How a NBA head coach and an unorthodox thinker helped Shaka Smart unlock Marquette's rollicking offense
Ben Steele
The roots of Marquette's otherworldly offense this season can be traced back to a dormitory in Prague in 2013.
Inside the walls of a bland building in a Czech Republic city known for its ornate architecture, United States U19 head coach Billy Donovan had a crack staff of assistants helping him craft game plans en route to the FIBA world championship.
Shaka Smart, then at Virginia Commonwealth, and Tony Bennett, the Wisconsin native and coach at Virginia, were already respected tacticians. Alongside them as a video coordinator was an up-and-comer from Donovan's staff at Florida with an eye for innovation named Mark Daigneault.
Close quarters led to a close bond between Smart and Daigneault.
"Him, me and Tony Bennett were like scouting these teams for six hours a day," Daigneault said. "So it was one of those things, we hadn’t met each other before that and then after three weeks we felt like we had known each other for years and we’ve just always stayed in touch."
Almost a decade later, Daigneault is the head coach of the NBA's frisky Oklahoma City Thunder and Smart has Marquette rolling in his second season at the program. Their collaborative relationship - and a key recommendation - has helped the 14th-ranked Golden Eagles (18-5, 10-2 Big East) unlock one of the most efficient and entertaining offenses in college basketball.
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Smart is an insatiable seeker of new ideas, and he casts about his coaching contacts for inspiration. Once known for his aggressive defenses at VCU, Smart now has a freewheeling offense that features five double-digit scorers heading into Saturday's game against Butler (11-12, 3-9) at Fiserv Forum.
"He is an idealist and a purist as a coach," Daigneault said. "In a world that is increasingly superficial, especially in college basketball, he is so true to who he is and I just admire that about him."
Mark Daigneault and Shaka Smart are both disciples of Billy Donovan
People forget that Smart spent a season as an assistant coach for Donovan at Florida. Even with such a short stint, Smart considers himself a disciple of the two-time national championship winner, now the head coach of the Chicago Bulls, and that puts him in the same fraternity as Daigneault.
Smart also really admires the acumen of Daigneault, who has exceeded expectations this season in Oklahoma City with the NBA's youngest roster.
"Just the level of respect I’ve had for him ever since (meeting in Prague) is as high as anyone that I’ve been around in this business," Smart said. "We talk a lot. We joke that in our conversations, one of us is trying to get more information with the other.
"When I talk to him, I take notes on what he says. And always come prepared with questions, stuff I’m going to ask him about. We talk a lot about culture. We talk a lot about offense. We talk a little bit about defense. He’s just got an uncommon way about him."
As probably to be expected of two highly calibrated basketball minds, the conversations can drill down to the minutest of details. For example, Smart teaches "back-pocket screening angles," a concept he picked up from Daigneault. Players set picks on opponents where their back pockets would be, and that creates better driving angles for the ball-handler.
"Our guys executing details like that is part of what makes us good on offense," Smart said. "And so Mark and I, probably the most common conversation we have, there is conversation about culture and how best to convey it and reinforce it.
"And then there’s conversation about, OK, they’re switching the pick and roll, what do you like there? Or they’re in a drop coverage, what do you like there?’ "
During one of their confabs when Smart was still the head coach at Texas, Daigneault floated a name to fill an opening on the staff for the 2020-21 season.
"He said I really don’t know this guy, but I coached against him and I really liked how he coached and I think he’s an offensive savant," Smart said. "And he’s really, really outside the box. And so that's what put me on to Nevada."
Former G League coach Nevada Smith brings unorthodox thinking to Marquette
Daigneault was hired from Florida to lead the Oklahoma City Blue in the NBA G League in 2014. He frequently matched wits against Nevada Smith, who was head coach of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and Sioux Falls Skyforce.
"We were in the same division so we played each other like 10 times," Smith said.
Out of all those battles came a lot of mutual respect, then some sharing of ideas. Smith had developed a cult following among basketball observers for his teams' fast pace and high volume of three-pointers.
"I like that he’s kind of free-flowing," Smith said of Daigneault. "Different thinker. Will try different things. He’s not set in, like, OK, we have to do this because everyone else is. They do different stuff and that should be applauded. He takes risks."
Smart hired Smith after Daigneault's recommendation. After one season together at Texas, Smith followed Smart to MU as special assistant to the head coach.
Smith is known for his unorthodox basketball opinions. He thinks all passes should be thrown one-handed because it is quicker without the half-second it takes to put two hands on the ball. Or that players should never bend their knees on free throws - "That’s one that no one agrees with," Smith said - because legs are the first thing to go in a game when a player is tired.
"He’s as unconventional and as fearless as they come," Daigneault said. "There’s just no bounds to what he’ll do or what he’ll think about. He thinks without constraint, which is so rare. Especially in coaching because fear creeps in.
"And he’s just fearless with what he thinks about and the way he thinks about the game and then he implements it. He’s really tough to coach against as a result of that. There’s an unpredictability and an unconventionality to the way that his teams play that really tests you when you coach against him."
Smith's creative thinking has helped shape MU's potent offense. Just look at the way 6-foot-9 center Oso Ighodaro dribbles into a ball screen set by a guard. Or the strict adherence to spacing that has opened up the paint and has the Golden Eagles shooting a nation-leading 60.6% on two-pointers.
"We like to invert," Smith said. "Have everybody come off everybody. You’re harder to guard that way. The guards aren’t used to guarding pick and roll that way. Bigs aren’t used to guarding it that way. You kind of flip them."
Marquette offense is ranked No. 1 at KenPom.com
Smith has helped push Smart's thinking, and the action on the court has been proof of concept. The Golden Eagles have been No. 1 in the adjusted offensive efficiency rankings at analytics site KenPom.com for several weeks.
"Nevada and I will argue about stuff, but then we’ll become closer together," Smart said. "Either I end up seeing it his way or maybe because I’m the head coach he acts like he sees it my way. But we work really, really well together because every day we sit down and we talk about offense and our team and what we need to do.
"And then when we’re watching tape on our own, I’ll always be texting him, ‘What do you think about this? We could get that.’ And then he’ll do the same. We’re just really on the same page. The best thing he brings, and he’s been with me for three years and this is really huge for our team, is he has confidence that we’re going to score."
Smith and Smart take ideas from wherever they can get them. Before he landed in the G League, Smith was a NCAA Division III coach and he still watches small-college basketball teams coached by his friends.
They've also been able to draw inspiration from coaches at the highest level of the sport who they've crossed paths with on their respective journeys.
"With NBA guys, whether it’s Mark or its Coach Donovan or other guys you get a chance to talk to, their jobs are much higher percentage basketball than ours," Smart said. "We’ve got recruiting and certain other components of player development that are off the court that they don’t have.
"And they play so many more games. So they know more. They have more experience. They’ve been in more games. And their game is obviously at a higher level than our game. There’s just so many things I’m always trying to take from them."