UT Basketball

I stopped watching with about 9 minutes left because the most likely outcome - what happened - wasn't interesting to me, lol.

Got to be hoping for a tourney miss here. Shaka can't keep his job with that.

 

Earlier in the season I was onboard with the "the buyout is too high" argument and resigned to riding out the Shaka era before we move into the new arena. But, I was listening to 104.9 the other day and they mentioned that Texas is now finished paying out money owed to previous coaches and the cash to pay Shaka's buyout is there. With that and last night's loss in mind, I firmly believe he has to be let go after this season.

Interest in the men's basketball program is at, what feels, a decade-long low. Nobody in Austin cares because this team hasn't given them a reason to care. They play an ugly, undisciplined style of basketball (and that's saying something since I find NCAA men's basketball particularly unpleasant to watch) and nothing has gotten better during Shaka's tenure. He hasn't been able to coach a single wing player who can create their own shot or play well off the dribble other than Isaiah Taylor. The program is now so rudderless than I can't imagine any highly-touted players wanting to come to Texas.

It's up to CDC to fire Shaka, find a suitable replacement and leverage the university's relationship with Durant to attract young players who won't consider Texas now because of the state of the program.

 

So before last night, we were 15-12 overall and 7-7 in conference play... and a 9 seed in the projections? How was this team anything more than a bubble team even before yesterday? I know they have some good wins (UNC, Kansas) but they have some bad losses too (home vs Radford and VCU).

Only case you can really make is that this team hasn't lost a game by more than 10 points, and that 6 were 3-pt-or-less losses, and 10 were 6-pt-or-less losses. But they consistently lose those games.

 

This season has been one of the most embarrassing seasons. Roach being suspended again shows Shaka has no control.
We're sending our NBA prospects to the NBA and they look significantly better, showing that there's no player development happening or that they are using the players correctly.

I think Shaka has to go.

 

We have to coach better, Brian.

I don't understand how they make the tourney. They have no business there, especially if Roach is off the team.

 

Horrible

 

Brown released his list of schools: UNC, Kansas, Texas, Baylor, Auburn, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, LSU, Memphis, and Tennessee. If he's not going to stay close to home, I hope he goes to UNC, although it would be funny to me if Barnes stole him from UT's backyard.

 

To say Smart has been a disappointment would be an understatement.

Ohh well, time to go steal Kelvin Sampson.

 

I think they make it.

 

You're probably right I guess. Didn't expect them to beat Iowa State, don't expect them to beat TCU (2-8 on the road). The Pac12 being a total disaster this year definitely opens up a few extra spots in the tourney.

 

If you combine the baffling numbers that overrate us with the fact that Texas is a brand that sells tickets and increases TV ratings, then sure. I just don't get the numbers:

Record: 16-14 (8-9)
RPI: 47
SOS: 5
BPI: 30
SOR: 51

 

The had 3 total assists against Tech. That stat still seems unbelievable to me.

 

Shaka has been a bigger disappointment than Charlie Strong. Both Patterson hires have been a bust.

 

Saw in the paper this morning (Kirk Bohls so could be wrong) that Shaka has 4 years left on his contract and a $12M buyout...how the hell did this happen?

And yeah, I said a couple of weeks ago that Patterson is the worst hire UT has ever made.

 

Arrogance.

The top tier athletic universities sometimes think that they can just pluck a really successful coach from a smaller program and it is guaranteed success. Throw a bunch of money at the candidate, discuss the facilities, staff and recruiting and it seems so easy.

The problem is that fit a lot of time isn't considered, the personality of the candidate, the recruiting area the coach is comfortable with and that at smaller schools, it is easier to actually coach because there are less distractions.

So UT knew that Smart had been at the top of the list of potential coaches after 5 very strong seasons at VCU.

The problem is that Smart isn't a Texas guy, he is a Midwest and East area guy. That is where he recruits well from, where his connections are. Also, he didn't always target the top 20 player in a class, he would assemble a team of guys that fit his system. That isn't happening at UT.

UT has dealt with similar issues with their football hires. It doesn't seem that a lot of real deep investigation is done when they make a hire. They go after the hot choice, and not fit.

 

Oh, that was definitely a rhetorical question.

After his first season, when they won 20+ and made the tourney, Fenves and Perrin decided to add an extra fully guaranteed year to his contract. Great move.

The scenario I see happening, assuming the team continues its middling ways, is that a new hire is made prior to the '21-22 season (when the new area opens) if not after next season. The heavy speculation is Chris Beard from Tech (UT guy).

 

Now THAT is thinking like a whorn!!

 

As bad as the buyout is, can we allow Shaka to stay as basically a lame duck? At some point, recruits are going to realize he's a dead man walking. I guess it depends on how much you buy the "basketball doesn't matter at Texas" narrative. And given football and almost every other sport seems to be on the upswing right now, maybe there is time.

 

I really don't understand why teams don't target 4 year players anymore. Unless you are one of the true blue bloods and you can throw a roster full of 5-stars out there, going after likely NBA players is a bad idea because they are gone almost immediately before they can help you actually win anything.

There's never any cohesion, every year basically feels like an entirely new team. It's a mess. Coming off his first year when he established some security for himself, Shaka should have set out to build his type of team. Instead it's just like the end of the Rick Barnes era, every season is just a mishmash of the best recruits they can find.

 

Shaka has been here for four seasons. I'd give him one more year. Let him cycle through four full years with his guys.

I do like Kelvin Sampson but at the moment he is just the flavor of the month since he has gotten UofH going. Local Houston hoops is no joke! He has been able build a team of mostly local guys that did not necessarily have the academics to go elsewhere. Apologies, this is a UT thread, not a UofH thread.

UT is a tough watch right now and will only make the tourney by name recognition only BUT I do not think that is even going to do it.