When the 2019-20 basketball season started, conventional wisdom held that Texas Longhorns head coach Shaka Smart needed to build on the 2019 NIT victory with, at the least, Smart’s first NCAA tournament victory in his five seasons on the Forty Acres.
Instead of building on last season’s strong finish, Texas suffered blowout losses to Georgetown and Providence, then lost five of seven games once Big 12 play began, including the 97-59 debacle that left legendary Longhorns point guard TJ Ford publicly questioning the program’s direction. An understandable response after the school’s worst loss in Big 12 history and the worst loss in Smart’s rather ignominious tenure.