Chris Beard acknowledges incredible stat on the state of basketball in Texas

For the first time ever, Texas (12), Texas Tech (25), Baylor (5) and Houston (3) are all ranked in the preseason college basketball AP Top 25 Poll.

Longhorns head coach Chris Beard, a Texas native, discussed the importance of building the state of Texas’ basketball scene. He named local Texas legends such as Mike Kunstadt and Terry Priest as being two of the trail blazers that paved the way for the the Beard, the rest of the coaches in the state, which has in-turn improved the overall level of talent.

“I think it all starts with the coaching and the grassroots in high school basketball – and to see college basketball to follow suit,” Beard said. “But I would agree. Think about what Coach [Kelvin] Sampson has going at Houston. Proud of what Coach [Mark] Adams has going in Lubbock, and Coach [Scott] Drew just won a championship.

“I don’t want to leave anybody out. [TCU head coach] Jamie [Dixon] has one of the best teams in college basketball coming back, and on and on again. All the way down to the mid-major level. So college basketball is real in Texas. Me, personally, I reflect back to the high school coaches and AAU coaches and the jobs they’re doing.”

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If you include TCU, those five schools had a collective 72.9 percent winning percentage (129-48) during the 2021 college basketball season. That was led by Houston’s 32 wins and six losses – though is the only school not in the Big 12 conference – and no team had more than 13 losses.

With expectations being more of the same for these Texas schools, there isn’t another single state that has produced not only as many ranked teams, but alongside Florida and California, produces more high-quality talent than any other state.

“I couldn’t go to basketball camps after I played a varsity game,” Beard said of his own high school playing days. “Now thinking today where the Texas players get to benefit playing in the spring, summer showcases, the access coaches have, the one-hour activity period. There’s just a lot of growth.”

With resources for players in Texas never more plentiful, the basketball scene in Texas continues to churn out some of the nation’s top prospects in Beard’s own backyard.