Texas Basketball: Julius Randle roasts the Longhorns program

The former Kentucky Wildcats star freshman forward Julius Randle was once offered by Texas basketball during his recruitment out of Prestonwood Christian High School in Dallas, TX. Texas prioritized Randle, an elite recruit just up the road in DFW in the 2013 class.

But Randle would ultimately choose other schools such as the Kansas Jayhawks, Florida Gators, Duke Blue Devils, and Kentucky among his top group ahead of the Longhorns. One of those schools, Kentucky, would be his collegiate destination where he became the SEC Newcomer of the Year and All-SEC First-Team selection during the 2013-14 college hoops season.

So, why did Randle take his talents to join head coach John Calipari and Kentucky over the Longhorns?

Former Texas basketball recruit Julius Randle didn’t commit to the Longhorns because they “sucked”

Randle was straight-up about his collegiate decision and his recruitment out of high school this week on the “Podcast P” show with Paul George, Jackie Long, and Dallas Rutherford.

In this podcast interview, Randle said he didn’t commit to the Longhorns because they “sucked” when he was being recruited out of high school.

"“It was a couple of different things. For instance, like, I wanted to go to Texas. Like, I grew up a Texas fan. So I grew up watching KD and those dudes at Texas. But the reason why I couldn’t was because they sucked, bro. I’m not going to lie.”"

To a certain extent, Randle has a point. Texas was down at the time in the latter years under former head coach Rick Barnes. In Randle’s final year in high school (during the 2012-13 college hoops season), the Longhorns posted a dismal record of 16-18. Texas also missed the NCAA Tournament in 2012-13.

Texas did pick it up the following season when it made it to the Round of 32 as a seven-seed in the NCAA Tournament.

"“It was terrible at the time. They’re good now. But, at the time, they were awful.”"

Yet, Randle gave credence to the Longhorns program’s current direction under new full-time head coach Rodney Terry.

Texas made its deepest postseason run in over a decade last season, making it to the Elite Eight as a two-seed in the NCAA Tournament. Terry and the Longhorns pieced together one of the best stories and most magical postseason runs in college hoops last season.