Typically around this time of the year, Rick Barnes’ Longhorns are hoping to notch a handful of wins in the Big 12 Tournament to improve the team’s seeding in the NCAA tournament. This year couldn’t be more different.
With what would be a string of 15 consecutive tournament appearances seemingly in jeopardy, Texas must win the Big 12 Tournament which begins today in Kansas City to notch an automatic qualifier berth in the upcoming NCAA tournament.
The Longhorns (15-16, 7-11) enter conference tournament play as the #7 seed and will face 10th seeded TCU (11-20, 2-16) at 8:30 pm. Texas beat the Horned Frogs in both meetings this season and the Longhorns look to complete the season trifecta at the Sprint Center tonight. Despite TCU’s less than stellar record fans should not forget that Trent Johnson’s squad did manage to beat conference #1 seed Kansas on February 6th for one of its two conference wins.  TCU’s only other win against a Big 12 opponent this season came against the Sooners in the team’s regular season finale in Fort Worth on March 9th.
Texas is playing some of its best basketball of the season, winning five of its last eight games. Sophmore point guard Myck Kabongo’s return to the team on February 13th, after sitting out the better part of the season, has proven to be extremely beneficial for the ‘Horns. Kabongo leads the team in scoring average with 15.8 points per game, slightly ahead of Sheldon McClellan’s 14.1 ppg average.
For me, an NCAA Tournament without Texas is like a tailgate without beer. Texas will essentially need a miracle to make it to the Big Dance, but stranger things have happened. Like TCU beating Kansas.
It’s one of the best times of the year for hoops – tournament play.
Get your Horns up.
Hook ‘Em.
(Big 12 Tourney Bracket below).
https://www.hornsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/big12tourney.jpg Bracket courtesy Big12Sports.com
