Smart, hired by Texas after a successful run with VCU, has noted that he has used WVU head coach Bob Huggins as an inspiration.
He knew about Huggins’ reputation when he was at Cincinnati in the 1990s and he saw the Mountaineers rise again to prominence in the 2015 season.
“What they did, particularly late in the year, their guys played with a level of aggressiveness and passion and relentlessness that was as good as you’ve seen in the full-court press since the 1990s, when Kentucky and Arkansas were playing that way,” said Smart at Big 12 media days in October.