Texas Basketball: 3 reasons the Longhorns will win the Big 12 Tournament
Following a big win at home at the Moody Center in Austin in convincing fashion over head coach Bill Self and the No. 3 ranked Kansas Jayhawks on March 4 in the regular season finale, No. 9 Texas basketball is sitting in a good spot heading into the postseason. Texas and interim head coach Rodney Terry finished up the regular season with a record of 23-8 (12-6 Big 12) following the decisive 75-59 win over Kansas on March 4.
Terry and the Longhorns were able to lock up the two seed in the Big 12 Tournament after just falling short of a conference title for the regular season. Kansas edged out Texas by one game in the race for the Big 12 regular season crown this year.
Landing the two seed in the Big 12 Tournament means that the Longhorns, along with the Jayhawks, will have to wait for the winners of the first-round games to be decided.
Texas will face the winner of Game 2 in the Big 12 Tournament, which will be between the seven-seed Oklahoma State Cowboys and 10-seed Oklahoma Sooners. Meanwhile, Kansas will get the winner of the nine-seed Texas Tech Red Raiders and the eight-seed West Virginia Mountaineers.
The first game of the Big 12 Tournament for the Longhorns will take place on March 9 at T-Mobile Arena in Kansas City, MO, with the tip-off time set for 6 p.m. CT.
Why Tyrese Hunter and the two-seed Texas basketball can win the Big 12 Tournament
With all of this in mind, here’s a look at three reasons why the Longhorns will win the Big 12 Tournament this year.
Texas has a very favorable path to the title
Not only does Texas get a first-round bye to start off the Big 12 Tournament, but it also has one of the most favorable matchups possible in the quarterfinals on March 9. Texas will battle either the seven-seed Oklahoma State or the 10-seed Oklahoma in its first game of the conference tournament next week.
Whichever opponent Texas faces should be a manageable one for Terry and the Longhorns. Texas is undefeated in four outings against the Oklahoma schools this year, winning those contests by a combined margin of 27 points (most of which came in the two victories over the Pokes).
As long as Texas plays a decent game in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals, it has about as clear of a path as possible to the semifinals considering that this is the deepest conference in all of college hoops.
It’s also worth noting that since Texas beat every single team in the Big 12 this year at least once, this squad has shown it can beat literally anyone if and when it reaches the semifinals. You have to like those odds for the Longhorns in the Big 12 Tournament, all things considered.