Texas Basketball: Where Joe Lunardi projects Longhorns post-OK State loss

A loss to the Oklahoma State Cowboys on March 7 put the Texas basketball program in a really difficult spot ahead of the Big 12 Tournament.

A really bad loss at a bad time for the Texas basketball program happened on March 7, to round out the 2019-20 regular season. Texas fell short against one of the bottom three teams in the Big 12 to wrap up their regular season slate, which came by the final score of 81-59 at the hands of the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Saturday afternoon.

After that embarrassing 22-point loss for the Texas Longhorns basketball program at the hands of head coach Mike Boynton and the Pokes, it appears that most NCAA Tournament experts in the media have them as the definition of a bubble team. Texas looked go sitting on their five-game winning streak heading into the weekend. But their hopes of bolstering their NCAA Tournament resume in the regular season finale were dashed by the Pokes.

According to ESPN’s college hoops insider Joe Lunardi, Texas is down to the final team that is on the list of the “last four in” for the NCAA Tournament. The other three teams that are on the list of the last four in for Lunardi includes the Xavier Musketeers, Arizona State Sun Devils, and the Indiana Hoosiers.

A lot will depend on how the Longhorns do in the Big 12 Tournament. They take on the 18-13 Texas Tech Red Raiders as the four seed in the Big 12 Tournament on March 12. A win over Texas Tech will help Texas bounce back and likely solidify their status as an NCAA Tournament-caliber team.

Head coach Shaka Smart has to be sweating bullets heading into the Big 12 Tournament. The Longhorns are anything but a sure thing to make it though Selection Sunday with positive news. And if Texas misses out on the Big Dance for the second straight year, then they are likely to want Smart off the Forty Acres for good.

There is still the opportunity for Texas to parlay their late season momentum into a boost for their NCAA Tournament resume. A win or two in the Big 12 Tournament would put the Longhorns in position to head into Selection Sunday with at least 20 wins. That would have to lock them in to at least a play-in game, if nothing else.

Texas finished out their regular season with a record of 19-12 (9-9 Big 12). Beating Oklahoma State would’ve put them in position to get that elusive 20th win, which is something that really eluded Smart during most of his regular season runs in Austin thus far.