Ranked seventh in the final AP poll, Texas among the early favorites for the 2024-25 season
This week, the Texas Longhorns found out how impressed voters were with a basketball season that included 33 wins, a Big 12 Tournament championship and an Elite Eight appearance in the NCAA Women's Tournament.
On Monday, Texas finished No. 7 in the Associated Press' season-ending Top 25 poll. After collecting 674 points from the panel of 35 voters, Texas finished just behind No. 6 LSU's total of 687. This was the first year that the AP has released a poll after the conclusion of the NCAA Tournament.
Texas also finished No. 5 in the USA Today coaches poll.
Breaking down Texas' strengths for next season
The Longhorns' standing in the AP and coaches poll this week had to do with the team's past. But what about the future?
Not long after South Carolina's win in the national championship game, the focus shifted to next season. Both ESPN and The Athletic have released early predictions for the 2024-25 season. In ESPN's pre-preseason poll, Texas was No. 2 behind South Carolina. The Longhorns were No. 5 in The Athletic's way-too-early rankings.
Why does ESPN think so highly of the Longhorns?
"Expect Madison Booker to slide back to the wing and form what could be the nation's best backcourt with Rori Harmon returning from knee injury," ESPN's Charlie Creme wrote. "Aaliyah Moore and DeYona Gaston are expected to anchor the frontcourt, and Vic Schaefer has two top-10 recruits on the way in 6-2 Justice Carlton from Texas and 6-0 Jordan Lee from California. The Longhorns might not be battling South Carolina for just SEC supremacy. This could be a season-long battle to be the top team in the country."
What about The Athletic?
"The Longhorns are ahead of (LSU and Oklahoma) with the assumption Rori Harmon will be ready to play by the start of 2025. At that point, they will have the bones of an Elite Eight team plus an elite two-way point guard in Harmon," wrote Sabreena Merchant of The Athletic.
Vic Shaefer appears to be reloading, not rebuilding
Texas expects to return the bulk of its team. Starting guard Shaylee Gonzales has exhausted her eligibility and veteran forwards DeYona Gaston and Khadija Faye have elected to transfer, but four of the six players who started for Texas in the NCAA Tournament will be back. The Longhorns signed two top-10 prospects during the 2024 recruiting cycle, and All-American candidate Rori Harmon could be available next season after a knee injury cut short her junior year in December.
"We'll be back. I can say that with great confidence," Texas coach Vic Schaefer said after UT's season ended on March 31 with a 76-66 loss to North Carolina State. "If we lose Shaylee and Hadi, the class that we have coming in, Rori back healthy, and everybody else a year older and a year wiser, I'll be sitting here next March 31."
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas receives high ranking in early polls for next basketball season
