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    Jeff Howe
    The Chicago Bulls selected Dailyn Swain with the No. 15 overall pick in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft on Tuesday.
    The 6-foot-7-inch, 211-pound Swain is the 21st Texas product to be picked in the first round of the draft and the 17th Longhorn to go in the first round since Chris Mihm, who the Bulls took with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2000 draft (later traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers). Swain joins Mihm and LaMarcus Aldridge (No. 2 overall in 2006, later traded to the Portland Trail Blazers) as Chicago first-round picks from the Forty Acres on a night when he became the 20th Longhorn drafted in the last 20 years (Aldridge, P.J. Tucker and Daniel Gibson were selected in the 2006 draft, with Tucker and Gibson going in the second round).
    Swain is also the first Division I transfer into the Texas program to go in the first round since B.J. Tyler (transferred from DePaul after the 1989-90 season) was taken 20th overall in 1994 by the Philadelphia 76ers. Swain is the first Longhorn first-rounder produced by Sean Miller, making him the first first-year coach in program history to produce a first-round pick.
    In one season in burnt orange under Miller, who recruited Swain to Xavier out of Columbus, Ohio (Africentric Early College), Swain helped lead Texas to three NCAA Tournament wins before the team’s postseason run of success ended in the Sweet 16. Swain led the Longhorns with 21 assists in four NCAA Tournament games, scoring 53 points and grabbing 28 rebounds, which included a 15-point, 9-rebound effort with five assists in a season-ending 79-77 loss to Purdue.
    Swain, former NBA MVP Derrick Rose (the No. 1 overall pick by the Bulls in the 2008 draft) of Memphis and former Texas All-Big 12 guard Marcus Carr are the only Division I players in the last 20 years to score at least 10 points and dish out at least three assists in each of their first six career NCAA Tournament games.
    In a 36-game campaign for Texas, Swain was named SEC Newcomer of the Year and second-team All-SEC while emerging as a difference maker at both ends of the floor. Swain was the only player from a Division I power conference (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten and SEC) to lead his team in five different major statistical categories, leading the Longhorns in points per game (17.3), rebounds per game (7.5), assists (129), steals (59) and minutes per game (32.8).
    Swain joined LSU’s Ben Simmons (2015-16) and Tennessee’s Grant Williams (2018-19) as the only SEC players in the last 30 years to average at least 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists per game. Swain shot a career-high 54.2 percent from the field and 34.4 percent from 3-point range, while shooting 81.5 percent from the free-throw line on a career-high 5.6 free-throw attempts per game.
    Jeff Howe
    When the curtain falls on the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft, Dailyn Swain should have a new place to call home.
    It’s unclear how long Swain will wait to hear his name called once the Washington Wizards are on the clock for the No. 1 overall and the draft begins on Tuesday (7 p.m., ABC/ESPN). Nevertheless, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas believes the team that picks the Texas standout will be getting a prospect who will check a lot of boxes for a franchise looking for a piece to fit into its championship puzzle.
    “Dailyn is an NBA player,” Bilas told On Texas Football during a draft Zoom call last Thursday. “He's a Swiss Army knife out there. His shooting has improved, but its still a ways to go. But that's not the only factor that brings value. With his length, athleticism, his ability to get downhill, defensive versatility, toughness — he's going to play in the NBA.
    "It's just a question of where.”
    After playing his freshman and sophomore campaigns for Sean Miller at Xavier, Swain blossomed into a player capable of impacting games against high-level competition at both ends of the floor in his lone campaign under Miller in a Texas uniform. Voted SEC Newcomer of the Year and second-team All-SEC by the league’s coaches, Swain was the only player from a Division I power conference (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten and SEC) to lead his team in five different major statistical categories after leading the Longhorns in points per game (17.3), rebounds per game (7.5), assists (129), steals (59) and minutes per game (32.8) while starting each of the team’s 36 games.
    Swain joined LSU’s Ben Simmons (2015-16) and Tennessee’s Grant Williams (2018-19) as the only SEC players in the last 30 years to average at least 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists per game. While helping Texas make an NCAA Tournament run from the First Four to the Sweet 16, Swain shot a career-high 54.2 percent from the field and 34.4 percent from 3-point range, while shooting 81.5 percent from the free-throw line on a career-high 5.6 free-throw attempts per game.
    ESPN’s Jeremy Woo included Swain in the first round of his final mock draft on Tuesday. While Swain could come off the board as early as No. 17 overall to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Woo wrote, he has the 6-foot-8-inch Swain projected to go No. 20 overall to the San Antonio Spurs.
    “The lack of wings with a variety of tools in the middle tier of the draft works in his favor,” Woo wrote. “There are still questions around his shooting, but teams view his ability to get downhill and solid defensive upside as worth the long-term investment.”
    Bilas, who will be on ESPN’s broadcast for both nights of the draft (the second round will take place on Wednesday), echoed those sentiments.
    “Most observers would rank him in the 20s, which is where I rank him in this draft, and this is an unusually good draft,” Bilas said. “He's going to help somebody and be a valuable asset.”
    Jeff Howe
    Jim Schlossnagle and the Texas baseball program secured a transfer portal commitment from St. Mary’s catcher Ian Armstrong on Saturday.
    Armstrong’s commitment, which he announced on Instagram, fills one of the Longhorns' most significant roster needs with one of the top prospects available in the portal. After Carson Tinney’s All-American season at (.326/.483/.688 with 22 home runs and 58 RBI) and behind the plate (ABCA Division I Rawlings Gold Glove winner) in 2026, and Rylan Galvan’s an All-American campaign during Schlossnagle’s debut, Texas couldn’t afford to take a significant step back at a position upon which Schlossnagle puts a high value when building his roster.
    Tinney is expected to be an early-round selection in the 2026 MLB Draft, paving the way for Armstrong, who visited campus late in the week ahead of the current dead period (runs through Monday), to bring his two-way talent to the Forty Acres.
    As a sophomore for the Gaels, the 6-foot-1-inch Armstrong hit .351 with 16 home runs, 51 RBI and a 1.070 OPS en route to first-team All-West Coast Conference honors. According to D1Baseball and Synergy, Armstrong is fifth in Division I in defensive runs saved and seventh in defensive wins above replacement (1.33, which currently ranks fourth among SEC catchers).
    Armstrong is the second transfer portal commitment the Longhorns have landed in the current cycle, joining Texas Tech infielder Linkin Garcia. With the futures of Casey Borba and Ethan Mendoza uncertain as the two starters from a team that won 46 games and reached the College World Series await the upcoming draft, Armstrong and Garcia give Schlossnagle two key pieces of the 2027 infield, along with returning postseason standout Adrian Rodriguez.
    On Texas Football expects up to two more infielders, two outfielders and three pitchers to be what Texas tries to add in the portal. The baseball transfer portal window will close on June 30.
    As of Saturday, the Longhorns have lost five players to the transfer portal: right-handed pitchers Jadyn Ferguson and Cooper Rummel, catchers Presley Courville and Andrew Ermis (the only catchers other than Tinney on the 2026 roster) and outfielder Will Hill.
    Jeff Howe
    The simplest explanation as to why Texas’ time at the College World Series ended after three games, two of which were losses to Georgia, including a 2-0 season-ending defeat at the hands of the Bulldogs on Tuesday, is that the offense didn't do enough to back up an overall winning performance by the pitching staff. 
    The Longhorns got the bulk of their production in Omaha from the middle of the order, with Ethan Mendoza, Anthony Pack Jr. and Adrian Rodriguez doing most of the damage Jim Schlossnagle’s bats inflicted. Those three, who could all potentially return to form the nucleus of the 2027 squad, went a combined 17-for-34 at the plate, scored seven of the team’s 15 runs, drove in 14 and recorded six extra-base hits (including home runs by Pack and Rodriguez in Monday’s 14-2 rout of Alabama).
    The rest of the Longhorn lineup had a woeful 4-for-61 showing in Omaha, recording 26 of the offense’s 33 strikeouts. Blake Peterson’s RBI groundout late in the win over the Crimson Tide was the team’s only RBI in Omaha that didn’t come from Mendoza, Pack or Rodriguez, with Aiden Robbins’ leadoff double against Alabama accounting for the only extra-base hit that didn’t come from the aforementioned trio.
    Texas wouldn’t have gotten to Omaha if not for the efforts of Robbins and Carson Tinney. Nevertheless, the All-American transfer tandem went 3-for-20 in what’s expected to be their only respective College World Series appearances in burnt orange, accounting for twice as many strikeouts (10) as runs scored (five).
    In hindsight, unexpectedly losing Jack Moroknek and Kaleb Freeman to the draft and Jonah Williams to an early-season shoulder injury lowered the offense’s ceiling. Robbins and Tinney carried the Longhorns as far as they could. While Mendoza, Pack and Rodriguez did their parts to pick up the slack, Texas didn’t get enough offensively from the bottom of the order, which had to rely on projected reserves Ashton Larson and Dariyan Pendergrass to step into everyday roles, alongside utility man Temo Becerra and veteran corner infielder Casey Borba.
    Considering what the final product looked like compared to what Schlossnagle and Troy Tulowitzki envisioned it would be last summer, the staff maximized the offense’s potential. There just wasn’t enough juice left to squeeze to get by Georgia and into the national semifinals.
    ***
    The draft and the transfer portal will force Schlossnagle’s staff to work feverishly to reload for the 2027 season.
    Robbins and Tinney will be drafted high enough that the thought of either returning to Texas is, at best, a pipe dream.
    The premium Schlossnagle puts on his catcher means replacing Tinney (Ian Armstrong of St. Mary’s and Nolan Traeger of TCU, who’s rumored to be headed to Arkansas, are the top portal candidates with Clemson’s Nate Savoie recently committing to Texas A&M) might be the staff’s highest priority in the portal. With Pack returning for his sophomore season and Williams coming off injury, expect the Longhorns to target at least two outfielders to compete for the jobs left open by Robbins and Pendergrass (out of eligibility).
    Texas has already added Texas Tech's Linkin Garcia to the infield mix for next season, specifically with the idea that he’ll play third base. Rodriguez will be back for his junior season, but what happens beyond those two spots is up in the air, especially with the impending decisions facing Mendoza and Borba.
    Specifically, it’s where in the draft either gets selected (if they’re taken) and what a potential signing bonus would look like compared to the financial package Texas could offer for either to return. If Borba returns, sources have told On Texas Football that it would be to play first base. He and Mendoza can also offer the Longhorns flexibility with the designated hitter role (especially with Mendoza’s shoulder preventing him from playing second base for the last month of the season).
    Maddox Monsour can provide depth in the outfield or as a middle infielder. Monsour, Larson and Presley Courville are among the projected returnees who can create competition for spots in the fall and winter.
    ***
    Schlossnagle has already expressed his excitement regarding Sam Cozart joining the starting rotation as a sophomore. Cozart and Dylan Volantis will form arguably the best 1-2 punch in the country, which on its own makes Texas a contender to win the SEC and get back to Omaha in 2027.
    Luke Harrison and Ruger Riojas are gone, along with Max Grubbs (who underwent season-ending elbow surgery in May). Schlossnagle has indicated that Thomas Burns is likely to leave school via the draft and Haiden Leffew is draft-eligible.
    While the Longhorns will look for at least two pitchers in the portal, whether they target starters or relievers depends on how Schlossnagle and Max Weiner view the roles of the freshmen who will be back as sophomores. Brett Crossland was one of the team’s most reliable bullpen hands, Brody Walls seemed to gain confidence with each outing and Michael Winter bounced back from a midseason absence, putting up 2.2 scoreless innings in the NCAA Tournament.
    Jeff Howe
    Texas had chances to extend its season in Tuesday’s College World Series elimination game against Georgia. Unfortunately, the Longhorns went 0-for-8 with runners on base and 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position in a 2-0 loss to the Bulldogs, making for a disappointing end to the team’s first trip to Omaha under Jim Schlossnagle.
    Texas (46-15) ends the 2026 season three wins shy of the national championship series, which the program hasn’t reached since 2009.
    "The bounces didn't go our way tonight," Schlossnagle said. "Really proud of our team and the season we had, finishing in Omaha, and look forward to being back."
    While the offense struggled, failing to record an extra-base hit (four hits total) and striking out 12 times against Georgia’s (53-13) pitching staff on Monday, Luke Harrison and Sam Cozart kept the Longhorns in the game.
    In his last appearance for the program, Harrison became the first Texas pitcher since Brooks Kieschnick in 1993 to strike out 11 batters in a College World Series game, holding one of the nation’s top offenses to two hits and one run in 5.2 innings. Cozart suffered some hard luck in his College World Series debut, including Dariyan Pendergrass’ overturned diving catch in shallow center for the first out of the seventh inning, which was immediately followed by third baseman Tre Phelps’ single through the right side against the shift to set the table for the Bulldogs’ second run. Still, the freshman scattered three hits and struck out six Georgia batters in 3.1 innings out of the bullpen, including a strikeout with the bases loaded in the top of the sixth.
    "I think just the moment, it was big, but I knew that all I had to do was go give it everything I've got," Harrison said. "I really felt like I gave every ounce of what I had today. Obviously, the results were solid, but we weren't able to come out with a win."
    The Longhorns had a chance to break the game open in the first inning, putting Dylan Vigue on the ropes with two on and one out after a single up the middle by Carson Tinney and Anthony Pack Jr. working a walk. With a mound visit helping settle him down, Vigue got Adrian Rodriguez to fly out to left field and struck out Ethan Mendoza to get out of the jam.
    “Most of his starts, he kind of opens for them," Schlossnagle said. "If he gets it going, then they'll leave him in there a little bit. They had the bullpen up and rolling in the first inning and we had a good guy at the plate in Mendoza — uses the right side of the field really well. He just chased the pitch off the plate.
    "We let them get confident and then he started making better pitches and we kept chasing out of the strike zone," he added. "In these games, with two great teams, it's those little moments that change it."
    Texas had its next best chance to score with Rodriguez up and runners on first and third with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. Justin Byrd, who struck out four and allowed two hits in five innings of relief after Vigue (two hits, two walks and eight strikeouts in five innings) walked Ashton Larson on four pitches to open the bottom of the sixth, got Rodriguez to ground out to first base, ending the last scoring threat the Longhorns mustered.
    In the end, a leadoff walk drawn by first baseman Brennan Hudson in the fifth inning and Phelps' RBI double to left field later in the frame, and center fielder Ryan Lujo's RBI sacrifice fly to left field to score right fielder Ryan Black (which took reviews of Tinney's attempted tag at the plate and whether or not Black left third base early when tagging up to confirm the run) was all of the scoring Georgia needed to end Schlossnagle's second season on the Forty Acres.
    Schlossnagle's roster will look a lot different in 2027. Nevertheless, he and the Texas coaches will look to Cozart, Pack, Rodriguez and All-American pitcher Dylan Volantis to lead the program's next quest for an elusive seventh national championship.
    "They need to remember this feeling, what it means to be at Texas, what it means to be in Omaha and the fact that our season is over and we didn't accomplish the ultimate thing, which is winning the national title," Schlossnagle said. "It moves on to them."
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