Texas Basketball: 5 early NCAA Transfer Portal targets for 2020 offseason

In the midst of all the names pouring into the NCAA Transfer Portal early on, who could the Texas basketball program be targeting this offseason?

Since the narrative of the Texas basketball program and the entirety of college hoops in general shifted from the cancellation of the NCAA and Big 12 Tournament to what lies ahead for the 2020 offseason, there’s a lot of news that flew under the radar. Various college hoops players that could either be vying for an additional year of eligibility or straight up be putting their names in the NCAA Transfer Portal with the early end to the 2019-20 season.

While the abrupt end to the 2019-20 college basketball season right as it was about to get good does leave a lot to be desired, it was for the best given all the novel coronavirus outbreak precautions. Pretty much every domestic professional sports league and college sport is either cancelled or put on pause for the time being.

The last game head coach Shaka Smart and his Texas team played in came way back on March 7 in the regular season finale against the Oklahoma State Cowboys. That meeting with Oklahoma State unfortunately ended in a tragic 81-59 loss at home at the Frank Erwin Center. The next game up for Texas after that was supposed to be their first in the Big 12 Tournament as a four seed, against the five seed Texas Tech Red Raiders.

The meeting with Texas Tech would be the second in a matter of a couple weeks, and would’ve occurred on March 12. But Texas now enters the offseason with their 2019-20 season cut short before they could try and keep their hot streak alive in the Big 12 Tournament and possibly the Big Dance. The record capped off at 19-12 (9-9 Big 12).

Here’s a look into the five early targets that the Texas Longhorns basketball program could be looking into as the NCAA Transfer Portal takes center stage in the news cycle.