Texas Projected Number 2 Seed In March Madness
The Texas Longhorns are set to make their third straight NCAA Tournament appearance this March, which the school has accomplished only three times in school history. However, the one thing that has eluded the Longhorns basketball program since its first season in 1906 has been an NCAA championship.
Currently ranked ninth in the nation, the Longhorns sit in the second spot in the Big 12 Conference. With just one game separating them from the first-place Kansas Jayhawks, but also with just one game separating them from the two teams tied for third, the Kansas State Wildcats and the Baylor Bears. Recently the NCAA selection committee revealed its top sixteen and projections of where those teams will end up being seeded come March Madness.
While there is still an outside shot at claiming one of the top seeds, it appears as though the Longhorns are projected to be a number two seed headed into the NCAA Tournament. Not since 2008 when the Longhorns were coached by Rick Barnes and led by the trio of D.J. Augustin, A.J. Abrams, and Damion James has a Texas team been ranked as high.
Find out more about how the Longhorns position in the March Madness odds here.
A Game of Runs
Entering the 2022-23 season ranked twelfth in both the AP and Coaches polls, the Longhorns came out of the gates with a six-game winning streak. With a convincing victory over the then-second-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs, the Longhorns would also add in a five-point defeat of the seventh-ranked Creighton Bluejays.
An early December overtime loss to the seventeenth-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini would knock the Longhorns down five spots on the charts, but the team would bounce back with another six-game winning streak to close out the 2022 portion of the season.
Flip the Calendar
2023 did not start out kindly for the Longhorns. Not only would they have to wait to find out more about the status of their head coach Chris Beard for his December third-degree domestic assault charge. Which justifiably caused a distraction, but their first game of the year resulted in a double-digit loss to Kansas State.
A trio of victories would be sandwiched between the Kansas State loss and an eleven-point loss to the twelfth-ranked Iowa State Cyclones.
Dropping as low as tenth on the national rankings, the Longhorns would continue their rollercoaster ride with impressive victories over Baylor and revenge wins over the Wildcats and the Cyclones.
With the twenty-second-ranked Texas Christian and third-ranked Jayhawks scheduled to close out their regular season, a pair of late-season victories combined with a solid run through the Big 12 Tournament to claim the championship could give the Longhorns a slim final push for a number one seed.
A Look Ahead
Of their current roster, the Longhorns do not have a single player listed on any of the mock 2023 NBA Draft boards. Although sophomore guard and fourth-leading scorer Tyrese Hunter has found his way into a few 2024 mock lists, he is projected as a deep second-rounder at best. While a number of teams have found NCAA Tournament success without a bonafide superstar, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a go-to player when in need of a bucket.
In addition to Hunter, the Longhorns have three other players who average double digits, including leading scorer Marcus Carr, Sir’Jabari Rice, and Timmy Allen. With this quartet, the Longhorns’ problem isn’t putting the ball in the basket as much as it is trying to keep their opponent from doing the same.
Based on the current projections, assuming they avoid a first-round upset, the Longhorns could potentially square off against the likes of the Duke Blue Devils, Missouri Tigers, Michigan State Spartans, or the Providence Friars in the second round.
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