Texas Basketball: Who Jay Bilas picked vs. VA Tech won’t surprise you

Among the most followed college basketball analysts is also one that tends to have a well-thought-out opinion often on the Texas basketball program. ESPN’s Jay Bilas tends to garner the respect and attention of a lot of college hoops fans around the country. And that usually carries over into Big 12 country, despite Bilas’ ties to the ACC.

Bilas is a former standout big man for the Duke Blue Devils and even played under the legendary head coach Mike Krzyzewski (who is now in his final year at the helm in Durham). Despite that, fans of about every major conference school tend to listen to what Bilas has to say about March Madness. That comes despite any ACC bias he might have.

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That is, at least, my take on the matter.

Either way you look at it, though, Bilas is one of the more respected and heard voices around the college hoops landscape, especially among media members. Hence, when he releases his picks for the NCAA Tournament, a lot of people listen.

Jay Bilas unsurprisingly picks Virginia Tech to beat Texas basketball

And it’s worth talking about who Bilas thinks will get the edge when six-seed Texas faces the defending ACC Tournament Champion and 11-seed Virginia Tech Hokies in the Round of 64 on March 18. In his picks for March Madness this week (paid ESPN+ content), Bilas actually took the Hokies to get the win over the Longhorns in this Round of 64 matchup.

Bilas specifically noted the matchup issues that the Hokies present for the Longhorns and the momentum they have coming into this game as the reasons why he had Virginia Tech winning this one. He does give the Longhorns respect for their defensive prowess and ability to force turnovers.

But it sounds like Bilas doubts the ability of the Longhorns on the offensive end.

Given the way the Longhorns performed over the course of the three-game losing streak they carry into the NCAA Tournament, that’s not the most outlandish take on the matter from Bilas.

In the last three games, Texas was held to under 63 points in regulation. That is the first time that happened for the Longhorns over the course of any three-game stretch this season. It’s no coincidence that this is the first three-game losing streak of the season for Texas with the offensive production drying up in the last few outings.

Moreover, while a lot of people are picking the Hokies to technically pull off the upset of the Longhorns, it’s not too surprising that Bilas picked Virginia Tech. What is surprising is the way that he discounted the experience that the Longhorns bring to the table in March Madness and the proven track record for Beard during his time as the Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach.

Bilas seems to take those factors into account for multiple other major conference schools in his picks for the NCAA Tournament, including Saint Mary’s and Iowa State. Texas seems to get the short end of the stick here from Bilas’ predictions.

But is that really surprising given that Virginia Tech just beat the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils to win the ACC Tournament crown?

Mind you, Duke was also the top seed in the ACC Tournament.

All in all, it’s not all that surprising that Bilas picked Virginia Tech to beat Texas in the Round of 64. It’s just surprising that his reasons strayed a bit from team-to-team among the Big 12 participants in the NCAA Tournament (i.e. Iowa State’s pick compared to Texas).

There’s only so much nitpicking we can do here, though. And what really matters is whether Beard can actually find some postseason success for this program starting later this week.

Texas comes into this Round of 64 matchup against Virginia Tech sporting a record of 21-11 (10-8) following their Big 12 Tournament loss to the TCU Horned Frogs back on March 10. Tip-off time between Texas and Virginia Tech is set for 3:30 p.m. CT on March 18.