Scott Drew lobbies for Texas basketball in NCAA Tournament

Texas basketball and head coach Rodney Terry fell short of head coach Scott Drew and the No. 11 Baylor Bears in the final Big 12 regular season matchup between these two teams in Waco on March 4. Texas couldn't hold onto an early second-half double-digit lead as Baylor went on a big run to close out the game with a 93-85 victory.

Terry and the Longhorns had an opportunity to pick up a marquee win on the road while sweeping the regular season series against Baylor had they held onto the big lead down the stretch in the second half.

Scott Drew buying into Texas basketball as a lock for the NCAA Tournament

A win over a top-15 ranked Baylor team on the road would've also provided the Longhorns with an obvious resume boost for the NCAA Tournament. Most current projections, including from ESPN's Joe Lunardi peg Texas as an eight or nine seed.

While the loss to Baylor stings, it shouldn't hurt the Longhorns' tournament chances at all. Drew backed that point that Texas should be in the "Big Dance" without any questions being asked.

In his postgame press conference on March 4, Drew said that Texas should be in the tournament on Selection Sunday by saying it's "not even close".

"Big 12 is hopefully going to have 10 or 11 teams. I think there could be seven-win teams get into the tournament this year."

Drew is clearly high on the Big 12's chances to get well over half of the schools in the conference in the NCAA Tournament field this postseason. He said he thinks potentially over 10 teams in the Big 12 deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament.

That might be a bit of a stretch regarding projections for the Big 12 in the NCAA Tournament. The Big 12 might already have the most tournament selections of any conference with eight or nine schools hearing their name called on Selection Sunday.

While Terry and the Longhorns look to be securely in the NCAA Tournament without having to be in a play-in game, they still have work to do in the next couple of weeks. To boost its resume to potentially get a higher seed on Selection Sunday, Texas needs at least one or two more wins in the regular season finale and the Big 12 Tournament.

Texas faces the rival Oklahoma Sooners in the regular season finale on March 9 at the Moody Center in Austin. The Big 12 Tournament begins the following week in Kansas City, MO, with the first round of games tipping off on March 12.

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