Longhorns Country

Texas Longhorns Make Cut in College Basketball Insider's Offseason Rankings

In their first season under Sean Miller, the Longhorns are featured in the ROTHSTEIN 45.

Tyler Firtel

Sean Miller and his wife, Amy Miller, pose with Bevo as The University of Texas announces Miller as their new men's basketball coach Tuesday, March 25, 2025.
Sean Miller and his wife, Amy Miller, pose with Bevo as The University of Texas announces Miller as their new men's basketball coach Tuesday, March 25, 2025. / Mikala Compton/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Throughout the offseason, college basketball insider Jon Rothstein updates his ROTHSTEIN 45, ranking the top 45 programs that have put together a roster of at least seven to eight players.

Still holding their spot in his newest edition are Sean Miller's Texas Longhorns, ranked 25th.

Rothstein projects Texas's starting lineup to be Tramon Mark, Simeon Wilcher, Chendall Weaver, Dailyn Swain, and Matas Vokeitaitis. That five would mean John Clark, Nic Codie, Camden Heide, Lassina Traore, and Jordan Pope come off the bench.

His prediction with the current roster has Miller going smaller to open games and substituting in size.

Tramon Mark
Mar 19, 2025; Dayton, OH, USA; Texas Longhorns guard Tramon Mark (12) plays the ball in the first half against the Xavier Musketeers at UD Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images / Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

Rothstein seems to be a believer in the program Miller is building in Austin. After Texas secured the commitment of Wilcher from St. John's, he posted on X, "Longhorns have a foundation in place in Year 1 under Sean Miller. Top 25 team."

On Saturday, Rothstein also included Texas versus Duke as one of his marquee matchups for Week 1 of the 2025-26 season. The game will likely be the season opener for both teams, serving as an immediate major test for Miller's Longhorns. Being held in Charlotte, the game-time environment will be more away than neutral, as Durham is only about two hours from Spectrum Center.

The matchup against Duke strengthens Texas's non-conference schedule, which was weak last year and used against them during March Madness field selection. The Longhorns are also set to compete in the 2025 Maui Invitational from Nov. 24-26 as well as head to Storrs, Connecticut for their second game in the home-and-home series with the UConn Huskies.

The Longhorns are making notable moves heading into their second season in the Southeastern Conference, and Rothstein is recognizing that.

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Tyler Firtel
TYLER FIRTEL

Tyler Firtel is a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin majoring in Journalism and minoring in the Analytics and Business of Sports. He has been writing for Texas Longhorns on SI since May 2025. Firtel also writes for The Daily Texan and has previously written for Prime Time Sports Talk and his high school newspaper, The Brentwood Flyer. He has experience in podcasting as well, self-producing Tyler’s Takes to interview members of the sports industry. Firtel is from Los Angeles, CA but splits his professional sports fandom between LA and San Diego (Lakers, Chargers, Padres, LAFC). At home, he is lucky to have lovely parents, two younger sisters and a bernedoodle named Java.

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