COURTESY A MEADOR/ TRINITY H.S.
MEET THE T-ASSOCIATION
The T-Association is an organization made up of former varsity athletics letter winners. An additional designation for the T-Association members is the T-Ring, which is awarded to an athlete who lettered for 2 or more years, who did not compete the last 2 years of eligibility anywhere other than The University of Texas and who graduated from college. David McWilliams, former Longhorn head football coach, currently serves as the executive director for the T-Association. T-Association Mission - The T-Association’s mission is to create and maintain an enhanced atmosphere and structure whereby UT student-athletes become lifetime members of The University of Texas Athletics family and are welcomed, involved and encouraged to participate during and after their college tenure. TAPN Mission - The Letter Winner’s Professional Network exists to unite the members of the T-Association on a professional level by providing networking opportunities and a database of contacts, thereby furthering the opportunities, community, education and success of Longhorn Letter Winners. CONTACT INFORMATION: t-association@athletics.utexas.edu 512.471.6864
THE HABE ON THE HORNS BY STEVE HABEL
Rising Stock
MYLES TURNER AND THE LONGHORNS CONTINUE TO RAISE EXPECTATIONS FOR THE 2014-2015 SEASON.
B
Y ALL ACCOUNTS, the men’s basketball team’s 2013-14 season was a huge success. Despite putting a squad on the floor that sported only one upperclassman on scholarship, the Longhorns won 24 games and advanced to the third round of the NCAA tournament. In the months since the campaign ended, expectations for Rick Barnes’ team continued to ramp up. Every player is expected to be back in the fold next fall — something that had plenty of college basketball prognosticators predicting a spot for the Longhorns in the preseason top 15. That all changed on April 30 when Myles Turner, one of the toprated prep players in the nation, donned a burnt-orange bucket hat emblazoned with the Longhorns’ logo and signed with Texas. In minutes, Texas roared from a possible top-15 team to a definite top-10 squad that should contend for the Big 12 championship and could MYLES TURNER make inroads toward a national title. “We’re excited to welcome Myles to our basketball family,” Barnes said in what could be considered the understatement of the year. “As pleased as we are to get to work with him on the basketball court in the near future, we’re more excited because of the type of person that Myles is. He’s just getting started in terms of his basketball development.” Turner, ranked the No. 2 overall prospect in the nation by ESPN, No. 4 by 247Sports and No. 9 by Rivals.com, is the highest rated Texas recruit since Avery Bradley, who was No. 1 in 2009. He chose the Longhorns after receiving offers from Kansas, Oklahoma State and Duke,
among many others. Turner is an elite shotblocking talent and has the ability to make buckets from outside the 3-point line. Turner gives the Longhorns a three-man recruiting class for the 2014-15 season that includes incoming freshman forward Jordan Barnett and junior transfer center Shaquille Cleare, who most recently played for Maryland. Per the NCAA transfer rules, Cleare will be permitted to practice and work out with the Longhorns when he begins taking classes at Texas. He’ll have two seasons of collegiate eligibility remaining, beginning in the 2015-16 season. “In looking at the entire class, we needed size and athleticism on the wing. We also need to continue improving our skill set and depth in the frontcourt,” Barnes said. “Most importantly, we needed to find individuals who fit our program, the culture and chemistry that our returning players worked so hard to develop last year.” “We’re not looking to be a really good team for just one year,” he added. “We’re looking to be a consistently good program for a long period of time.” Barnes’ program has come a long way since the Longhorns suffered multiple transfers after the debacle of the 2012-13 season. Texas was picked to finish eighth in the 10-team Big 12 before last season. The Longhorns look to be a team that will need to be reckoned with for the foreseeable future. In the words of Mortimer Snerd, “Who’da thunk it.” Just sayin’, ya know? The Habe is Steve Habel, Horns Illustrated’s Associate Editor. He was the magazine’s first staff member, in 1994, and has covered Texas sports ever since.
JUNE 2014
HORNS ILLUSTRATED
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