brevity
Member
The 2025-26 Duke Blue Devils open their season with a #6 ranking in the first AP poll and a Tuesday night game against the Texas Longhorns for the Dick Vitale Invitational. It takes place at a neutral site -- the Spectrum Center in Charlotte -- and starts at 8:45pm ET. You can watch or stream the game on ESPN (streaming link, listen, live stats).
www.espn.com
With Mr. Vitale's name behind the event, you know there's going to be a hype video.
In the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Texas lost to Xavier in a First Four game on March 19, but then hired Xavier's head coach, Sean Miller, just 4 days later. (What's the saying? If you can't beat them, make them join you.) He's been a head coach for 21 seasons: 5 at Xavier, then 12 at Arizona, then 4 more at Xavier.
Coach Miller spoke to the media in a press conference at the SEC Tip-Off event in Birmingham earlier this month.
"Very grateful to be the head basketball coach here at the University of Texas. Being a part of the SEC wasn't really in my plans, but, you know, life changes and circumstances happen, and when given this opportunity, it was in my mind a once in a lifetime one. Super, super excited to be in Austin and a part of the SEC and I look forward to the 25-26 season, which will be our first here at the University of Texas."
Yeah, that's kind of how I feel. I never saw Coach Miller as a Texas guy or even an SEC guy, so I'm skeptical. If this ultimately doesn't work out, I kind of want to see him do a third stint at Xavier. It's like an on again/off again relationship.
So UT has a new coach and mostly a new roster, with 5 returning players responsible for about 31 percent of both the minutes and points from last year's squad, according to Sports Reference. There's also 3 true freshmen, 1 redshirt freshman, and 6 incoming transfers. Meet the Longhorns.
Last year of eligibility
6-6 forward Cole Bott #1 (3.7 mpg for Texas in 2024-25)
6-5 guard Tramon Mark #12 (26.9 mpg)
6-1 guard Jordan Pope #0 (25.5 mpg)
6-3 guard Chendall Weaver #2 (20.8 mpg)
5-10 guard Brandon Taylor #44 (6.1 mpg at East Texas A&M)
6-9 forward Lassina Traore #23 (redshirted 2024-25; 30.2 mpg at Long Beach State 2023-24)
2 years of eligibility
6-7 forward Camden Heide #5 (19.6 mpg at Purdue)
6-8 wing Dailyn Swain #3 (28.5 mpg at Xavier)
7-0 center Matas Vokietaitis #8 (17.6 mpg at Florida Atlantic)
6-4 guard Simeon Wilcher #7 (25.4 mpg at St. John's)
3 years of eligibility
6-8 forward Nic Codie #10 (6.8 mpg)
4 years of eligibility
6-9 forward John Clark #9 (RSCI #63)
6-8 forward Declan Duru Jr #4 (unranked; Germany)
7-0 center Lewis Obiorah #14 (unranked; England)
6-4 guard Anthon McDermott #33 (redshirted 2024-25; unranked in 2024)
Tramon Mark has an indeterminate history with Duke. He was at Houston when Kelvin Sampson and new coach Jon Scheyer agreed to a closed scrimmage in the summer of 2022. Then he was at Arkansas in November 2023 when the Blue Devils visited Bud Walton Arena for the first ACC-SEC Challenge, but he missed that game due to a back injury. This is his chance -- maybe his last -- to play Duke in a game that counts.
Jordan Pope, on the other hand, has played Duke in the regular season before. In November 2022, the Blue Devils flew out west to play in the Phil Knight Legacy tournament, and beat Oregon State 54-51 in the first game. Pope, then a freshman, started that game and scored 14 points in 38 minutes.
Declan Duru Jr averaged 28 minutes per game for Team Germany in last summer's FIBA U19 World Cup in Switzerland, and scored in double digits for each game until the final, which the Germans lost to Nikolas Khamenia and Team USA. He appeared to hold his own with teammates like Christian Anderson (Texas Tech sophomore), Hannes Steinbach (Washington freshman), and Eric Reibe (Connecticut freshman).
The polls and computer rankings both place Texas outside the top 25. They are essentially #29 by AP voters and #34 by coaches, while Evan Miyakawa, Ken Pomeroy, and Bart Torvik have them rated from #30 to #39. The team was picked by the media to finish 9th in the SEC preseason poll.
I realize that's not much of a dossier, but at this early point in the season, Texas is kind of a mystery. They didn't play a preseason exhibition in October, but they did take part in a pair of closed scrimmages against SMU and TCU. (Sorry. They wouldn't let me in the building, or I wasn't there, or I had no idea it was happening.)
I wrote what I could find in posts #41 and #42 of the SEC Teams thread. You can click over there for a few more details, but here are the basics.
Texas 89, SMU 83: The Longhorns hosted this scrimmage in Austin on Saturday, October 18. Coach Miller held out Lassina Traore and Matas Vokietaitis as a precaution, so 6-8 forwards Dailyn Swain and Nic Codie were the starting frontcourt. The leading scorers were starting guard Chendall Weaver (22 points) and reserve guard Jordan Pope (15).
TCU 91, Texas 72: This took place on Sunday, October 26 in TCU's home arena in Fort Worth. In a losing effort, Pope and Codie each scored 15 points, and Swain led the team with 6 rebounds. The Longhorns shot about 45 percent from the field, and were outrebounded 31-27. TCU also had more points in the paint (40-26) and scored 23 points off 14 Texas turnovers. Lassina Traore and Matas Vokietaitis sat out again, so Texas played an undersized lineup, but both are expected to play against Duke.
(source)
Discuss the season opener here.
Texas vs. #6 Duke 11/4/25 - Stream the Game Live - Watch ESPN
Stream the NCAA Men's Basketball Game Texas vs. #6 Duke live from ESPN on Watch ESPN. Live stream on Tuesday, November 4, 2025.
With Mr. Vitale's name behind the event, you know there's going to be a hype video.
In the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Texas lost to Xavier in a First Four game on March 19, but then hired Xavier's head coach, Sean Miller, just 4 days later. (What's the saying? If you can't beat them, make them join you.) He's been a head coach for 21 seasons: 5 at Xavier, then 12 at Arizona, then 4 more at Xavier.
Coach Miller spoke to the media in a press conference at the SEC Tip-Off event in Birmingham earlier this month.
"Very grateful to be the head basketball coach here at the University of Texas. Being a part of the SEC wasn't really in my plans, but, you know, life changes and circumstances happen, and when given this opportunity, it was in my mind a once in a lifetime one. Super, super excited to be in Austin and a part of the SEC and I look forward to the 25-26 season, which will be our first here at the University of Texas."
Yeah, that's kind of how I feel. I never saw Coach Miller as a Texas guy or even an SEC guy, so I'm skeptical. If this ultimately doesn't work out, I kind of want to see him do a third stint at Xavier. It's like an on again/off again relationship.
So UT has a new coach and mostly a new roster, with 5 returning players responsible for about 31 percent of both the minutes and points from last year's squad, according to Sports Reference. There's also 3 true freshmen, 1 redshirt freshman, and 6 incoming transfers. Meet the Longhorns.
Last year of eligibility
6-6 forward Cole Bott #1 (3.7 mpg for Texas in 2024-25)
6-5 guard Tramon Mark #12 (26.9 mpg)
6-1 guard Jordan Pope #0 (25.5 mpg)
6-3 guard Chendall Weaver #2 (20.8 mpg)
5-10 guard Brandon Taylor #44 (6.1 mpg at East Texas A&M)
6-9 forward Lassina Traore #23 (redshirted 2024-25; 30.2 mpg at Long Beach State 2023-24)
2 years of eligibility
6-7 forward Camden Heide #5 (19.6 mpg at Purdue)
6-8 wing Dailyn Swain #3 (28.5 mpg at Xavier)
7-0 center Matas Vokietaitis #8 (17.6 mpg at Florida Atlantic)
6-4 guard Simeon Wilcher #7 (25.4 mpg at St. John's)
3 years of eligibility
6-8 forward Nic Codie #10 (6.8 mpg)
4 years of eligibility
6-9 forward John Clark #9 (RSCI #63)
6-8 forward Declan Duru Jr #4 (unranked; Germany)
7-0 center Lewis Obiorah #14 (unranked; England)
6-4 guard Anthon McDermott #33 (redshirted 2024-25; unranked in 2024)
Tramon Mark has an indeterminate history with Duke. He was at Houston when Kelvin Sampson and new coach Jon Scheyer agreed to a closed scrimmage in the summer of 2022. Then he was at Arkansas in November 2023 when the Blue Devils visited Bud Walton Arena for the first ACC-SEC Challenge, but he missed that game due to a back injury. This is his chance -- maybe his last -- to play Duke in a game that counts.
Jordan Pope, on the other hand, has played Duke in the regular season before. In November 2022, the Blue Devils flew out west to play in the Phil Knight Legacy tournament, and beat Oregon State 54-51 in the first game. Pope, then a freshman, started that game and scored 14 points in 38 minutes.
Declan Duru Jr averaged 28 minutes per game for Team Germany in last summer's FIBA U19 World Cup in Switzerland, and scored in double digits for each game until the final, which the Germans lost to Nikolas Khamenia and Team USA. He appeared to hold his own with teammates like Christian Anderson (Texas Tech sophomore), Hannes Steinbach (Washington freshman), and Eric Reibe (Connecticut freshman).
The polls and computer rankings both place Texas outside the top 25. They are essentially #29 by AP voters and #34 by coaches, while Evan Miyakawa, Ken Pomeroy, and Bart Torvik have them rated from #30 to #39. The team was picked by the media to finish 9th in the SEC preseason poll.
I realize that's not much of a dossier, but at this early point in the season, Texas is kind of a mystery. They didn't play a preseason exhibition in October, but they did take part in a pair of closed scrimmages against SMU and TCU. (Sorry. They wouldn't let me in the building, or I wasn't there, or I had no idea it was happening.)
I wrote what I could find in posts #41 and #42 of the SEC Teams thread. You can click over there for a few more details, but here are the basics.
Texas 89, SMU 83: The Longhorns hosted this scrimmage in Austin on Saturday, October 18. Coach Miller held out Lassina Traore and Matas Vokietaitis as a precaution, so 6-8 forwards Dailyn Swain and Nic Codie were the starting frontcourt. The leading scorers were starting guard Chendall Weaver (22 points) and reserve guard Jordan Pope (15).
TCU 91, Texas 72: This took place on Sunday, October 26 in TCU's home arena in Fort Worth. In a losing effort, Pope and Codie each scored 15 points, and Swain led the team with 6 rebounds. The Longhorns shot about 45 percent from the field, and were outrebounded 31-27. TCU also had more points in the paint (40-26) and scored 23 points off 14 Texas turnovers. Lassina Traore and Matas Vokietaitis sat out again, so Texas played an undersized lineup, but both are expected to play against Duke.
(source)
Discuss the season opener here.
Last edited:
