March Madness: Shaka Smart calls Tar Heels a ‘terrific team’

Leading into their March Madness matchup, Marquette head coach Shaka Smart had nothing but good things to say about the UNC basketball program.

A lot has changed at Marquette since the last time they squared off against the UNC basketball program just a season ago.

The team that defeated the Tar Heels 83-70 is essentially depleted, as the program went through a complete overhaul during the offseason.

We know that Dawson Garcia left for Chapel Hill while Theo John left for Durham. Those two transfers were just some of the changes that went into the program’s new look.

Insert Shaka Smart, who was brought in to lead the program in a new direction. Smart, having his fair share of prior NCAA Tournament success, will now look to lead his team on a deep run into this year’s March Madness.

Of course, his first foe is one that he’s pretty familiar with.

On Thursday, Marquette will square off with the UNC basketball program in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Smart won’t be wearing Texas orange in this meeting (as he was last season when his Longhorns defeated the Tar Heels in the Maui Invitational), but his objective to beat North Carolina remains the same.

Smart is certainly not taking North Carolina lightly, as he gave them some high praise during one of his press conferences this past week:

"“North Carolina is a terrific team. I’ve seen them a bunch of times on TV. And, I think for us, we got to know that we have to be the best version of ourselves. Spend a lot of time in practice working on that, then we’ll get on the plane and head down to Fort Worth.”"

To no one’s surprise, Armando Bacot is someone that the Golden Eagles will try to contain in their first-round battle. When asked about the Richmond, Virginia native, Smart recalls following his career from a rather young age:

"“(He’s) from Richmond, Virginia. I remember him when he was a young, young kid there. He’s had a phenomenal career. He’s a load. He’s tough to handle around the basket. He’s a heck of a rebounder. That’s something that’s always been a strength of North Carolina’s over the years, offensive rebounding. So, yeah, we’re going to have to eat our Wheaties. We’re going to have to rebound as a group. Five guys together. But, again, it’s about our five guys being connected around the one common cause of playing for each other. I think if we do that, we give ourselves a good chance.”"

Remember, Smart was coaching at VCU around the time Bacot was growing up, so he had a close look at a player who turned out to be one of the best in the entire country.

Thursday afternoon’s matchup should be a very good one, as both sides are prepared to make their best effort in earning a trip to the second round. North Carolina hopes they can get the better of both Smart and the Golden Eagles, as they look for some redemption from their last meetings against them.

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