Texas Basketball’s Seeding History in the NCAA Tournament

Today would have been Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament. Here is UT’s history of seeding throughout the NCAA Tournament.

If it were not for COVID-19, today would have been Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament. Going into the Big 12 Tournament this week, Texas was in need of a win against Texas Tech to fully secure their spot in March Madness this season. However, we will never know if the Longhorns were going to make it or what their seeding would have been.

Throughout Texas’ history, they have made the NCAA Tournament 34 times. 26 of those appearances came after the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, beginning in 1989 and as recent as 2018. The Longhorns have been seeded in 11 different positions ranging from the top of the bracket to playing the underdog role.

Here is Texas’ seeding history in the NCAA Tournament:

Highest ever seed: One seed in 2003

Lowest ever seed: 11 seed in 1989, 1995, 2012, and 2015

Most frequent seed: Six seed (four times), 10 seed (four times), 11 seed (four times)

The one time Texas was ever a one seed was in the 2003 NCAA Tournament, where they also made their third Final Four in school history. Led by T.J. Ford and Brandon Mouton, the Longhorns went 22-5 in the regular season and finished second in the Big 12 with a 13-3 conference record. Despite losing to Texas Tech in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament, Texas managed to hang onto a one seed.

In the tournament, Rick Barnes’ squad beat UNC Ashville by 21 in the first round and Purdue by 10 in the second round to make the school’s second Sweet 16 in as many years.

The games got tougher from then on, escaping from UConn with a four-point victory and then beating Michigan State by nine to win the South Region. After making it to the Final Four in 1947 and only getting as far as the Elite Eight once since then, Texas was back to the promised land.

The Longhorns lost to a Syracuse team led by Carmelo Anthony by 11 at the Superdome in New Orleans, ending their best season in over 50 years. The Orange would go on to win the National Championship, beating Big 12 foe Kansas in the title game.

Only securing a one seed once in their history, Texas has only gotten as high as a two seed since then. Coming in 2006 and 2008, both teams lost in the Elite Eight to LSU and Memphis respectively.

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NFC Playoff Picture: How the Saints can win the first seed, homefield advantage

The San Francisco 49ers lost to the Atlanta Falcons, opening the door for the New Orleans Saints to win home-field advantage in the playoffs

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The San Francisco 49ers held the first seed for just a week before they choked, somehow losing to the Atlanta Falcons only a week after they beat the New Orleans Saints. That big mistake cost them in the NFC playoff seedings, dropping them from the first seed to the fifth.

It also opens the door a little wider for the Saints to march back to the top of the standings. Right now, the Saints are the third seed. They’re in a race for a top two seed with the 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, and Green Bay Packers, though the Saints are guaranteed to finish no worse than third.

So how can the Saints get that coveted first seed? Even if they win all three of their remaining games, they’ll need some help to get it.

Let’s run through it one team at a time. The Packers have two games left on their schedule, and have to lose one of them for the Saints to overtake them. They’re visiting the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions in the final two weeks, and could very well lose that Vikings game considering how well Minnesota has been playing lately.

Next up, the 49ers: they need to win both of their remaining game to stick around in the race for a top-two seed. If they lose another game, they’re guaranteed to remain a wild-card team. Their season-finale is against the Seahawks in Seattle, so that game carries all kinds of implications — unless they lose next week to the Los Angeles Rams at home, in which case it doesn’t matter at all as far as the Saints are concerned. New Orleans owns a head-to-head tiebreaker over Seattle.

And that brings us full-circle. The Seahawks play at home in each of the final two weeks, hosting the Arizona Cardinals and the 49ers. The Saints need Seattle to win both of those home games to ensure the playoffs run through New Orleans.

So, to sum it up: if the Saints are going to earn homefield advantage in the playoffs, they have to win all three of their remaining games. They also need the Packers to lose one of their two remaining games, while the Seahawks win both of their final two games (including the regular season finale against the 49ers). That’s easier said than done, but it’s very much a realistic scenario.

Now, it’s on the Saints and their fans to do what they’ve always done: put everything into winning the games left on their schedule.

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NFC Playoff Picture: How can the Saints win a top-two seed, bye week?

The New Orleans Saints lost to the San Francisco 49ers but remain in the NFC playoff picture with the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks

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The New Orleans Saints couldn’t seal the deal against the San Francisco 49ers, ultimately falling short in a 48-46 boat race. That loss dropped the Saints to 10-3 on the year so far and forced a tumble in the NFC playoff picture; New Orleans went into Week 14 with a tenuous hold on the first seed, but now they’ve fallen to third.

But there’s good news: the Saints aren’t likely to fall much further. Even if the Saints lose all three of their remaining games and finish with a 10-6 record, they would still rank higher than whichever team wins the NFC East (the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles can each max out with 9-7 records), guaranteeing the third seed. Here’s what the NFC playoff picture looks like right now:

San Francisco 49ers (11-2)
Green Bay Packers (10-3)
New Orleans Saints (10-3)
Dallas Cowboys (6-7)
Seattle Seahawks (10-2)
Minnesota Vikings (9-4)

So it’s really a four-team race for the three top seeds, with the Saints and 49ers joined by the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers; depending on who wins the NFC West, either the 49ers or Seahawks would fall to the fifth seed, with the rival team claiming a top-three slot.

Where do we go from here? The Seahawks are scheduled to play the Los Angeles Rams on ‘Sunday Night Football,’ but each of those other teams have already finished their Week 14 games. Here’s each team’s remaining schedule in the regular season:

New Orleans Saints (10-3)

Week 15 vs. Indianapolis Colts (6-7)
Week 16 at Tennessee Titans (7-5)
Week 17 at Carolina Panthers (5-8)

San Francisco 49ers (11-2)

Week 15 vs. Atlanta Falcons (4-9)
Week 16 vs. Los Angeles Rams (7-5)
Week 17 at Seattle Seahawks (10-2)

Seattle Seahawks (10-2)

Week 14 at Los Angeles Rams (7-5)
Week 15 at Carolina Panthers (5-8)
Week 16 vs. Arizona Cardinals (3-8-1)
Week 17 vs. San Francisco 49ers (11-2)

Green Bay Packers (10-3)

Week 15 vs. Chicago Bears (7-6)
Week 16 at Minnesota Vikings (9-4)
Week 17 at Detroit Lions (3-9-1)

The Saints can still finish with the first seed if they win out while the other three teams each go 2-1 down the stretch. If the Saints go 2-1 in the last three weeks and the other teams follow suit, they would own the second seed. If the Saints go 1-2 or lose out, while any of the other teams win out, New Orleans reverts to the third seed. It’s all still pretty complicated, made worse by Seattle still having a game to play on Sunday.

How does this translate for Saints fans? The mission is the same as it’s ever been: root for the Saints to win, week in and week out, no matter the odds or what it means down the line.

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A quick guide to understanding the NBA Playoff seeding rules

A quick guide on how NBA playoff seeding works and the changes that could be coming in the future.

Since the 73-9 Golden State Warriors lost the NBA Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers back in 2016, the number of people who say the regular season is irrelevant has multiplied in size.

They’d have you believe that there’s nothing much to play for. The league’s best teams are already determined at the beginning of the year and it’s pretty much a forgone conclusion that they’ll meet each other in the postseason.

That isn’t true — the regular season does matter. It determines playoff seeding. And seeding matters because home-court advantage is a real thing.

Here’s a bit of a refresher course on how seeding is supposed to works in the postseason.

How playoff seeding works

The top eight seeds from both the Eastern and Western Conferences are ranked 1 through 8 by record. The top four teams in each conference get home-court advantage through the first round of the playoffs.

In each round, the higher seeded team gets home-court advantage in the postseason. The No. 1 seed gets home-court throughout the postseason. If the two No. 1 seeds from both conferences were to meet in the Finals, the team with the best regular-season record would retain home-court.

How home-court advantage works in the playoffs

Each series in the NBA postseason is played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format. The team with the highest seed always gets four home games in a seven-game series and also plays the first two games of the series at home.

It hasn’t always been this way. The NBA Finals used to be played in a 2-3-2 format. That meant higher seed played their first two games at home, the next three on the road and the final two back at home in a best-of-seven series.

How a tie in the standings is settled

If two teams have the same record at the end of the year, their standing is determined by a number of tie breakers.

First, they look at head-to-head results. The team that won the season series ends up with the higher seed. If that doesn’t resolve the tie, things get a bit wonky. Bear with me a bit.

If the head-to-head record is the same, if one is a division champ that team is the higher seed. If neither team is a division champion, whichever ranks higher in their division becomes the higher seed. If the two teams aren’t in a division together, their win-loss percentage against other teams in the conference will break the tie.

The future of the playoffs

All of this might get a bit tricky down the line with some league changes that could potentially be on the way. The league is discussing changing the playoff format to reseeding the four conference finalists and could include a play-in game.

That would mean we could potentially see two teams from the same conference matching up in the NBA Finals. This isn’t a totally foreign concept — the WNBA’s Finals features the league’s two best teams regardless of conference already.

That won’t all be decided for a while, though. Until then, these are the rules the league is going by.

Check out all of our NBA coverage here.

Saints can claim top NFC playoff seed after Monday Night Football

The Seattle Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings can impact the NFC playoff picture on Monday Night Football, maybe helping the New Orleans Saints

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The Baltimore Ravens stunned the San Francisco 49ers during Sunday’s win, opening the door for the New Orleans Saints to lay claim to the top NFC playoff seed — if they can get a little help on Monday Night Football. Now that the 49ers are 10-2 (tying New Orleans), the surging Seattle Seahawks can match their record with a win over the Minnesota Vikings in prime-time. The Seahawks handed San Francisco their first loss earlier this season, giving Seattle a tie-breaker should they improve to 10-2.

If that happens, a ripple effect will flood throughout the NFC playoff picture. The Seahawks would jump ahead of the 49ers in the NFC West standings, demoting San Francisco to a wild-card spot as the NFC’s fifth seed. Because the Saints beat the Seahawks head-to-head back in September, New Orleans would rank ahead of them while both squads share a 10-2 record; in other words, the Saints would have the first seed, the Seahawks would sit in the second seed, and the 49ers would fall to the fifth seed.

Of course, that’s contingent to the Seahawks winning at CenturyLink Field. They’re favored by just 2.5 points per BetMGM, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins is notoriously spotty in night games (he’s gone 7-13 in his career on that stage, and is 3-4 there since joining the Vikings) and laid an egg in this same venue in these same circumstances last year, losing 21-7 to the Seahawks on Monday Night Football in early December. On top of that nasty precedent, Cousins will be playing without wide receiver Adam Thielen, his favorite target who was preemptively ruled out with a hamstring injury.

So chances are good that the Saints will be able to (temporarily) grab the top seed in the NFC playoffs picture after this game. Just to be sure, root for the Seahawks to win — not that Saints fans will need much encouraging to pull against the Vikings, given the rocky history between those two teams. If nothing else, this added drama will stoke the intensity when the Saints and 49ers kick off next Sunday from inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

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