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Bracketology Losers: Indiana, Texas, and Texas Tech struggle on Champ Week

By Tristan Freeman

BLOOMINGTON, IN - JANUARY 14: Romeo Langford #0 of the Indiana Hoosiers walks down the court after a turnover in the 66-51 loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Assembly Hall on January 14, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN - JANUARY 14: Romeo Langford #0 of the Indiana Hoosiers walks down the court after a turnover in the 66-51 loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Assembly Hall on January 14, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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AUSTIN, TEXAS – JANUARY 19: Head coach Shaka Smart of the Texas Longhorns talks with a official during the game with the Oklahoma Sooners at The Frank Erwin Center on January 19, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images)
AUSTIN, TEXAS – JANUARY 19: Head coach Shaka Smart of the Texas Longhorns talks with a official during the game with the Oklahoma Sooners at The Frank Erwin Center on January 19, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images) /

Texas Longhorns

Every year there are mid-majors who have a bunch of wins and are right on the cut line. Then there are always power conference teams who have a number of quality wins but are offset by their total number of defeats. Just a few years ago, Vanderbilt made history by being the first-ever 15-loss team to make the NCAA Tournament with an at-large bid.

Texas fans hope to make history by being he first 16-loss team to get a bid. They have a unique resume that hasn’t been seen before. And with such a weak bubble, they may slide in. But the problem is that entering the Big 12 Tournament, the Longhorns had a record of 16-15, meaning that if they lost their opening game, they’d enter Selection Sunday at just a .500 record. Making matters worse, it was the Kansas Jayhawks who Texas had to face in the 3-6 matchup.

Texas lost that game, making it five out of six recent defeats. They’re under .500 in Big 12 play as well and have bad losses to Radford, Providence, Georgia and Oklahoma State on their resume as well.

But what’s keeping the Longhorns even on the bubble are their huge victories against Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State in Big 12 play, along with Purdue and North Carolina in the non-conference. Considering that teams like Clemson and mid-majors are also on the bubble, the Longhorns would win the comparison battle almost every time. In fact, Coach Smart’s team was project to be around a 9-10 seed before the Kansas game.

But it wasn’t the actual loss to the Jayhawks that hurt Texas but the fact that it dropped them to 16-16 on the season. There’s no official rule against teams with .500 records getting at-large bids but that has scared everyone from placing them in the field of 68. For us, they’re now one of the “First Four Out”.

Crazy thing is, Texas would be safe if they were 17-15 because they have everything else going for them. If they could only take back one of those many losses on the season.

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