Texas Basketball: ESPN Bracketology projects Horns as a one seed
Head coach Shaka Smart and this Texas basketball team are off to a really nice start this season, including four straight wins to start off Big 12 play.
What was once thought to be extremely unlikely at this point of the regular season slate is transpiring early in the month of January for head coach Shaka Smart and this top five ranked Texas basketball team. Texas had a big weekend, continuing to stay undefeated in Big 12 play after two nice wins.
But with the elevated level of success that Smart and the Longhorns are finding on the hardwood of late, how is their outlook shaping up for the postseason?
In the latest edition of ESPN’s Bracketology from Joe Lunardi over the weekend, the Longhorns were actually projected as a one seed. This would mean that, if the season ended last weekend, that the Longhorns and Baylor Bears would give the Big 12 two of the four one seeds in the NCAA Tournament this season.
Texas does rank in the top four in both major polls from the latest update. Both the Longhorns and Bears do rank in the top four in those polls within the last week. Baylor does rank two spots higher in both major polls than the Longhorns, though.
After their latest win, which came on the road over the West Virginia Mountaineers on Jan. 9, Texas sports a record of 10-1 (4-0 Big 12). For multiple weeks in a row now, the Longhorns have held a program-high ranking in both major polls in Smart’s tenure. In fact, the Longhorns haven’t ranked in the top four of both major polls, prior to this season, since the 2010-11 season.
Moreover, in the latest edition of Bracketology from ESPN’s Lunardi, Texas is projected to take on the 16-seed Cleveland State in what would be the Round of 64. And the Longhorns would get in a bracket region with the likes of the eight seed Michigan State Spartans, two seed Michigan Wolverines, and five seed Oregon Ducks, among others.
The Big 12 usually finds itself with more than half of the conference’s teams making the NCAA Tournament. And with a field of 10 teams in the Big 12 that is as deep as it has been in recent years, that should ring true again in 2021.
Next. Texas continues rolling with huge win over WVU. dark
After their nice win over West Virginia on the afternoon of Jan. 9 on the road in Morgantown, the Longhorns hold a record of 10-1 (4-0 Big 12). And next up for Smart and the Longhorns is a meeting with the Texas Tech Red Raiders at home at the Frank Erwin Center on Jan. 13.