The main thing about Texas seems to be their absolutely unparalleled financial resources, no?
Texas has exploded with basketball talent in the last 15 years. They have the resources to recruit nationally but it's absurd how Texas has become one of best areas for prep talent.
Top-50 Recruits in Texas (Composite Rankings)
**Included the best name for each matured class for nostalgia reasons
2010 - 4 (Perry Jones)
2011 - 4 (Ben McLemore)
2012 - 6 (Marcus Smart)
2013 - 6 (Julius Randle) - 3 of the top 6 prospects*
2014 - 4 (Myles Turner + Justice Winslow + Kelly Oubre) - all 4 ranked in the top 13
2015 - 4 (Juwan Evans)
2016 - 7 (DeAron Fox + Jarrett Allen)
2017 - 2 (Jarred Vanderbilt)
2018 - 2 (Quentin Grimes)
2019 - 7 (Drew Timme, Tyrese Maxey)
2020 - 3 (Cade Cunningham)
2021 - 6 (TBA)
2022 - 6 (TBA) 5 of the top 20
2023 - 4 (TBA)
- State of Texas has produced 9% of all top-50 basketball recruits across the last 14 classes. The caveats are important, it's a massive state/population, but having the head coaching job at the flagship school in a state producing almost five top-50 recruits every year is a big plus. For comparison, if you combine the 2020, 2021, and 2022 State of Illinois classes, you would have five top-50 recruits (Hopkins, Steward, Burnett, Miller, & Christie) total.
- University of Texas has down an awful job recruiting from this list (more later on the biggest problem). There are 65 guys on this list and they've only once or twice gotten the top in-state recruit (2023 will be the first time they undoubtedly get the best recruit - Ron Holland). Only twice do they get a top-10 guy (Holland and Myles Turner). Bountiful talent around them but they do an awful job securing it. Imagine how different their program would be perceived if they added 3 more of those top names (Marcus Smart + DeAaron Fox + Drew Timme).
- This list should make it obvious on why Texas would have interest in hiring John Calipari. He has raided the state for its best talent for over a decade (Randle + Harrison Twins + Vanderbilt + Fox + PJ Washington). There has been long-standing frustration about his success. Texas thought they turned the corner when they hired Beard, who has had success of mixing in-state preps + international talent + transfers, but he's now gone. Hiring Calipari is an easier sell to their fans than others because they can ignore the recent disappointment. The sell for them is they are taking an in-state recruiting savant and giving him a further boost by making him UT's coach. To be fair, if he can get 3-4 of these guys each year, it's not a terrible plan.