Texas Basketball: Looking at Texas' Potential Path Through the Big 12 Tournament
The Big 12 Basketball Tournament field is officially set, leaving Texas as the No. 4 seed.
The Longhorns looked like they were headed for a third-place finish going into the final day of the regular season, but a blowout loss to Oklahoma Ste coupled with Oklahoma's last-second buzzer-beater win over TCU knocked Texas down to fourth.
Still, the Longhorns managed to get a bye after languishing near the bottom of the standings just a few weeks ago. Now they find themselves with a first-round bye and a game against a Texas Tech team they just beat on the Red Raiders' home floor.
The game is important as both the Red Raiders and Longhorns now find themselves on the bubble. The winner of this contest will get one more notch on their belt for the selection committee to consider, while the loser will be sweating a little harder up until Sunday when teams are announced.
Next Texas would draw a potential face-off with Kansas, the Big 12 regular-season champion. The Jayhawks are the hottest team in the conference right now and practically a shoo-in for the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
However, if there is one bright side to the game for Longhorn fans it is the fact that Kansas' resume is complete already. The Jayhawks are likely locked into their NCAA Tournament destination, leaving the conference tournament as more of a tune-up for the real thing.
There's also the possibility that the Jayhawks are upset in the quarterfinals. They draw the winner of Oklahoma State and Iowa State, both teams that are capable of an upset (as Texas can attest).
Either way, the winner of the semifinals obviously advances to the conference championship game with an opportunity to earn an automatic bid to the Big Dance.
Can Texas make a run through the conference tournament and punch an automatic ticket? Stranger things have certainly happened - and recently - in Big 12 basketball. Some of it will depend on which team shows up in Kansas City: the squad that won five in a row or the team that we all saw at the Erwin Center in the regular-season finale?
2020 Big 12 tournament: Schedule
First Round — Wednesday, March 11
Game 1: No. 8 Oklahoma State vs. No. 9 Iowa State | 6 p.m. | ESPNU
Game 2: No. 7 TCU vs. No. 10 Kansas State | 8 p.m. | ESPNU
Quarterfinals — Thursday, March 12
Game 3: No. 4 Texas vs. No. 5 Texas Tech | 12:30 a.m. | ESPN/ESPN2
Game 4: No. 1 Kansas vs. Game 1 winner | 1:30 p.m. | ESPN/ESPN
Game 5: No. 2 Baylor vs. Game 2 winner | 6 p.m. | ESPN/ESPN2
Game 6: No. 3 Oklahoma vs. No. 6 West Virginia | 8 p.m. | ESPN/ESPN2
Semifinals — Friday, March 13
Game 7: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner | 6 p.m. | ESPN/ESPN2
Game 8: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner | 8 p.m. | ESPN/ESPN
Championship — Saturday, March 14
Game 9: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner | 5 p.m. | ESPN