Texas Basketball: Isaiah Taylor is a massive loss for Longhorns

Texas basketball is losing its most experienced guard to the NBA Draft.

The final image of Isaiah Taylor‘s college career will feature the point guard kneeling on the ground with his hands above his head and his face in complete disgust. Paul Jesperson nailed a game winning half-court buzzer beater to knock Texas out of the NCAA Tournament in the first round and Taylor was unable to advance on college basketball’s biggest stage.

Taylor had one season of eligibility remaining but the lead guard opted to declare for the 2016 NBA Draft. On Thursday, the California native made his plans official by signing an agent, which completely eliminates any chance of him returning to the college ranks.

Texas guard Isaiah Taylor has signed with an agent and will remain the 2016 NBA Draft, per release.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) April 21, 2016

The 6’1″ lead guard was the engine that steered the ship for Shaka Smart. Taylor has elite quickness, great handles, playmaking ability, a solid assist to turnover ratio and an improving jump shot.

But most importantly, Taylor has loads of experience. He’s played 30 plus minutes in all three of his seasons with the Longhorns, has been through the gauntlet in the Big 12 and has played in four total NCAA Tournament games.

The Longhorns will also lose big men Cameron Ridley and Prince Ibeh this offseason to graduation, so Smart was expected to transition more into the ‘Havoc’ style of play that was trademarked at VCU. Texas is still likely to implement that system more in Smart’s second season, but will it be the same without Taylor?

Instead of having a unit that could compete with the best teams in the Big 12, Texas will be headed for a likely rebuilding season.

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Kendal Yancy, Kerwin Roach Jr., Eric Davis Jr. and Tevin Mack will return in the backcourt while soon-to-be freshman Andrew Jones and Jacob Young will provide quality minutes at the shooting guard position. Texas still has plenty of fast, athletic players who can handle Smart’s up-tempo style of play and relentless defense, but they are missing a piece to the puzzle. They don’t have a player that can settle the team down, get them into sets and successfully run a half court offense.

Taylor may not have the most consistent jump shot in the Big 12, but he doesn’t turn the basketball over and his leadership is second to none.

Smart’s one issue at VCU was the Rams’ inability to score in the half court. Most of their points came off forced turnovers and opportunities in transition. Taylor would’ve created easy baskets for himself and others when the pace slowed down.

Now, the Longhorns lack that tone setter.

While Roach is an athletic specimen, Davis is fearless and Mack is versatile (he can play numerous positions), the Longhorns better hope all three mature rather quickly.

Texas has plenty of versatility – they can play Mack at the four or even the five and give teams a different spin with ‘small ball’ – and this squad will play hard every single night.

But when it comes down to it in the month of March, experienced guards matter. Texas won’t have that.

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In particular, they won’t have Taylor, one of the best guards in the country.

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