Julius Randle reveals why he didn’t play at Texas: ‘They sucked’

Julius Randle was as good of a one and done as John Calipari ever brought through Kentucky. However, as the top prospect in the state of Texas in 2013, he very easily could have ended up in Austin with the Texas Longhorns.

There was just one problem. While talking about his college recruitment with Paul George on ‘Podcast P’, Randle said that, as a Dallas native, he grew up watching Texas during the Rick Barnes era. He didn’t end up on The 40 Acres, though, because, frankly, the Longhorns ‘sucked’ heading into what would have been his freshman season in college.

“It was a couple of different things. For instance, like, I wanted to go to Texas,” Randle said. “Like, I grew up a Texas fan. So I grew up watching KD and those dudes at Texas. But the reason why I couldn’t was because they sucked, bro. I’m not going to lie.”

“It was terrible at the time,” continued Randle. “They’re good now. But, at the time, they were awful.”

Randle chose Kentucky over other finalists like Texas, Kansas, Florida, and Duke. It worked out for him as he averaged 15 points and 10.4 rebounds with UK, reached the 2014 national championship game, and left college as the No. 7 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.

In the end, Randle said that Kentucky checked all of his boxes in terms of competing nationally, especially considering the location of the Final Four, as well as preparing him for the NBA.

“There was a couple of things of what I wanted when I went to college. One was the national championship was in Dallas that year. And I knew I was only one and done. I knew I wasn’t going there for more than a year. So I was like, the year that I’m there, I want to have a chance to win it,” said Randle. “And, that year, we had, like, the highest rated class ever up until that point. So we had, like, six dudes who were McDonald’s All-Americans that went to Kentucky. I’m like I want a chance to win. So I’ve got to be a part of that.”

“I wanted to be one and done. And I wanted to be ready when I got to the league. So it was a no-brainer for me,” Randle stated. “I liked Duke, I liked Kansas and those other schools. But, like, it was a no-brainer.”

Now, to be fair, ‘sucked’ might be strong phrasing to describe the state of Texas basketball at that point. The Longhorns did struggle in the season before Randle’s college season as they went 16-18. It was their worst finish since 1998 and was the only year that the program missed the tournament under Barnes. However, the program went 126-51 in the five years prior and went 44-25 in the two seasons after.

Still, none of the previous success was able to wipe the 2013 finish from Randle’s mind ahead of his commitment. That makes it a very interesting ‘what could have been?’ scenario considering he’s still one of the state’s best recruits in recent memory.