It's been two months since Texas basketball hired Sean Miller as head coach after firing Rodney Terry. It was an offer Miller couldn't pass up after coaching at Xavier.

Texas is coming off a challenging debut season in the SEC, where they went 19-16 and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Speaking of challenges, Miller spoke openly about a lesser priority facing the SEC, per Pete Thamel of ESPN. Miller said that there is a significant reduction in quality veteran players in the transfer portal because they don't have the extra year of eligibility granted by the COVID pandemic.

Miller reflected upon his tenure at Xavier when that year was available. He said the absence of that extra year will hurt the depth coming out of the transfer portal.

“One thing that's definitely going to change, and I don't think it's talked a lot about in basketball, is the no COVID year,” he said. “In our case, we had a number of players in my three years at Xavier that were exercising their fifth year. It's a year that doesn't exist right now.”

Miller cited the success of programs such as the national champion Florida Gators and the Auburn Tigers. Their accomplishments were partly due to the presence of COVID-era players.

“Even in the Final Four, when you looked closely at Auburn and Florida, two remarkable rosters, part of their greatness was that they had this gift of a blend of talent, but their older players, they were a big part of their success,” Miller said.

The NCAA allowed for an extra year of eligibility to student-athletes affected by the pandemic in 2020. Many players decided to use that extra year and finish out their college careers.

To Miller's point, the landscape of the game will look different.

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The future of Texas and the SEC

The absence of COVID era players in the transfer portal depletes it of experienced talent. Programs will likely duke it out in high school recruiting and transfer portal.

In other words, first come and first serve. There will be more time to develop younger players, but in many ways they will be starting from scratch even they are a year or two in.

Whereas prior there was emphasis on getting much out of the veteran players. When it comes to the SEC, they benefited immensely by the presence of COVID era players. Now the competition balance could drastically shift with what's left.

As for Texas, they are poised to be a strong contender this season. They have experienced returners coming back including Jordan Pope, Tramon Mark, Nicolas Codie, and Chendall Weaver.

Miller is heavily utilizing the transfer portal and looking at 2026 recruits.