The Texas Longhorns were the No. 1 team in the nation when they entered the SEC Women's Basketball Tournament but after a brutal loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks in the conference title game, the Horns dropped down to No. 4 and head coach Vic Schaefer pointed out one problem (of the many) with the tournament:
Why is the tournament hosted just two hours from Columbia, the home of the Gamecocks, but nearly a day's drive from the Horns' home in Austin?
The SEC Women's Basketball Tournament was held in Greenville, SC, this season, and the men's tournament, which is just days away, is set to be held in Nashville, TN – the home of the Vanderbilt Commodores, who Texas plays in the first round.
In the middle of the Longhorn women's game, Schaefer referred to the Greenville arena as a "home court" for the South Carolina Gamecocks. After the game, the Texas head coach had even more to say about the tournament's location.
“It’s a road game,” Schaefer said postgame. “You’re already playing a top team in the country, and then to play them basically on their home floor, it makes it that much more difficult... Let’s say we were playing in San Antonio. How do you think it would be? It’d be a little different, right?”
During the regular season, one of Texas' two losses was on the road at South Carolina. When the Gamecocks came to Austin, the Horns pulled off the victory.
With the men just a few days away from their first conference tournament as a part of the SEC, Texas fans are hesitant for the Longhorns to play in Nashville. The men's tournament is set to be played in Bridgestone Arena, less than 10 minutes from Vanderbilt's campus and only less than three hours from the Tennessee Volunteers' home in Knoxville.
While the location of the 2025 tournaments won't change, maybe the Horns will fare better in Nashville than they did in Greenville, even though the men's team is a far cry from the women's.