Texas Basketball: 3 reasons the Longhorns will win the Big 12 Tournament
Experience factor
According to Kenpom’s experience rankings, the Longhorns are the most experienced team of any in the Big 12 (just edging out the Iowa State Cyclones). Texas ranks as the sixth-most experienced team in the nation.
That makes sense given the plethora of seniors that the Longhorns have in the mix this season. Texas has a whopping half-dozen players that are either seniors or super seniors on the roster this year. And two of those six seniors for the Longhorns have already won a conference tournament in their respective collegiate careers (Sir’Jabari Rice and Brock Cunningham).
It goes without saying that this type of experience is very valuable in March. Texas will need some of the more experienced core players in this rotation to help them fight through what promises to be some difficult competition in the best conference in the country during the Big 12 Tournament.
And those four Longhorns seniors that haven’t won a conference tournament in their careers will have a huge chip on their shoulders this year. Seniors such as forward Timmy Allen, guard Marcus Carr, and big man Christian Bishop was close on quite a few occasions at multiple different programs to winning their conference tournaments.
That aforementioned trio for the Longhorns also knew what it was like last season to be one of the better teams in the Big 12 Tournament while undergoing an early exit.
A notable nugget heading into the Big 12 Tournament is that the Longhorns were the most experienced team in the conference the last time it won the tourney (2021).
Moreover, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the depth and experience that Texas has coming off the bench. Texas had the most productive bench in the Big 12 throughout conference play. And even in the last 10 games, Texas led the Big 12 by a wide margin in bench scoring at a mark of 30 points per game.
The likely Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year award recipient Rice leading the Longhorns bench, combined with the plethora of experience that this team brings to the table will be two huge x-factors in the conference tournament next week.