NCAA Basketball: Buy or Sell Arkansas, Baylor, Houston, UNC, Texas, Texas A&M and UCLA?

Texas

This Longhorns program is one that has dealt with some uneasiness in recent years, though Rodney Terry has certainly brought stability since he was promoted to head coach. After an Elite Eight run in his first season, Texas couldn’t quite match that last year and have a bigger challenge ahead of themselves. The Longhorns transition into the SEC and will have no shortage of big games ahead of them after New Year’s, though they’ve already fallen short in their first big challenge.

On opening night in Las Vegas, the Longhorns fell 80-72 against an upstart and eager Ohio State squad. While the Longhorns exorcised those demons a few days later against Houston Christian, they still fell short in their first game. The game was truly won and lost with long-range shooting, as the Longhorns shot just 7 of 27 from outside the arc while Ohio State knocked down half of their 3-point attempts. Had those figures been closer or even, there might have been a different result in Las Vegas.

We’d be failing if we didn’t mention freshman phenom Tre Johnson and his 57 combined points in the Longhorns’ first two games. This Texas squad is leaning heavily on a slew of new transfers, but it looks like Johnson is more than capable of being a leader on offense. Bad shooting nights are going to happen, though the Longhorns will certainly need to get that defense more in check by the time SEC play comes along. We’ll give Texas more time to gel before selling; after all opening night could’ve turned out very differently with a few more made baskets.

Sell