NCAA Basketball: Top 25 early winners from 2023 offseason moves
By Joey Loose
15. Texas
Frankly, few programs had as crazy a season that the Longhorns experienced last year. Expectations were sky-high before the season and then Chris Beard was fired after domestic violence accusations. Interim coach Rodney Terry was sensational, leading the Longhorns to the Elite Eight and earning the full-time position for the future. Now, he’s been very busy building another top-level roster for 2024.
Dylan Disu is the biggest piece confirmed to return from that Elite Eight run, but the Longhorns have made a series of splashes in the offseason. While their recruiting class recently took a big hit, they’ve been busy in the Transfer Portal. The Longhorns recently landed center Kadin Shedrick from Virginia and also got Max Abmas, a star from Oral Roberts. Abmas was certainly among the top players in the Portal and should take up a significant role in Texas’s offense next season.
Terry is still hard at work building the best roster possible for the Longhorns, but adding Abmas and Shedrick is already an impressive offseason. Abmas could quite possibly be the crown jewel of the offseason, even if he’ll be in Austin for just one season. Texas should be a Top 25 team that competes in the new-look Big 12, which is not something we would’ve said a few weeks ago before those big transfers landed with the Longhorns.