Texas Basketball: 2 ex-Marquette players to target in the transfer portal

The big news heading into the weekend on the Forty Acres concerned now former Texas basketball head coach Shaka Smart bolting from the program to be the next Marquette Golden Eagles head coach. On March 26, Marquette had the news break that they were anticipated to hire Smart to replace their head coach that was let go last week in Steve Wojciechowski.

Smart and the Longhorns had a really disappointing end to the season following their early exit in March Madness which came last weekend. Texas was a three-seed in the Round of 64 heading into their first meeting in the NCAA Tournament, which came against the upset-minded 14-seed Abilene Christian Wildcats and head coach Joe Golding.

It was last-second free throws made in the second half by junior ACU big man Joe Pleasant that was the deciding factor in the upset of the Longhorns by a one-point margin on March 20. That left Smart sporting a record of 0-3 in the NCAA Tournament during his six years as Texas head coach. And that left a bitter taste in the mouth of Texas fans, to say the least following the end to this once-promising postseason.

Tough end to the season for Texas basketball

Texas wound up finishing up this season with a record of 19-8 (11-6 Big 12) following their March 20 upset loss to the Wildcats. And with the Smart situation resolved, and Texas holding one of the more high-profile job openings around the college hoops landscape right now, change is just over the horizon on the Forty Acres this offseason.

Since Smart landed with Marquette to become their next head coach, the Golden Eagles saw a plethora of their own players enter the NCAA Transfer Portal. That might be an interesting way for the Longhorns to fill some of their own depth needs ahead of an offseason that will be full of roster attrition.

Here’s a look into two former Golden Eagles players that hit the transfer portal of late for the Longhorns to target this offseason.