One of the biggest storylines this season in the SEC was just how many teams from the conference are going to make it into the NCAA Tournament. The previous record from one league is 11, and it has been clear all along that the SEC would inevitably pass that. If Vanderbilt, Texas and Oklahoma all make it into the field on Selection Sunday, the SEC will blow that record out of the water and end up with 14 teams in the final bracket.
The Longhorns are presumably the closest team out of that group to the cut line, but they have spent the last week bolstering their resume in a big way.
Texas basketball knocked off Vanderbilt and Texas A&M in the first two rounds of the SEC Tournament in Nashville, picking up a pair of neutral site Quad 1 wins to add onto an already-impressive collection of victories this season. After Rodney Terry and company finally fell short in the quarterfinals against No. 4-seed Tennessee 83-72 on Friday, Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes left no doubt about where he stands on Texas' tournament chances, via ESPN's Pete Thamel.
“There’s no doubt. Texas is an NCAA team,” Barnes said, per Thamel. “There’s no doubt in my mind they did enough. I think they’ve done more than enough. I think we should have 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament is what I think.”
Of course, Barnes also thinks that Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Georgia and the rest of the SEC outside of LSU and South Carolina should be in the field with Texas as well. If the league can back that up with a strong showing from some of its top teams, it will cement itself as the best single-season basketball conference of all time.
During conference play, this Texas basketball team has beaten Missouri, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Texas A&M twice. Those are much better wins than the likes of North Carolina, Xavier and Boise State, all of whom occupy similar territory on “Last 4 in” and “First 4 Out” lists from bracketologists around the nation.
Terry and the Longhorns will have to wait just under 48 hours to see if they will be selected for the bracket on Sunday afternoon.