Longhorns Have Chance To Strengthen NCAA Tournament Case vs. Bitter Rival

The Texas Longhorns conclude the regular season when they host the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday.

The first automatic bids to the NCAA men's tournament will be locked up on Saturday. Conference tournaments are underway as the madness of March begins to build.

Of the 68 teams who will punch their ticket to play in the tournament, the Texas Longhorns (19-11, 8-9 Big 12) are projected to get in, likely as an eight or nine seed. 

Texas is fresh off a deflating 94-85 loss in Waco to the Baylor Bears. The Longhorns had an 11-point lead at Baylor with 13 minutes left but could not keep pace with the Bears, despite graduate guard Max Abmas finishing with a season-high 33 points.

On the bright side, the Longhorns offense is catching fire at the right time: nearing zero turnovers while hitting 57 percent of its field goals over the past three games.

Texas concludes the regular season when it hosts Oklahoma on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT. The afternoon home game, aka senior night, is another important chance for Texas to strengthen its case for a higher seed to the NCAA Tournament selection committee. 

Hunter, Longhorns basketball  / © Mikala Compton, Austin American-Statesman

Then, the Longhorns will shift focus to the Big-12 Tournament. Texas' shot at winning back-to-back conference championships will be at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri on March 12-16. 

Not an easy feat, considering there are projected to be nine teams from the Big-12 Conference that make the NCAA Tournament, the most out of any conference. 

Selection Sunday is March 17th with the First Four on March 19-20 and the First Round on March 21-22.

The Big Dance concludes in the NCAA Championship Game on April 8. The UConn Huskies currently are the favorites to win the crown. UConn defeated San Diego State 76-59 in the final last year to take the 2023 NCAA title. Florida (2006 and 2007) is the last team to win back-to-back titles.