Texas basketball cracks top 25 in ESPN’s way-too-early 2022-23 rankings
A few weeks ago, the 2021-22 season came to an end for first-year head coach Chris Beard and the Texas basketball program in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. Texas made it to the Round of 32 for the first time since 2014 as Beard and his squad downed the 11-seed Virginia Tech Hokies in the Round of 64 before getting knocked out by the three-seed Purdue Boilermakers.
Depending on who you ask, this season was mostly considered a success for Beard and the Longhorns in the first year at the helm for the former Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach. Texas finished up as one of the top four teams in the Big 12 standings and really showed some signs of life in the Big Dance for the first time in nearly a decade.
The future looks to be bright on the Forty Acres. But Beard and the Longhorns are still going to have a lot of work to do this offseason to take this team to even greater heights for the 2022-23 campaign.
Moreover, the outlook for Beard and the Longhorns appears to be pretty optimistic early on for the 2022-23 season. Some of the way-too-early top 25 rankings from the major sports media outlets almost unanimously slot Texas in at least the top 20 or 25 teams for next season.
Texas basketball cracks ESPN’s way-too-early top 25 2022-23 rankings for Chris Beard’s second year as head coach
That is the case for the way-too-early top 25 rankings for next season from ESPN, which were published early this week. Texas rang in at No. 22 in ESPN’s way-too-early rankings for next season, which was a few slots higher than they finished up in the final Coaches Poll of the season that was.
Texas got enough votes to get the 26th spot in the Coaches Poll to round out the 2021-22 season.
While it’s good to see the positive outlook for the Longhorns for next season, there are too many varying factors to really say what the expectations for the team will be at that point in time.
The NCAA Transfer Portal plays such a big role in how the college hoops landscape shapes up each and every season at this point that we have to hold off on forming realistic expectations for Beard and the Longhorns for next season until at least the latter half of the summer.
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Texas finished up last season with a record of 22-12 (10-8 Big 12) following their 10-point loss to Purdue in the Round of 32 a few weeks ago. Expectations will remain high for Beard and the Longhorns heading into his second year at the helm for the 2022-23 campaign.