College basketball rankings: Way-too-early Top 25 for 2019-20

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 06: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans talks with Cassius Winston #5 in the second half against the Texas Tech Red Raiders during the 2019 NCAA Final Four semifinal at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 6, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

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NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 04: Texas Longhorns bench begins to celebrate during the second half of the National Invitational Tournament college basketball championship game between the Lipscomb Bisons and the Texas Longhorns on April 4, 2019 at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY. (Photo by John Jones/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Here we are at the 2019 NIT champions. You can mock the NIT title all you want, but Texas came together at the right time and put a disappointing regular season behind it.

The Longhorns went into the NIT with a 16-16 record and put together a five-game winning streak to beat South Dakota State, Xavier, Colorado, TCU and Lipscomb to take the title and head into the offseason with incredible momentum.

Texas finished the Big 12 season with a losing record but it did pick up solid wins all season long over teams like Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Purdue and North Carolina — that’s seven NCAA Tournament teams right there.

Gone are Kerwin Roach II and Dylan Osetkowski who led the Longhorns in scoring but Jaxson Hayes had a strong freshman season as did Courtney Ramey while Jase Febres and Matt Coleman III should be upperclassmen leaders both on and off the court next season.

Shaka Smart also brings in the top recruiting class in the Big 12 and 13th nationally.