Longhorns Country

WATCH: Experts Pick Make March Madness Final Four; Where is Texas?

The Longhorns are garnering high praise heading into March Madness

Matt Galatzan

In this story:

The Texas Longhorns are officially one of the hottest teams in college basketball, after knocking off the Kansas Jayhawks to win the Big 12 Tournament Championship on Saturday. 

And now, after securing a No. 2 seed heading into the NCAA Tournament during Selection Sunday, the Longhorns are beginning to emerge as one of the favorites for the tournament, with multiple 'experts' picking the Longhorns to make the Final Four since the field was set. 

Most recently, CBS Sports analysts Set David and Jay Wright - the former championship head coach of the Villanova Wildcats.

Davis was the first to make his selections for the Final Four, picking Alabama to come out of the South Region, Texas to come out of the Midwest, Marquette (and former Longhorns coach Shaka Smart) to come out of the East, and Kansas to come out of the West, eventually picking the Crimson Tide to knock off the Jayhawks for the national title. 

Wright's Final Four mirrored that of Davis's. 

However, he ultimately selected Kansas as his national champion, taking down Marquette in the title game. 

ESPN's Stephen A. Smith also made his projection for the Final Four, but left out the Longhorns, selecting Alabama out of the South Region, UCLA out of the West, Indiana from the Midwest, and Duke from the East.

Will the Longhorns be able to live up to such high expectations? Only time will tell. 

But for now, one thing is clear - interim head coach Rodney Terry has the program on the right track heading into the tournament. 

You can follow Matt Galatzan on Twitter @MattGalatzan

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Matt Galatzan
MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.