Texas Basketball: Shaka Smart's Return Bolster's Texas' Chances With Five-Star Recruit Greg Brown III
Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte issued what can only be construed as a vote of confidence for head basketball coach Shaka Smart.
“Shaka’s our coach,” Del Conte told the Austin American-Statesman on Friday. “Nothing’s changed. We won five of the last six down the stretch, finished third in the conference. We have a good team coming back. Nothing’s changed on my end.”
The news was obviously welcome to Smart, who can now go about putting together a plan for what should be one of the most experienced teams in the Big 12 going into 2020-21.
“We have an opportunity in front of us to take a big step, and there’s a ton of urgency inside of our program to do that,” Smart told the Austin American Statesman. “It’s easy if you allow yourself to get caught up in things that our said on the outside, but our focus is to help our guys through this challenging period we have now.”
One of those orders of business will be recruiting five-star power forward Greg Brown III. The nation's No. 1 player at his position according to 247Sports, Brown played his high school ball right down the road at Vandegrift.
Big, strong and oozing athleticism, Brown is almost certainly a one-and-done future NBA Lottery Pick who can have a massive impact on whatever program he lands with for one season.
Luckily for Texas, the Longhorns look to be at the top of his list of potential suitors. Brown told 247Sports that he would likely come to Texas if Smart was staying.
Mix in Brown's shooting ability, presence in the paint and sheer athleticism with what will be one of the most talented backcourts in the country with Courtney Ramey, Andrew Jones and Matt Coleman III all coming back and the Longhorns could be an early favorite to make some noise in the Big 12 race next season.