Texas Basketball: What is the consensus on the 2022-23 Longhorns?

Amidst Red River week, I thought it would be a good break from the stressors of the football program to check in on head coach Chris Beard and Texas basketball.

The Longhorns officially started fall practice last week as the start of the 2022-23 college basketball season is just over a month away.

In year one under Beard, the Longhorns experienced a lot of tangible growth as a program. Texas won an NCAA Tournament game, 81-73 over Virginia Tech, for the first time since 2015. The Longhorns won 22+ games for the first time since 2014.

Coach Beard has proven he can win ball games from November to April, but in today’s college basketball landscape, that is only half the battle.

With NIL deals, the transfer portal, and professional options right out of high school, the need for an ace recruiter as a head coach has never been higher. Beard has proven he can recruit the best in the country at both the high school and transfer portal levels.

Texas was able to sign the #3 nationally rated high school recruiting class in Beard’s first full cycle as the leader of the Longhorns. Five-stars Dillon Mitchell and Arterio Morris headlined a four-player class that also included four-star point guard Rowan Brumbaugh and three-star Alex Anamekwe.

Texas basketball nearly a consensus top 10 team under Chris Beard for the 2022-23 season

Mitchell and Morris are set to be day one contributors whereas Brumbaugh and Anamekwe are likely to be key four-year pieces in Beard’s program.

Not only did Beard reel in an elite high school class, he once again proved he can navigate the transfer portal as well as any current head coach in the country.

Beard brought in two transfers: Tyrese Hunter from Iowa State and Sir’Jabari Rice from New Mexico State. Hunter, a sophomore, was ranked as the second-best transfer prospect in the class.

When asked about this year’s transfer class, Beard said that Hunter and Rice were the top two players on the Texas board.

On top of the elite talent Beard and his staff have brought in, Texas returns an abundance of weapons from last year’s team that finished 15th in KenPom.

Leading scorers Timmy Allen and Marcus Carr return as super-seniors and Christian Bishop and Dylan Disu are back as the paint patrollers of this team. Of course, glue-guy Brock Cunningham also returns for his fifth season on the Forty Acres.

I say all that to say this; Texas should be very good this upcoming season.

Here is where Texas sits in the preseason poll of four of the most trusted college basketball insiders.

Jeff Borzello, ESPN – 11th

Andy Katz, NCAA.com – 12th

Gary Parrish, CBS Sports – 12th

Jon Rothstein, CollegeHoopsToday – 12th

The returning production paired with the influx of talent brought in during the 2022 recruiting class has the Longhorns poised to take another step forward in Coach Beard’s second year as the head man of this program.

With that said, this team has their work cut out for them. The Horns have non-conference matchups against Gonzaga, Creighton, Illinois, and Tennessee as well as the 18-game gauntlet the Big 12 provides.

Texas opens up its 2022-23 campaign on Nov. 7 against UTEP in the first regular season action inside the brand new Moody Center.