Texas has landed the likes of four-star combo guard Emarion Ellis and four-star shooting guard Tamar Bates that might re-open their recruitments if Smart goes.
Nonetheless, Texas is likely to lose players like Brown, Coleman, and Sims anyway. It might be time for Smart to join them in that process.
Why Shaka Smart should be fired No. 1: Lack of postseason success
By and large, the biggest reason why Longhorns fans want Smart fired at this point is the lack of postseason success during his time as the program’s head coach. And that is a more than understandable reason why fans on the Forty Acres had their patience run up with Smart long ago. And their patience with the lack of postseason success for this basketball program was tested once again last weekend.
Texas did get a very successful regular season and the first Big 12 Tournament title in program history out of this season. The hard part about that is that all it amounted to was the third Round of 64 exit in three tries for Smart as head coach. And none of the three losses came to competition that was all that tough.
Smart is now 0-3 in the NCAA Tournament during his time as Texas head coach. And those three losses came at the hands of the seven-seed Nevada Wolfpack, 11-seed Northern Iowa Panthers, and 14-seed Abilene Christian. The last time that the Longhorns even won an NCAA Tournament game was back in the 2014-15 season, in the final year under former head coach Rick Barnes.
Texas finished up with a record of 19-8 (11-6 Big 12) under the direction of Smart this season. But it will be that eighth and final loss of the season that every Longhorns basketball fan will remember over the long haul. Texas likely needs to make a change to finally right the ship in terms of postseason success.
Eventually, trends tell all for the way that a team will perform when it matters most.