Texas MBB Receives Positive Bracket News Following Win Over Texas A&M

Texas Longhorns men’s basketball needed a strong showing in the SEC Tournament this week for a shot at sneaking into the big dance. The team may have done just enough to earn a bid this Sunday.

Following its thrilling 94-89 double-overtime victory over Texas A&M on Thursday, ESPN college basketball analyst Joe Lunardi moved Texas into the NCAA Tournament field as one of his last four teams in for his latest bracket update. He has them slotted as a 12-seed, where they’d play fellow bubble team Xavier in one of the “First Four” matchups.

 

This is certainly a positive development for Texas, who was previously projected to miss the NCAA Tournament altogether prior to this week’s league tournament in Nashville.

 

The Longhorns ended the regular-season with an underwhelming 17-14 record, finishing 14th in the SEC standings. They remained on the bubble due to favorable NET rankings and a difficult SEC schedule, but most experts like Lunardi had their NCAA Tournament hopes dead to rights.

 

The possibility of being left out of the big dance only boosted speculation of head coach Rodney Terry being fired, with further reports indicating that athletic director Chris Del Conte was already eyeing potential replacements. The only remedy for this embattled UT squad would be a surprise run in Nashville.

 

And so far, they’ve stepped to the challenge. The team opened the tourney with a solid 79-72 first-round victory over Vanderbilt on Wednesday and followed it up by knocking off rival A&M on Thursday. A clutch Tre Johnson three in the second overtime gave Texas a one-point lead with 2:08 remaining and it never relinquished control the rest of the way.

 

Lunardi’s new projections doesn’t necessarily guarantee that UT is out of the woods just yet, as the decision will ultimately come down to the selection committee this Sunday.

 

However, the ‘Horns can definitely help their cause even further with an upset victory over former head coach Rick Barnes and Tennessee in the quarterfinals on Friday.