Latest Mock Bracket Has Texas Longhorns in Interesting March Madness Position

The Texas Longhorns have been on a roll recently.

They have won their last five games after starting the year 12-9, leavingthem tied for the fifth spot in the SEC.

Their efforts have not gone unnoticed.

Texas Receives a Tenth Seed in Newest Selection Committee Bracket

Texas Longhorns head coach Sean Miller celebrates a win against the Vanderbilt Commodores | Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

The media selection committee for Men's basketball had their most recent bracket revealed.

The Texas Longhorns were the tenth seed in the East.

Take a look:

Media selection committee’s final bracket: pic.twitter.com/8INYioU2CY
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) February 20, 2026

This comes on the heels of the Longhorns fifth straight victory, beating LSU 88-85 on Tuesday.

This stretch has been unusually consistent for Texas, which had not strung together three wins in a row since before the Maui Invitational.

The Longhorns are fueled by the No. 6 offense in the nation, according to KenPom. While still led by guard Dailyn Swain, the 'Horns have gotten more consistent support from the rest of their starters.

Texas still has plenty of room to grow on defense, as they are 97th in defensive rating.

It is also worth noting that Texas' squad has been one of the unluckiest in the sport, meaning their expected record is higher than their actual record. They are 327th out of 356 teams in KenPom's luck metric.

The Longhorns's next three games include the SEC's top team, the Florida Gators, sandwiched in between the good, not great Georgia Bulldogs and Texas A&M Aggies.

Texas has shown big-game ability already this season, beating then-No. 13 Vanderbilt and then-No. 10 Alabama in back-to-back games back in early January. If they want to achieve a similar feat over the next eight days, their defense will need to play better.

If they manage to sweep those contests, they would climb the rankings. For now, it is worth examining what their path in the tournament would look like if they played tomorrow.

Who Would They Play?

Saint Louis Billikens center Robbie Avila drives to the basket | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

According to the poll, the Longhorns would play the No. 18 St. Louis Bilikens in the first round.

St. Louis, led by center Robbie Avila, is 24-2 and first in the A-10 Conference. Its two losses were by a combined six points to Stanford and Rhode Island.

The Bilikens are a lot more balanced than the Longhorns, sporting the 41st offensive rating and a top-30 defensive rating.

Their secret sauce is pace, as they are the 16th fastest team in college basketball according to KenPom's Adjusted Tempo.

This up-tempo play style seems incongruous with being led by a slow-footed 240 lb center, however Avila fits like a glove in head coach Josh Schertz's system.

Avila hunts threes early in the shot clock behind his teammates flare screens. When the defense catches on to that, Avila becomes a de-facto point guard and passing hub a la Nikola Jokic.

From there, the Bilikens' five-out spacing leads to vacant space around the basket which Avila's teammates cut into so he can hit them with a perfect pass on their way to the basket.

The Bilikens are a well-oiled machine on offense, with Schertz as the conductor and Avila as the engineer. That could mean disaster for the Longhorns unless they can improve on that end before March.

The matchups are far from set, but regardless of who Texas faces, they will need to improve defensively.