Texas Basketball: Horns should be in NCAA Tournament post-Tech win

There’s a very realistic path now for the Texas basketball program to get into the NCAA Tournament after beating Texas Tech on Feb. 29.

Beating the No. 22 ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders proved that the Texas basketball program is on a good path under the direction of head coach Shaka Smart at the moment. Texas won their fourth straight game by taking down head coach Chris Beard and the Red Raiders on Feb. 29. This weekend proved to be the most crucial game of the season up to this point for the men in burnt orange on the hardwood.

Now that the Texas Longhorns basketball program has moved one step closer to 20 wins on the season, they can start to prove that they belong in the NCAA Tournament conversation. Maybe even for a single-digit seed come Selection Sunday.

Texas moved their record to a vastly improving 18-11 (8-8 Big 12) on season with the 68-58 win over Texas Tech on the road in Lubbock on Saturday evening. The Longhorns and Red Raiders now have similar records overall and could be vying for that highly sought after three seed in the Big 12 Tournament.

In fact, there’s four teams that sit within two games of each other in the Big 12 standings. The West Virginia Mountaineers, Oklahoma Sooners, TCU Horned Frogs, Texas, and Texas Tech, are all sitting with between seven-to-nine wins in Big 12 play this season. And Texas winds up playing two of those teams in a row in their final three games.

The regular season finale will come against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on March 7. The final two games come against the Oklahoma schools. With the way Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are playing lately, that could mean a tough test ahead. Oklahoma had a similar week to Texas in the fact that they beat both Texas Tech and West Virginia in the last five days. Oklahoma State is coming off a win over the Iowa State Cyclones at home at Gallagher-Iba Arena on Feb. 29.

However, if the Longhorns continue to get on the right side of the win column, they should solidify their spot in the NCAA Tournament. Texas reportedly sat in the “next four out” teams for the NCAA Tournament, thanks to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, ahead of this Feb. 29 showdown against Texas Tech.

But now Texas has to slide up in Lunardi’s bracketology rankings after this latest win. Beating Texas Tech is no easy feat, even if they had a rough week against Texas and Oklahoma through and through.

What makes the case for the Longhorns even more interesting is how the backcourt is playing right now. Texas is starting to see the likes of junior guard Matt Coleman, junior Andrew Jones, and sophomore Courtney Ramey come alive when it matters most. Jones had yet another 20+ point outing. He registered a game-high 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field in the win over Texas Tech.

Ramey and Coleman didn’t have their biggest game against Texas Tech, but they did combine for 18 points, six rebounds, and one steal. Get better play from Coleman and Ramey continually through the end of the Big 12 Tournament and the Longhorns will make for a very intriguing team that could make a run in the Big Dance.

In the latest kenpom.com rankings, the Longhorns ranked at No. 54 in Division 1 and Texas Tech ranked at No. 23. Beating Texas Tech and West Virginia in the same week should easily get Texas in the top 50 in the Kenpom rankings.

Next up for Texas is the second edition of the Red River Rivalry game on the hardwood, against Oklahoma, on March 3. Four days later, Texas will try to make it six straight if they’re able to beat the Sooners, while facing the Pokes.

After Texas takes on the Oklahoma schools to round out the regular season, they will take part in the Big 12 Tournament. The first round of the Big 12 Tournament begins on March 11. More than likely, Texas won’t be taking part in the first day of the Big 12 Tournament, though.