OT: Texas Hiring Shaka Smart?
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/12602595/texas-lo…
Well damn. If this happens, they must've made an offer he couldn't refuse. I thought they would go after Marshall from WSU...
Smart's NCAA results have been a little lackluster since that Final Four run, and one would think Texas would want someone who can make something happen in March unlike Barnes.
Maybe Smart realizes his star has fallen a bit in the past few years, and there is no guarantee it won't fall further.
He's still one of the premier mid-major coaches in the COUNTRY along with Few and Marshall.
I don't know if we could name 10 schools that wouldn't want him if they had a coaching vacancy.
UNC Chapel Hill even was looking at him when it looked like they were going to have fire Roy Williams for that hot moment.
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Edit: I'm going to try and name 10 schools where Smart wouldn't be considered...
1. Duke
2. UNC (now that everything has blown over, they'll stick to hiring someone with UNC ties)
3. Syracuse
4. Kansas
5. UConn?
6. Kentucky?
7. Michigan St.?
8. Arizona?
...that's probably the list. Louisville, UVA, Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas, Notre Dame, Maryland, Georgetown, Oklahoma, etc. would JUMP at the opportunity to hire Smart. Not saying all would, it obviously depends on the circumstances - but he'd be a top candidate (for example, if Beilein retired after winning a national championship, the job goes to LaVall Jordan...if Beilein retired after 4 bad seasons...the job would be wide open).
Off the top of my head that's 4 definites and 4 maybes...and really Duke and UNC (assuming no more scandal) are the only locks because they are hell bent on hiring within.
If only 4 jobs in the country are unreachable to Smart, I'd say he's still doing well. All of these same jobs would likely be unreachable to Marshall and Few except the Kansas job.
Archie Miller is getting more attention than Shaka Smart, so it's a good time for him to jump.
...so that makes the 4 of them unless you still want to count Brad Stevens.
Smart's name still rings with just about every school in the country is my point. Saying his team had a bad year this year after losing it's best player is like knocking Beilein for the year we had after losing 2 of our 3 best players. Beilein is still a great coach, and proved that this year. As did Smart.
You don't go from turning down mightly UCLA and Minnesota among others to just leftovers.
He may not be the hottest name at the moment, but that doesn't mean he still can't coach just about anywhere he damn pleases. He'd for sure be at the top of most lists.
I'm not sold on Smart. Yeah, he's won at VCU, but so did Anthony Grant and Jeff Capel before him - and neither one amounted to much once they left for a bigger job. VCU was already an established mid-major power before Smart and, I suspect, will remain one after he leaves. They're sort of a basketball version of Boise State.
When it comes to X's and O's, Smart strikes me as a one-trick pony. The Havoc press is pretty tough, but that's all they've got. The press covers up for their average halfcourt offense and defense.
Grant got to two NCAA's in three years and Capel got to one in four years. Neither won a game. Smart's had better success and more sustained success than either guy or even both guys put together. I do think you may have a point with your second paragraph. Though, since I don't watch much CAA/A-10 basketball, I wonder how much of that is x's and o's vs. the Jimmies and the Joes.
In the 2007 NCAA tourney, VCU beat Duke.
While Smart has had more success in the NCAA tourney then Capel and Grant, Grant had more success in the regular season then Smart. Under Grant VCU claimed 3 regular season conference titles and 2 conference tourney titles. Under Smart, VCU has never claimed a regular season conference title and has 2 conference tourney titles.
That may have a positive impact on his tournament results.
Texas had what was a state of the art facility in 2003. I wonder what it is like now, compared to newer ones from other programs? Will Texas give a basketball coach the support he needs to succeed?
I hope he is "Smart" enough to get most of his money guaranteed and an ironclad buyout clause in case he is unable to make chicken soup out of chicken feathers.
Texas will be building a new basketball arena. A new medical school will be built on the Erwin Center site.
Beilein also did that with 5 future NBA players on his roster. The talent disparity between VCU and our team that went to the championship cannot be overstated enough.
Beilein is a good coach and so is Smart. He will now have a much better floor of talent to work with at Texas. It's a good hire for them.
Sure there was a talent disparity, but the shredding of the press was nearly 100% the work of Burke and THJ. A few other Beilein teams probably could've beat VCU convincingly as well
McGary actually deserves most of the credit IMO. VCU has proven capable of handling talented guards. The system they run assumes that the bigs are useless in press break except to stand there, be tall, and hold the ball over someone's head. McGary's ability to run the floor opened everything else up.
Except that Burke didn't have a great game - he committed seven turnovers. Their press is intended to force the point guard to give up the ball. Hardaway was actually the key to beating their press.
I don't follow VCU basketball very closely (OK, at all) but you took the words right out of my mouth. I was so nervous about playing them and it quickly turned into a bloodbath.
did an awesome job that whole game breaking the press when historically he wasn't asked to be a ball handler.
Hardaway was an above average ball handler in the open court. His problem was in traffic and driving the lane. His handle was off, often because he took the extra dribble rather than protecting the ball. Watch Burke carry it like a football in traffic some time - it's a thing of beauty.
That was a bad matchup for VCU with M's athleticism and ball handlers. Wasn't surprised by that result at all. Doesn't mean Smart isn't a great coach.
because he played so poorly against UM in his only two chances. Going the wrong way on the option (was it twice or three times?) in 1998 was his Jose Canseco headbutt home run moment.
That didn't mean he wasn't terrific for almost every other game he played.
But after Smart's first NCAA tourney team went 5-1, the last four have gone 1-1, 1-1, 0-1, 0-1. He'll have to do a lot better than that to keep Texas fans satisfied.
On the other hand, just getting to five straight NCAA tournaments at VCU is an impressive feat. Not many mid majors, aside from Gonzaga, do that.
They've been a good program for a long time though. Before Smart, there was Anthony Grant, and before him there was Jeff Capel. They seem to have some institutional advantages over other mid-majors.
They went to three tournaments in the 2000's before Smart's arrival in 2009-10. It's not like he stepped into Gonzaga. And, some institutional advantages didn't save Butler form missing the tournament two out of four years following back to back final fours. I stand by the statement that five straight tournaments for a mid-major is a legitimate accomplishment.
I think Smart is starting to "suffer" from his own success. Get a mid major consistently into the tournament, but don't get to the sweet 16 or better, and people start to forget that you're not playing the same game, recruitment wise, as the teams that generally make the sweet 16.
VCU upgraded conferences during Grant's tenure, which allowed them to start getting at-large bids for the first time. Prior to that they always had to win their conference tournament to get in. So comparing their pre-A10 tenure to now is a bit misleading. In any event, they've been a successful program for awhile now.
Best possible hire for Texas. Shaka is a great coach, now he will start landing some premier talent at Texas.
The Kansas run in the B12 could come to an end soon.
That's very premature to think they will just start to challenge KU right away. But I agree that he is a very good hire.
Bill Self is a joke, great recruiter but hes a horrible coach. They win the Big 12 every year because the rest of the coaches in the league are clowns. Shaka brings instant credibility to Texas.
I'll bet he wins a Big 12 regular season title within 3 years.
His defense should be much more effective now that he'll be getting significantly better athletes. Florida and Louisville are 2 examples of how good that defense can be when you're getting premier athletes. I still think he's overrated because of one Final Four run but this is probably the best hire they could make.
Strong + Smart. Sounds like Texas knows what charactaristics they are looking for.
Solid coach overall, but I do think he needs to adapt/adjust his style of play a bit to survive in a Big time conference.
This is an annual tradition. Best open job offers him a ton of money and he turns it down for a raise at VCU. I'll believe he's out when there's a presser.
It's a figure of speech.
Money. Talks.
That's one hell of a coaching combo.
A strong combination...
...and a couple of smart hires.