Tag: Texas basketball recruiting

LOOK: Texas basketball head coach Rodney Terry hits recruiting trail

Rodney Terry has his sights on locking down and expanding his first recruiting classes.

Texas head coach Rodney Terry isn’t wasting any time in building his program. Terry took to the recruiting trail this week after being named the next head coach of the Longhorns men’s basketball program.

The new leader of the program visited two program-elevating players from the Dallas area. Terry met with the team’s highest rated 2023 prospect, Ron Holland, from Duncanville High School. Holland ranks as the No. 6 overall player in the 2023 recruiting class.

As for the 2024 class, Terry is all in for the nation’s No. 1 recruit in the class. It was all smiles for elite shooting guard Tre Johnson and Rodney Terry when the two met on Wednesday. The coach that once helped win over Kevin Durant to Austin appears to be making inroads toward winning Johnson’s commitment.

Johnson, who hails from Lake Highland High School, is the type of versatile scorer that could transform the Longhorns offensive attack like Kevin Durant years ago.

Terry will aim to use his recruiting abilities once again with Holland, AJ Johnson, Tre Johnson and other key recruits.

Texas Basketball: Outlook for head coach Rodney Terry’s first full season

The next few months will decide how good Texas basketball is next season.

Texas recently completed one of its best basketball seasons in school history. Continue reading “Texas Basketball: Outlook for head coach Rodney Terry’s first full season”

Texas basketball reaches out to former five-star center Kel’el Ware

Rodney Terry and company hit up a big-time post player initiating Day 1 of new era.

Texas needs big men on its basketball roster for next season. Rodney Terry understands the assignment. Continue reading “Texas basketball reaches out to former five-star center Kel’el Ware”

Report: Texas to offer head coaching position to Rodney Terry

Rodney Terry is expected to be the head coach of the Texas men’s basketball program.

Rodney Terry is expected to be the head coach of the Texas men’s basketball program. Reports circulated Sunday night that the Longhorns are expected to extend an offer to Terry following a strong season.

Texas finished the year 29-9 after advancing to its first Elite Eight in around 15 years. Three NCAA Tournament wins all but solidified Terry as the top candidate for the program.

We discussed the strong likelihood of his return last week. I called Terry the coach of the present and the future despite outside clamor over the lack of a contract extension for the new head coach. The athletic department looks to be silencing the noise.

The toughest season, and offseason for that matter, will likely be the first for Terry. Texas is set to lose Marcus Carr, Sir’Jabari Rice, Timmy Allen and Christian Bishop. The team could also lose Dylan Disu.

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The Longhorns need to win the transfer portal once again. It will likely take adding an impact guard and at least two post players. It appears Terry will get his shot. Now he must pass the next test.

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Miami ends Texas’ NCAA Tournament run, wins 87-81

A lackadaisical effort ends a terrific season for Texas basketball.

Miami is going to the Final Four. They do so at the expense of the Texas Longhorns.

Texas had an abhorrent day on both sides of the ball with lackadaisical ball security and low intelligence defensive play. Longhorn players got lulled to sleep defensively and Miami made them pay.

The Longhorns held as much as a 13-point lead with just over 12 minutes remaining in the game. From there, the team posted the most passive second half performance of the year.

Miami outscored Texas by 20 points in the final 12:37 of the game. Hurricanes guard Jordan Miller shot a scorching 7-for-7 from the field plus 13-of-13 from the free throw line to allow for consistent scoring. From there, Hurricanes star guard Isaiah Wong closed out the game.

In a rare occurrence, Texas head coach Rodney Terry got out-coached by his counterpart, Jim Larranaga. With that, the Longhorns’ impressive 2022-23 basketball season comes to an end.

Texas finishes with a 29-9 record on the year. Miami advances to face the Connecticut Huskies in the Final Four.

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LOOK: Texas HC Steve Sarkisian in Kansas City for Elite Eight game

Steve Sarkisian is in attendance for the Elite Eight game.

Texas Longhorns head football coach Steve Sarkisian is in the house for No. 2 Texas vs No. 5 Miami. He will look to root the team on to its first Final Four appearance since 2003.

Sarkisian was seen with University of Texas President Jay Hartzell and Athletic Director Chris Del Conte ahead of one of the biggest basketball games in program history. He’ll hope the program can see the same result former Texas head coach Tom Herman saw for his new school, Florida Atlantic.

Head basketball coach Rodney Terry has a tremendous opportunity against the Hurricanes. The winner of the game enters a Final Four that includes San Diego State and Florida Atlantic. One of those two smaller schools will play in the National Championship game.

Texas is the only top three seed remaining after the No. 4 Connecticut Huskies defeated No. 3 Gonzaga Saturday night. The scenario is a golden opportunity for the Longhorns to push for a first ever national title in men’s basketball.

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Social media reacts to delayed contract for Texas HC Rodney Terry

Joey Hickey believes Rodney Terry is the head coach of the present and future for Texas.

Rodney Terry has yet to have been announced as the permanent head coach for the Texas Longhorns basketball program. In my opinion, he doesn’t need to be announced. This is Terry’s program. It goes without saying.

Terry piloted perhaps the best regular season in Austin since 2003. He is well on his way to the best postseason since that year. Just three times have the Longhorns reached the Final Four (1943, 1947, 2003). Nearly 20 years later, Terry and company are one win over No. 5 seed Miami away from making it back to college basketball’s biggest stage.

Never mind the positive news. College basketball media have made Terry’s perceived lack of job security a major storyline of the NCAA Tournament.

I find it hard to fathom that Texas could go with any other coach but Rodney Terry. Looking at the last few results, perhaps the only question is how much money Terry will make and for how many years.

We could certainly be wrong. In which case, I’ll be the first to call out Texas for moving on from a terrific coach. But until we have tangible proof that the Longhorns are heading in another direction, any coaching controversy talk is premature.

Here’s a look at college sports media commentary on the head coaching position.

Texas Basketball: Potential target Kerr Kriisa enters transfer portal

Could the Pac-12 assist leader choose Texas through the transfer portal?

Former Arizona Wildcats guard Kerr Kriisa is now in the transfer portal. He could potentially find a place on the Texas basketball roster next season.

The Estonian guard was a key piece in the Wildcats’ impressive season. Kriisa compiled a strong 9.9 points and 5.1 assists per game over the 2022-23 season. His assist total was good for league-best in the Pac-12 Conference.

The well-rounded player shot 36.6% from three-point range to go with a 76.7% mark from the free throw line. And while Kriisa is not Marcus Carr, he could certainly ease the loss of the Longhorns do-it-all point guard.

Texas is set to lose Carr, Sir’Jabari Rice, Timmy Allen and Christian Bishop with Dylan Disu likely to depart as well. Incoming freshmen Ron Holland and A.J. Johnson are set to combat those losses, but the team probably needs to find an impact guard and two post players through the portal.

Arterio Morris, Tyrese Hunter, Dillon Mitchell and Brock Cunningham are set to return to make for a strong core of players. A strong performance in the NCAA Tournament could help command consideration from free agents in the portal.

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Dick Vitale criticizes Texas for delaying in hiring Rodney Terry

Dick Vitale goes too far in his criticism of Texas’ athletic department.

Dick Vitale is not impressed by Texas’ long wait to hire Rodney Terry. He tweeted as much in a strongly worded statement on the athletic department’s delay.

Lack of class by Texas athletic board. I can buy waiting until the end of the regular season on the status of ⁦Rodney Terry. However after winning ⁦the Big 12 conference title, he deserved a multi-year deal.

That’s one way to put it. Albeit, Vitale’s take on the situation is probably too strong given Terry’s lack of proven track record prior through ten seasons as a Division I head coach.

We discussed Terry as having proven himself by winning two NCAA Tournament games. Terry did just that in reaching the Sweet 16. However, prior to those wins he had yet to put together the postseason resume to command the coaching job. Winning Big 12 Tournament titles is great, but Shaka Smart did that, too.

Texas hired former head coach Chris Beard to bring in a proven commodity. In Beard, the Longhorns had a coach who had won games in the tournament that mattered. Now that Terry has advanced in tournament play, he is more than qualified to be the coach of the future.

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Predicting the Sweet 16 games, including Texas vs Xavier

We predict all Sweet 16 games.

The second weekend of the NCAA Tournament begins Thursday. For the first time since 2008, the Texas Longhorns are participants. The Longhorns reunite with a familiar Sweet 16 foe on Friday night.

Texas faces the Xavier Musketeers who sent Rick Barnes and company home for the 2004 NCAA Tournament. Since the game, Xavier has been a mainstay in college basketball across multiple head coaching hires. The Longhorns are looking to join them as consistent contenders.

Rodney Terry has done well to avoid the minefields that have presented themselves for fellow top seeds. Purdue, Kansas, Marquette and Arizona have already been eliminated as Top 2 seeds. Their absences increase the likelihood that Texas could win it all. They’ll have to get past a difficult test in Xavier to get there.

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Here’s a look at how the next round could unfold.