Shaka Smart hoping he can bring frenetic pace to lethargic Texas basketball

When he coached at VCU, Shaka Smart’s teams played with so much intensity that their style earned a nickname – Havoc.

The combination of up-tempo offense and unrelenting defense worked so well that VCU became one of the nation’s top teams outside of a power conference. Smart regularly took the Rams to the NCAA Tournament and once reached the Final Four.

Power programs tried to lure him away for years, and he said no until Texas came along earlier this year. Now he is asking the perennially underachieving Longhorns to play the same way. He is bringing Havoc to Texas.

So far, the returns look good. The Longhorns held an open scrimmage in October and students waited in line to watch, packing small Gregory Gym with a larger crowd than what Texas usually plays in front of at the Erwin Center.

“We are really excited about what is coming,” Smart said at Big 12 media day last month.

Texas has enough talent to challenge for a conference championship and make it past the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008.

Isaiah Taylor averaged 13.1 points, DeMarcus Holland and Javan Felix are skilled guards, Cameron Ridley and Prince Ibeh are a force inside and Kerwin Roach is a promising freshman.

Oklahoma and Iowa State are the main candidates to challenge Kansas. The Sooners return preseason Player of the Year Buddy Hield and the Cyclones still have Georges Niang and Monte Morris. But Texas had darkhorse potential with Smart onboard.

Question is: Are the Longhorns ready for Havoc?

Smart lacks experience coaching bigs at this level. Ridley (6-foot-9, 285 pounds) and Ibeh (6-10, 260) dwarf the forwards and centers he recruited at VCU. It was easy to get smaller players to run the floor and play up-tempo, but can he do the same with this roster?

We’re about to find out.

“It's been interesting,” Smart said. “I think one thing that's maybe a misnomer about our teams at VCU is that we didn't have good players up front. We had some really good players. In fact, every year our starting four or five led us in scoring in the six years I was there. But we just played a very fast-paced style where the guards really made a lot of plays in the open floor.

“At Texas, we're fortunate, in this first year, we have a lot of big guys that we think can be really good players for us and contribute to success. Then we also have a lot of perimeter guys that we can play with, with great depth. So if those guys can buy into the system of playing with great aggressiveness and enthusiasm, togetherness, then we'll have a chance to do some big things.”

This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 2:12 AM with the headline "Shaka Smart hoping he can bring frenetic pace to lethargic Texas basketball."