23. Marquette Golden Eagles

24. Kansas State Wildcats

25. Miami Hurricanes

26. Ohio State Buckeyes

27. Xavier Musketeers

28. BYU Cougars

29. Maryland Terps

30. St. John’s Red Storm

31. UCLA Bruins

32. Oregon Ducks

33. Wake Forest Demon Deacons

34. Florida Gators

35. Ole Miss

36. USC Trojans

37. Grand Canyon Lopes

38. Providence Friars

39. Mississippi State Bulldogs

40. Rutgers Scarlet Knights

41. Memphis Tigers

42. McNeese Cowboys

43. Michigan State Spartans

44. Michigan Wolverines

45. VCU Rams

46. Dayton Flyers

47. St Mary’s Gaels

48. Washington Huskies

49. UCF Knights

50. Louisville Cardinals

51. Boise State Broncos

52. Clemson Tigers

53. New Mexico Lobos

54. Arizona State Sun Devils

55. Utah State Aggies

56. Colorado State Rams

57. Seton Hall Pirates

58. SMU Mustangs

59. South Carolina Gamecocks

60. Nevada Wolfpack

61. TCU Horned Frogs

62. Villanova Wildcats

63. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

64. Saint Louis Billikens

65. Syracuse Orange

66. Nebraska Cornhuskers

67. Pittsburgh Panthers

68. Iowa Hawkeyes

69. NC State Wolfpack

70. Butler Bulldogs

71. Princeton Tigers

72. Virginia Cavaliers

73. Saint Joseph’s Hawks

74. Oklahoma Sooners

75. West Virginia Mountaineers

76. Georgia Bulldogs

77. UAB Blazers

78: Wisconsin Badgers

79. San Diego State Aztecs

80. Missouri Tigers

81. Northwestern Wildcats

82. Loyola Chicago Ramblers

Welcome back to another edition of our 82 in 72 college basketball preview! If you missed it yesterday, I previewed our number #23 team, the Marquette Golden Eagles. For the 22nd team in our college basketball preview, we head back to a former place of employment for the Marquette basketball coach Shaka Smart…the Texas Longhorns enter our rankings at #22!

Here is where our team had the Longhorns ranked heading into the season…

Steven	Maxwell	Kam	Cody
29	12	38	25

I am pretty high on the Texas Longhorns entering 2024-2025, as evidenced by my ranking below…After Alabama, which is in its own tier atop the SEC, I don’t see why Texas couldn’t be the second-best team in the SEC…

Earlier this week, I previewed the Longhorns’ season and schedule on the One and Done podcast with Steven Bagell. As we ran through the Longhorns’ roster and schedule, my appreciation for this team grew, and it has been growing since the early part of the summer. Rodney Terry has a loaded roster, and his frontcourt is set up to cause problems for opponents…

Tre Johnson, the true freshman wing, will give Rodney Terry and the Longhorns a chance to take the next step this season and in the tournament as a program. I am a big believer in Johnson and currently project him to be the ninth-best prospect in the upcoming NBA draft. Johnson is a problem on the basketball court, and he comes into Texas as the best athlete and the most dangerous scorer on the roster. Defensively, Tre Johnson will need to prove himself at the college level, but his physical tools should make it seamless for Johnson to make an impact on that end(I want to see Johnson clean up some off-ball defensive issues). If Tre Johnson can solidify himself as Texas’s number-one option on offense, this team’s upside spikes…

Along with Tre Johnson, Rodney Terry will likely start Arthur Kaluma and Kadin Shedrick, both experienced college basketball veterans. Arthur Kaluma is a player who will provide toughness and shot-making (we’ll see how efficient…)in the frontcourt by way of Kansas State and Creighton. Kaluma will be able to play in the traditional four-man role alongside Shedrick, whose energy, rebounding, and toughness will make a nice pair with Kaluma. Both Shedrick and Kaluma have played in over 100 college basketball games and have both played in multiple conferences…there is nothing that Kaluma and Shedrick haven’t seen to this point, and together, I really am intrigued…

Tramon Mark will surely be one of the starting guards for the Longhorns this season. Having previously played under Kelvin Sampson in Houston and Eric Musselman in Arkansas, Mark brings a wealth of experience that will immediately boost this backcourt. Tramon Mark has been considered one of the better guards in college basketball since his last season at Houston, and Mark will likely be tasked with leading the team both on and off the court to ensure a successful Longhorns season.

Jordan Pope, the Oregon State transfer, will start next to Tramon Mark in Rodney Terry’s backcourt. Pope is a bucket-getting guard and, like Mark, has plus passing ability. The stage is now elevated for Pope, and I expect Pope to mesh with Mark and find success under Terry.

Speaking of elevated stages…Enter Indiana State transfers Jayson Kent and Julian Larry. Kent will provide immediate frontcourt depth off the bench and figures to be the first big off the bench this season for the Longhorns. If not the first guard, Julian Larry should be the second guard off the bench for Rodney Terry. Coach Terry did a phenomenal job landing TWO transfers from Indiana State in the same cycle, especially after their respective turnover.

If Julian Larry isn’t the first guard off the bench, that role will fall upon Texas-favorite Chendall Weaver. Weaver was impressive last season in the Longhorns guard rotation and was clearly a favorite of Terry’s. If coach Terry empowers Weaver off the bench, he will have a chance to win SEC sixth man of the year this season.

Devon Pryor, a transfer wing from Vanderbilt, is also a player to watch this season for the Longhorns; Pryor will fill minutes off the bench immediately. The wildcard for this Texas team is sophomore guard Malik Presley, a player I am intrigued to see on the hardwood this season in Austin.

Texas may not be on Alabama’s level right now, but Texas has as good a chance as any other team in the SEC to knock off Alabama at the top. Rodney Terry has a roster with a freshman phenom and experienced frontcourt players, a top flight guard duo and experienced depth. This Texas team is real and is certainly a top 15 team in the country for me heading into the 2024-2025 season.