texas longhorns basketball recruiting – Page 6

Big 12 basketball tournament to remain in Kansas City through 2025

The Big 12 Conference and the city of Kansas City have agreed to keep the basketball championship tournament there through 2025.

The Big 12 Conference announced that they will keep the postseason basketball tournament in Kansas City. The original deal ran through 2020 and will now remain there for five more seasons according to their website.

We were all looking forward to having our basketball championships back together in Kansas City in 2020. While the pandemic didn’t allow that to happen, this extension provides an additional year for our institutions and fans to take part in the Big 12 basketball atmosphere that has become synonymous with Kansas City.

With the plans we had in place to celebrate the men’s and women’s basketball championships being back to together in Kansas City, the 2020 Big 12 Basketball Championships were poised to be especially exciting,“ says Kathy Nelson, President & CEO of the Kansas City Sports Commission. “The unfortunate cancellation of those events due to COVID-19 definitely left our community wanting more. We are excited and grateful that the Big 12 Conference has decided to extend our agreement to host both the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships through 2025. – Bob Bowlsby, Big 12 Commissioner

There was some hope that the Big 12’s basketball championship tournaments would move to a more centralized location for all schools. Cities such as Oklahoma City, Oklahoma or Dallas, Texas. Unfortunately with the recent contract extension between Kansas City and the conference won’t allow that to happen until at least 2026.

The Texas Longhorns are hoping to have more competitive teams in the upcoming season. The men’s team will return with everyone from the 2019-20 team with the addition of the number one recruit in the country Greg Brown.

The women’s team will be under new leadership with the recent hire of Vic Schaefer, who came over from Mississippi State. There is a bit of excitement given the direction he had his previous program going.

Longhorns well-represented on 2021 Texas Sports Hall of Fame Ballot

The Texas Sports Hall of Fame listed their ballot for the 2021 class. The Longhorns have nine former athletes up for induction.

The Texas Sports Hall of Fame recently released their 2021 ballots and it has plenty of former Texas Longhorns on it. There are two ballots with one being the primary and the other being the veteran ballot. In total there are nine Longhorns and seven are on the primary ballot. The sports range from football, basketball, softball and track and field.

Primary Ballot

Phil Dawson, Kicker

The first former Longhorn on the ballot is former kicker Phil Dawson. Dawson played for Texas from 1994-97. He would appear in 46 games in that span. Twice he led the conference in extra point attempts, extra points made and field goal percentage. He would finish his Longhorns career with 339 points scored, his career high of 108 was set in 1996.

He would go on to enjoy a NFL career that lasted until 2018. Most of his career was spent in Cleveland for 14 seasons. He would join the San Francisco 49ers for four seasons and the final two in Arizona with the Cardinals. He played in 305 games total. In that time he converted 83.8 percent of his field goal attempts and 97.6 percent of his extra point attempts.

He would finish his career with 1,847 points over his 20-year NFL career. He was selected to his only Pro Bowl in 2012, which would also be his last year in Cleveland. Dawson ranks second in Browns history for most points scored. He only trails legendary kicker Lou Groza.

Accomplishments:

All-American kicker and four-year starter who left UT with 13 Longhorn records, including all-time marks for scoring (339), field goals (59) and field goal accuracy (74.7 percent)
Finished his career ranked 16th on the NCAA all-time scoring list, 12th on the NCAA all-time kick-scoring chart and 31st on the NCAA all-time field goals made list
Set a UT record by hitting 15 straight field goals in 1996-97; set a UT record by making six straight field goals from 50 or more yards from 1995-97
Connected on 64.3 percent of his field goals from 40 yards and further (27 of 42) during his college career
Signed as free agent with Cleveland in 1999
Hall of Honor inductee in 2012

Pages: 12345678

With NBA set to return, should Kevin Durant?

The NBA Board of Governors voted to approve a 22-team league restart plan in Orlando. Should Kevin Durant come back and play for the Nets?

On Thursday, the NBA Board of Governors voted to approve a 22-team league restart plan in Orlando, Florida according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The top eight teams from both the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference will travel to Florida, plus the Portland Trailblazers, New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Phoneix Suns, and the Washington Wizards.

Each team will play eight games to conclude the 2019-2020 regular season. From there on, a normal playoff schedule will be in place, with the top eight teams from each conference facing off.

Within the top eight teams of the Eastern Conference is the Brooklyn Nets. This offseason, Brooklyn signed two major free agents in former Duke star Kyrie Irving and former Longhorn Kevin Durant.

However, nobody has seen Durant in a Nets jersey yet, as he has been sidelined with a torn Achilles since Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals with the Golden State Warriors. The original plan was to have him sit out the entire season and return for the 2020-2021 season.

Now, with a nearly four-month layoff due to COVID-19, should Kevin Durant return to the Nets and attempt to help them win a championship this season?

As thing stand, Brooklyn is in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, sitting at a record of 30-34. They are six games behind the sixth-placed Philadelphia 76ers and six games ahead of the ninth-place Washington Wizards. The Nets are more or less a lock for the playoffs at this point.

Assuming all seeding remains the same after eight games, their first-round opponent would be the defending NBA Champions, the Toronto Raptors.

Durant is not the only injured star for Brooklyn, as Kyrie Irving underwent season-ending shoulder surgery back in February. As of now, the Nets are without two players they are paying a combined $70 million.

If Irving was healthy and Brooklyn was seen as a competitive force throughout the season, Durant could have considered coming back for the playoffs.

Without the superstar point guard, there is no point in rushing back, especially as a 7-seed. Assuming everything goes well, Durant should be able to be ready to go for the 2020-2021 NBA season.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

An NBA team composed of only Texas Longhorns

What would an NBA team look like if it was only composed of former Texas Longhorns currently in the NBA? Here is our starting five.

Recently Longhorns Wire released their all NFL offensive and defensive teams using only Longhorns currently in the NFL. The offensive teams and defensive posts can be found using the links below.

Continue reading “An NBA team composed of only Texas Longhorns”

Pages: 123456

Four-star power forward from Westlake announces top 10

2021 PF KJ Adams has announced his top 10 with UT making the cut. Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech join Texas as Big 12 teams.

2021 power forward KJ Adams has announced his top 10 with Texas making the cut. Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech join the Longhorns as Big 12 teams.

Continue reading “Four-star power forward from Westlake announces top 10”

Texas offers 2021 four-star small forward from St. Louis

Texas has offered 2021 four-star forward Jordan Nesbitt. The Longhorns are the seventh power program to offer the St. Louis native.

Continue reading “Texas offers 2021 four-star small forward from St. Louis”

The Longhorns offer 2021 three-star guard from Arizona

Texas has offered 2021 prospect D’Marco Dunn from Tuscon, Arizona. The three-star shooting guard has picked up his first Big 12 offer.

Continue reading “The Longhorns offer 2021 three-star guard from Arizona”

Texas moves up to No. 15 in the Rothstein 45

With the addition of five-star Greg Brown, UT has jumped six spots in the Rothstein 45, coming in at No. 15. Back in March, UT was No. 21.

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports has released his top 45 teams going into the 2020-2021 college basketball season. Back in March, the Longhorns sat within the top 25 at No. 21, behind four other Big 12 schools.

With the addition of five-star forward Greg Brown, Texas has jumped six spots in the standings, coming in at No. 15. Leaping West Virginia (No. 16) and Texas Tech (No. 17), the Longhorns now only sit behind Baylor (No. 3) and Kansas (No. 4) in the Big 12.

Here is how the college basketball insider thinks Texas’ lineup will look next season:

15. Texas

G Matt Coleman
G Courtney Ramey
G Andrew Jones
F Kai Jones
F Greg Brown

Key Losses: None

Key Newcomers: Greg Brown

Projected Bench: Kamaka Hepa, Jase Febres, Will Baker, Brock Cunningham, Royce Hamm, Gerald Liddell, Donovan Williams, Jericho Sims

Three key returning starters for the Longhorns will be the starting guards of Matt Coleman, Courtney Ramey, and Andrew Jones. Averaging a combined 35.1 points per game last season, the guards will be expected to carry the load game in and game out once again.

Brown will be the missing factor that can elevate Texas to a new level next season. His athleticism mixed with his raw basketball talent, especially on the defensive side of the ball, will be the reason the Longhorns compete in the Big 12.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

ESPN Bracketology: Texas a four seed in the West

ESPN has projected UT as a four seed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament Bracketology. This would be UT’s highest seed in the tournament since 2011.

Picking up five-star forward Greg Brown has built up hype for this upcoming basketball season, with Texas expected to be better than usual. Bringing back 100% of their production to go along with Brown and Shaka Smart is expected to have his best team ever in Austin.

Even ESPN’s Joe Lunardi is buying into the hype around this Longhorns team, ranking them as high as a four seed in his 2021 NCAA Tournament Bracketology. This would be Texas’ highest seed in the tournament ever under Smart and the highest since the 2011 tournament.

Playing in the West region, Gonzaga reigns as the No. 1 overall seed. Wisconsin, Big 12 rival Texas Tech, and Oregon round out the top five.

Here is the full region:

Outside of the west, five other Big 12 schools are projected to make the NCAA tournament, including Baylor being a one-seed in the South region. With those first and second-round games projected to be in Dallas, the Bears would have a huge home-court advantage against their opponents.

Kansas is once again expected to be a top team in the country, being a two-seed in the Midwest region. The Jayhawks are joined by Oklahoma State in their region but on the opposite side of the bracket. The Cowboys are projected to be nine-seed. This would be the first time Oklahoma State made the NCAA Tournament since 2017.

To round out the conference, West Virginia and Oklahoma will represent the Big 12 in the East region. The Mountaineers will be a three-seed, while the Sooners will be a nine-seed. The two were both expected to make the 2019 NCAA Tournament but was canceled due to the coronavirus.

As a whole, the Big 12 is going to have a rebound type season in college basketball. While the conference may have the same amount of teams in the NCAA Tournament, a couple schools outside of Kansas and Baylor will be highly seeded.

Thanks to the commitment of Greg Brown, Texas will hopefully be one of those highly seeded teams. Last season, finishing third in the Big 12 (as the Longhorns did) put you in an elimination game in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament. In 2020-2021, finishing third in the conference could have you as a top seed in the NCAA Tournament.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

247Sports links Shaka Smart with Wake Forest job

Despite coming back to Texas for the 2020-2021 season, 247Sports have put Smart on their list for potential head coach hires at Wake Forest.

Shaka Smart has been on the hot seat for the past couple of seasons, needing to make the NCAA Tournament. The Longhorns were on pace to make the big dance in 2020, but the coronavirus shut down the season, not letting it play out.

Shortly after the season was canceled, athletic director Chris Del Conte announced Smart would be back for the 2020-2021 season. It will be his sixth season in Austin, needing to make the NCAA Tournament for just the third time in his tenure.

Despite all of this, 247Sports have put Smart as the first name of their list for potential head coach hires at Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons fired Danny Manning after losing seasons in five of his six years. His one winning season saw them losing in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament.

Here is what 247Sports had to say about the potential hire:

It’s 2014 all over again, as Shaka Smart is once again being linked to the Wake Forest Basketball head coaching position. Is it still a dream hire for Demon Deacon fans? It might be tough to find a more qualified candidate. Smart has made the NCAA Tournament seven of his 11 years coaching, and led VCU to the Final Four in 2011. Of course, he’s still the coach at Texas, a massive school with an astronomical athletics budget and a sizable contract buy-out that goes along with that. The friendship between incoming Wake Forest athletic director John Currie and Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte could potentially bridge that gap, however. Del Conte has already announced that Smart will return for the 2020-21 season, and the Longhorns played reasonably well down the stretch last season.

If Del Conte was not willing to pay the buyout back in March, there is no reason he would do it today. Especially if it meant Smart was going to be coaching elsewhere. Texas would then be left without a head coach during an awkward time in the sports world.

While he is on the hot seat and needs to perform, Smart will be staying in Austin, Smart should be in place for the 2020-2021 season. Returning all of their talent next season, the Longhorns are set to have a good season. Possibly the best team Smart has assembled during his time as head coach.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]