Their guards / wings suck. If Shaka gets a pass for anything, the Jones leukemia really hurt. Not that he'd be an amazing NBA prospect guard, but he was on the upswing, could hit the 3 and might have been their best backcourt player this year. Shaka also got stuck in what I'll call the Ostekowski problem. The kid is good enough to play a fair amount and better than the rest of the meh roster, but he's not really that good. They rely on him way too much... But the guard thing is the real issue. For a coach that was known for guard play, it's a problem. With UH performing well, and with Rick Barnes performing amazingly, its hard not to make comparisons. Then you factor in the positive vibes from the Charlie Strong --> Tom Herman move, any UT fan is sitting there thinking, why is Shaka still around? Anything other than a 1st round tourney win should result in a firing, imo. Next 4 games against #4, #8, #23 and #25... then Georgia (toss-up), then #7, #20. Real chance they could go 2-5 and probably not make the tournament. But then they also sometimes over-exceed despite nothing looking pretty, and be 5-2. Who knows...
I think Shaka is gone if they don't make the tournament this year. CDC isn't interested in mediocrity, even from basketball, and there is no reason that this team shouldn't be able to recruit guards who can make a shot.
Unfortunately, I have no hope that this team could make it past the first round. And, on that alone, he should probably be fired.
I mean they're likely one of the last teams in from the Big 12. The current ranked teams will probably stay better. That's 5 teams. Big 12 usually gets 7 teams in. So again, looking at a 10+ seed at best. meh
Is there some institutional mandate that we aren't allowed to recruit kids that can shoot the basketball. It's been a decade since we had multiple reliable shooters. I can't understand how we consistently ignore such an important aspect. This goes back to Barnes, not just Shaka.
This has been a fun game. Texas can play with the big boys when the hit their outside shots, they also took care of the ball and crashed the offensive glass. Same game, with fewer turnovers, that they played against Tech. ...and then they run a typical playground Shaka play in the last 9 seconds.
Hilariously bad shot attempt at the end of the game, but the team played hard for the full game. I never question the effort of Shaka’s teams, but the on-court performance is always lacking.
I don't know what they were thinking at the end. Os and Coleman kind of lollygagged the inbound, 3/4 speed up the court, and then all 5 guys were standing around the top of the arc at the 3 point line. They were only down 2, why didn't Coleman or Roach just get a head of steam and go to the rim? They do play hard, they just don't play smart.
I agree wholeheartedly, but his buyout is steep. We'd have to miss the tournament for CDC to consider.