Texas Basketball: Courtney Ramey’s return officially solidifies starting 5
It was anticipated from the very start, but the Texas basketball program and new head coach Chris Beard got the confirmation during the holiday weekend that the former four-star recruit and rising senior guard Courtney Ramey would return for the 2021-22 season. Texas isn’t getting many players back from last season’s team heading into the 2021-22 campaign, so officially getting Ramey back is big.
Texas will be losing the likes of senior standout center Jericho Sims, freshman power forward Greg Brown, sophomore power forward Kai Jones, and senior guard Matt Coleman, to the NBA Draft. A number of other notable names left the Longhorns for the NCAA Transfer Portal, including sophomore shooting guard/wing Donovan Williams and sophomore center Will Baker.
Yet, recent Longhorns basketball players were already entering the transfer portal ahead of the departure of the now-former head coach Shaka Smart and the subsequent hiring of Beard on April 1. Texas has actually found more hope and a hint of stability for their current roster since Beard settled in on the Forty Acres a couple of months ago.
Getting Ramey back heading into next season is a nice step for Texas in terms of creating a certain level of roster stability this summer. Texas could use some of that as a leading voice in the locker room that can also be a stabilizing force in key moments next season.
There is a good amount of veteran leadership returning for the Longhorns next season, though. It is also a lot more than most presumed would come back heading into this offseason.
Official return of Courtney Ramey for Texas basketball means so much
Texas is getting back the likes of Ramey, rising senior shooting guard/wing Andrew Jones, junior forward Brock Cunningham, and senior sharpshooting guard Jase Febres. That is enough for Texas to at least have the foundation of a familiar rotation for Beard’s inaugural campaign in Austin.
Ramey is one of the better and more proven two-way guards in the Big 12. And he is likely to be one of the starting guards for the Longhorns next season. He could be part of a starting backcourt that either features the former Kentucky Wildcats freshman guard Devin Askew or Jones.
Texas' Courtney Ramey has withdrawn from the 2021 NBA Draft and will play in college next season, per his father.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 3, 2021
The official report that Ramey will be withdrawing from the 2021 NBA Draft class to return to the Forty Acres for at least one more season came from the Twitter timeline of Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports on the afternoon of July 3. This good news is something to work off of for Texas during the summer months.
What Ramey brings back with him heading into his senior campaign was a junior season where he found more consistency than ever before. Last season, he averaged 12.2 points per game, 3.2 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.1 blocks. And he shot 38.3 percent from the field, 41.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 83.1 percent from the free-throw line.
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Texas heads into next season now with what looks to be one of the best and most well-rounded starting units in the Big 12. Beard has done great work so far this offseason to assemble a roster that could still be a work in progress this summer.