Throughout his tenure on the Forty Acres, Texas Longhorns head coach Shaka Smart has endured his fair share of unfortunate circumstances: Injuries, roster attrition, Andrew Jones’ leukemia diagnosis, inexperience, and at times, quite simply not enough proven talent to consistently compete in a Big 12 that routinely ranks as the nation’s best conference per KenPom.com.
The latter will likely prove true yet again given the preseason polls and projections, but as for many of the issues and shortcomings that have limited Texas in recent seasons — well, they’re problems of the past.
On paper, Texas features what is far and away the most talented and experienced roster of the Smart era — and likely since the Jordan Hamilton and Tristan Thompson-led Longhorns in 2010-11 — returning all 12 scholarship players and every bit of production from 2019-20.