With the team heading to Shanghai to play the Washington Huskies on Friday, it’s time to make some predictions on the Texas Basketball season.
November/December
If things go to plan, the Longhorns will be set up for a great 2015 run of the season. Texas plays Washington in China and may face them again in the Bahamas. Texas men’s basketball will also renew the Texas A&M rivalry at the highest level since the Aggies left in 2012. Both Texas A&M and Washington are young teams filled with talent. Texas can rack up a plethora of quality wins in the Bahamas, as they could very well face the likes of Gonzaga, Michigan, UConn and Syracuse as well.
The Longhorns will host the Tar Heels this season after a year off from the traditional December tilt but they will continue playing UConn (this time in Austin). The only true road game is at Stanford so this is a great way to start out the Shaka Smart campaign. I expect a great showing out of the first half of the season.
First half: 11-1
January/February
The Big 12 season is in full effect. Where every team is very good and there are no easy games moving forward. The entire conference won’t go 9-9 of course but some teams will be better than others. I expect Iowa State to take a step back this year but I aslo believe Steve Prohm is a great choice as head coach. TCU should be better than expected. Overall last year, Texas finished 8-10 in the Big 12. I believe they flip it this year.
Overall Big 12 record: 10-8, 21-9 overall
March
The Big 12 tournament is a grind. However, Texas has not lost the first game of the Big 12 tournament in the last 10 seasons. They have never won the Big 12 tournament either. I expect both trends to continue.
In the NCAA tournament, the Longhorns are likely going to occupy a seed somewhere in the 7-11 range I expect a win and then a loss to prevent going to the Sweet Sixteen once again, but it will be a solid 1st year for Shaka Smart.
Overall record: 23-11
