Two Longhorns Earn All-Big 12 Spots As March Madness Heats Up
The 2023-24 Phillips 66 All-Big 12 Men's Basketball Award teams were revealed by the league office Sunday and two Texas Longhorns earned spots.
Dylan Disu earned the league's Most Improved Player, becoming the first Texas player to claim the honor since it began during the 2019-20 season, and was named to the All-Big 12 First Team.
Max Abmas finished on the All-Big 12 Second Team and the Big 12 All-Newcomer Team.
Disu and Abmas
The All-Big 12 awards are selected by the league's head coaches and the coaches are not allowed to vote for their own players.
Disu and Abmas will now lead the Longhorns into the conference tournament, where they have a chance to defend their title.
No. 7-seeded Texas will play No. 10-seeded Kansas State inside the T-Mobile Center at 6 p.m. CT on Wednesday. The Longhorns took down the Wildcats in a 62-56 win on Feb. 19 in the only regular-season meeting between the two teams.
Both Texas and Kansas State are fresh off wins. The Wildcats are coming off of an impressive 65-58 upset win over No. 6 Iowa State on Saturday and have tons of momentum headed into the matchup. The Longhorns wrapped up their regular season with a convincing 94-80 win over the Oklahoma Sooners at home on Saturday.
If Texas beats Kansas State, the Longhorns will face No. 2-seeded Iowa State in the quarterfinals.
As for NCAA Tournament implications, of the 68 teams who will punch their ticket to play in the tournament, Texas is projected to get in, likely as an eight or nine seed.
A loss wouldn't necessarily knock Texas into the March Madness bubble, but it would prevent the Longhorns from moving up and out of their projected 8/9 seed line.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats have everything on the line. They likely need to win the conference tournament or at least make a run to the Big 12 title game in order to sneak into the NCAA Tournament.
Selection Sunday is March 17th with the First Four on March 19-20 and the First Round on March 21-22.
The Big Dance concludes in the NCAA Championship Game on April 8. The UConn Huskies currently are the favorites to win the crown. UConn defeated San Diego State 76-59 in the final last year to take the 2023 NCAA title. Florida (2006 and 2007) is the last team to win back-to-back titles.
