While Texas has potentially lost four starters off its Sweet 16 men’s basketball team, the Longhorns have landed former Colorado point guard Isaiah Johnson, who has committed to Texas out of the NCAA transfer portal Saturday and retained center Matas Vokietaitis.
Johnson — whose transfer was first reported by On3 — is the 11th-ranked player in the portal and No. 2 point guard and will take the place of the departed Jordan Pope, who completed his eligibility along with shooting guard Tramon Mark and valuable reserve Chendall Weaver.
Johnson, a Los Angeles native who was a three-star recruit out of high school, averaged a team-high 17 points long with three assists and three rebounds for the Buffaloes. He was ranked as only the 292nd player nationally in his recruiting class and just the 29th-best point guard.
Vokietaitis will come back to school as the team’s lone returning starter, and the 7-footer could be the only player back in coach Sean Miller’s eight-man rotation.
Starting power forward Cam Heide — miscast as a four but the team’s best 3-point shooter who hit the crucial trey to beat Gonzaga in the second round — and four-game starter Nic Codie have entered the portal as did backup point guard Simeon Wilcher. Codie played well in the NCAA Tournament and scored a season-high 12 points against the Zags.
Swain could change his mind and come back, but few expect that to happen. He was the biggest star on this Texas team, averaging 17.3 points and 7.5 rebounds as a junior who came with Miller from Xavier. His perimeter shot needs work, and he did have problems with too many turnovers but was a dynamic playmaker and the primary reason the Longhorns made it to the postseason.
Vokietatis, the Florida Atlantic transfer who will be a junior this fall, averaged 15.6 points and 7.1 rebounds a game and ranked second behind Swain in both categories. He brought a lot of physicality to the game but not always in a good way because he regularly got into foul trouble and had his share of problems at the free throw line.
He did have some extremely big games, especially in the tournament when he scored 23 points with 16 rebounds to help beat BYU although he also missed eight of 11 free throws in that victory. He averaged 16 points and almost nine rebounds in the four NCAA Tournament games.
There’s still no word on whether Texas hopes to retain redshirt freshmen 6-9 John Clark and 7-footer Lewis Obiorah from London or 6-8 freshman Declan Duru, who played in a dozen games but made just seven field goals.