USA Today Sports writers Shelby Mast and Scott Gleeson have come out with their latest bracketology as they predict just who will get invited to the dance. March Madness is one of the most hectic and enjoyable sports moments of the college season but just how realistic is it that Texas could get an invite?
The Big 12 Schools
- The number one seeds: Kansas, Baylor
- 3rd seed: West Virginia
- 7th seed: Texas Tech
- 9th seed: Oklahoma
- Considered for at-large bid: Texas Christian, Texas
The Big 12 Conference is predicted to have five slots for at large bids. For the Texas Longhorns to find a way into the tournament they would need to get ahead of both TCU and Oklahoma or win the Big 12 Tournament. According to the NET rankings which is a team-ranking metric used by the selection committee has Texas at 66. TCU comes in at 80 and Oklahoma is 49th. This ranking metric replaced the rating percentage index or RPI (Texas at 50) for criteria used by the selection committee.
The Longhorns aren’t necessarily eliminated from a potential spot in the dance but their chances to get in are very minor. A strong showing against Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma and Texas Tech in the coming weeks will be huge for the program and the future of head coach Shaka Smart.