Tag: four-seed

Texas falls to a four-seed in ESPN’s latest bracketology

According to ESPN’s latest bracketology, Texas will be a four-seed in the Midwest region. UT was a three-seed in the previous projection.

College basketball is just around the corner, with the Longhorns season opener against Louisiana scheduled for Nov. 10 in Austin. Shaka Smart will enter the season with a warm seat, needing to make the NCAA Tournament.

According to ESPN’s latest bracketology, not only will Texas make the big dance, but they will be a four-seed in the Midwest region. This is one seed lower since analyst Joe Lunardi’s previous prediction, which had the Longhorns as a three-seed.

Lunardi has Texas facing Murray State in the first round, a team coming from the Ohio Valley Conference. The Racers were 23-9 last season, finishing first in the OVC regular-season rankings.

If Smart’s squad got a win in the first round, the winner of Tennessee/Western Kentucky would be on the cards.

Here is the full region:

Five other Big 12 teams are in Lunardi’s latest projection, the fourth most for a single conference in the country.

Baylor (one-seed), Kansas (two-seed), Oklahoma (10-seed), Texas Tech (three-seed), and West Virginia (three-seed) will join Texas in representing the Big 12.

Texas will have the opportunity to rise from a projected four-seed throughout the entire season. Once again, the Big 12 is going to be the toughest conference in all of college basketball. Playing teams such as Kansas, Baylor, and Texas Tech twice a season gives the Longhorns great opportunities to boost their resume.

Shaka Smart did an excellent job scheduling nonconference games as well, starting with Gonzaga. The Bulldogs are the preseason No. 1 team in the country and will be visiting Austin on Nov. 13.

Then, Texas will be traveling to Maui, Hawaii to play in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational. The field consists of Alabama, Davidson, Indiana, North Carolina, Providence, Stanford, and UNLV.

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ESPN Bracketology: Texas a four seed in the West

ESPN has projected UT as a four seed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament Bracketology. This would be UT’s highest seed in the tournament since 2011.

Picking up five-star forward Greg Brown has built up hype for this upcoming basketball season, with Texas expected to be better than usual. Bringing back 100% of their production to go along with Brown and Shaka Smart is expected to have his best team ever in Austin.

Even ESPN’s Joe Lunardi is buying into the hype around this Longhorns team, ranking them as high as a four seed in his 2021 NCAA Tournament Bracketology. This would be Texas’ highest seed in the tournament ever under Smart and the highest since the 2011 tournament.

Playing in the West region, Gonzaga reigns as the No. 1 overall seed. Wisconsin, Big 12 rival Texas Tech, and Oregon round out the top five.

Here is the full region:

Outside of the west, five other Big 12 schools are projected to make the NCAA tournament, including Baylor being a one-seed in the South region. With those first and second-round games projected to be in Dallas, the Bears would have a huge home-court advantage against their opponents.

Kansas is once again expected to be a top team in the country, being a two-seed in the Midwest region. The Jayhawks are joined by Oklahoma State in their region but on the opposite side of the bracket. The Cowboys are projected to be nine-seed. This would be the first time Oklahoma State made the NCAA Tournament since 2017.

To round out the conference, West Virginia and Oklahoma will represent the Big 12 in the East region. The Mountaineers will be a three-seed, while the Sooners will be a nine-seed. The two were both expected to make the 2019 NCAA Tournament but was canceled due to the coronavirus.

As a whole, the Big 12 is going to have a rebound type season in college basketball. While the conference may have the same amount of teams in the NCAA Tournament, a couple schools outside of Kansas and Baylor will be highly seeded.

Thanks to the commitment of Greg Brown, Texas will hopefully be one of those highly seeded teams. Last season, finishing third in the Big 12 (as the Longhorns did) put you in an elimination game in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament. In 2020-2021, finishing third in the conference could have you as a top seed in the NCAA Tournament.

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