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Message: [QUOTE="UConnStats, post: 3406941, member: 5842"] Anthony Grant (who was on UConn’s radar should they have missed on Hurley) had VCU doing very well before Shaka even got there, and Shaka also had a great young offensive minded assistant coach in Will Wade. Smart has recruited fine at Texas, but hasn’t recruited many players that can shoot/score well. Andrew Jones was a tough break for them. He would have been their star. But still, it’s surprising how Smart has been churning out quality NBA bigs without getting enough quality guard/wing depth to field competitive teams. Smart’s VCU teams prided themselves on the “havoc” style of play in which they forced a ton of turnovers. He hasn’t been able to bring that to Texas, but they’ve still been consistently very good on defense. He hasn’t figured out an effective offensive system, although he’s definitely made an effort to change as they’ve spread the floor and shot a lot more 3s the last couple of seasons (granted without the fast pace that Wade’s offenses always have). Maybe he needs better suited personnel, but he’s running out of time. He’s becoming a cautionary tale for Hurley. Both are defense first coaches from the A10 without offensive identity/consistency. Hurley has never coached a team that was better than 134th in eFG%. His teams always crash the offensive boards well, but are hit and miss with TO% and haven’t been great at actually putting the ball in the hoop. I believe with him hitting his stride recruiting here, that changes, but obviously there’s major room for improvement there. [/QUOTE]

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