Texas Basketball: 3 best transfer destinations for G Rowan Brumbaugh

The first loss to the NCAA Transfer Portal in the 2023 class for newly-hired full-time head coach Rodney Terry and the Texas basketball program this offseason arrived on April 7. Texas’ first portal loss this offseason is freshman guard Rowan Brumbaugh.

During the 2022-23 season, Brumbaugh took a redshirt year despite being rated as a top 100 high school prospect in the nation in the 2022 class by most recruiting services. Brumbaugh learned behind some proven guards for the Longhorns last season including senior guard Marcus Carr, sophomore Tyrese Hunter, and senior shooting guard/wing Sir’Jabari Rice.

Losing Brumbaugh to the portal means yet another departure from Texas’ backcourt unit. Terry and the Longhorns have now lost the likes of Carr, Brumbaugh, Rice, and potentially Hunter. The former Iowa State Cyclones transfer Hunter declared early for the 2023 NBA Draft while maintaining his collegiate eligibility last week.

At the moment, there isn’t any guarantee that any of the scholarship guards for the Longhorns from last season’s squad will be back for the 2023-24 campaign.

Logical destinations for former Texas basketball G Rowan Brumbaugh out of the portal this offseason

Here’s a look at three possible transfer destinations for Brumbaugh in the portal this offseason.

Northwestern

Coming out of Northfield Mount Hermon (MA) High School in the 2022 class, Brumbaugh was initially committed to the Northwestern Wildcats in the Big Ten. Brumbaugh committed to head coach Chris Collins and the Wildcats in the summer of 2021.

He remained committed to Northwestern for just a few months, though, before former Texas head coach Chris Beard swung this recruitment in the Longhorns’ favor late in the 2022 cycle. Beard and the Longhorns wound up flipping Brumbaugh from Northwestern on Dec. 30, 2021. Brumbaugh would later sign with the Longhorns in the 2022 class on April 13, 2022.

However, now that Brumbaugh is in the portal, it would make sense if Northwestern at least kicked the tires on the idea of him coming to Evanston ahead of the 2023-24 season.

Brumbaugh had a close relationship with Northwestern’s head coach Collins during his recruitment out of high school. And with Collins seemingly leading Northwestern’s program in the right direction after an NCAA Tournament appearance last season, Brumbaugh could find it appealing to commit out of the portal to the team he originally gave his pledge to out of high school.

Northwestern also looks to be in need of some added depth either via the high school ranks on the recruiting trail or via the transfer portal this offseason. The Wildcats have a couple of key guards running out of eligibility this offseason. Northwestern has also already lost two players to the portal early this offseason, including sophomore guard Julian Roper II.