Shaka Smart Is Changing The Culture of Texas Longhorns Basketball
Watching Shaka Smart and the Texas Longhorns grab an 84-82 victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels at the buzzer this weekend was a monumental moment for Shaka Smart in his short tenure at Texas.
When Texas named Mike Perrin interim athletic director for Texas back in September, which he has since had the interim tag dropped from his title, there were rumblings that the coaching hires of his predecessor Steve Patterson were going to be under major scrutiny.
Though most of that scrutiny was directed at the hiring of Texas Longhorns football coach Charlie Strong, there was some talk that the hiring of hoop coach Shaka Smart was also being under the microscope.
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Of course it is understood that a new AD is going to do his due diligence and make sure that the coaches that are at the helm of the money making sports are viable enough to get the job done.
But in the case of Shaka Smart, this season started with the slight feel that he still had to prove that he was the man for the job, whereas in the case of Charlie Strong, his body of work is enough to truly question if he should still be employed in Austin, Texas.
That is why when Javan Felix had the ball fortuitously bounce in his direction off of a missed shot and he knocked down a game winning 16-foot jumper from the right hand side to grab a win over the No.3 North Carolina Tar Heels, there was an element of vindication for Shaka Smart.
People who follow college basketball closely know that Shaka Smart is the man that can change the fortunes of the Texas Longhorns hoop program for the foreseeable future. His energy on the sideline is infectious, and what youngster in America would not want to play for a coach that has as much charisma as Shaka Smart?
Dec 12, 2015; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Shaka Smart reacts against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the first half at the Frank Erwin Special Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports
Watching Shaka Smart take down a coaching legend in Roy Williams and getting his first statement win as Texas head coach over a college basketball power like the North Carolina Tar Heels legitimizes the decision to make Shaka Smart the figure head of Texas Longhorns basketball.
The team that Texas beat over the weekend in the Tar Heels is seen as the best team in the country if all players are healthy and a legitimate threat to win the national title.
Shaka Smart’s Longhorns were a solid matchup for the Tar Heels man for man and looked like they belonged on the court with them from the opening tip.
Cameron Ridley was every bit as imposing in the middle as UNC’s Kennedy Meeks, Jovan Felix was able to match and even surpass the output of Marcus Paige, but most importantly, Texas never looked intimidated or afraid of the Tar Heels.
That is a direct testament to the culture change that Shaka Smart is trying to bring to the Longhorns. A fearless culture that believes that anyone can be beaten if they are on the court against Texas.
The 6-3 record that the Texas Longhorns currently have is symbolic of the growing pains and work that it took to achieve the moment that was seen on Saturday night.
But this Texas team is actually better than their record says. When the three losses that Shaka Smart’s club have suffered have come against the likes of teams such as Washington, Texas A&M, and Michigan, there is really no reason to be upset about where the Longhorns stand at this time.
The bottom line is that beating the North Carolina Tar Heels was a victory that should remove any doubt that anyone had about the kind of job Shaka Smart is capable of doing in Austin.
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That man is going to change the culture of the Texas Longhorns basketball program around, and it is safe to say that as much as Texas is a football school now and forever, the success is going to be had on the hardwood before it is had on the gridiron–period!