Texas Basketball: 3 reasons Longhorns will reach the 2023 Final Four

There are fewer teams riding higher as they enter the NCAA Tournament than Texas Basketball. The Big 12 was the deepest and toughest conference in the country as evidenced by 70& of the league earning bids to the Big Dance. Not only did Texas end the regular season with a convincing 75-59 win over Kansas but bookended that with a 20-point win over those Jayhawks in the Big 12 title game in Kansas City.

As a result of their finish to the season and a resume that included 14 quad 1 wins, six of which came in quad 1A and seven road or neutral-site wins in the first quad, the Longhorns earned themselves the No. 2 seed in the Midwest region. They open up on Thursday night with a game against the Raiders of Colgate who won the Patriot League title. The Longhorns are 26-8 and even though they have eight losses, only one of them, in February to Texas Tech came against a team that didn’t make the field.

The Longhorns have faced adversity off the court this season when they cut ties with head coach Chris Beard on January 5 after suspending him on Dec 12 amid legal issues. The university replaced him on an interim basis with assistant coach Rodney Terry. Under Terry, the Longhorns have gone 18-7, including eight of nine out of the gate.

Texas’ body of work by the end of the year had them in the conversation for a No. 1 seed but ultimately landed on the No. 2 line. They should absolutely be considered a significant threat to get to the Final Four in Houston, perhaps knocking off the top-seeded Houston Cougars in the process. Let’s examine three reasons the Texas Longhorns will make it to the Final Four.