Good news and bad news, Longhorns fans. The good news is that your 2010-11 team is — like most teams under recruiting whiz Rick Barnes — going to be very talented. The bad news? Guard Varez Ward will not be a part of that talent. Instead, he’ll be transferring to Auburn . At first glance, the bad news might not seem all that bad. After all, the Longhorns have a bevy of guards in their rotation, including Dogus Balbay , Jai Lucas , J’Covan Brown , and top 2010 recruit Cory Joseph, all of whom have the skills to contribute this season. (And let’s not forget sophomore small forward Jordan Hamilton , whose guard-ish game is primed for a breakout in 2010-11 .) When you have that much talent, should you really worry about the transfer of a single player? If Barnes thought so highly of Ward, would he have recruited Joseph & Co. in the first place? Still, despite the likely spin that Ward’s transfer will make it easier for the Longhorns to establish a rotation, his farewell certainly won’t make the Longhorns better . Ward was supposed to start at guard last season before a freak layup-line injury ended his season. Without him, Texas’ guard corp was suspect. The Longhorns lacked one backcourt player who could both defend and facilitate the team’s talented offensive threats; Balbay’s offensive inability (and later injury) made him suspect, while J’Covan Brown was a score-first guard who didn’t do much for his teammates with the ball in his hands. When Andy Katz spoke to Longhorns senior Damion James after 2009-10’s historic collapse — when Texas went from No. 1 in the country to a No. 9 NCAA tournament seed and a first-round tourney exit — he said Ward’s injury had more to do with Texas’ collapse than anything else: “They’ll have a good season with Jordan and Gary, but Varez was our best on-ball defender. He can pass the ball. He’s a true point guard. He can get dudes the ball when they need it

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Varez Ward ends Texas career