Texas’ NCAA Tournament Chances Slipping From Their Grasp With Each Loss

By Cody Daniel | Feb 22, 2015

Feb 21, 2015; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns guard Kendal Yancy (0) shoots against Iowa State Cyclones forward Jameel McKay (1) during the first half at the Frank Erwin Special Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY /

The Texas Longhorns entered the season atop a pedestal of expectations that came along with the highly-coveted No. 2 overall ESPN recruit, Myles Turner. Texas kicked their 2014-15 campaign off as a preseason top 10 team and based on the roster constructed in Austin, there were some realistic goals of a Final Four run for one of the deepest teams Rick Barnes has ever put together.

Fast forward to the last month of the college basketball regular season and the final chapters of what Texas hoped would become a storybook season are starting to grow increasingly adverse.

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As it stands now, the 17-10 Longhorns find themselves in a position where it would be a tremendous feat to be given a spot in the NCAA tournament and the opportunity to build a resume worthy of March Madness is quickly dwindling.

After the loss suffered in Austin Saturday at the hands of No. 14 Iowa State, the Longhorns are fresh off of back-to-back losses and heading into a three-game stretch where they’ll see No. 23 West Virginia and No. 8 Kansas on the road, while No. 20 Baylor will conclude this stretch in Austin.

Every remaining game for Texas appears to be an absolute must-win for the Horns’ to keep any their hopes of a potential postseason alive, but after losing six of their last nine – which includes an 0-5 effort against ranked competition – the hole the Longhorns have dug themselves into may just be too deep for even the outstretched arms of Turner to lift them out of.

Iowa State gonna get the win at Texas. Longhorns playing themselves out of the tournament.
— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) February 21, 2015

On the season, the Longhorns have compiled a not so compliment worthy record of 2-7 in ranked games. Their first win came in the finals seconds in Storrs against UConn, who was ranked 24th at the time, but has since become a 14-11 program that will likely be on the outside of the March Madness bubble looking in.

The other, which is their only impressive win thus far, came at home against then-No. 16 West Virginia after completely dominating the Mountaineers en route to a comfortable 77-50 victory.

As you could conclude, Texas hasn’t exactly put together a resume that screams NCAA tournament bid. It’s still very possible that the Horns’ receive a bid on Selection Sunday, but time is quickly running out with Texas being the underdog in three of their final four regular-season matchups.

Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology still has Texas slotted as a No. 8 seed, but he had them trending downwards, and this projection came before their most recent loss to Iowa State. With only four games left in the regular season, Texas could be in danger of being on the outside looking in completely.

With a record of 1-10 against teams currently ranked in the RPI top 50, the Longhorns desperately need a win against one of the three ranked teams remaining on their regular season slate to assure they don’t slip the minds of the selection committee on Selection Sunday.

Of the three, their most likely victory could come against West Virginia. Texas matches up well against WVU and if there was ever a team that the Longhorns could survive an offensive drought against – which they have in nearly every game – it’s these Mountaineers.

Texas’ chances of upsetting Kansas in Lawrence are seemingly non-existent with the Horns’ recent struggles coupled with the fact the Jayhawks simply don’t drop games in The Phog, while Baylor’s interior presence and zone defense allowed them to cruise over Texas in Austin, which sparked five wins in the last seven games for the Bears.

It could go without saying that things are looking grim for Texas as the season draws to a close. They’re 2-2 against their final four opponents this season and will likely need to match that record in these next two weeks to keep their season alive.

This is certainly something I didn’t expect to be saying at the beginning of the season, when Texas was the favorite to dethrone Kansas from atop their reign of 11 straight Big 12 regular season titles.

Outside of some solid outings with some good luck to match, this season is shaping up to be yet another one where Barnes did less with more at Texas and missing the NCAA tournament will likely be his stamp out of town.

Next: College Basketball Rankings: Top 25 Teams In America

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