5 observations from Texas basketball practice

My trip through the state of Texas continued on Friday as I made my way south from Waco to Austin to watch the University of Texas practice.

Chris Beard is beginning his second season at the helm of the program. His arrival and immediate success in the transfer portal sparked extreme preseason expectations last year, including a number one overall ranking from one national outlet.

While those expectations were largely unfair, Texas still completed a successful first season as they finished within the top 15 of KenPom, started and finished the year within the national Top 25, and won an NCAA tournament game for the first time since 2014.

The plan in Austin is to take another step forward this season. With a brand-new arena and practice facility set to open and a move to the SEC on the horizon, there is undoubtedly a lot to sell, and building the fan base is no less important than other tenants of the program.

Here are five observations from watching the team practice.

1. Culture is the Calling Card

Culture is undoubtedly the calling card in many college basketball programs these days. At Texas, they take that to another level as they’re weaving it into their branding, gear, and facilities.

From the outside looking in, my impression of their culture was this – they’re competitive with a definite edge to them, but nonetheless still able to have fun with it. Beard sets the example with this. His intensity is obvious and unrelenting, but he’s also more than willing to crack a timely joke, mix humor into the team’s video work, or celebrate a big play.

2. Austin is a Selling Point

The knock on Texas before Beard’s arrival was that they didn’t have tremendous fan support. Well, no one is better at developing that than Beard, and his time at Texas Tech is proof of that.

What isn’t talked about enough is how much of a selling point the city could be, especially given the University’s location directly inside it. Austin is a young, up-and-coming city with an increasingly national reputation. They have good weather and lots to do. The fact that the new facility will also host numerous concerts and shows, only adds to all that is going on in the area. All of which, should be a selling point to recruits. 

3. Experience Counts

Texas not only returns their top two leading scorers from last season in Timmy Allen and Marcus Carr, but also three other rotation players in Christian Bishop, Dylan Disu, and Brock Cunningham. Then they added Tyrese Hunter and Sir’Jabari Rice from Iowa State and New Mexico State respectively. That’s a total of seven players who all won at least one NCAA tournament game last year, not to mention a core group to carry that culture from year one to two.

It’s one thing to be experienced on paper, it’s another to act it, and Texas practices like a veteran team. They compete, have attention to detail, and communicate.

The backcourt of Carr and Hunter was rock solid from start to…