NCAA Basketball: Dayton, Texas, Nevada, and Southern Utah headline Sunday Mailbag
By Bryan Mauro
Where does Texas currently stand in the Big 12?- Busting Brackets team (@BustingBrackets)
Texas was everyone’s preseason National Champion. The problem with crowing the National Champion before the games have even been played is that some teams just may not gel well together regardless of the amount of talent they have. That seems to be the problem with the Longhorns at the current moment. They look very disjointed and look like a team that was assembled in about 15 months which they were.
Texas is still a virtual lock to make the NCAA tournament at least on January 21, 2022. This was written before Texas takes on Oklahoma State and they currently sit at 3-3 in the Big 12 and they have lost 3 out of their last 4 games. They have a NET in the top 20 and while they have only 1 quad 1 win, the conference provides a quad 1 opportunity every night. The Longhorns have too much talent to be down forever and once the talent starts to come together more; they will be one of the top teams in the Big 12 once again.
Head coach Chris Beard is in the middle of his first season as the head coach at Texas and he honestly has been as advertised. Texas plays slow, as they only average 54 shots per game. The Longhorns are extremely deliberate in all of their sets and get a lot of high percentage shots because of it.
On the defensive side of the floor, the Longhorns utilize the no middle’s defense that has made Beard’s defense famous and they are currently the best scoring defense in the country allowing a minuscule 55 points per game. They don’t allow many field goals to take against them and the ones that the teams do take are made with a lower percentage.
Texas is still okay as they have a lot of time to turn it around and will likely finish in the top 5 of the Big 12. It doesn’t appear that Texas is nearly as good as everyone thought and they are a team that still has me scratching my head as to what to expect out of them in the NCAA tournament.
They are a team that has the talent and ability to make a final four but can play bad enough to leave in the first round. Keep in mind that Texas is one Kansas and Texas Tech win away from everyone forgetting about the last week and putting them back into their final four. Right now, proceed with caution on Texas.