The departure of head coach Chris Beard will go a long way in determining the future of the Longhorns program. In fact, Beard is a proven College basketball betting winner who took the Texas Tech Red Raiders to the Final Four. The Texas Longhorns have never won the college basketball national championship for all that they have going for them. Equally important is that the Longhorns have only three Final Fours in their history. Texas last made the Final Four in 2003, with its previous appearances in 1943 and 1947.
2023-24 Texas Longhorns Basketball Preview
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2023-24 Texas Longhorns Basketball Outlook
In like manner to the famed Texas football program, the basketball team has been spinning its wheels with coaches. Rodney Terry did an excellent job taking over on the fly for Beard, producing an Elite Eight run, and is now the permanent head man.
From 1998 through 2015, Rick Barnes seemed to have the online wagering coaching problem solved for Texas. To illuminate, Texas made the NCAA Tournament 16 times under Barnes with 15 20-win seasons. But Barnes could only produce one Final Four and seemed to be out of gas at the end of the 2014-15 season. Barnes was fired in a controversial move. Subsequently, he has thrived ever since as the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers. In the end, he was considered too old-school by the Texas donors and fan base.
Of course, when a school changes coaches, they will go from one extreme to another in personality and style. Certainly, that was the case when the Longhorns hired Shaka Smart as the replacement for Barnes. Shaka comes off as hip and with it. And was an NCAABB betting miracle worker at Virginia Commonwealth when he led them to the Final Four. Following a start that year in the NCAA Tournament in the First Four.
Shaka Smart led the Longhorns to three NCAA Tournaments from 2016 through 2021. Yet he never fully caught on. Despite his player’s coach image, the irony of Smart is that he built a reputation for getting kids to overachieve through hard work and grit at Virginia Commonwealth. At Texas, he encountered a more entitled type of athlete. Specifically, players often refused to give Smart what he wanted.
Additionally, many donors found that Smart’s personality was not their flavor. Texas and Smart were never a good fit, and Shaka found a life raft at Marquette. He bailed after the NCAA Tournament in 2021.
Texas Basketball looks to be in good hands heading into the 2023-24 season under head coach Rodney Terry. Following their 29-9 finish in 2022-23, they’ve got some key additions to fill the departures of Marcus Carr and Timmy Allen.
The Longhorns went 22-8 under Coach Terry and finished in the Elite Eight in this past year’s NCAA Tournament. Furthermore, they turned things up in a big way by winning the Big 12 Conference Tournament championship. Texas performed well as a 2-seed in the Midwest region. Consider Terry led them to their furthest result since they made the Elite Eight in the 2008 NCAA Tournament as a 2-seed during the Rick Barnes era.
Now, Terry will look to continue his success with five returners from last year’s squad. Namely, Tyrese Hunter, Dylan Disu, and Dillon Mitchell as the marquee names. The transfer portal is where they struck gold. Texas added 2022-23 Summit League Player of the Year Max Abmas (Oral Roberts). In addition to defensive stalwart Kadin Shedrick (UVA) and WAC Rookie of the Year Kendall Weaver (UT-Arlington) to boost the roster.