Awaiting No. 4 Texas (10-1, 4-0) after a thrilling road win at No. 13 West Virginia is a home matchup Wednesday night against No. 15 Texas Tech, a team that’s suddenly found some excellent form on offense. Life in the Big 12.
Unfortunately, life in college basketball currently includes a daily reminder about the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this morning, a report stated this week’s No. 2 Baylor vs. No. 13 West Virginia game would be cancelled due to WVU having COVID-19 protocol issues inside its program. Obviously, that’s particularly noteworthy for Texas because it just played in Morgantown, West Virginia Saturday.
“That's the scary thing about this is… every game, the day before the game, or the day of the game we get a text, and hopefully that text says everyone was clear. Everyone was negative on the test. We're good to go. And we've got a couple of texts that didn't say that. And those are games earlier this season that were canceled. But just because you get that text, and just because five minutes before the game, ‘Okay, we get to go do this we get to go play.’ That doesn't guarantee that everything is 100% safe,” responded Smart about the report of West Virginia having COVID-19 protocol issues inside its program. “And that's the complexity of this whole time period and the existential question of should we be doing a lot of the things that we're doing, which I'm not weighing in on that. I'm just saying. It's complicated.
“And so, to answer your question when something like that happens the medical people communicate with each other. You know the first thing they do is they look at close contacts. The way that's defined. And they look and see what close contacts occurred. Everyone in the big 12 is using this technology KINEXON, which I'm sure you've heard of that kind of tracks how many minutes and seconds you're within six feet of the other person. So, everyone in their group, everyone in our group had those connects on devices on so that kind of gives you some feedback on how close, how much time people are in close contact.”
Given the delicate nature COVID-19 team news is treated, Smart didn’t provide many specifics, but it obviously raises the anxiety level some. Both programs’ medical staffs communicate about the specific protocol issues and track all the close contacts to determine if there’s anything they need to pay especially close attention to or change moving forward.
--- As for Texas Tech, and will dive into it more before Wednesday’s game, I think this could be UT’s toughest matchup in terms of personnel. As Smart noted on today’s Zoom conference, the Red Raiders are very good at trying to eliminate the middle and the ball getting into the paint on offense. But while Chris Beard is known for his defense, Texas Tech’s offense has really caught fire of late.
“They have a really unique team from a standpoint of personnel and different lineups that they can put in the game,” said Smart before adding Texas Tech basically plays a bunch of big guards with Mac McClung and big Marcus Santos-Silva.
Smart knows Texas will need to defend the ball better against Texas Tech, and against anyone moving forward. The Longhorns were much better on defense the second half than the first half at West Virginia, and played uneven defensive halves against Iowa State too.
“You know me I'm always a little more biased on defense like just not good enough the last two games guarding the basketball and Texas Tech is a team that'll make you pay if you don't do a better job there. Need to do a better job getting our hands on the basketball,” said Smart about improvement areas. “We need to do a better job helping each other… I told the guys last week at some point I can't remember what day it was. And young people don't like to hear this, but good is the enemy of great. So, you know we're pretty good at those things but not great. And if we want to be what we all say we want to be, we have to keep improving.”
--- Appreciated how candid Smart was today when asked about his relationship with Matt Coleman. By now, you know the story. Smart basically started building a relationship with Coleman in eighth grade and recruited him as long as a head coach can recruit a prospect. The unique bond Smart and Coleman has and Coleman’s personality and work ethic allow Smart to demand more of his point guard.
“We’re very close. It's tricky because his time here, sometimes some of the other players give him a hard time about being like my son or whatever,” said Smart. “And team dynamics are interesting. You have to be careful with that kind of stuff. He’s started every game he's played in here. But I think he's really earned a level of respect from his teammates. He comes to practice every day with truly a mindset of a professional. He cares about the guys around him. He puts a lot of energy and just positive juice into his teammates.
“Our relationship is, it's a good one in that I can be hard on him. And I have been hard on him. I was hard on him we got back from West Virginia the other other night, and we got back late, like, I don't know two in the morning or something and I said, ‘You weren’t good enough, man… not at the standard you need to be at.’ And he didn't play bad, but I appreciate the fact that I can tell him the truth and demand more of him. He knows I believe in him. I have a lot of confidence when the ball’s in his hands.
This is probably among the best quotes I’ve heard Smart give in a press conference because it’s one of the truths about college basketball. Good, experienced guards make such a distinct difference.
“We're lucky. We've got him. We got Courtney. We've got Andrew. Makes you a whole lot better coach,” said Smart. “There was a couple of years there where we had really young guards and one year in particular where we kind of were missing point guards and that makes you a crappy coach. It does. And all of a sudden, you get a guy like Matt as a senior and those other two guys you know now you feel a whole lot better, especially down the stretch.”
Unfortunately, life in college basketball currently includes a daily reminder about the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this morning, a report stated this week’s No. 2 Baylor vs. No. 13 West Virginia game would be cancelled due to WVU having COVID-19 protocol issues inside its program. Obviously, that’s particularly noteworthy for Texas because it just played in Morgantown, West Virginia Saturday.
“That's the scary thing about this is… every game, the day before the game, or the day of the game we get a text, and hopefully that text says everyone was clear. Everyone was negative on the test. We're good to go. And we've got a couple of texts that didn't say that. And those are games earlier this season that were canceled. But just because you get that text, and just because five minutes before the game, ‘Okay, we get to go do this we get to go play.’ That doesn't guarantee that everything is 100% safe,” responded Smart about the report of West Virginia having COVID-19 protocol issues inside its program. “And that's the complexity of this whole time period and the existential question of should we be doing a lot of the things that we're doing, which I'm not weighing in on that. I'm just saying. It's complicated.
“And so, to answer your question when something like that happens the medical people communicate with each other. You know the first thing they do is they look at close contacts. The way that's defined. And they look and see what close contacts occurred. Everyone in the big 12 is using this technology KINEXON, which I'm sure you've heard of that kind of tracks how many minutes and seconds you're within six feet of the other person. So, everyone in their group, everyone in our group had those connects on devices on so that kind of gives you some feedback on how close, how much time people are in close contact.”
Given the delicate nature COVID-19 team news is treated, Smart didn’t provide many specifics, but it obviously raises the anxiety level some. Both programs’ medical staffs communicate about the specific protocol issues and track all the close contacts to determine if there’s anything they need to pay especially close attention to or change moving forward.
--- As for Texas Tech, and will dive into it more before Wednesday’s game, I think this could be UT’s toughest matchup in terms of personnel. As Smart noted on today’s Zoom conference, the Red Raiders are very good at trying to eliminate the middle and the ball getting into the paint on offense. But while Chris Beard is known for his defense, Texas Tech’s offense has really caught fire of late.
“They have a really unique team from a standpoint of personnel and different lineups that they can put in the game,” said Smart before adding Texas Tech basically plays a bunch of big guards with Mac McClung and big Marcus Santos-Silva.
Smart knows Texas will need to defend the ball better against Texas Tech, and against anyone moving forward. The Longhorns were much better on defense the second half than the first half at West Virginia, and played uneven defensive halves against Iowa State too.
“You know me I'm always a little more biased on defense like just not good enough the last two games guarding the basketball and Texas Tech is a team that'll make you pay if you don't do a better job there. Need to do a better job getting our hands on the basketball,” said Smart about improvement areas. “We need to do a better job helping each other… I told the guys last week at some point I can't remember what day it was. And young people don't like to hear this, but good is the enemy of great. So, you know we're pretty good at those things but not great. And if we want to be what we all say we want to be, we have to keep improving.”
--- Appreciated how candid Smart was today when asked about his relationship with Matt Coleman. By now, you know the story. Smart basically started building a relationship with Coleman in eighth grade and recruited him as long as a head coach can recruit a prospect. The unique bond Smart and Coleman has and Coleman’s personality and work ethic allow Smart to demand more of his point guard.
“We’re very close. It's tricky because his time here, sometimes some of the other players give him a hard time about being like my son or whatever,” said Smart. “And team dynamics are interesting. You have to be careful with that kind of stuff. He’s started every game he's played in here. But I think he's really earned a level of respect from his teammates. He comes to practice every day with truly a mindset of a professional. He cares about the guys around him. He puts a lot of energy and just positive juice into his teammates.
“Our relationship is, it's a good one in that I can be hard on him. And I have been hard on him. I was hard on him we got back from West Virginia the other other night, and we got back late, like, I don't know two in the morning or something and I said, ‘You weren’t good enough, man… not at the standard you need to be at.’ And he didn't play bad, but I appreciate the fact that I can tell him the truth and demand more of him. He knows I believe in him. I have a lot of confidence when the ball’s in his hands.
This is probably among the best quotes I’ve heard Smart give in a press conference because it’s one of the truths about college basketball. Good, experienced guards make such a distinct difference.
“We're lucky. We've got him. We got Courtney. We've got Andrew. Makes you a whole lot better coach,” said Smart. “There was a couple of years there where we had really young guards and one year in particular where we kind of were missing point guards and that makes you a crappy coach. It does. And all of a sudden, you get a guy like Matt as a senior and those other two guys you know now you feel a whole lot better, especially down the stretch.”
