Texas Basketball: Who will the Longhorns play in the PK80 Tournament?
By Stuart Gill
Texas Basketball will take on Butler in the first round of the 80th annual Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Oregon.
The new-look Texas Longhorns will face their first big test of the season when they take on the Butler Bulldogs on November 23rd. The two teams had very different experiences last year under relatively young head coaches.
Texas went 11-22 under second-year head coach Shaka Smart. It was the first time in his career Smart failed to post at least 20 wins in a season. Despite being ranked No. 21 in the AP Preseason Top-25, the Longhorns dug themselves an early-season hole, quickly dropping to 1-5 in the Big-12. Many believed their troubles stemmed from the lack of a true point guard, as their assists to turnover ratio ranked last in the conference.
Still, Smart managed to bring in a promising group of talent. Four-star point guard Matt Coleman chose to play for Texas over Duke, saying it was “where [he] was needed more.” Then the Longhorns wrangled ESPN’s third-best high school player in the nation, Mohamed Bamba. The five-star, seven-footer out of New York will have a huge impact on how the Longhorns fare in the Big-12.
Texas looks like one of the nation’s most exciting teams to watch. To make a long story short, the Longhorns are ready to put last season behind them and will not be an easy team to defeat in this tournament.
Chris Holtmann‘s Butler Bulldogs finished 25-9 overall, just behind Villanova in the Big East in his third season at the helm. They made it to the Sweet Sixteen, where they lost a competitive game to eventual National Champions UNC. Leading scorer Kelan Martin is returning for his senior season, as well as the promising Kamar Baldwin who averaged over 10 points per game as a freshman.
The Bulldogs have also brought in some young talent in 4-star forward Kyle Young. The 6-6 forward will benefit from the leadership of Butler’s older, more experienced forwards such as Martin.
Butler is a team steeped in tradition, namely from the Brad Stevens era in which they made multiple trips to the Final Four. While they lack big-name talent, they are not an easy win as they have proven with three consecutive finishes above .500 in a tough conference.
The winner of this matchup will face the winner of Duke-Portland State on November 24th.