Texas Basketball: Where ESPN ranked Horns in latest way-too-early top 25

A prominent recent way-too-early top 25 poll from ESPN had decently high markings for the Texas basketball program for the 2020-21 season.

As one of the teams that rounded out the 2019-20 college basketball regular season on a high note, the Texas basketball program was a single triumph away from ending it on a seven-game winning streak. Texas took on the Oklahoma State Cowboys (who were one of the bottom three teams in the Big 12 standings for much of the season) in the regular season finale.

But the Texas Longhorns basketball program didn’t show up as expected in their regular season finale, and Oklahoma State wound up getting the best of them by the final score of 81-59 at home at the Frank Erwin Center. That was the last game that Texas played in prior to the novel coronavirus pandemic-induced 2019-20 season cancellation.

Texas finished up the 2019-20 regular season with a record of 19-12 (9-9 Big 12). They were supposed to face the five-seed Texas Tech Red Raiders in their first game of the Big 12 Tournament, on March 12. But the Big 12 Tournament, and the rest of the college hoops postseason, was cancelled effectively on March 11. That was pretty much the last day that any major sports were played before COVID-19 cancelled them all.

Moreover, it looks as if Texas will be bringing back head coach Shaka Smart for his sixth year since the season ended in limbo ahead of Selection Sunday. Smart was on the right track prior to the Big 12 Tournament and regular season finale. And Smart and the Longhorns are still well in the running to land the elite five-star Vandegrift power forward Greg Brown.

The outlook for the Longhorns in the coming men’s hoops season is actually quite solid. A lot of way-too-early top 25 polls have the Longhorns ranked. And one of the most recent significant way-too-early 2020-21 season rankings was released on April 20, with ESPN’s Jeff Borzello publishing their most updated poll.

In their latest edition of the way-too-early men’s hoops top 25 rankings, ESPN slotted Texas just outside the top 25. Texas remained steady as one of the “next in line” teams just outside the top 25. There were five teams slotted in the category of next in line. The other four included the Michigan Wolverines, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, and LSU Tigers.

Four other teams from the Big 12 were included in the early top 25 rankings. That list included the Baylor Bears (No. 3), Kansas Jayhawks (No. 6), Texas Tech Red Raiders (No. 11), and West Virginia Mountaineers (No. 23).

A premier team that the Longhorns face during their 2020-21 non-conference schedule was ranked at No. 2 in this early poll. The Gonzaga Bulldogs headline Texas’ non-conference slate for each of the next two seasons. The Zags only sat behind the Villanova Wildcats as the top ranked team in the nation in this poll.

Smart and the Longhorns return most of their production from the 2019-20 team. We should see rising junior guard Courtney Ramey, senior guard Matt Coleman, senior center Jericho Sims, and senior shooting guard Andrew Jones, among others, all coming back for the 2020-21 season.