Before tomorrow night's game (7:00 p.m. on LHN) against a quality - yes, you read that right - UT Arlington team, Shaka Smart met with the media to discuss that, the Bahamas trip, where his team is right now, and more. And honestly, this morning was our best glimpse into what Smart wants his program to be about as he genuinely and passionately dished out some thoughts on what he believes it takes for Texas to be a good basketball team and a great program. Some notes from that conversation:
*** Just a short while ago, freshman Eric Davis, Jr. was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week after averaging 15.3 points per game (63 percent from the floor including 54 percent from beyond the arc) during the Battle 4 Atlantis action. Smart is obviously encouraged by that, and knows Davis still has a ways to go. But what was intriguing about the Texas head coach's comments about his freshman from Michigan is how highly he speaks about his mentality, and that the Longhorns really need more of it.
"Well, he kind of - and this is typical for freshmen - he had a little bit of a fog over his head for a little while to start the season. You saw that fog lifted a little bit in the Bahamas. He still has a lot of growth that’s left for him, but I’m really excited about him because he has a spirit about him – I think is the best word – that is something to be honest with you we’re really lacking and we need more of. I think as he continues to emerge as a player and hopefully he can share that spirit and be infectious in that way."
When you watch Davis play the game, confidence is one of the first things you see. He's just simply a confident, competitive guy in everything he does on the floor and he's not going to shy away from anything. And he's one of those guys that absolutely loves basketball and being part of a basketball team. That sort of confidence and attitude is something Texas wants to and needs to rub off on the rest of the roster.
*** A couple minutes later, I asked Smart where his team right now is mentally. Before the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, the Texas head coach spoke at length about results being important, but sticking to and valuing the process being more important. Obviously, the Longhorns would love to be 5-0 right now, but sticking to the process is of vital importance in order for the Longhorns to have success, according to their head coach.
"Where is our team mentally? I think our guys are… are certainly doing some soul-searching from a standpoint of, 'Okay what do we really want to be about?' I think that’s a good thing, actually. One thing that adversity does is that it makes you look in the mirror and it makes you analyze some things. I think the games that we lost if a few things go different, maybe we can win one, two, maybe all of those games. But we didn’t. And so what happens is as a coach and as players, you have to really, really analyze what happened out there and where you can grow. There is an old saying in coaching: Never accept in victory what you wouldn’t accept in defeat. But that happens. Sometimes when you get on a run, you’re winning some games, there’s some slippage, you kind of you don’t address it as much because it’s not as important because you won. Obviously, when you lose a game or a couple of games it smacks you across the face."
Although the Longhorns return a ton of experience, that doesn't necessarily mean a level of supreme confidence is there with that experience. And that's something Smart and his staff are working on - getting that kind of competitiveness and confidence like a player like Davis shows to become the norm throughout the roster.
"I do think though confidence wise it’s an interesting group from the standpoint of just experience these guys have been through a lot. And they’ve had some success. But I mentioned Eric we don’t have a lot of like naturally highly, highly confident guys. So I think a big part of our job as coaches is trying to lift them up and help them feel like hey, you can be really successful out there and we can too."
*** Obviously, there are many ways to be a successful team and program. But Smart believes in order to reach where they want to reach and in order to have a very good basketball game, the collective spirit must be present.
"To me… there’s different teams that are highly successful in different ways. But the teams that I’ve been around, the coaches I’ve been around that have been really, really good, they’ve had that collective spirit. My first year at VCU we were really talented but we were just so heavy. There was just a heaviness about us. Every timeout it was like “whew we have to get through this.” At the end of my second year, it was the opposite. There was a lightness and an ease about us. We were together. We were helping each other. We were connected. Those things can come and go. So it’s not like a team necessarily has it at the beginning of the season and then that’s it; it’s going to be there the rest of the year. Or doesn’t have it at the beginning of the season and you have no chance. These things ebb and flow.
Again, within the context of these guys have other things going on in their life that you might not necessarily write about or know about, but are significant. And we’ve got to get our guys and our staff and everyone to combine the mentality of what goes into winning is most important to us above everything else."
*** Everybody that plays or coaches college basketball wants to win. However, what Smart is trying to unlock with this group is the understanding of not just wanting to win but valuing more than anything what goes into winning.
"Here’s what’s important though: It matters to everyone on our team to win. It does. I really believe that. But, that’s not enough. What’s gotta matter is what goes into winning. What goes into winning? Because if you do all the things that create success… if you’re talented enough, and you’re fortunate enough, you’ll have success. But actually, if you focus only on that success and on the results then what can get obscured is the process. That happened to us in China. I think that happened to us at times in the Bahamas. Listen, it’s part of the early stages of the season of learning of, 'Hey, here’s how our team can be successful and what goes into it.' And our job as coaches is to make that crystal clear, and then to try to hold them accountable as much as possible to carrying that over."
*** When asked if the schedule and travel put his team behind some, Smart responded that he doesn't view it in that manner. Instead, he knew there would be transition no matter what to begin the season, and does see some bits of progression.
"I don't really look at it like that because we knew coming into it that this was the schedule and the travel we had is what we had was what we had. Any time you have a new team with a new coach there is transition anyway. So we knew that that was going to be a challenge for us. Obviously, we’d love to be sitting here five games in with a better record.
I think what’s more important than our record, right now at least, is progression. Just growing as a team. Our guys gaining and understanding of exactly what we want, and most importantly being able to carry it over because I think there is a difference between understanding it just cognitively when you’re sitting there talking or watching tape and then being able to then carry it over to live play. I think we’ve made some progress with that. We still have a long way to go, but I see some really, really positive signs that if we can build on certain things that we’ve done and keep growing I’m excited about our team."
*** Like Demarcus Holland mentioned at Big 12 Media Day, Texas hasn't pressed a ton like some people expected because that's what Smart did at VCU. And Smart himself said plenty before the season that this team would look different from his VCU teams. However, Smart today mentioned that mentality is key for teams that want to press and get after the opposition in that manner, and that Texas doesn't quite have that right now
"Well, I’ll never forget I went to a high school game. I was recruiting a kid [and] this was probably about 10 years ago. And the team I was watching turned the other team over like 30 times. And I was talking to the coach after the game, he’s a legendary coach in Chicago. And I said, 'Why were you so good in the press?' I like to press, I was picking his brain. 'What made you so good?' He said, 'The guys wanted to press tonight.' And that always stuck with me.
We have to develop that mentality if we want to play that way. You have to have that eagerness. And it takes time. At VCU, our first couple years we pressed a lot less than we did the third year. Sometimes one player makes a huge difference. Last year we had probably the best defensive player in the country (Briante Weber) and he tore his ACL at the end of January, and we weren’t the same as a pressing team. A lot of it is personnel based. But I do think we have a chance like you said in spurts to do that. It’s just not necessarily going to be the same identity."
*** Kendal Yancy missed all three games in the Bahamas after suffering a concussion in the game against TAMU-CC. Smart updated his status today:
"Kendal is making progress. He wanted to play down there, but with concussions you know how it is now with the protocol and you just can’t rush them back. He has not practiced full-go yet, but he’s been able to get out there and do some things. I’m hopeful that if he can keep making progress the way he has that he can come back soon and possibly even play tomorrow."
*** Smart is seeing progress from both Kerwin Roach, Jr. and Tevin Mack. The Texas head coach mentioned when he looks at those guys on the floor now, he can see more poise. Roach has looked his best playing off the ball with Isaiah Taylor on the floor, and that could be something you see more of as the young freshman continues to learn the point position, which isn't going to happen overnight.
*** Just a short while ago, freshman Eric Davis, Jr. was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week after averaging 15.3 points per game (63 percent from the floor including 54 percent from beyond the arc) during the Battle 4 Atlantis action. Smart is obviously encouraged by that, and knows Davis still has a ways to go. But what was intriguing about the Texas head coach's comments about his freshman from Michigan is how highly he speaks about his mentality, and that the Longhorns really need more of it.
"Well, he kind of - and this is typical for freshmen - he had a little bit of a fog over his head for a little while to start the season. You saw that fog lifted a little bit in the Bahamas. He still has a lot of growth that’s left for him, but I’m really excited about him because he has a spirit about him – I think is the best word – that is something to be honest with you we’re really lacking and we need more of. I think as he continues to emerge as a player and hopefully he can share that spirit and be infectious in that way."
When you watch Davis play the game, confidence is one of the first things you see. He's just simply a confident, competitive guy in everything he does on the floor and he's not going to shy away from anything. And he's one of those guys that absolutely loves basketball and being part of a basketball team. That sort of confidence and attitude is something Texas wants to and needs to rub off on the rest of the roster.
*** A couple minutes later, I asked Smart where his team right now is mentally. Before the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, the Texas head coach spoke at length about results being important, but sticking to and valuing the process being more important. Obviously, the Longhorns would love to be 5-0 right now, but sticking to the process is of vital importance in order for the Longhorns to have success, according to their head coach.
"Where is our team mentally? I think our guys are… are certainly doing some soul-searching from a standpoint of, 'Okay what do we really want to be about?' I think that’s a good thing, actually. One thing that adversity does is that it makes you look in the mirror and it makes you analyze some things. I think the games that we lost if a few things go different, maybe we can win one, two, maybe all of those games. But we didn’t. And so what happens is as a coach and as players, you have to really, really analyze what happened out there and where you can grow. There is an old saying in coaching: Never accept in victory what you wouldn’t accept in defeat. But that happens. Sometimes when you get on a run, you’re winning some games, there’s some slippage, you kind of you don’t address it as much because it’s not as important because you won. Obviously, when you lose a game or a couple of games it smacks you across the face."
Although the Longhorns return a ton of experience, that doesn't necessarily mean a level of supreme confidence is there with that experience. And that's something Smart and his staff are working on - getting that kind of competitiveness and confidence like a player like Davis shows to become the norm throughout the roster.
"I do think though confidence wise it’s an interesting group from the standpoint of just experience these guys have been through a lot. And they’ve had some success. But I mentioned Eric we don’t have a lot of like naturally highly, highly confident guys. So I think a big part of our job as coaches is trying to lift them up and help them feel like hey, you can be really successful out there and we can too."
*** Obviously, there are many ways to be a successful team and program. But Smart believes in order to reach where they want to reach and in order to have a very good basketball game, the collective spirit must be present.
"To me… there’s different teams that are highly successful in different ways. But the teams that I’ve been around, the coaches I’ve been around that have been really, really good, they’ve had that collective spirit. My first year at VCU we were really talented but we were just so heavy. There was just a heaviness about us. Every timeout it was like “whew we have to get through this.” At the end of my second year, it was the opposite. There was a lightness and an ease about us. We were together. We were helping each other. We were connected. Those things can come and go. So it’s not like a team necessarily has it at the beginning of the season and then that’s it; it’s going to be there the rest of the year. Or doesn’t have it at the beginning of the season and you have no chance. These things ebb and flow.
Again, within the context of these guys have other things going on in their life that you might not necessarily write about or know about, but are significant. And we’ve got to get our guys and our staff and everyone to combine the mentality of what goes into winning is most important to us above everything else."
*** Everybody that plays or coaches college basketball wants to win. However, what Smart is trying to unlock with this group is the understanding of not just wanting to win but valuing more than anything what goes into winning.
"Here’s what’s important though: It matters to everyone on our team to win. It does. I really believe that. But, that’s not enough. What’s gotta matter is what goes into winning. What goes into winning? Because if you do all the things that create success… if you’re talented enough, and you’re fortunate enough, you’ll have success. But actually, if you focus only on that success and on the results then what can get obscured is the process. That happened to us in China. I think that happened to us at times in the Bahamas. Listen, it’s part of the early stages of the season of learning of, 'Hey, here’s how our team can be successful and what goes into it.' And our job as coaches is to make that crystal clear, and then to try to hold them accountable as much as possible to carrying that over."
*** When asked if the schedule and travel put his team behind some, Smart responded that he doesn't view it in that manner. Instead, he knew there would be transition no matter what to begin the season, and does see some bits of progression.
"I don't really look at it like that because we knew coming into it that this was the schedule and the travel we had is what we had was what we had. Any time you have a new team with a new coach there is transition anyway. So we knew that that was going to be a challenge for us. Obviously, we’d love to be sitting here five games in with a better record.
I think what’s more important than our record, right now at least, is progression. Just growing as a team. Our guys gaining and understanding of exactly what we want, and most importantly being able to carry it over because I think there is a difference between understanding it just cognitively when you’re sitting there talking or watching tape and then being able to then carry it over to live play. I think we’ve made some progress with that. We still have a long way to go, but I see some really, really positive signs that if we can build on certain things that we’ve done and keep growing I’m excited about our team."
*** Like Demarcus Holland mentioned at Big 12 Media Day, Texas hasn't pressed a ton like some people expected because that's what Smart did at VCU. And Smart himself said plenty before the season that this team would look different from his VCU teams. However, Smart today mentioned that mentality is key for teams that want to press and get after the opposition in that manner, and that Texas doesn't quite have that right now
"Well, I’ll never forget I went to a high school game. I was recruiting a kid [and] this was probably about 10 years ago. And the team I was watching turned the other team over like 30 times. And I was talking to the coach after the game, he’s a legendary coach in Chicago. And I said, 'Why were you so good in the press?' I like to press, I was picking his brain. 'What made you so good?' He said, 'The guys wanted to press tonight.' And that always stuck with me.
We have to develop that mentality if we want to play that way. You have to have that eagerness. And it takes time. At VCU, our first couple years we pressed a lot less than we did the third year. Sometimes one player makes a huge difference. Last year we had probably the best defensive player in the country (Briante Weber) and he tore his ACL at the end of January, and we weren’t the same as a pressing team. A lot of it is personnel based. But I do think we have a chance like you said in spurts to do that. It’s just not necessarily going to be the same identity."
*** Kendal Yancy missed all three games in the Bahamas after suffering a concussion in the game against TAMU-CC. Smart updated his status today:
"Kendal is making progress. He wanted to play down there, but with concussions you know how it is now with the protocol and you just can’t rush them back. He has not practiced full-go yet, but he’s been able to get out there and do some things. I’m hopeful that if he can keep making progress the way he has that he can come back soon and possibly even play tomorrow."
*** Smart is seeing progress from both Kerwin Roach, Jr. and Tevin Mack. The Texas head coach mentioned when he looks at those guys on the floor now, he can see more poise. Roach has looked his best playing off the ball with Isaiah Taylor on the floor, and that could be something you see more of as the young freshman continues to learn the point position, which isn't going to happen overnight.
