NCAA Basketball: Ranking the 8 team finalists for 2023 5-star guard Ja’Kobe Walter
By Ian Mumm
Texas Longhorns
Head coach Chris Beard’s opening season in Austin significantly failed to meet expectations based on the recruiting class he assembled last offseason. The arrival of Timmy Allen (Utah), Christian Bishop (Creighton), Marcus Carr (Texas), Dylan Disu (Vanderbilt), and Tre Mitchell (UMass), alongside returning starters Andrew Jones and Courtney Ramey, suggested this team was much closer to their preseason #5 ranking than the 22-12 record they finished with.
The resulting logjam of talent has turned the Longhorns program into a relatively depleted roster heading into 2022-23 after losing 5 key rotational pieces and 3 of the top-5 scoring assets from last year’s team.
Texas is adding a trio of top-80 freshman recruits, including a pair of 5-star guards in Arterio Morris and Dillon Mitchell, to boost the depth and production from this new-look roster. However, the overall future depth is a concern given these freshmen are the only likely rotational pieces expected to contribute to the 2023-24 team as well. This places a high priority on landing a player of Ja’Kobe Walter’s caliber.
Walter’s physical traits, defensive instincts, and scoring aptitude make him a prototypical guard for Coach Beard’s system. It’s a piece the 2nd year Longhorns coach can ill-afford to lose out on, as the large majority of Texas backcourt targets have yet to reciprocate the same level of interest that Walter has. Landing him will go a long ways toward building a recruiting class capable of keeping this school’s momentum afloat and pushing beyond what this team achieved this season.