Jeff Howe

That Kansas-Syracuse title game also gave us this legendary Roy Williams postgame interview (for those who don't know, he took the North Carolina job about a week after this interview):

I wanted to bring this topic to the board because, as someone who is a "One Shining Moment" stan, the 2003 version hit me right in the feels when my YouTube algorithm suggested I watch it:

College basketball might've been my favorite sport when I was a kid. I remember my brother and I messing with rabbit ears on an old TV to watch the Duke-UNLV semifinal in 1991. I hated Christian Laettner. I loved the Fab Five. The UConn-Georgetown Big East Tournament final in 1996 (Ray Allen vs. Allen Iverson) remains one of the most exciting basketball games I've ever watched at any level. For me, college basketball peaked during the 2003 season. Texas' run to the Final Four. I've followed it as a fan and media member since then, but I remember more about that tournament and that season than almost every tournament that's been played in the last 20-plus years. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy it, and very few things are better as a sports fan than going to an arena for first and second-round NCAA Tournament games live, even if you don't have a dog in the fight. But T.J. Ford was captaining the ship for Texas to New Orleans, where Carmelo Anthony put an end to the Longhorns' title quest in the Superdome, when college basketball hit its absolute peak with me. What was that season for you? The one where your fandom, interest and love for college basketball was a 10 out of 10.

When Texas opens practice to reporters, we get to see Steve Sarkisian in coaching mode. Regarding the start of spring practice, Sarkisian's role goes beyond that of a coach. Sarkisian is approaching practice periods like a teacher when class is in session, demanding attention to detail, information retention and maximum effort reps from his students. There’s always been a level of intensity that Sarkisian roams the practice field with that doesn’t always show on game day, when he’s locked in on his call sheet for four quarters. What’s different about Sarkisian from the glimpses we got during the first week of spring practice is a renewed sense of urgency. Especially when the offense is going through drills without a handful of veteran leaders (during routes on air, for example, Arch Manning, Ryan Wingo and Emmett Mosley didn’t participate in either open media window this week), Sarkisian directs his troops like a coach who understands the young, inexperienced Longhorns don’t have a ton of examples they can study to see how practice is supposed to run. After leaving more things to chance than he should have coming off a trip to the College Football Playoff semifinals in 2024 while preparing for the 2025 season, Sarkisian is leading by example and setting the proper tone for a program that must be more buttoned up in several areas to get back to the CFP. As he was giving the media his thoughts on Monday’s practice, Sarkisian could’ve been talking about himself when describing what the players did well. “You could feel the competitive spirit, and not necessarily always across the ball with each other,” Sarkisian said. "I think competitively internally, that's what great competitors have — that internal fire to want to do it the right way.” Whether he’s rewriting the wrongs from last season, trying to match the energy Will Muschamp is infusing into the defense or trying to maximize his on-field time with several new faces on the field, Sarkisian looks like he’s motivated to do things in a way that positions Texas to win championships in his sixth season on the Forty Acres. — One of the top storylines to follow when Texas returns from spring break is seeing if Jermaine Bishop’s impact translates to contact practices. The true freshman has been the talk of spring practice through the first week and rightfully so. Bishop has a unique ability to hit another gear when tracking the football and then attack it in the air that words can't accurately describe. He's one of several Longhorns who profile as a potential football unicorn, with his combination of physical traits, body type and playmaking ability that’s hard to compare to other Texas players. Rasheem Biles, Cam Coleman and Colin Simmons are individually unique. Those three Longhorns have skins on the wall as college football players. It’s up to Sarkisian to come up with ways to get the most out of Bishop. Thankfully, that’s a big reason why Bishop chose Texas. A two-way prospect who “has the ability to do either,” Sarkisian said when Bishop signed with the Longhorns in December, the Willis product selected by Dave Campbell's Texas Football as Mr. Texas Football was expected to begin his collegiate career on defense when he committed to Texas. Sarkisian had experience coaching high-level two-way prospects at Washington (John Ross) and USC (Adoree’ Jackson), both of whom went on to become first-round NFL draft picks at wide receiver and cornerback, respectively. Sarkisian's efforts to weaponize Ross and Jackson gave him a road map he could present to Bishop and his family as to why the Longhorns would be the best fit for his football future. The early returns from spring practice suggest Sarkisian will have to unveil his plan for maximizing Bishop sooner rather than later, if he continues to light it up at practice. — If there’s one thing we’re not talking about enough through two practices, it’s the quality snaps KJ Lacey is getting with the first-team offense. Manning should regain the keys to the offense at some point before the spring game on April 18. Until then, Sarkisian, AJ Milwee and Mike Bimonte get to see how Lacey operates with the first unit, which should pay off if he’s called pressed into duty (keep in mind that Texas needed Matthew Caldwell to play critical snaps in two SEC road games, including overtime of the comeback win over Mississippi State). The most poignant comment Sarkisian made this week might’ve been how one of the unintended consequences to come from Manning’s foot surgery was Lacey getting an opportunity rarely afforded to quarterbacks further down the depth chart than an elite signal-caller like Manning. “A lot of times, we have to manufacture that throughout spring — put him with the ones, pull Arch out. Now, he's just getting all of this,” Sarkisian said. “I don't know when, how much his number might get called this fall, so there's a lot of banked reps that he's getting right now that I think are invaluable for him.” View full news story

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas players took to heart what Steve Sarkisian told them before the start of spring practice. “We've got a really talented group of people individually,” Sarkisian said Monday, recalling his message to the Longhorns last Friday. “Now, we need to become a really talented team.” Texas was talented enough to win 10 games in 2025. Its blemishes, however, led to three losses, which prevented the Longhorns from making a third consecutive trip to the College Football Playoff. Whether it was parting ways with four position coaches (including hiring Will Muschamp as defensive coordinator), turning over the roster by attacking the transfer portal more than any time throughout his coaching tenure on the Forty Acres (almost 40 new faces on campus for spring practice between transfers and freshmen who enrolled for the spring semester), or restructuring the offseason schedule (the return of the spring game and the implementation of the program's “Culture Wednesday” team bonding sessions during the spring), Sarkisian tweaked the process Texas will go through ahead of the 2026 season. It’s a process the Longhorns trust, defensive lineman Hero Kanu said after Wednesday’s practice. Kanu, who has the phrase “Trust The Process” tattooed across his chest, said the mantra must become the team’s identity to maximize its full potential. “You can have all the talent in the world. If you can't do the little things right, it doesn't matter,” Kanu said. “So, obviously, you've got to trust the process and go in the right direction every day, going up the hill.” — There are three big changes on defense Kanu has noticed as Muschamp goes about installing his scheme. Texas will be a more aggressive down-to-down defense. Kanu specifically mentioned the interior defensive line causing more disruption to help the EDGE group get loose more often. Muschamp’s energy and knowledge of the game, Kanu said, are second to none. Kanu also mentioned Muschamp’s plans to mix up how often the Longhorns operate out of a three, four or five-man front. In that regard, the over-the-ball tackles will have a big say in how versatile Muschamp can be. Thankfully, Kanu has been impressed with the strides made by 378-pound Ian Geffrard and 364-pound Zion Williams since arriving from Arkansas and LSU, respectively. “You don't see a lot of guys at that weight moving this well,” Kanu said. “I'm really proud of them, how far they’ve come.” — Colin Simmons can’t hunt opposing quarterbacks until the fall. In the meantime, he’s searching for the next source of fuel to keep his fire burning. Before playing a snap at Texas, Simmons was determined to move his family out of where they previously lived. His mother, Monica McCarley, and his 11-year-old brother, Clayton Roberts, relocated to the Austin area last year. Simmons, who, along with his mother, founded “Clay’s Color Crew” in 2024 “to support the entire Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) community,” said the move has allowed Clayton, who was diagnosed with autism in 2020, to enroll in “a school that's good for him, that he's getting the right attention and the right treatment." “With me doing that, it was like, 'OK, what's next?’ Simmons said. “I'm looking for what's next. But while I look for what's next, I'm just going out here and having fun.” Fun is the key to Simmons' success, as far as he's concerned. After publicly stating his desire to break Kiki DeAyala’s single-season school sack record (22.5 in 1982) last spring, Simmons started pressing. The weight of self-imposed expectations played a big role in Simmons’ slow start (1.5 sacks through the first five games of the season and 10.5 over the team's last eight games), making him determined not to let the pursuit of individual accolades negatively impact his play. “Knowing myself, I like to have fun. I like to have a smile on my face,” Simmons said. “The best Colin Simmons is when he has a smile on his face.” — Even in a deep EDGE room, Lance Jackson was too good to keep off the field as a true freshman. According to Pro Football Focus, Jackson played 261 snaps in 2025. That was the fourth-highest total among the EDGE group, behind Simmons (615), Ethan Burke (378) and Brad Spence (264). Jackson, who is up to 272 pounds after Muschamp told him in December that he wanted the Texarkana Pleasant Grove product to bulk up, knew what he needed to do to get ready for college football by following the lead of his brother, former Arkansas defensive lineman Landon Jackson. Landon put in a lot of hard work to become a two-time All-SEC defender and a third-round draft pick by the Buffalo Bills in 2025. That's the same mindset Lance brought with him to the Forty Acres. “Ever since I got here in December (2024), he told me what I needed to do to be able to play,” Lance Jackson said. “I learned the playbook fairly fast and then was able to get on the field.” Even in a rivalry with the history and renewed vitriol that exists between the Razorbacks, blood is thicker than water when it comes to Landon’s continued influence on Lance. “I feel like now, he doesn't really look at it as much as a rivalry because he just wants what's best for me,” Lance Jackson said. “He wants me to win every game. "He just wants me to shine.” — Whether he’s playing cornerback, filling the nickel role in Muschamp’s defense or lining up anywhere else on the field, Graceson Littleton’s expectations for himself when he steps on the field won’t change. “Dominate in everything I do,” Littleton said. “I want to be the best. I want to excel in everything I do.” Two of the three secondary coaches from last season’s staff are gone. The one who was retained, Mark Orphey, is someone Littleton trusts to help him reach his ceiling as he begins the process of cross-training at cornerback and nickelback. “He recruited me out of high school. I loved him,” Littleton said. “He happened to come to Texas. I'm very excited to be able to play under him and then at Star (nickel) as well.” View full news story

FINAL: Texas 15, Texas State 4 The Longhorns run their record to 16-0, their best start since the program's last national championship season (2005).

Texas State bats in the bottom of the inning as the home team. Also, with it being a road game for Texas, Texas State doesn't have to go by the SEC run rule (I don't know if the Sun Belt has one or not) unless both teams agree to it.

M9: Texas 15, TXST 4