Texas Basketball Just Loaded Up in the Portal and Nobody Is Talking About It
College basketball’s transfer portal has been the story of the summer, and the biggest winner nobody is talking about is Texas. The Longhorns loaded up in a way that could push them into the top of the SEC standings in year two of the conference.
The headline additions include Isaiah Johnson from Colorado, one of the top offensive players in the portal. David Punch from TCU is one of the top defensive players. Elyjah Freeman from Auburn adds a legitimate wing. Mikey Lewis from Saint Mary’s is a shot-maker who can play on or off the ball. And Amari Evans from Tennessee is one of the better defensive stalwarts in the league.
Read that list again. Every one of those players started for a tournament team last year. Texas essentially imported five starters from around the country.
The Longhorns had a tough first year in the SEC. The move from the Big 12 was rough, and the roster was thin behind Tre Johnson. Now Johnson is in the NBA and the coaching staff has completely reshaped the rotation.
What makes the haul impressive is the balance. Johnson gives them a proven scorer. Punch gives them defense. Freeman gives them positional size at the three. Lewis fills the shooting need. Evans is a two-way guard who can defend multiple positions. That is not a portfolio of similar players. That is a coherent roster.
The concern is chemistry. Portal-built teams have a mixed track record. The Kentucky teams of the last few years have shown that talent alone does not win in a league as physical as the SEC. Texas needs their transfers to figure out how to play together quickly, and they need to do it under a coaching staff still adjusting to the SEC’s officiating and physicality.
The upside case is real. If Johnson gives them 18 a game, if Freeman becomes the mismatch wing his college numbers suggested, and if Punch anchors the defense the way he did at TCU, this is a top-15 team. That is a legitimate NCAA Tournament seed.
The downside is a Kentucky 2024 scenario, where all the pieces individually look great and the team never quite gels. Texas has been through that before with talented rosters that never lived up to the sum of their parts.
The other factor is the looming NCAA 5-in-5 eligibility model, which has coaches across the country making strange roster decisions this offseason. Texas’ portal push is partially insurance against uncertainty about how many years each of these players will actually have available.
The SEC is going to be brutal. Kentucky, Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, and Arkansas are all top-25-caliber teams. Texas needed to make a statement this offseason just to compete in that landscape.
They made it. Now they have to prove it in November.
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.
