Many times in college basketball it’s not who finished with the best record, the highest seed, or even had the most NBA prospects. It’s rather who got hot at the right time.
A good, championship-level contender will stay consistent throughout the year and will usually have a good chance to make it to the Final Four and potentially the championship game.
A team shouldn’t start hot and cool off by the end of the regular season because the way they’ve been playing up to the NCAA tournament is going to catch up to them at the level of “Who are you lately?” A team starting slow and finishing hot can be good, unless they started off so bad that by the time they started playing up to their potential, it’s too late.
In the case of the Longhorns, they seemingly started strong but have recently been heading in the wrong direction.
Texas started the season 10-1 with impressive wins over North Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas (in Lawrence), Oklahoma State, and a close one-possession loss to No. 3 Villanova. The team looked like contenders in the first half of their season.
Since their great start to the season, they’ve lost three of their last four games. Each of those were to ranked teams (Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Baylor) with their lone victory coming by way of Kansas State who has a record of 5-14.
If the Longhorns are seriously going to contend for the Big 12 title and the NCAA tournament, it starts today against Oklahoma State. The Cowboys have gone 5-3 since their three-point loss to Texas earlier in the season.
Texas losing to ranked teams at this point in the season will do nothing for their confidence heading into the postseason. Head coach Shaka Smart already had his battle with COVID-19 and now his squad is going to have to battle their way back in the discussion for the top teams in the conference. With the way they’ve played lately, that’s still in question.
If Texas can win today against a quality Oklahoma State team, lead by star freshman Cade Cunningham, it could be the catalyst that reignites the team as we inch closer to the postseason and March Madness.
If not, this may prove that Texas’ early season start and their top 10 ranking was just a tease. The schedule from here doesn’t get any easier with games at Oklahoma and Texas Tech combined with home games against West Virginia and Kansas. It’s crucial that they get the ball rolling now.