Texas Longhorns: Can This Season Be Salvaged?

The return of four out of five starters, coupled with the addition of #2-overall recruit Myles Turner prompted bigger expectations for the Texas Longhorns entering this season. An improved roster coupled with a third round tourney finish paved the way for the Longhorns to be endowed with a preseason top ten ranking.

Unfortunately, with bigger expectations come steeper shortfalls. After Tuesday night’s 71-64 loss at West Virginia, it’s clear that Rick Barnes’ squad is in the middle of a Texas-sized collapse from the top ten to the NCAA tournament bubble.

Texas Longhorns /

Texas Longhorns

Though a loss to a hard-nosed, ranked Bob Huggins squad should never incite panic, Texas’ disastrous Big 12 campaign has dried all the promise up from a 12-2 start (losses to Kentucky and Stanford). After Monday’s defeat, Texas (17-11, 6-9 Big 12) at best can finish at 9-9 in the conference. One of their final three games is at Phog Allen Fieldhouse where Texas is 1-12 all time.

On the other side of the coin, an upset win at Kansas wouldn’t erase the past two months, but it could offer much-needed good vibes heading into the postseason. The NCAA picture for the Longhorns remains unclear – Busting Bracketology has them as a 12, playing the in the first four against Texas A&M, of all teams. But Texas has some golden opportunities to move off the bubble and possibly lock up a tourney bid. Even if they lose at Kansas as expected, they close the season with home tilts against Baylor and Kansas State. A 2-1 finish would probably put the Horns safely in. Anything below that (barring an upset at Kansas) leaves them on shaky ground – a one-and-out in the Big 12 Tournament would most likely bring the NIT to Austin. In that dumpster-fire scenario, the eyes of Texas will swiftly dart to spring football.

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Still, it’s more than NCAAs-or-bust for Texas. Much of the fanbase has written off Rick Barnes- and they do have reason to. The TJ Ford-led 2003 Final Four squad is a decade in the rearview, and Barnes could not return to the national semifinals with Kevin Durant or the team built around him. First weekend finishes have been the norm six out of the past seven seasons (the other being a CBI first-round flameout). There’s no doubt Barnes has recruited well on the forty acres, but in the same vein there’s no doubt he has perennially underachieved.

Can Texas do better than Rick Barnes? Big names could be thrown around (Gregg Marshall?) for a job that has big time potential with milder expectations as compared to the gridiron. Still, Barnes (399-176 at Texas) is the gold standard for the Longhorns’ program in the modern era, and an uninspired replacement could cause a dip into mediocrity. A strong postseason foray deep into the Big 12 tourney or finally returning to the NCAA’s second weekend could grant Barnes another season. Anything less could mark the end of his 17-year tenure.

Next: Iowa St: Hoiberg Draws NBA Interest

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