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College basketball rankings: Adding transfer Max Abmas has Texas in Top 25 And 1 even after losing top recruit – CBS Sports
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What a wild 24 hours for Rodney Terry.
First, on Thursday, the Texas coach secured a commitment from Max Abmas, the second-best player in the portal, according to David Cobb’s transfer rankings. That was great. But then, on Friday, five-star forward Ron Holland decommitted from the Longhorns and lessened a roster that was starting to look top-15 good. Obviously, that was not great.
“Texas will still be one of my top schools of choice,” Holland announced.
That’s fine. But the truth is that most prospects who decommit from any school rarely turn back around and recommit. So, at this point, I’m assuming Holland will play basketball somewhere other than Texas next season. Regardless, I’m still moving the Longhorns into Version 9.0 of the 2023-24 CBS Sports preseason Top 25 And 1 college basketball rankings because A) Texas was already close before these developments, and B) I simply think the addition of a fifth-year player like Abmas is bigger than the loss of first-year player like Holland.
UT is now No. 19 in the Top 25 And 1.
That ranking is based on the idea that Tyrese Hunter will eventually withdraw from the 2023 NBA Draft and start alongside Abmas and Dylan Disu. Dillon Mitchell could also withdraw from the 2023 NBA Draft, at which point I would move Texas even higher. But, for now, I’m projecting Mitchell to stay in the draft.
UConn remains No. 1 in the Top 25 And 1 based on a projection that the Huskies will return four of the top six scorers — Tristen Newton, Alex Karaban, Donovan Clingan and Andre Jackson Jr., — from a team that won the 2023 NCAA Tournament). Dan Hurley should combine that core with a top-five recruiting class highlighted by five-star prospect Stephon Castle and have a legitimate chance to become the first coach to win back-to-back national championships since Billy Donovan did it at Florida in 2006 and 2007.
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