Entering a key fifth season for Texas Longhorns head coach Shaka Smart, the Longhorns will start the 2020-21 campaign ranked No. 19 in the AP Top 25 after Monday’s release of the preseason poll.
Texas last appeared in the poll in November of last season ranked No. 22. A subsequent loss to Georgetown in the 2K Empire Classic knocked Smart’s team from the polls and a 2-5 start to conference play kept Texas from making another appearance last season.
The No. 19 ranking marks the 17th time in school history that the Horns earned a spot in the AP preseason poll and the first time since the 2016-17 season, Smart’s second on the Forty Acres.