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Isaiah Taylor Returning To Texas For Junior Season

By Cody Daniel

Feb 17, 2015; Norman, OK, USA; Texas Longhorns guard Isaiah Taylor (1) during the second half against the Oklahoma Sooners at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Ferguson-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 17, 2015; Norman, OK, USA; Texas Longhorns guard Isaiah Taylor (1) during the second half against the Oklahoma Sooners at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Ferguson-USA TODAY Sports /
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With less than 24 hours to spare before the noon Sunday deadline to declare for the 2015 NBA Draft, the Longhorn faithful received some great news after point guard Isaiah Taylor made the announcement that he would be returning to Texas for his junior season.

Taylor’s decision to return to the Longhorns makes a world of difference for how good this stacked and experienced Texas team can be, which will be crucial in what looks to be another absolutely loaded Big 12 Conference.

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In addition to Texas retaining their best player from the past two seasons, Taylor’s return will make Shaka Smart’s transition as the new head coach of the Longhorns much easier now that he has an experienced, highly skilled and highly competitive floor general running the show for him during his debut in Austin next season, which I previously illustrated for Burnt Orange Nation was Smart’s earliest recruiting task.

As a sophomore, Taylor averaged 13.1 points and 4.6 assists for the Longhorns’ former head coach Rick Barnes throughout the course of what was simply a disappointing season. Taylor, along with the arrival of the highly touted freshman Myles Turner, elevated the expectations for basketball in Austin last season much higher than they had been for several years.

But after Taylor suffered a wrist fracture in the Longhorns’ third game of the season, which caused him to miss the next 10 games, Texas struggled to ever find an offensive identity and it became apparent with the piling losses that Taylor’s injury was one that became detrimental to the Horns’ success, or lack thereof.

After Texas was knocked out of the second round of the NCAA tournament by BYU after barely sneaking into the big dance, reports surfaced that those close to Taylor said he was leaning towards entering the NBA Draft after discussing his draft stock, while the results of his sophomore season also reportedly played a factor.

Luckily for Texas, those results never came to fruition.

With Taylor now set to be a Longhorns for his third season, what can we expect from Taylor and his Horns’?

Mar 12, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; Texas Longhorns guard Isaiah Taylor (1) shoots a layup as Iowa State Cyclones guard Naz Long (15) defends during the first round at Sprint Center. Iowa State Cyclones won 69-67. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 12, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; Texas Longhorns guard Isaiah Taylor (1) shoots a layup as Iowa State Cyclones guard Naz Long (15) defends during the first round at Sprint Center. Iowa State Cyclones won 69-67. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports /

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    • It could go without saying Texas will be much better with him than they will be without him. I’m not going to go as far as to say the Longhorns will now be among the Big 12’s elite, right alongside Iowa State, Kansas and Oklahoma, as I did that last year and my projection fell completely through the floor.

    But what I will say is with a rejuvenated basketball program under the watchful eye of Smart, as well as a deep roster that could potentially bring in three ESPN 100 recruits all ranked in the top 50 if Tevin Mack joins Kerwin Roach and Eric Davis at Texas, it would be hard to imagine the Longhorns having anywhere near as many disappointments as last season.

    As for Taylor, anything less than a stellar season could be assessed as a disappointment. Taylor looked to be one of the best guards in the country prior to his injury last season, and continued to show that potential in spurts throughout his sophomore campaign.

    Now that he’ll have yet another offseason to build with his teammates, learn under a tremendous coach in Smart and continue to progress his game and possibly develop a jump shot, I would be anything but surprised to see Taylor serve as the main cog in an extremely successful first season for Texas under Smart.

    Next: Louisville Reloads With Graduate Transfer

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