Texas men’s basketball is already drawing national attention before the season tips, landing at No. 7 in Chris Dortch’s Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook preseason top 25, announced Thursday.
That puts the Longhorns among a crowded SEC presence near the top of the rankings. Florida checked in at No. 1, Tennessee landed at No. 6 and Arkansas came in at No. 9, giving the conference four teams in Blue Ribbon’s preseason top 10 with Texas right in the mix.
The ranking comes with a roster that looks very different from last season’s group. Texas returns just one starter in junior center Matas Vokietaitis from a team that finished 21-15 overall and 9-9 in SEC play before reaching the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. Sean Miller and his staff rebuilt quickly, bringing in 11 newcomers and earning the No. 1 overall class in the nation from 247 Sports when freshmen and transfers are combined.
The transfer haul includes sophomore guard Amari Evans from Tennessee, junior guard/forward Elyjah Freeman from Auburn, sophomore guard Isaiah Johnson from Colorado, junior guard Mikey Lewis from Saint Mary’s and junior forward David Punch from TCU.
Texas also added six freshmen, a group ranked No. 4 nationally by 247 Sports. The class includes three players from Texas: guard Austin Goosby, guard Bo Ogden and forward Marcus Spears Jr.
The Longhorns will get their first chance to show how it all fits together when they open the 2026-27 regular season at home against Chicago State on Monday, Nov. 2, at Moody Center.
Blue Ribbon’s full preseason top 25 has Florida at No. 1, followed by Duke, Illinois, Michigan State, Arizona, Tennessee and Texas. Houston is eighth, Arkansas ninth and Connecticut 10th.
The rest of the top 25: Vanderbilt, Michigan, Miami (Fla.), Missouri, Virginia, Kansas, Iowa State, Louisville, Kentucky, St. John’s, Alabama, USC, Gonzaga, Ohio State and North Carolina.
In Other News...
Sean Miller Is Chasing The March Run Texas Fans Crave
Sean Miller has spent 21 years building one of the more accomplished rsums in college basketball, and Texas hired him knowing exactly what he has done in March. His teams have won big, advanced deep, and given him 14 NCAA Tournament trips and four Elite Eight finishes, all while he has piled up a 508-211 record and established himself as a coach who can guide a program through the pressure of a bracket run.
Now at Texas, Miller is still chasing the deeper March success Longhorns fans have been waiting to see again. He got the program to the Sweet Sixteen in his first year, and while his old pursuit of the sports biggest stages has given way to a more holistic view, the goal in Austin is still the same: keep pushing past the round that gets everyone talking and into the kind of spring finish that changes how a season is remembered. [Read more 🡒]
Marcus Spears Jr. Is Already Earning A Bigger Texas Role
Marcus Spears Jr. has been turning heads since arriving in Austin, and the buzz around the reclassified 2026 prospect keeps growing as Texas works through preseason preparations. The Longhorns are blending a promising freshman class with transfer help and returning veterans, and Spears has quickly fit into a group that already looks deeper and more competitive than a typical first-year rotation.
What has stood out most is how polished he has looked for his age, with teammates and Sean Miller praising his talent, maturity and composure. Texas is getting ready for an exhibition against St. Johns before opening the regular season against Chicago State, and Spears is already the kind of newcomer who seems likely to factor into the conversation long before the games start counting for real. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Is No. 1 Again But Sarks Real Challenge Starts Now
A comeback win over Ohio State put Texas back at No. 1 in the AP Poll, but the bigger message inside the program has been about keeping the moment in perspective. Steve Sarkisian and Arch Manning both have stressed that the ranking matters far less than the week-to-week work ahead, especially with a demanding schedule still to come and plenty of time for the season to shift.
Sarkisian has been leaning into that theme since the win, using a Kobe Bryant press conference clip to drive home the need for focus and urgency rather than celebration. For Texas, the top spot is a nice acknowledgment of where the team stands right now, but it also comes with the same burden it always does: proving it can handle the spotlight longer than the last time around. [Read more 🡒]