Texas won the transfer portal. This isn’t close. This isn’t debatable. Sean Miller assembled the best offseason haul in college basketball, and the Longhorns are now the SEC favorite heading into 2026-27.
Let’s run through the additions, because the names matter.
Isaiah Johnson from Colorado. The top offensive player available in the entire portal. Elite shot creator, high-level scorer, capable of taking over games. This is the kind of player you build an offense around, and Texas landed him.
David Punch from TCU. The top defensive player in the portal. Length, instincts, and the kind of switchable defender who lets you play any coverage you want. Punch on the perimeter alongside Johnson is a matchup nightmare for anyone in the SEC.
Elyjah Freeman from Auburn. A high-flying wing who thrived in Bruce Pearl’s system and now brings that athleticism and edge to Austin. Freeman is the type of player who scores 15 quiet points and grabs 8 rebounds while you’re not looking, then dunks on somebody in transition to end the game.
Mikey Lewis from Saint Mary’s. A pure shot-making guard who spaced the floor for Randy Bennett’s methodical offense. Put him next to Johnson and Freeman and suddenly Texas has three-level scoring at every position on the floor.
Amari Evans from Tennessee. The physical defender who learned under Rick Barnes. Evans is the glue guy every Final Four roster needs. He’ll guard the toughest wing assignment on the schedule and never complain about touches.
Five transfers. Five clear roles. Zero overlap. This is what an elite portal class looks like when a head coach knows exactly what he needs.
For context, over 2,700 players entered the transfer portal after the 2025-26 season. That’s the largest pool in college basketball history, and it means the competition for elite talent was ferocious. Every high-major program was working the phones, offering NIL packages, and pitching development plans. Texas outworked all of them.
Sean Miller cashed in every transfer chip he had. NIL money, playing time promises, tournament runs, professional development, everything. And the payoff is a roster that on paper can compete with anyone in the country.
Here’s the case for Texas being the SEC favorite. The conference is stacked. Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Florida, and Vanderbilt are all going to be ranked. But most of those teams are relying on returning talent or freshmen. Texas is relying on proven veterans who have already produced at the high-major level.
Johnson averaged over 18 a game in the Big 12. Punch was one of the best rim protectors in the country. Freeman came off the bench for a Final Four contender. Lewis shot over 40 percent from three. Evans played a rotation role for one of the best defensive teams in America.
Add that to whatever returning pieces Miller kept, and Texas has the depth, the experience, and the balance to make a real Final Four run. This isn’t a Big 12 team that showed up in the SEC hoping to compete. This is a program that spent the offseason positioning itself as a national contender.
The question now shifts to Miller. He’s had elite rosters before at Arizona. He hasn’t always maximized them. This is his best team since he took the Texas job, and the expectations should match. Nothing short of an SEC title race and a deep NCAA Tournament run counts as success.
The talent is there. The pieces fit. The runway is open. Texas is the team to beat.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
