{"id":389697,"date":"2026-07-28T21:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T21:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/389697\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T21:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T21:50:08","slug":"sean-miller-texas-basketball-can-meet-high-expectations-in-2026-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/389697\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Miller, Texas basketball can meet high expectations in 2026-27"},"content":{"rendered":"

What a difference a year makes for Texas basketball <\/a>coach Sean Miller<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Last summer, Miller began his first full offseason on the heels of a 19-16 record, the Longhorns\u2019 worst record since an 11-win season in the 2016-17 school year. Even worse, Texas lost its best player in freshman Tre Johnson<\/a> to the NBA.<\/p>\n

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Now? A windfall in the portal<\/a>, a strong freshman class<\/a> and the momentum from a run to the NCAA Tournament\u2019s Sweet 16<\/a> has Texas landing in the top 10 of almost every preseason poll<\/a>. And what does Miller say to suddenly dealing with high expectations, especially at a program that hasn\u2019t reached the Final Four in 24 years?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes me feel a lot better to have that problem than the one where you’re not in the top 100,\u201d Miller said Tuesday inside the Longhorns\u2019 practice facility. \u201cI think there’s problems that come with being in the top 10. Doesn’t mean you are in the top 10; that’s the No. 1 problem with it. But those (problems) are all fixable, and I think we can work to solve those problems. When you’re not in the top 100, that’s a problem that is unfixable.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE: Texas basketball: Longhorns to meet Baylor in San Antonio in November, per report<\/a><\/p>\n

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MORE: Texas basketball finds out full SEC schedule for coming 2026-27 season<\/a><\/p>\n

Longhorns\u2019 portal haul among best in nation<\/p>\n

Miller cracked a smile after those remarks in his first meeting with the local media since Texas\u00a0lost to Purdue<\/a> in the round of 16 in his debut season as the Longhorns\u2019 coach. But there\u2019s nothing funny for Texas foes about the way he has quickly made an impact in Austin after replacing Rodney Terry<\/a> in March 2025.<\/p>\n

The Longhorns\u2019 transfer class<\/a> of forward David Punch, wing Elijah Freeman and guards Amari Evans, Isaiah Johnson and Mikey Lewis ranks fourth in 247Sports\u2019 team portal ratings<\/a>. A six-player recruiting class headlined by five-star guard Austin Goosby<\/a> and reclassified five-star forward Marcus Spears Jr.<\/a> ranks fifth.<\/p>\n

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Overall, 247Sports placed Texas atop the offseason rankings when factoring in transfers and high school recruits. That means the Longhorns topped No. 2 Duke and its five national championships, No. 3 and defending national champion Michigan and No. 4 Kansas, another blue-blood with six national titles.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns center Matas Vokietaitis (8), forward John Clark (9) and guard Tramon Mark (12) head to the locker room after warm-ups ahead of Texas\u2019 79-77 loss to the Purdue Boilermakers in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, March 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Sara Diggins\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Oh, and 7-foot post Matas Vokietaitis<\/a>, the lone returner from last season, played himself into All-SEC consideration last season and could earn NBA consideration after this upcoming year if he stays on his current upward trajectory.<\/p>\n

Now, Miller said it\u2019s up to him and his staff to meld all that talent into a cohesive unit that could contend for the SEC championship. Official workouts won\u2019t begin until September and the season doesn\u2019t start until the first week of November, but Miller says he already has a feel for his team\u2019s potential based on current summer workouts.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think a big difference between this summer and last summer is just that familiarity,\u201d he said. \u201cMe, our staff, we live here, we work here, we’ve been through a full basketball season and we already have one summer under our belt. When you go through something a second time, it’s more clear, it’s more straightforward, and I think you can implement a culture, implement a system, have a better feel and understanding, and consequently, I believe that we, as a program, can make more progress through the summer months than we could have last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re not through our summer program yet. We have a few weeks left, but we’ve had a really a great summer. We’ve become a closer team. We have a hard-working group, and some of the things that we’ve set out to do, we’re well on our way of doing, like implementing our system.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns head men’s basketball coach Sean Miller watches the NCAA Women\u2019s Basketball Tournament Elite 8 game against Michigan at Dickies Arena on Monday, March 30, 2026 in Fort Worth, Texas.<\/p>\n

Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

NCAA Tournament: Success in March 2026 a \u2018runway\u2019 for upcoming season<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Miller said the goal for Texas includes regular runs like this past season when the Longhorns (21-15, 9-9 SEC) edged their way into the tournament as a First Four team<\/a> before winning three NCAA games.<\/p>\n

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\u201cLast season’s ending gave our program tremendous momentum,\u201d Miller said. \u201cAs much as you like to talk about the totality of a college basketball season, so much of our game is wired for March Madness, whether we like to admit it or not. It’s really not fair when you consider it’s a 35- to 37-game season, but those four weeks in March and that first week of April, it captivates the world that loves the sport. And we were playing our very best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller credited departed players such as Dailyn Swain<\/a>, Tramon Mark, Jordan Pope and Chendall Weaver<\/a> while praising the new faces.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose guys, they rose up and our team came together,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause of how it finished and the level that we were able to play at, it gave us a tremendous runway towards the next season.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And starting with the first game in November, Miller plans for his team\u2019s success to match the suddenly high expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a strategy in the portal,\u201d Miller said. \u201cWe wanted to create experience and depth and really build a team that could compete for the top prize in our league, the SEC championship (and). \u2026 ultimately, a national championship.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What a difference a year makes for Texas basketball coach Sean Miller. Last summer, Miller began his first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[67531,19752,19753,21171,27,29,537,19751,28],"class_list":["post-389697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-dylan-volantis","tag-men-s-college-basketball","tag-sean-miller","tag-sec-men-s-basketball","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-longhorns","tag-texas-longhorns-men-s-basketball","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}