The Road to the Alamodome
The Road to the Alamodome was established late Sunday afternoon when the 68-team men’s bracket was announced. The Texas Longhorns, just an hour up the road from San Antonio, were surprised to learn they have been invited to make that trip, even if it’s going to be a long one.
Texas’ first year in the Southeastern Conference proved to be much less daunting in football than it was in basketball where the Longhorns and Oklahoma, the other newcomer, both finished 6-12 in league play. But after all 16 SEC teams were invited to play in the conference tournament in Nashville, the NCAA selection committee must have really liked what it saw there. Rarely have so many teams gathered to accomplish so little as just two of the 16 SEC teams were omitted from the men’s tournament bracket.
Texas’ Journey to the Tournament
Texas was the last of the 14 SEC teams to qualify, and it took a second victory over Texas A&M, which earned a 4th seed in the South Region, to land a bid. The Longhorns will square off with Xavier Wednesday night in a battle of 11 seeds hoping to advance to Friday’s game with Illinois in Milwaukee.
It’s a long, long shot for Texas, but who knows what this team can accomplish with Tre Johnson firing away? The nation’s leading scorer among freshmen (19.8 points per game) led Lake Highlands to a state title as a junior before transferring to a private school prior to making his way to Austin. At 19-15, the Longhorns have one of the more unsightly records ever to receive an at-large bid to the tournament. But other than a really bad loss to last-place South Carolina, Texas mostly got beat by NCAA tournament-bound teams. If they could hit the tourney on a bit of a roll and make it to Sunday’s game possibly against the Midwest’s No. 3 seed, Kentucky, the Longhorns already own an 82-78 victory over the Wildcats last month.
Lone Star State Representation
In all likelihood, if we are to get any kind of Lone Star State representation in the Final Four at San Antonio, it will come from elsewhere. Start with Kelvin Sampson’s Houston Cougars, the No. 1 seed in the Midwest and the No. 2-rated defense in the nation. It was not supposed to go like this when Houston upgraded from the American Athletic Conference to the Big 12, which could brag of recent national titles won by Kansas (2022) and Baylor (2021) along with a 2019 runner-up-in-overtime mention for Texas Tech. There was no tournament in 2020.
But after going 15-3 to win the Big 12 in its inaugural season, Houston topped that by going 19-1 and then winning the conference tourney in Kansas City. Sampson has had some highly qualified teams that failed to reach the Final Four, but this particular squad looks special and mostly has to outplay Tennessee (a 2 seed) to get to San Antonio.
Texas Tech and Texas A&M
Don’t count out the Red Raiders from making a run at the Final Four, either. A No. 3 seed in the West, Grant McCasland’s teams is led by Big 12 Player of the Year J.T. Toppin, who attended Faith Family Academy of Oak Cliff. But who can rule out any team with a center named Federiko Federiko aka Feddie Two Times (“I’m gonna go out and get some rebounds, get some rebounds”)? Tech should catch a break in the second round since the 6 seed the Red Raiders would face — if favorites advance — is Missouri. The Tigers have returned to the basketball map after a lengthy absence, and they had it going early in SEC play with wins over Florida (a 1 seed), Mississippi and Mississippi State but slowed to a crawl the last six weeks by losing seven out of 12 games.
Get out of that first weekend, and Tech likely will have to deal with Rick Pitino’s St. John’s team (speaking of back on the map, a 2 seed after winning the Big East for the first time since 2000). But I wouldn’t dismiss Buzz Williams and the fightin’ Aggies, who still earned a 4 seed in the South after that surprising double overtime loss to Texas Thursday. Texas A&M is well positioned to get through the first weekend which would likely send the Aggies up against the tournament’s overall No. 1 seed, the Auburn Tigers. That’s not the worst thing in the world for an A&M team which beat Auburn, 83-72 just two weeks ago.
SMU’s Chances
If you were looking for an SMU invite, the 23-10 Mustangs’ total lack of Quad 1 wins kept them out of the mix this year. If replay review hadn’t turned the ball over to Clemson with three seconds to go Thursday night with SMU trailing by two (Clemson is good enough to draw a 5 seed in the Midwest), it might have been different for Andy Enfield’s first squad here. Look for them to use one of the nation’s top recruiting classes to work their way back into the bracket next season.
Conclusion
For now, it’s mostly about Houston, Texas Tech and Texas A&M looking to do big things as top four seeds and earn their way to San Antonio the first week of April. Find more college sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Which teams from the Lone Star State are participating in the NCAA tournament?
A: The teams from the Lone Star State participating in the NCAA tournament are Houston, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and Texas.
Q: What seed is Texas A&M in the South Region?
A: Texas A&M earned a 4th seed in the South Region.
Q: Who is the leader of the Texas Tech team?
A: The leader of the Texas Tech team is Grant McCasland, and the team is led by Big 12 Player of the Year J.T. Toppin.
Q: Why was SMU not invited to the NCAA tournament?
A: SMU was not invited to the NCAA tournament due to their total lack of Quad 1 wins.
