Texas basketball coach Rodney Terry still has to wait a few weeks before he can hang a whistle around his neck and officially open the doors to the Longhorns’ facility for fall practice.

But in this portal era, building a roster begins before the previous season even ends.

Don’t believe it? Take a peek at the NCAA’s portal window, which opened March 18, three days before the Longhorns began the 2024 NCAA Tournament with a win over Colorado State.

According to Terry, his staff has to begin the evaluation process for players while scouting opponents during March Madness. Hectic? Yes. Avoidable? Not anymore.

“I think we all have learned how to navigate through the portal, especially over the past three or four years,” Terry said Thursday during a Zoom meeting with selected media. “And I think our staff's done a great job of identifying the right guys that we try to go after in the portal. And again, a lot of that's based on a lot of legwork that we've already done on our end, in terms of the things that we use to measure how a guy's going to fit for us.”

Will the six portal players Terry and his staff brought in be the right guys for the 2024-25 season, which will begin with a trip to Las Vegas to face Ohio State on Nov. 4? How about a three-player freshman class headlined by five-star shooting guard Tre Johnson? And what about the returnees such as guard Chendall Weaver, forward Devon Pryor and big men Kadin Shedrick and Ze’Rik Onyema, all of whom Terry mentioned as key players for the upcoming season?

Terry believes so, but before he could start constructing this year’s squad, he had to take a look back at last year’s players.

More: SEC releases basketball schedule: Texas to open conference play against Texas A&M

Tyrese Hunter, Dillon Mitchell among departures

Terry knew he’d lose leading scorers Max Abmas and Dylan Disu as well as fan favorite Brock Cunningham to graduation. But guard Tyrese Hunter and forward Dillon Mitchell announced their decisions to transfer in April after starting for two seasons. Promising freshman guard Chris Johnson also left in the portal.

Suddenly, finding some transfers took on extra urgency, Terry said.

“You don't go straight to the portal,” he said. “You have to know what you have returning before you are able to build your roster out. So, once we were able to identify who was coming back, then we started working on trying to find guys that complement our recruiting class and the players we have returning.”

And what were the conversations like with Hunter and Mitchell, two stalwarts for teams that won a combined four NCAA Tournament games over the past two seasons?

“We sit down and visit with every guy and see if he's happy here,” Terry said. “Is this a place where he still sees himself wanting to be? At the end of the day, if a youngster really wants to be here, then he's going to excel, and he's going to continue to do great things here.

“So you assess all that at the end (of each season). Then you go and build your team from there.”

Terry: Foundation laid in summer for rebuild

That building from the portal includes veteran guards Jordan Pope (Oregon State) and Julian Larry (Indiana State), wings Tramon Mark (Arkansas) and Jayson Kent (Indiana State), forward Arthur Kaluma (Kansas State), and versatile forward Malik Presley, a former four-star recruit from San Marcos who spend his freshman season last year at Vanderbilt. Aside from Presley, all have multiple years of collegiate experience, and all are likely to factor into the UT rotation this season.

“I think anytime you put a team together, it's kind of like a jigsaw puzzle in terms of all the pieces have to match up (and) complement one another,” Terry said.

Whether they come from the portal, the recruiting path or within a team’s own gym, those pieces can then start melding in the summer. Terry said informal workouts and impromptu shooting sessions are especially important in this portal era.

“Summer's become really major because you're fighting time when you're putting a team together for one year, and you’ve got to max that roster out for one year,” he said. “We're going to spend time on the court, but we have to have really good chemistry off the court, too. And I think for us, we don't try to force-feed that. We try to let it happen organically.”

According to Terry, that off-the-court chemistry included a trip to Las Vegas for the players celebrating a teammate’s birthday. Terry joked that “they didn’t invite me; I felt kind of left out.”

“But I get enough of Vegas; I don't need to go out to Vegas,” he said with a laugh. “We'll be out in Vegas here the first part of the year anyway.”

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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas basketball roster ready after portal rebuild, says Rodney Terry