Texas Basketball: 3 must-get 2024 recruits for Longhorns this fall

Liam McNeeley, F

An elite recruit that the Longhorns sit in a great spot for this summer is the industry consensus five-star Montverde Academy forward Liam McNeeley. Terry and the Longhorns staff have made McNeeley one of their top out-of-state priorities in the 2024 class throughout this offseason.

And the relationships that Terry and the Longhorns staff have in this recruitment go back more than 18 months. The first visit that McNeeley took to Austin was an unofficial trip back in August 2021.

McNeeley has visited Texas three times since his first trip to the Forty Acres in the summer of 2021. That includes an official visit he took to Austin on April 24, 2023.

Moreover, this recruitment is a battle between Texas and the Indiana Hoosiers heading into the fall. Texas held the lead in this recruitment before Beard was let go roughly eight months ago. But Indiana holds pole position with McNeeley as it looks like he’s planning to return to Bloomington this fall.

Texas still has a chance to make up ground with McNeeley. But Terry and the Longhorns will have to get McNeeley back to campus as much as possible ahead of the Early Signing Period in mid-November. Texas also has to prove that the program is firmly headed in the right direction on the court next season under Terry as the new full-time head coach.

There is still a ways to go in this recruitment, so don’t count the Longhorns out. If there is a school not named Indiana that has a good shot at landing McNeeley’s commitment, it is Texas.