Waking up the sleeping giant that is Texas men’s basketball (part 1 of 2)

Football is the obvious nexus around which athletics orbit at the University of Texas, and for good reason given the financial angle and culture of the state at large. The gridiron is the epicenter of NIL spending, media coverage, and overall revenue generation for Longhorns sports, causing many to proclaim Texas as a "football school." The moniker fits, just as it does — or, more accurately, did — at institutions like Alabama, Florida, and Michigan. But a growing market for success in other sports has emerged at places like these, exploding even further with the introduction of NIL and a no-holds-barred transfer portal. In many ways, programs like the three just mentioned have parlayed success on the field into success on the hardwood. A brief history of the rise of basketball at "football" schools The Southeastern Conference was for years a punchline in men's collegiate basketball, with the exception of Kentucky, Florida, and an occasional run from a school like Arkansas or LSU. Times have changed drastically as resources realigned to support basketball programs in addition to football, resulting in sustained success from schools not typically thought of as multi-sport institutions. The 2024-25 edition of the SEC has been recognized as the greatest single year of a men's hoops conference by multiple metrics. Its tournament participation and success alone defined its dominance; the committee admitted 14 of the SEC's 16 schools, including a Texas squad that had finished 6-12 in conference play. Four of the SEC's teams were top two seeds (Auburn and Florida were 1s, Alabama and Tennessee were 2s). The two no. 1 seeds made the Final Four, and the Gators took home the national title, beating Houston 65-63. Florida Gators guard Walter Clayton Jr. (1) holds up the trophy after winning the national championship game of the Final Four of the 2025 NCAA Tournament at the Alamodome. (Bob Donnan-Imagn Images) This isn't to say the SEC has a stranglehold on the sport or is the only viable conference. The Big 10 and Big 12 are both in the mix for the top men's league, with the exact levels of elite talent varying from year to year. What can't be overlooked, however, is the efforts made by "football" schools to compete on the national stage in sports for which they aren't known historically. This brings us to Texas, a school that is attempting to join the ranks of institutions that can win national titles in both football and men's basketball. Given the rosters of both Steve Sarkisian's and Sean Miller's squads, it is not out of the realm of possibility that the Longhorns could add two more trophies to the collection in the next 12 months, a drastic change from a few years ago, when football was a regular at the Alamo Bowl and the hoops squad spent most Selection Sundays on the edge of their seats. The comedy and drama of Texas hoops The thing that has been so frustrating for fans of men's basketball is that the potential is so blatantly obvious. Beyond the ample financial resources present in Austin and the school's ownership of a top-notch facility in the Moody Center, the actual state of Texas has no shortage of elite individual hoops talents. Here are some of the names that have come from the state in the last decade: PG Cade Cunningham Arlington-Bowie (TX), Montverde Academy (FL) Oklahoma State → Detroit Pistons (no. 1 pick, 2021 Draft) SG Tre Johnson Lake Highlands (TX), Link Academy (MO) Texas → Washington Wizards (no. 6 pick, 2025 Draft) PG Tyrese Maxey South Garland (TX) Kentucky → Philadelphia 76ers (no. 21 pick, 2020 Draft) PF Ron Holland II Duncanville (TX) G League Ignite → Detroit Pistons (no. 5 pick, 2024 Draft) C Jarrett Allen Round Rock (TX), St. Stephen's Episcopal (TX) Texas → Brooklyn Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers (no. 22 pick, 2017 by BKN) PF PJ Washington Prime Prep (TX), Lone Star (TX), Findlay Prep (NV) Kentucky → Charlotte Hornets, Dallas Mavericks (no. 12 pick, 2019 by CHA) PG Marcus Sasser Red Oak (TX) Houston → Detroit Pistons (via Memphis), Dallas Mavericks (no. 25 pick, 2023) PG/SG Keyonte George Lewisville (TX), IMG Academy (FL) Baylor → Utah Jazz (no. 16 pick, 2023 Draft) PG Cason Wallace Richardson (TX) Kentucky → Oklahoma City Thunder (via DAL) (no. 10 pick, 2023 Draft) PG Quentin Grimes The Woodlands College Park (TX) Kansas, Houston → Knicks, Pistons, Mavericks, 76ers. Lakers (no. 25 pick, 2021 Draft by NYK) PG Anthony Black (Arkansas → Orlando Magic) Coppell (TX), Duncanville (TX) Arkansas → Orlando Magic (no. 6 pick, 2023 Draft) PG Kingston Flemings Brennan (TX) Houston → Atlanta Hawks (no. 8 pick, 2026 Draft) PF Zuby Ejiofor Garland (TX) Kansas, St. John's → Atlanta Hawks (no. 23 pick, 2026 Draft) SF Liam McNeeley JJ Pearce (TX), John Paul II (TX), Montverde Academy (FL) Connecticut → Charlotte Hornets (via PHX) (no. 29 pick, 2025 Draft) SG Ja'Kobe Walter McKinney (TX), Link Academy (MO) Baylor → Toronto Raptors (no. 19 pick, 2024 Draft) SF Jaylon Tyson John Paul II (TX) Texas, Texas Tech, California → Cleveland Cavaliers (no. 20 pick, 2024 Draft) SG Micah Peavy Dekaney (TX), Duncanville (TX) Texas Tech, TCU, Georgetown → New Orleans Pelicans (via WAS) (no. 40 pick, 2025 Draft) This doesn't even account for older native Texans in the league like Jimmy Butler, Julius Randle, and Myles Turner, or the amount of current collegiate stars from the Longhorns' backyard. The point being, there is no excuse for the program fans watched for a decade with the resources and in-house talent. Texas basketball was doing its best George Costanza impression, sabotaging themselves regularly to the tune of an eight-year stretch devoid of a single NCAA Tournament win. Shaka Smart brought the same level of incompetence to program building that George did to his romantic life, and the Texas brass and fanbase suffered for it. He eventually fled Austin with his money like Llewelyn Moss in No Country For Old Men and took the Marquette job, where he has somehow been miles more successful in the years since. The first post-Shaka Smart chapter featured the seismic and intensely polarizing arrival and subsequent meteoric downfall of a false prophet when Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard left Lubbock in the dust and took over at his alma mater in Austin. In the process, he plunged a rusted blade deep into the heart of a devastated Red Raider fanbase, stoking the flames of West Texas hatred towards Austin in the wake of the betrayal. Chris Covatta/Getty Images While Beard's rookie campaign in Austin in 2021-22 didn't result in national prominence overnight, it still demonstrated the potential of a program that was climbing out of the apathetic state in which it had existed for the previous decade. 6-seeded Texas managed its first NCAA Tournament win since 2014 when they took down 11-seed Virginia Tech, 81-73. Though Purdue beat them by double digits in the Round of 32, the stage was set going forward. Texas had their guy. Of course, the honeymoon didn't last long. After an incredible start to the 2022-23 season in which Texas beat two top 10 teams and started 12-1, looking every bit the part of a national championship contender, Chris Beard prematurely detonated his career in burnt orange with a very serious domestic violence arrest on December 12 of 2022. Continuing the earlier analogy, if Shaka Smart is George Costanza, then Beard is Cosmo Kramer — or, more specifically, actor/comedian Michael Richards during his infamous "performance" at the Los Angeles Laugh Factory in 2006. Though the felony charges against the embattled coach were later dropped, the damage had been done. Ole Miss hired Beard just months after the charges dropped. Texas was once again aimless in the men's basketball department. The Hot Rod loses steam Assistant coach Rodney Terry was forced into the unenviable position of righting a ship in the midst of a program-altering storm, thrust into the spotlight after a few unsuccessful stints running his own teams in the past. It's one thing to lose a coach to a better opportunity; it's an entirely different situation when that opportunity is a grey jumpsuit in the Travis County Correctional Facility. But the show must go on, and it did. After all, no one was doubting Beard's ability to put together a championship roster. Despite legitimate skepticism of his coaching history, Terry managed to rally a disoriented team through the chaos, resulting in a Big 12 Tournament Championship and eventual trip to the Elite 8. Coincidentally, the Longhorns took down eventual head coach Sean Miller's Xavier squad in the Sweet 16. The Longhorns battled Miami valiantly in the regional final, but the loss of forward Dylan Disu ultimately proved too much to overcome. Rodney Terry, Tre Johnson (Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images) The momentum built in that season resulted in athletic director Chris Del Conte's decision to burn Terry's interim tag, making him the permanent head coach at Texas. Arguments raged amongst the fanbase and the college basketball world at large about whether this was an emotional overreaction. Likely somewhat informed by dissenting opinion, Del Conte played it safe, signing Terry to a short-term, three-year deal. It turns out that the folks hesitant to crown Rodney Terry had been on to something. The mistakes that defined his prior stints at UTEP and Fresno State repeated themselves in Austin, unable to replicate the success of the 2022-23 season. Terry's teams struggled to gel, indicating a subpar job of talent evaluation. The lack of cohesion was apparent. This, combined with stagnant offensive sets, came to be emblematic of the entire program, which, simply put, lacked momentum. Even the scoring brilliance of SEC Freshman of the Year Tre Johnson could not reverse the Longhorns' fortunes, and Terry was let go in March of 2025 after a 19-16 season and First Four exit. PART TWO COMING NEXT WEEK.