Texas Longhorns


	Join Our Mailing List
	» JOIN NOW

The Texas Longhorns men’s Basketball team, under Head Coach Rick Barnes, has achieved a success that most college teams dream of. As of March 9, 2009, Barnes has guided the club to eleven consecutive appearances into the NCAA Tournament. Add that to a school best ten consecutive 20+ win seasons.

This season, Coach Barnes is again poised to add to his totals as his team, led by seniors Damion James (6’7” Guard/Forward), Justin Mason (6’2” Guard) and Dexter Pittman (6’10” Center) will attempt to mix six freshmen into the roster (the 2009 recruiting class ranked # 2 by most publications). Coach Barnes is confident that his team will succeed and it’s not just wishful thinking. “We have more depth than we’ve ever had before. Our skill set is better; we struggled shooting the ball some last year, but we’ve got some guys that can really shoot. We got a couple guys that transferred in who will be eligible at the end of first semester that can really help the team. I always say the improvement of a team from one year to the next is more about the current players in your program, and the players we have returning have made a big leap,” Barnes recently told Dimebag.com.

Look for the Longhorns to again compete for a spot in the NCAA Tourney.

A SHORT HISTORY

The University of Texas Varsity Men’s Basketball began play in 1906 and have compiled a 1586-947 record which is good for the 18th ranking for total victories among all NCAA Division I basketball programs. Fourteen players who have donned Texas jerseys also donned one in the National Basketball Association. They were:

1949       Slater Martin – Joined the Lakers
1977       Johnny Moore – Played for the Seattle Supersonics, NJ Nets and the San Antonio Spurs
1979       Jim Krivacs – Drafted by the Kansas City Kings
1980       Ron Baxter – Drafted by the LA Lakers
1982       LaSalle Thompson – Played for the Kings, Pacers, 76ers and the Denver Nuggets
1990       Travis Mays – Drafted by the Sacramento Kings
2000       Chris Mihm – Drafted by the Chicago Bulls
2003       T. J. Ford – Drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks
2004       Royal Ivey – Drafted by the Atlanta Hawks
2006       P.J. Tucker – Drafted by the Toronto Raptors
2006       LaMarcus Aldridge – Drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers
2006       Daniel Gibson – Drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers
2007       Kevin Durant – Drafted by the Seattle Supersonics
2008       D.J. Augustine – Drafted by the Charlotte Bobcats

The Longhorns basketball team has won three Final Four Tournaments (1943, 47 & 2003), made it into the NCAA Elite Eight four times (1939, 1990, 2006 & 2008), made it into the NCAA Sweet Sixteen six times (1960, 63, 72, 97, 2002 & 2004) and have appeared in the NCAA Tournament twenty-seven times. The Longhorns have also been crowned Conference Champions two times (1994 & 1995) and Conference Champions twenty-five times (22 in the SWC and 3 in the Big 12)