Longhorns Veterans Carrying 'Extra Motivation' for Final NCAA Tournament Berth

The Texas Longhorns have no shortage of reasons to be fired up for the NCAA Tournament.

AUSTIN -- The Texas Longhorns have a veteran-heavy rotation headed into their fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance on Thursday in Charlotte. Teams need "old" guys if they want to survive and advance, but with the heartbreak of a potential loss comes some crushing goodbyes for players that have hit the end of the road.

Regardless of how the season ends for the Longhorns, they'll have to say some hard goodbyes. With that thought in mind, the team has every drop of motivation it could want.

© Sara Diggins, Austin American-Statesman

“I don’t want it to be over, Brock (Cunningham) doesn’t want it to be over, Max (Abmas) doesn’t want it to be over," Texas forward Dylan Disu said Monday. "There’s definitely extra motivation for us personally. We want to make a run, everyone doesn’t want it to be over. That’s the main motivation for us.”

Austin-area stars Cunningham and Disu are entering the final few games of their college careers after playing three seasons together but are hungry for another taste of what last year's Elite Eight appearance brought. But before getting ahead of himself, Disu's also taking the time to appreciate making it to this stage once again.

“Not everyone gets a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament," Disu said. "It’s not something I take for granted. My old teammate from Vanderbilt played for five years and he transferred to LSU and still didn’t make the tournament. He was really upset about that and we’ve talked about that.”

Though he'll end his career having only played one season at Texas, Abmas will go down as one of the best players in college basketball history. Already with 3,109 career points and two NCAA Tournament wins under his belt, he'll look to potentially move into the top five of the all-time scoring list if the Longhorns can make a run similar to last season. Easier said than done of course.

Along with transfer guard Ithiel Horton, this veteran trio knows that time is running short, so the choice is simple: soak in every second.

"It’s been a long journey up to the point we’re at right now," Abmas said. " ... We need to really embrace it and enjoy every part of it."

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Cunningham will be making his fourth NCAA Tournament appearance while Disu and Abmas will both be appearing in the dance for a third time.

No. 7-seeded Texas will await the winner of Colorado State and Virginia from the First Four. The Longhorns tip-off from the Spectrum Center at 5:50 p.m. CT on Thursday.  

“I’m excited," Abmas said. "Last year to have the opportunity to compete in the NCAA Tournament, it’s the reason I came to Texas.