Is UTRGV One Season Away From Being a Basketball School?
Football brought the explosion. Basketball already had the history. Now Brandon Chambers and Lane Lord have rosters that could make this winter hit different.
Football is the loudest thing in the Valley right now.
Packed house. Tailgates. Orange everywhere. Saturdays at The Vack turned UTRGV athletics into something the whole 956 could feel.
But basketball was here first.
Long before football had everybody pulling up on Saturdays, Pan American College was winning a 1963 NAIA national championship, with Luke Jackson going for 25 points and 25 rebounds in the title game before becoming an Olympic gold medalist, NBA All-Star and NBA champion.
That history matters because UTRGV basketball isn’t trying to manufacture some brand-new identity.
It already has one.
And while football has been soaking up the spotlight, basketball has quietly been getting its weight back.
The Men Already Changed the Standard
Two years ago, UTRGV men’s basketball finished 16-15 and 8-12 in the Southland.
Last season, the Vaqueros jumped to 19-14, 14-8 in conference and the No. 3 seed in the Southland Tournament. Those 14 conference wins were a program record, and UTRGV put together consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1988-90.
Then somebody came shopping.
Kahil Fennell turned 35 wins in two seasons into the head coaching job at Western Michigan.
UTRGV answered by bringing in Brandon Chambers, and instead of trying to patch together a roster, Chambers built one that looks like it was designed to make teams uncomfortable.
Only Always Wright and Luis Ramirez return from last season, so this is a major remake. But it doesn’t feel random. UTRGV’s own summer-practice report described everybody else as newcomers brought in with a specific purpose.
Devon Pryor gives UTRGV a 6-foot-7 guard with Texas and Oregon on the résumé. Jace Posey brings another big perimeter body with TCU experience. Ian Parham Jr. adds another 6-foot-6 guard after averaging 21.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.4 assists in high school, while B.B. Knight brings Southland experience and proven perimeter shooting.
The guard room keeps rolling. T’Johnn Brown comes from McNeese with championship-program experience. Chris Uwayo and Caden Bell arrive from Tyler Junior College, Darius Carr comes from Midland College, and Jaeson Blair adds another experienced option on the ball.
Then there’s Always Wright, one of the few guys who already knows the program, and Los Fresnos product Luis Ramirez, giving UTRGV continuity and another real 956 connection in the locker room. UTRGV officially lists Ramirez’s hometown as Brownsville and Los Fresnos High School as his high school.
Up front, Terrell Wright gives Chambers a 6-foot-10 rim-protecting body. Bobby Crawford Jr. is a 6-foot-8 finisher who shot 65.2% from the floor at Lander, Josiah Hill gives UTRGV another 6-foot-10 piece from Tyler Junior College, and freshman Kaleb Corbitt adds more length at 6-foot-9.
That’s where the roster starts getting funky.
Chambers has guards. He has length. He has grown-man bodies. He has rim protection. He has Southland experience, Power Four experience, junior-college production and dudes who have already been around winning.
And Chambers himself noticed it once everybody got on the floor.
“I knew we were athletic but not this athletic.” UTRGV Athletics
That’s a loud sentence this early.
He has options.
And Lane Lord Already Has Proof
The women aren’t talking about potential after a rebuilding year.
They just had the best season in program history.
UTRGV went 21-14, set a program record with 16 Southland victories, won a program-record 11 road games, returned to postseason play for the first time in seven years and won the program’s first postseason road game in the WNIT.
That wasn’t some cute little step forward.
That was a real season.
Now Lane Lord gets to build on it.
Chazlyn Dettor is back after averaging 9.8 points and 5.3 rebounds as a freshman and flashing real upside against high-level competition. Erin Maguire returns after starting 30-plus games and gives UTRGV a veteran guard who already knows what it takes to win in this system. Gianna Angiolet brings perimeter shooting, and Madison Huhn gives Lord another experienced floor spacer and steady presence.
There’s developmental depth too. Elizabeth Romer gives them another perimeter option, Rylie Whitehair brings a 6-foot-2 stretch-forward body, and Elise Horne gives Lord another 6-foot-2 piece to keep developing.
Then Lord hit the portal and stayed close to home in the standings.
Jesslynn Jalomo comes from Nicholls as a proven Southland player with quickness off the bounce and experience against the exact teams UTRGV is trying to beat. Kamryn McLaurin arrives from Houston Christian with length and athleticism, and Lord has already called her “one of the best athletes in our league.”
That’ll play.
Trinity Bane, a PSJA North product coming home from New Orleans, gives UTRGV another 6-foot forward who already knows the league and brings another real Valley connection.
Janette Aarnio adds graduate-level experience from South Florida. Jessica Borders comes in as a 6-foot two-way guard, while Lina Fimbo gives UTRGV a true 6-foot-3 post presence and another completely different body for Lord to work with inside.
That’s what makes this roster interesting.
The women didn’t just add talent.
They added size, experience and players who already know what Southland basketball feels like when it gets grimy.
This Winter Could Change the Conversation
Football owns the fall right now.
It should.
But when football season ends, UTRGV might not lose the buzz.
If Chambers has the men near the top of the Southland and Lord has the women making another run, the Fieldhouse gets louder, March starts mattering, and basketball takes back some real estate.
Football showed what happens when the 956 gets behind a college team.
Basketball already had the history.
Now it has the rosters.
One big winter could change how the Valley looks at UTRGV basketball again.
Not as something coming back.
As something that never really left.
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