College Basketball is back and more glorious than ever. Teams will have hopes shattered and others will have their Cinderella story finally come true. Get ready for a season of upsets and drama and strap in for another wild ride of college basketball.

Here’s how each Texas major college basketball squad stacks up and if their year will be all it promises to be or if they’ll collapse as hard as Nevada did last year. 

Houston Cougars

AP Preseason: 4

Stout Poll: 1 (Ranking in Texas)

The Cougars look to go further in March than the Sweet 16 and should do so with a returning backcourt in senior guard L.J. Cryer and junior guard Emanuel Sharp. As a junior, Cryer averaged 15.5 points per game playing 32 minutes a night. Sharp had 12.6 PPG in his 28 minutes a game. 

If Sharp can convert more than his 37% from the field this year and if Cryer maintains his scoring, they should be a dominant duo. Senior forward J’Wan Roberts will start behind them in the front court. Roberts averaged nearly seven boards a game while knocking down 60% of his shots. 

Houston took down Texas A&M 79-64 in a fall exhibition, which is a good sign of things to come. Look for the Cougs to be a Final Four team this year.

Baylor Bears

AP Preseason: 8

Shout Poll: 2

This Baylor team will be the consistent, good, hard-nosed team we’ve come to expect. This year, they’re led by projected first round NBA draft pick, freshman guard VJ Edgecombe. Leading the frontcourt is 6-foot-7 senior forward Norchad Omier who put up 17 points, 10 rebounds and 1.2 assists a game last year and can take the Bears deep in March if he continues to put up numbers like that. 

Edgecombe and Roach will be a dynamic duo if Edgecombe lives up to the hype and is able to perform at the high level expected in the Big 12 and Roach continues to feed the team assists like he has done in the past. The Bears can be a spotty team here and there but with Edgecombe, Omier and Roach, the Bears could easily be an Elite Eight team.

Texas A&M Aggies

AP Preseason: 13

Stout Poll: 3

In head coach Buzz Williams sixth season with the Aggies they have the looks of a team that could go into the Sweet Sixteen or deeper. Williams returned senior guard Wade Taylor IV to headline this team along with seven other seniors who came back or who Williams got from the portal. 

Headlining the portal class is former Minnesota guard, senior Pharrel Payne and former SMU guard, senior Zhuric Phelps. Phelps averaged nearly 15 PPG with the Mustangs last year and will be a complementary piece to Taylor who put up 19 PPG last year. 

The Aggs’ only shot 40% from the field last year but made up for it by rebounding the ball almost 43 times a game led by senior forward Andersson Garcia who gave the Aggies nine rebounds a game.

However, if they do make more shots and rebound the ball at a high rate, the Aggies could be a dangerous team in the SEC and be yet again, a clutch team down the stretch.

Texas Longhorns

AP Preseason: 19

Stout Poll: 4

This Longhorns team lost a lot of talent in the offseason but could be a team to watch in their new conference, the SEC. The loss of guard Max Abmas, center Dylan Disu and forward Brock Cunningham to the pros, senior guard Tyrese Hunter to the Memphis Tigers and junior forward Dillon Mitchell to the Cincinnati Bearcats has impacted this team beyond measure.

However, the returns of 6-foot-11 senior forward Kadin Shedrick and junior guard Chendall Weaver combined with a strong portal class including senior guard Tramon Mark from Arkansas, senior guard Julian Larry and senior forward Jayson Kent from Indiana State, senior forward Arthur Kaluma from Kansas State and junior guard Jordan Pope from Oregon State have replenished the squad nicely.

You can’t forget the number one recruit in the state of Texas, star freshman guard Tre Johnson from Link Academy in Dallas, TX. We will see if Johnson can make the immediate impact fans expected him to or if his presence will grow within the program.

If Rodney Terry and the coaching staff at the 40 acres can jell this portal class into the team while preserving each of their own special properties, the Longhorns can be a special team in the SEC this year and go deep into March.

Texas Tech Red Raiders

AP Preseason: Unranked with 58 votes

Stout Poll: 5

Just like Lubbock, there isn’t a whole lot to say about this team. The Red Raiders return great players who all score and do it consistently. Leading the scoring will be senior guard Chance Mcmillan and junior forward Darrion Williams who as a sophomore averaged 11 points a game and almost eight rebounds a game, which should be elevated with another year of experience. 

The Red Raiders will also be a physical team as they return two more senior forwards, Frederiko Federiko and Devan Cambridge return to Lubbock for another season and will occupy the front court. But, with the Raiders being in the Big 12, they will have to fight every game. Tech should be able to keep up with the steep competition if they can score consistently and control the board. The Red Raiders could be a round of 32 team but I don’t see them going much further than that. 

TCU Horned Frogs

AP Preseason: Unranked with no votes

Stout Poll: 6

The Frogs are a team that has experienced highs and lows in the Jamie Dixon era and this year  could be a low. TCU lost their top-seven scorers from last year including star forward Emanuel Miller, guard Jameer Nelson Jr. and senior guard Micah Peavy to Georgetown to name a few. However, the Frogs return their junior center Ernest Udeh Jr. who could be a key piece in the Frogs rotation.

To pair with the return of Udeh, Dixon went out and got senior forward Trazarien White who put up 20 PPG and close to seven rebounds a game at UNC Wilmington last year. Also through the portal, the Frogs nabbed senior guard Brendan Wenzel from Wyoming and senior guard Noah Reynolds who gave University of Wisconsin-Green Bay 20 points a game last year. Dixon also got senior guard Frankie Collins who gave the Arizona State Sun Devils close to 14 PPG last year.

With large numbers of solid players coming in from the portal, it will be up to Jamie Dixon to create the right matchups that will just give the edge over the other star team in the Big 12. This has the looks of a team that could an unexpected deep run in the tournament.

SMU Mustangs

AP Preseason: Unranked with no votes

Stout Poll: 7

This SMU team comes into its first year in the ACC with a team that will have to step up with the loss of Texas A&M transfer Zhuric Phelps, forward Samuell Williamson, senior guard Jalen Smith to Rice and senior forward Tyreek Smith.

But, the Mustangs return talent like senior guard Chuck Harris and senior forward Keon Ambrose-Hylton. They also add new talent from the portal such as senior guard Kario Oquendo, senior forward Tibet Gorener, and senior forward Matt Cross, who put up eight rebounds a game to go with his 15 PPG at UMass last year, and a player who should be star this year, six-foot-11 forward Yohan Trahore who if he could up his rebound numbers, he could easily average eight-nine boards a game.

New head coach Andy Einfield will have to rebound the ball more than all their opponents with Trahore and Gorener in order to keep pace with the higher competition they will face in the ACC. If they rebound the ball well and up the scoring even more from the portal guys they could be a somewhat solid team. I do not see them going further than round one though.