Projecting Texas basketball’s starting 5 with Tyrese Hunter
Starting point guard: Tyrese Hunter
The immediate thought after Beard and the Longhorns were able to secure a commitment out of the portal from the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Hunter was the fact that the point guard position is now settled.
Before Texas nabbed Hunter out of the portal, it looked like there could be a brewing competition between the likes of returning super senior guard Marcus Carr and incoming freshman five-star Dallas-Kimball point guard Arterio Morris to see who the starter at the one would be at the outset of next season. You’d think that even the incoming four-star freshman point guard Rowan Brumbaugh could figure into the mix for key minutes at the one.
Yet, the addition of Hunter drastically reshapes how this starting unit could look at the outset of next season. In fact, I could see Hunter now occupying the starting point guard spot completely reshaping how Beard wants to configure his starting five.
Adding Hunter means that Texas can more viably now play small-ball in the starting unit, depending on how the frontcourt rotation is built out heading into the summer.
Hunter gives Texas the ability to be even more of a versatile lockdown defense on the perimeter, and get more effective ball movement going on the offensive end of the floor. That will really open up the options that Beard and his staff will have at their disposal as to how to configure matchups up and down the rotation.
It does make the most sense at this moment, though, to have Hunter starting at the one with Morris as his backup to start the season.