Texas basketball has ‘confidence’ with ORU transfer G Max Abmas

This is a big week for newly-hired full-time head coach Rodney Terry and the Texas basketball program in terms of recruiting in the NCAA Transfer Portal. Texas hosted two of its biggest priority targets in the transfer portal this week.

The first priority portal visitor this week on the 40 for Terry and the Longhorns was the former Virginia Cavaliers redshirt junior center Kadin Shedrick, who began a two-day trip to Austin on April 18.

And then, the headlining visitor of the week for the Longhorns began a trip to Austin on April 19. The former Oral Roberts senior guard and two-time Summit League Player of the Year Max Abmas tweeted on the evening of April 19 that he made it to Austin for his visit ahead of the weekend.

Abmas is making the trip to Texas roughly one week after he made the visit to Manhattan, KS, to see head coach Jerome Tang and the Kansas State Wildcats. The Wichita State Shockers are also in the mix given Abmas’ connection to his former head coach at Oral Roberts, Paul Mills.

Texas basketball likes where it sits with ORU transfer G Max Abmas

Mills was hired as Wichita State’s next full-time head coach to replace the recently-fired former Shockers bench boss Isaac Brown.

Moreover, most of the buzz coming out of this portal recruitment in the last few days is that Texas and Kansas State are the frontrunners with Wichita State trying to make up ground heading into the weekend.

Texas has a reason to feel good about its spot in this portal recruitment heading into the weekend. Terry and the Longhorns need a big win in the portal right now, and they look like they’re making a lot of the right moves on this visit with Abmas.

A report from Jeff Howe of Horns247 on April 20 (paid content) notes that the visit is going well for Abmas on the 40 in the last 24 hours or so. And there is a lot of “confidence” on the Texas side right now given how well the trip has gone thus far.

We are not saying that Texas has shut down this portal recruitment, but it does sound like Texas has made a great impression on Abmas and has made a big move in the last 24 hours.

As this situation continues to develop heading into the weekend, we will continue to monitor Abmas’ status with the Longhorns. Abmas is arguably the most important portal priority at this point of the spring for Terry and the Longhorns as they look to replace a backcourt unit that will be losing almost all of its production from a season ago (depending on what happens with Tyrese Hunter in the 2023 NBA Draft).