The “Eyes of Texas” — or should we say, the eyes of the Texas Longhorns men’s basketball team —are on its last five games of the regular season.
But as the college basketball season sprints toward March, the big question is whether the eyes of the NCAA tournament committee will look favorably on the Longhorns come Selection Sunday.
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As of Tuesday, Texas was in 97% of all bracket projections to make the NCAA tournament, according to Bracket Matrix. But things could definitely change by the end of the regular season, for better or worse.
Here’s a breakdown of where the Longhorns stand as the regulation heads to it stretch run.
What does the resume look like?
Right now, the Longhorns has a resume that should comfortably put them in the tournament.
Texas entered Tuesday No. 33 in the NET rankings, the metric the selection committee primarily uses to determine seeding. The Longhorns project as a No. 8 or 9 seed.
The Longhorns (17-9) have four Quad 1 wins and are near .500 in what’s been the country’s best conference. Texas also is No. 21 in strength of schedule, is nearly .500 on the road and the only bad loss is the one at West Virginia on Jan. 13.
What could put Texas on the bubble or out of the tournament?
Texas is 6-7 in Big 12 play, and three of the last five games are on the road against ranked opponents (Kansas, Texas Tech, Baylor). The other two remaining games are against Oklahoma (No. 39 in the NET) and Oklahoma State.
The Longhorns would love to win at least one of those road games to solidify their position, but if they don’t and slip up once at home, that would mean a 7-11 conference record. Even as good as the Big 12 is, being that many games under .500 in conference play might not be a good look for the selection committee.
Longhorns trying do something they haven’t in 20 years
If Texas can make the NCAA tournament, it will attempt to do something it hasn’t done since 2004, which is make consecutive appearances in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament.
The Longhorns followed up their 2003 Final Four season with a Sweet 16 appearance in 2004.