How far will Texas schools go in March Madness? Our predictions for every team
Texas is known as a football state. That isn’t going to change.
But the state has another opportunity to showcase its basketball talent in March Madness, landing seven schools in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season. Last year was a banner year for the state with two schools reaching the Final Four (Baylor and Houston), and Baylor going on to win the national championship. The Texas Longhorns also made history in 2021 by becoming the state’s first school to win the Big 12 Tournament.
With that success, it’s crazy to think that Texas had no representatives in college basketball’s signature event not long ago, as no teams made the 2013 tournament.
Here’s how we project the Texas schools faring this year with the first round starting Thursday. (The state is down to six teams with Texas Southern knocking out Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the play-in game for the Midwest Region’s 16-seed on Tuesday night.)
Baylor, 1-seed East Regional (Elite Eight): The defending national champions and the 1-seed in the East Regional, the Bears are looking to reach consecutive Final Fours for the first time in school history. They’re playing in Fort Worth on the opening weekend and, if they advance, they’ll head to Philadelphia. Philly is where we see Baylor’s season end with an Elite Eight loss to a talented Kentucky team.
Texas Tech, 3-seed West Regional (Elite Eight): The Red Raiders should be able to get to the second weekend given how well they play defense. That should keep them in every game, but the path to the Final Four likely goes through 2-seed Duke and then top-seeded Gonzaga. We’ll project that Tech sends Blue Devils’ Coach K off into retirement before falling to the ‘Zags.
Houston, 5-seed South Regional (Round of 32): The Cougars aren’t expected to return to the Final Four. The American Athletic Conference had a down year, so it’s hard to see any of its teams advancing out of the first weekend. Plus, assuming Houston gets by UAB in the first round, a tough matchup against Illinois looms in the second round.
TCU, 9-seed South Regional (Round of 32): The Frogs closed the season with a few impressive victories over ranked teams in Texas Tech, Kansas and Texas. They land a favorable matchup with Seton Hall in the first round, considering TCU has a strong fan base in Southern California while it’s hard to see many Seton Hall fans making the trek from the New York metro area to San Diego. But TCU doesn’t get a favorable matchup should they advance, facing a legitimate national championship contender in 1-seed Arizona.
Texas, 6-seed East Regional (Round of 64): The Longhorns blew a 20-point lead to TCU in the Big 12 Tournament, and are riding a three-game losing streak going into the Big Dance. It feels like a short stay is coming for Texas, especially with a first-round date against a hot Virginia Tech team that just won the ACC Tournament. One shining moment, eh?
Texas Southern, 16-seed Midwest Regional (Round of 64): Texas Southern’s highlight of March Madness came Tuesday night when it knocked off Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Now it’s playing at Fort Worth’s Dickies Arena against 1-seed Kansas. Only one 16-seed has won in NCAA Tournament history, which, by the way, happened two years ago to the day when UMBC flattened Virginia, 74-54. But lightning will not strike again — at least not this year.
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This story was originally published March 16, 2022 at 12:51 PM.
