Despite losing five seniors to graduation and point guard Isaiah Taylor to the NBA Draft, Texas Longhorns head coach Shaka Smart was not willing to describe the upcoming 2016-17 basketball season as a rebuilding year, even with all the roster turnover.
"According to who?" Smart said. "I don’t really know what that means. You’re always building. Building last year. Building this year. What are you building towards? I don’t really like the term ‘rebuilding.’ But we’re always building, make no mistake about that.
"I don’t care if you’re winning every game; you’re still building, you’re still going to grow. We are trying to make them the best version of themselves."
"Everybody else wants to focus on the basketball program, and that’s fine, but we’re trying to build them as people. A month ago, five guys graduated from this program. That’s as big to me as anything. Yeah, I want to build on the court, but I want to build these guys up as people. You want to call that rebuilding, you can. I’m not going to be calling it that. Our goals will be just as big as they ever are."
Well then. Apparently Smart has some strong opinions on the matter.
The Texas head coach also discussed a variety of other topics in a rare offseason press conference that provides some juicy tidbits for Longhorns hoopheads eager to see Smart’s second team in Austin and all of the young players who will make it tick.