Shaka Smart

[Gruffalo]

Should be available around 8am tomorrow. With his $10M buyout he could come here for free and bring his recruiting capabilities.

[PonySnob]

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[Shetland]

He is going to want to get far away from Texas. Thinking lower teir ACC, Wake or Miami. Maybe back to A10.

[SMU_Alum11]

He is going to want to get far away from Texas. Thinking lower teir ACC, Wake or Miami. Maybe back to A10.

Well a good sales pitch of "Look at how everyone does when they come to SMU after they leave UT" should suffice lol.

[Charleston Pony]

If Shaka can't get it done at Texa$ with all their resources, what makes anyone think he'd be a good choice for SMU?

[mustangxc]

The problem at Texas is he tried to run a different system. He should have done what he was doing at VCU and simply recruited at a higher level.

[JasonB]

The problem at Texas is he tried to run a different system. He should have done what he was doing at VCU and simply recruited at a higher level.

Chicken and the Egg. What happens when you are required to take high profile recruits that don't match your system?

[EastStang]

VCU was on what I will call a mature team schedule. He recruited players who grew together and became dominant by their senior years and he had depth to pull of 40 minutes of pain as a unit. At Texas, he had better players, but not better team players and there were one and dones in the mix as well who were to be blunt divas. So, his scheme had to evolve and it didn't. At a school where he can get 2nd tier players who are happy to be playing college hoops, his scheme is very good.

[JasonB]

VCU was on what I will call a mature team schedule. He recruited players who grew together and became dominant by their senior years and he had depth to pull of 40 minutes of pain as a unit. At Texas, he had better players, but not better team players and there were one and dones in the mix as well who were to be blunt divas. So, his scheme had to evolve and it didn't. At a school where he can get 2nd tier players who are happy to be playing college hoops, his scheme is very good.

I think there are players who don't fit his system at all that he is forced to take and play. I think that sort of thing happens in football for them as well.

For example, Will Baker. How does a 6-11 bulky slow player fit his 40 minutes of pain system? Now you have a freshman averaging 5 minutes a game who puts up these numbers:
FG: 6-34 (.176)
3pt: 1-24 (.042)
FT: 1-9 (.111)

You really think Shaka wanted to recruit that guy and then actually play him?

[EastStang]

Sort of like our football team, signing players back in the death penalty days, who weren't ever recruited by the coach.

[Pony_Law]

If Shaka can't get it done at Texa$ with all their resources, what makes anyone think he'd be a good choice for SMU?

If Shaka goes back to the system he employed at VCU he can be successful. Instead he said, I can now get 5 star recruits so i'm going to play a more NBA style to entice those recruits and abandon the system of upperclassmen players playing a full court trapping system that lead to conference and tournament success. of course he could only land 1 or so of those types of recruits a cycle and they were the type that were hyped because of their physical attributes rather than current skills. If you are trying to win with those types of players you need 3+ of them every year (like Kentucky, NC, Duke, etc) because they not good enough coming out of high school on there own to win at a high clip in a conference as strong as the Big 12.

I would assume Shaka could recruit players of Shake Milton, Sterling Brown, Ben Moore, type level to SMU and playing his press system could make repeated deep runs in the NCAA tournament.