New Texas basketball coach Sean Miller continued to pillage the portal by getting a surprise pledge from St. John’s guard Simeon Wilcher, according to multiple reports.
Wilcher started 25 games this past season for the Red Storm, which won the Big East and secured a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The 6-foot-4 incoming junior has two remaining years of eligibility, and he gives the Texas backcourt a true point guard who will likely slide into a starting role.
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Former St. John’s guard Simeon Wilcher has become the fifth player to commit to Texas in the portal. His arrival will give new coach Sean Miller a true point guard in what looks like a loaded backcourt that also includes returners Chendall Weaver, Tramon Mark and Jordan Pope.
Wilcher saw his minutes increase from 9.1 a game as a freshman to 25.4 this past season. He averaged eight points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists in the 2024-25 campaign while playing the typical hounding defense demanded by St. John’s coach Rick Pitino. Shooting remains a work in progress for the New Jersey native, who originally pledged to North Carolina out of high school; he converted just 40.7% from the floor last season and made only 33 of 111 3-point shots.
Next season’s backcourt now seems set. Returning guards Tramon Mark, Chendall Weaver and Jordan Pope have all announced their intentions to play one more season at Texas, and Wilcher’s arrival seems to ensure that Mark can serve as a combo guard rather than focus on playing the point. Miller has been busy since leaving Xavier to replace the fired Rodney Terry as the Texas head coach March 24. He has now welcomed five players in the portal for the Longhorns, who slotted in at No. 3 in On3’s portal rankings even before the commitment of Wilcher. This offseason, Texas has also signed big men Lassina Traore (Xavier) and Matas Vokietaitis (Florida Atlantic) as well as small forwards Dailyn Swain (Xavier) and Cam Heide (Purdue). Reserve forward Nic Codie has also said he’s returning to Texas, and forward Jamie Vinson has yet to announce whether he’ll return after playing 44 minutes this past season.
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John Clark, a four-star forward from Houston and the only member of the Longhorns’ 2025 recruiting class, has also apparently stuck with Texas. That leaves Miller with up to four scholarships available for next season, pending expected approval of the NCAA settlement that would pay college athletes and expand scholarship limits to 15 roster spots for men’s basketball programs. However, a program does not have to fill all 15 scholarship spots each season.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: NCAA transfer portal: Simeon Wilcher commits to Texas, Sean Miller
