Texas May Have Cost Terry's Job, Helped Other SEC Coaches in Process

Longhorns serve as Guinea pigs providing league teams valuable intel

The March Madness logo on the team seats at the Intrust Bank Arena. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — So, technically, the SEC got 13 teams into the NCAA Tournament and also several valuable lessons for it's teams that are actually dancing.

The Texas Longhorns proved what can happen when SEC programs come out and play the league's hardened, athletic style of basketball. They also proved how bad things can turn when that style of play is abandoned.

It's a dire warning, especially for teams like Arkansas that have similar issues at times. Texas came out aggressive, attacking the middle and using its physicality and superior athleticism to build a big lead in the first half.

Along the way, the Longhorns got Xavier's two best players in foul trouble. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told teams beforehand that the NCAA warned the league might have trouble with fouls in the NCAA Tournament because the games would be called tighter.

And while it was tighter than the tackle football games on display at the SEC Tournament, it was pretty much identical to how things went in regular season conference play. The result was a huge advantage for Texas and one every team in the SEC can easily duplicate.

Early in the second half, the three best players for Xavier had three fouls and the Longhorns were in great shape. It was the perfect situation for literally any other SEC team.

Then, inexplicably, Texas abandoned it's rugged style and fell back on old Big 12 habits. They became a jump shooting team and forgot how to maintain control of the paint defensively.

The runs they had killed over and over with fast breaks created off interior defense and by driving at players in foul trouble got longer and longer until Xavier and it's home crowd finally punched through in the final couple of minutes.

Texas had free reign to attack inside, forcing the Musketeer's stars to either fall back or potentially foul out, so the Longhorns, instead, backed off for jump shots while acting like it had foul trouble in the paint defensively. As a result, those players were there until the end and the main reason Texas has plenty of free time in Austin this week.

It was a lesson on full display for SEC guards. Go soft this weekend and you will go home.

Coaches like John Calipari, Chris Jans, Buzz Williams and Chris Beard couldn't have asked for a better object lesson on the eve of the tournament.

They know how the games will be called and they can point to exactly what happens if their players don't go for the kill against lesser opponents. They also got to see how teams from other leagues struggle in the face of true SEC basketball.

Yes, it means the league will have one fewer team in the actual tournament, but Texas's sacrifice, while also probably costing Rodney Terry his coaching job, will most likely mean an extra win or two by everyone else.

While the Longhorns would have been a wonderful representative in an SEC-less NIT, their brief stint in March Madness may prove far more beneficial. Just not for them.

HOGS FEED:

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• Petrino experiments with receivers looking for breakout option for Green

• Razorbacks bulldoze brave strong winds for blowout over Oral Roberts

• March Madness Notebook: Hogs Hit Practice Floor In Providence

• BREAKING NEWS: Former Hogs star Benintendi returns to lineup

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