Freshman Brown has ‘almost limitless’ potential
AUSTIN — During normal times, Texas freshman Greg Brown III would have spent parts of the spring and the entirety of the summer on campus, getting familiar with coach Shaka Smart, his new teammates and the rest of the staff.
The COVID-19 pandemic annihilated the notion of “normal” as cases surged in March, forcing Smart to seek other ways to familiarize and integrate the state’s top-ranked signee.
“He would have been here, from time to time, spending time together on what he needed to be doing, preparing,” Smart said Tuesday. “So we were doing that over Zoom, which is better than nothing. It’s not the same as in person, but better than nothing.”
The forward from Vandegrift would have moved onto campus in June for the start of summer school, though the pandemic again scuttled those plans. Brown didn’t get on the court with the Longhorns until mid-july.
“What we’ve tried to do is, just like with other freshmen in the past, be very organized with what areas we want to help him improve and what areas we want to be at the front of his mind,” Smart said. “Like all freshmen, he’s got quite a few things to learn, quite a few areas to continue to improve in. But the exciting thing for him is his potential is almost limitless. And really, for us, it’s just about racing against time to get him as ready as we can for game one and then trying to improve him each game from there.”
Senior guard Febres is still recovering
Texas senior guard Jase Febres (microfracture surgery) has not yet been cleared for full-contact activities at practice, and Smart sounded uncertain about the recovery timetable for the team’s best pure shooter.
“He had surgery in March, and at the time, the surgeon was hopeful that he would be cleared by now,” Smart said. “But he’s still working his way back. I don’t know exactly when that’s going to be that he gets to the point where he can play live, but he still has a little ways to go to be cleared.
Four recruits submit 2021 letters of intent
Texas announced the signing of four 2021 recruits, set to be the next generation once this year’s batch of seniors graduate and Brown likely declares for the NBA draft.
IMG Academy (Florida) fourstar guard Tamar Bates, Brookfield Central (Wisconsin) four-star power forward David Joplin, Assumption (Iowa) three-star combo guard Emarion Ellis and Grace Christian School (North Carolina) three-star power forward Keeyan Itejere all submitted a letter of intent and will enroll next year.
Bates is ranked No. 103 in the nation per the 247Sports composite, tops among the program’s four signees. The full class is ranked No. 21 in the nation, per the 247Sports rankings.