Over the last two years, the Texas Longhorns haven't exactly been one of the frontrunners in college basketball, even with a surprise run to the Sweet 16 last season.
However, when it comes to producing elite talent for the NBA Draft, the Horns are among the very few to have produced back-to-back top-15 picks.
In 2025, Texas guard Tre Johnson was taken sixth overall by the Washington Wizards. Then, one year later, the Horns saw forward Dailyn Swain selected 15th overall by the Chicago Bulls, cementing Texas as one of just four teams to reach that mark.
The other three teams to do so? Well, they're blue bloods (at least of late) in the world of college basketball: the Duke Blue Devils, Arizona Wildcats, and BYU Cougars.
Teams with back-to-back Top 15 picks in the 2025-26 NBA Drafts
- Arizona Wildcats: Carter Bryant (2025, 14th overall), Brayden Burries (2026, 10th)
- BYU Cougars: Egor Demin (2025, 8th overall), AJ Dybantsa (2026, 1st)
- Duke Blue Devils: Cooper Flagg (2025, 1st overall), Kon Knueppel (2025, 4th), Khaman Maluach (2025, 10th), Cameron Boozer (2026, 2nd)
- Texas Longhorns: Tre Johnson (2025, 6th overall), Dailyn Swain (2026, 15th)
Surprisingly, to a lot of people, blue bloods like Kansas, North Carolina, and Kentucky have seen a dip in NBA Draft success, even though both the Tar Heels and the Jayhawks had top-four picks this year.
While no school can quite compare to the Blue Devils, who have had a nation-leading 30 NBA Draft selections over the last 10 years, it is a huge nod to the Longhorns that they continue to produce top-15 talent.
Texas has gone toe-to-toe with the Cougars and the Wildcats, who have also produced just two top-15 picks over the last two NBA Drafts. In fact, the Horns have seen higher draft picks, on average, than Arizona.
Of course, Swain followed his former Xavier head coach, Sean Miller, to Texas and only played one year for the Horns. However, during his tenure on the 40 Acres, he saw improvements to nearly every measured stat as well as growing an inch and tacking on nearly 45 pounds to his previously lanky frame.
Also read: Dailyn Swain was truly one pick away from immediately chasing an NBA Finals ring
Similarly, Johnson spent just one season for the Longhorns, being one of Texas's first one-and-done players since the legendary Kevin Durant graced the court in burnt orange. During his year with the Horns, he went from a blue-chip high school prospect to a top-10 draft pick in just a year's time.
So far, the Longhorns have yet to see any players sign free-agent contracts this year, with graduates like Jordan Pope and Chendall Weaver yet to announce the next steps in their careers.
There are a lot of good things happening in Austin, for both men's and women's basketball, and clearly, Miller has the Longhorns heading in the right direction when it comes to actual on-court performances.
Texas's success in the NBA Draft is just the latest evidence that it is far from time to panic about the state of college hoops on the 40 Acres.
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