A team is a cohesive unit. Unfortunately, University of Texas Men’s Basketball Coach Shaka Smart may have to teach his team this lesson the hard way. Starting the season, two players, Kerwin Roach and Tevin Mack have been suspended and Coach Smart has lost another player, Mareik Isom, due to injury. While Roach and Mack are expected to return soon, Isom will be out for some time.
This news does not bode well for a team just ranked 21st in the nation and open the season in just 10 days against Incarnate Word. It hasn’t been announced whether Roach or Mack will be returning for the opening game in regular season.
Coach Smart has a lot of talent to work with this season, including Roach, who is considered a projected first round draft pick in 2018. While the talent seems to be better this year, Coach Smart also seems to be instilling values and discipline into his young team. By suspending the sophomore talents early in the season Coach Smart is holding them to a high standard of conduct, and enforcing consequences that hopefully will serve him well in the next few seasons.
Smart seems to have really turned the team around. Prior to his arrival, the team was lazy and negative minded. Through his mentoring, the team has been able to overcome several situations in which major talent was not allowed to play, winning games and moving forward. By all accounts, the University of Texas is not a basketball school and that’s ok. But we pride ourselves our motto, “What starts here changes the world”, and it seems as though Coach Smart has taken this to heart, one basketball player at a time. This season is looking up!
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