Texas Basketball: Longhorns Mount Rushmore since 2000

We’re starting off the Mount Rushmore of Longhorn basketball since the turn of the century with four names that need to be included in the discussion, but are split up into two decades for these honors. The first up on the list is the former All-American honoree and the Wooden and Naismith Award winner T.J. Ford.

This two-part Mount Rushmore includes players dating all the way back to the 2001-02 campaign, which was the first year for Ford on the Forty Acres. This 6-foot star point guard had a very lengthy list of accolades just in the span of two years with the Longhorns. He was also the first of two Longhorns to win the Wooden Award in the 2000’s.

Other significant accolades that Ford took back to Austin included two-time All-Big 12 honors, 2001-02 USBWA Freshman of the Year, 2001-02 Big 12 Rookie of the Year, and 2002-03 Sporting News Player of the Year. He also led the Big 12 and NCAA in assists per game in (8.3) and led the Big 12 in steals per game (2.2) in 2001-02. He would finish second in steals per game in the Big 12 in 2002-03 (2.0).

Ford averaged 15.0 points per game, 7.7 assists, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.0 steals, while shooting 40.1 percent from the field and 82.0 percent from the charity stripe during his final season at Texas. His 4.3 win shares and .155 win shares per 40 minutes also highlighted how effective he was for the Longhorns in 2002-03. He has to make this list.