New players dreaming big after joining Texas men’s basketball program

[ad_1]

With official practices now in full swing for the Texas men’s basketball team, newcomer Ithiel Horton has plenty of time to peek up at the panel that stretches across the northern wall of the team’s practice court in Cooley Pavilion.

From McCallum High School graduate and 1960 Olympian Jay Arnette on the far left to current New York Knicks player Jericho Sims on the right, the poster shows all the Longhorns who have been drafted into the NBA.

“Oh, man, I look at that wall every day,” said Horton, a 6-foot-5 guard who played at Central Florida last season. “And I see a spot for me right there, next to Jericho.”

Horton smiled while talking with reporters Wednesday, but his proclamation is no joke. Texas’ success in sending players to the NBA, especially over the past two decades, resonates with recruits, whether they’re coming up from high school or arriving in Austin via the portal.

Of the 48 players in Texas history drafted into the NBA, 21 have come since 2002. Perhaps not coincidentally, that’s when head coach Rodney Terry first joined the program as an assistant to Rick Barnes.

That record of sending players to the NBA is one of the most appealing factors for joining the Texas program, said Horton and Kadin Shedrick, another transfer who arrived in the offseason.

“You’re talking about the guys on that wall — that’s a big reason I’m here,” said Shedrick, a 6-11 forward who spent the past four seasons at Virginia. He then motioned to the far right at pictures of contemporaries such as Sims, Kai Jones, Jaxson Hayes and Jarrett Allen.

“Those guys, that’s more of my time,” he said. “Jaxon, Jones, Jarrett, obviously Tristan Thompson. I want to be like them.”

More: From treys to trophies, Texas’ Max Abmas ready for lone year with Longhorns

Shedrick hopes to expand skill set

Showing a shooting touch: Shedrick sees some similarities between himself and those big men, who all developed the versatility on both ends of the court that appealed to NBA…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/players-dreaming-big-joining-texas-211913137.html

Author : Austin American-Statesman

Publish date : 2023-09-28 21:19:13

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.