Texas Longhorns Still in Contention for a No. 1 Seed In NCAA Tournament
AUSTIN — As the No. 5 Texas Longhorns await Selection Sunday, one bracketologist still has the Longhorns as the NCAA tournament’s top overall seed even after losing to now-No. 1 South Carolina in the SEC Championship. On3’s bracketologist Charlie Creme still believes the Longhorns have the resume to claim one of the top four seeds.
Despite not winning the SEC Tournament Championship, Creme defended the Longhorns. Texas is 31-3 on the season, with two of the losses coming to South Carolina and the other in overtime to Notre Dame. Both of the teams the Longhorns have lost two have been ranked No. 1 at one point this season. The Longhorns also claimed a share of the SEC Regular Season Championship.
UConn is currently ranked No. 3 in the country after winning the Big East tournament, making their case for a No. 1 seed. The other three No. 1 seeds will most likely be South Carolina, USC and UCLA.
“Really if you’re boiling it down I guess it comes down to Texas or,” Creme said on an ESPN conference call. “And Texas just has more good wins. Obviously it’s beneficial they play in the SEC and UConn plays in a weak Big East. But UConn also lost to Notre Dame. UConn lost to. Texas has that win over South Carolina, so does UConn. So those kind of common opponent things aren’t too different.
“But I think what it boils down to is Texas just has a lot more quality wins. And the schedules are very compatible. UConn’s non-conference schedule is better, Texas’ obviously the rest of the season is much better. So maybe it’s a thin slice of the pie here making Texas No. 1, but I think with all those Quad 1 wins it’s hard to go in any other direction.”
Texas lost just one game in SEC play, losing on the road to South Carolina. But, when the Gamecocks came to Austin, the Longhorns won. The SEC was known to be one of the toughest conferences to play in this season and in their first year in the league, the Longhorns got out relatively unscathed.
Now, all the Longhorns can do is hope that the NCAA tournament selection committee feels the same way about their record as Creme.
