Texas Basketball: Luke Yaklich hiring has Longhorns poised for bounce-back 2019-20
As a Michigan assistant coach for two seasons, Luke Yaklich played a significant role in crafting dominant Wolverine defenses. With his addition to the Texas coaching staff, the Longhorns could be poised for a bounce-back season.
The season before Luke Yaklich joined Michigan as an assistant coach, the Wolverines finished 69th in defense per KenPom. In his two seasons as assistant, Michigan skyrocketed to third and second in the nation defensively. It’s obviously difficult to measure the impact of any coach, but Yaklich has received widespread praise for his role in the defensive transformation (another former assistant in Billy Donlon deserves credit as well).
(Credit to KenPom, Barttorvik, and sports-reference for statistics).
When former Michigan head coach John Beilein left for the Cleveland Cavaliers this offseason, there was some speculation that Yaklich would take over. In late May, however, it was officially announced he would be joining Shaka Smart’s staff at Texas as associate head coach.
The Longhorns are coming off a season in which they were unranked in the preseason but still had NCAA Tournament expectations. Although on the bubble in March, Texas missed the tournament for the second time in four seasons under Shaka Smart. With first round losses as a 6-seed to Northern Iowa and as a 10-seed to Nevada, Smart is still looking for his first tournament victory with the program.
Despite missing the tournament, Texas earned a two-seed in the NIT and won the whole thing. NIT championships don’t generate a ton of excitement, but it could maybe provide some positive momentum for the program heading into next season. The Yaklich hiring would only add to this.
Texas’s defense has been fairly solid under Shaka Smart, ranking 40th, 21st, 12th, and 26th in the nation over the last four seasons (26th last season). Yaklich hasn’t had a full offseason to add his value, but it seems very conceivable that he will get the Longhorns defense into at least the top 20 next season.
Texas is losing some significant pieces in Kerwin Roach, Dylan Osetkowski, and Jaxson Hayes, but should be returning enough to be solid defensively. The offensive end is more uncertain, however. Texas has ranked 49th, 177th, 89th, and 29th the last four seasons (29th last season), and all three of Roach, Osetkowski, and Hayes played significant roles offensively.
The core of the Longhorns next season will likely be Matt Coleman, Courtney Ramey, Jase Febres, Jericho Sims, and Andrew Jones (returning after battling leukemia). These players averaged 9.8, 8.1, 8.9, 4.2, and 1.5 points respectively last season and will need to take steps forward for Texas to be good offensively. Each are capable of being solid starters, but it’s less clear if any can be a “go-to-guy” for the offense.
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Overall, the combination of Luke Yaklich and an already strong defensive foundation should lead to success on that end of the floor for Texas. What’s uncertain, however, is whether the Longhorns have enough firepower to thrive on the offensive end. If the offense performs, Shaka Smart should be in good position to get Texas back to the Big Dance and claim that elusive tournament victory.