Texas basketball building backcourt chemistry with two veterans alongside 5-star freshman Tre Johnson
Can Rodney Terry take transfers Jordan Pope (Oregon State) and Julian Larry (Indiana State) and mix in the dynamite 6-foot-6 freshman?
College basketball coaches have become part-time chemists with whistles instead of lab coats. A splash of transfers, a dash of freshmen, sprinkle in some “culture” and — voila! — you’ve got a top 25-caliber basketball team.
If it were only that easy.
Texas coach Rodney Terry has 10 new Longhorns dribbling, weaving and dunking their way through Moody Center. That’s six transfers and four freshmen for those counting from the bleachers. One of those newbies is five-star shooting guard Tre Johnson, UT’s most exciting freshman since Mo Bamba in 2017.
Ten new players?! Wasn't this an NCAA Tournament team last season. Yes.
Is this how NCAA college basketball works nowadays with the transfer portal? Yes, unfortunately. They come and go with sometimes little rhyme or reason.
All the coach can do is worry about the here and now. Can Terry take veteran transfers like Jordan Pope (Oregon State) and Julian Larry (Indiana State) and adequately mix them with a dynamite 6-foot-6 freshman in the backcourt?
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“The question is can you sign a freshman point guard,” Terry said with a laugh. “He gotta be elite. You know what I mean? Even the best young players are going to have growing pains.”
Johnson looks elite, all right. At least, that’s what the railbirds ascertained watching practice Tuesday. Johnson was billed as one of the most effective scorers in the class of 2024, someone who isn’t afraid of mid-range shots but has long-ball accuracy.
Johnson led Lake Highlands to the Class 6A state title as a junior during the 2022-23 season. The Richardson-area school in the Dallas suburb was a perfect testing area for Johnson’s prowess. He finished high school at Link Academy in Missouri.
Johnson took every shot opportunity that came his way Tuesday. Expect plenty more of that when the season begins on Nov. 4 against Ohio State in Las Vegas.
“Tre’s been really good,” Terry said. “Just like any young player, I think the biggest adjustment for them and growth curve for them is just being consistent with what you bring every day in terms of your energy, your effort, your body language.
“He’s a shot maker. He’s a guy that, over the course of the summer, I think he’s gotten better with his decision making as well, and he’ll be able to initiate some offense for us, too.”
And this is where the coaching chemistry comes in. Terry can pair someone like Johnson with veterans who have played a lot of basketball and don’t need much handholding.
Pope averaged 34.6 minutes per game the last two seasons with Oregon State. He averaged 15.1 points per game and shot 43.9%. Larry averaged 28.2 minutes over the last four years with Indiana State and shot 40% from 3-point range.
Terry sometimes has the forwards bring the ball up the floor and start the offense. But make no mistake, it’s players like Johnson, Pope and Larry who will start the Horns’ engines.
There are some other key players to watch, like transfers Arthur Kaluma (Kansas State), Tramon Mark (Arkansas) and Malik Presley (Vanderbilt). But college basketball is, and will forever be, a guard’s game.
“We have the luxury of having older guards that have the ball for us right now,” Terry said. “We need multiple ball handlers, multiple guys that could, that can initiate offense for us. That’s challenging for a team to deal with defensively.”
The Longhorns have another month of testing and adjustments to see how this all works out.
