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The Texas Longhorns men’s basketball team moved to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) on July 1, 2024, after competing in the Big 12 Conference during the 2023-24 NCAA season. The Longhorns’ move sounded promising, but things went south. Longhorns Head Coach Rodney Terry led his team to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2023 and 2024, but he didn’t advance out of the first weekend in either year.
Terry, 56, initially took over as the Longhorns men’s basketball head coach on an interim basis for Chris Beard in 2022. He led the Longhorns to the NCAA Tournament in 2023, 2024, and 2025 but was fired after an 86-80 loss to the Xavier Musketeers at UD Arena on Wednesday, March 19. His firing can be described as a letdown, as he worked hard to lead the team in a first-class manner.
Texas Longhorns Fire Rodney Terry
The Texas Longhorns’ firing of Rodney Terry, who coached men’s basketball from 2023-2025, was reported as difficult. Texas Athletic Director Chris Del Conte said in a statement obtained by ESPN, “This was a very difficult decision and one that we put a great deal of thought, consideration, and discussion into as we evaluated where we are … Coach Terry has led our program in a first-class manner, and we’ve accomplished some great things.”
Del Conte did extensive legwork on Sean Miller before promoting Terry to head coach in 2023, sources told ESPN. Miller, 56, is a veteran head coach who has led teams to 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, including two of the past three seasons at Xavier. He has won 487 games and brought a winning percentage of more than 71%. He had extensive success as the head coach of the Arizona Wildcats, including three Elite Eight appearances.
Longhorns Hire Sean Miller
The Texas Longhorns’ reported hiring of the Xavier Musketeers men’s basketball Head Coach Sean Miller is in progress as a deal is expected to be completed shortly, sources told ESPN on Sunday. Miller was hired by Xavier in 2022 following a decline in success amid a federal basketball investigation that included five Level 1 allegations against Arizona.
Miller is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, native who began his NCAA coaching career after a four-year college basketball career at Pittsburgh as a point guard. He won the 1987-88 Big East Freshman of the Year, along with being the No. 21 scorer for the Pittsburgh Panthers men’s basketball team. He also has the fourth-most career assists in the Big East Conference.
Final Thoughts
The Texas Longhorns men’s basketball team finished the 2024-25 NCAA season with a 19-17 record and an 86-60 loss to the Xavier Musketeers. The Musketeers lost to the Illinois Fighting Illini 86-73 at the Fiserv Forum on Friday, March 21, and settled for a 22-12 record after the 1st Round of the NCAA Tournament. The Musketeers had a slightly better season than the Longhorns.
Miller can help the Texas Longhorns succeed with his extensive experience as a men’s basketball head coach for Xavier and Arizona. Miller’s focus on intensity, respect, high standards, a jump-shooting offensive approach, and high standards can help the team overcome its consistency struggles, especially in conference play. Xavier’s new head coach might be College of Charleston Head Coach Chris Mack or UConn Assistant Coach Luka Murray.
More must-reads:
- Men’s NCAA Tournament Elite Eight winners, losers: It pays to be No. 1
- Men's Final Four provides the best teams but not the most interesting
- The '25-point, 14-rebound, 11-assist NBA triple-doubles' quiz
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NCAA Tournament Team Loses Entire Starting Lineup To Transfer Portal
The college basketball transfer portal officially opened on Monday, just hours after the Sweet 16 field was finalized. It didn't take long for players to enter, and over 1,150 players entered within the first two days. The No. 5 seed Michigan Wolverines saw freshman Justin Pippen enter even though Michigan is in the Sweet 16. While there are a ton of players in the portal, one NCAA Tournament team has lost its entire starting lineup after a new entry on Friday. That team is Robert Morris, which was a No. 15 seed and lost to No. 2 Alabama in the Round of 64. Entering Friday, Robert Morris had already seen each of Kam Woods, Josh Omojafo, Alvaro Folgueiras, and Amarion Dickerson enter the portal. Then, D.J. Smith entered, per Adam Borst of Robert Morris Sports Now. "All five of the Robert Morris starters from its Horizon League Championship team are now in the transfer portal as guard D.J. Smith entered on Friday," Borst wrote. Robert Morris won the Hroizon League tournament to capture an automatic bid, but now theColonials are facing a ton of change just a week after the NCAA Tournament exit. Smith now enters for the third time. He began his career at Little Rock for two years, then played at Bowling Green in 2023-24 and spent this past season at Robert Morris. Smith was fifth on the team in scoring with 9.1 points and 3.2 assists. This was Robert Morris' first NCAA Tournament trip since 2015, and now the Colonials have to replace their entire starting lineup in a tough turn of events.
Illinois basketball legend’s message to ‘passionate’ fans after key transfer portal losses
Jakub Mensik beats Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer feat at the Miami Open...but not Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz
Jakub Mensik has become the third youngest player in history to reach the Miami Open final at just 19 years and six months old. He surpassed such legendary players as Novak Djokovic, precisely his rival in the title match, Roger Federer and Andy Murray. He also surpassed Novak Djokovic, who was 19 years and 10 months old in 2007, and Jannik Sinner, who was 19 years and seven months old in 2021. However, there are two Spaniards who did it when they were even younger. Rafael Nadal reached the final in 2005, aged 18 years and nine months, losing the final to Federer. At 18 years and 10 months, Carlos Alcaraz became the youngest male tennis player of all time to win the title. He missed Rafa's record as the youngest finalist by just a few days, but he was able to win the tournament. Jakub Mensik's road to the Miami Open final Mensik arrives after eliminating Jack Draper, Roman Safiullin, taking advantage of the withdrawal of Tomas Machac, overcoming Arthur Fils and defeating Taylor Fritz in a very close match. Now he will try to become the second youngest player in history to lift the trophy.
Five overreactions to opening weekend of the 2025 MLB season
The opening weekend of the 2025 MLB season is officially in the books. In the grand scheme of things, there are still 159 games left to play (158 for a select few). However, there's plenty of overreaction fodder in the aftermath of baseball's inaugural weekend, so let's break it down. The New York Yankees have MLB's best lineup and will slug their way back to the World Series There's no denying what the Yankees did to the Milwaukee Brewers this past weekend: 36 total runs scored, 15 home runs (including four just from Aaron Judge alone) against just 14 Milwaukee runs. A complete bludgeoning of a National League playoff team from a season ago. Overall, the Bronx Bombers lived up to the hype in their first series since Juan Soto's departure to Queens. But can they keep up this torrid hitting pace? Or will the magic of their new 'torpedo' bats fade over time? The Los Angeles Dodgers will easily defend their 2024 title Los Angeles became the first team to reach five wins on the early season after two consecutive sweeps of the Chicago Cubs in Japan and the Detroit Tigers at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers should absolutely be considered the favorites once again in 2025 given their immense talent, but repeating is nevertheless a difficult feat: the last team to do so was the 2000 New York Yankees, who finished off a three-peat. The St. Louis Cardinals might be the best team in the NL Central It's three games into the season, but the Cardinals do in fact sit atop the NL Central division following their three-game dominance of the Minnesota Twins at Busch Stadium, their best start since 2006. That year, the Redbirds won it all. Another thing to note about that 2006 season: The Cardinals clinched the NL Central with just 83 victories. That may not be entirely out of the question in 2025 given how awful the rest of their rivals looked on opening weekend, but we'll still need to see more before getting serious about St. Louis. Boston Red Sox DH Rafael Devers will have his worst professional season to date Devers has endured a brutal beginning to his 2025 season, with 12 strikeouts in 16 at-bats, while going hitless over his first four games. Perhaps the transition to DH, which he initially opposed, is feeding on the All-Star's bruised ego. Nevertheless, this has been an unusual cold spell for the otherwise prolific hitter, who slugged 28 home runs with an .871 OPS in 2024. But history says to trust the 28-year-old third baseman, whose career .853 OPS suggests a bounce back at some point or another. In other words? He's simply too talented to stay this bad. The Atlanta Braves may not be able to dig out of their winless hole Being swept by the San Diego Padres isn't anything to be ashamed about, but it's still surprising how uncompetitive the Atlanta Braves looked out of the gate in 2025. Sure, Atlanta may not be fully healthy yet (Starter Spencer Strider and outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. are expected back around late April or early May), but this is still a stacked roster with high expectations. There really aren't many excuses for a slow start, but the Braves have more than earned the benefit of the doubt considering their surprise playoff run off an injury-riddled 2024 campaign. Honorable mention: The San Diego Padres are a legitimate contender They shut out the vaunted Braves lineup in two consecutive games en route to a four-game sweep. Talk about an early statement from a team whose only major offseason move was signing right-hander Nick Pivetta, who was excellent over seven scoreless innings in his season debut on Sunday night. If the Padres continue to punch above their weight, the National League playoff field may have gotten that much wider.
Browns Star Defender Receives Positive Injury Update
The future or Cleveland Browns linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah has been very much in doubt ever since he injured his neck in Week 8 of last season, attempting to tackle Ravens running back Derrick Henry. For the first time since the incident, though, the 2023 Pro Bowler received a slightly more positive injury update. Speaking at the NFL Owner's meetings down in Palm Beach, Fla., Browns general manager Andrew Berry revealed where things stand with JOK and for the first time, seemed to invoke some optimism about the situation. "He is progressing, which is a positive," said Berry. "I'll be honest, it is still a little bit nebulous in terms of what that timeframe looks like. So we really are trying to deal with it week-to-week and month-to-month." Based on the comments, it's clear that the 2021 second-round pick isn't out of the water yet. However, Berry's use of the word "progressing" and his more candid explanation of his recovery timeline is a far cry from what the organization has been saying about the standout linebacker. Previously, any questions about JOK received a very scripted response, revealing the team had no updates and that they would be provided at a more appropriate time. That's left many speculating that the 25-year-old's career could be in jeopardy. This latest response suggests that the door is still open for JOK to return to the field, however, he's clearly still a ways away from that reality. For now, the situation continues to be fluid.
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