Rodney Terry on Texas' NCAA resume: "We’re one of the best teams in the country and we can play with anybody"
The Longhorns most likely didn’t need a win at Baylor to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Their eighth Big 12 win, which took place last Tuesday at Texas Tech, not only boosted Texas safely into the at-large ranks in the minds of most bracketologists, but also moved them even further away from the potential First Four 11-seed line.
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There’s a potential the 93-85 loss to Baylor could ding their resume a bit, and another loss at home to Oklahoma on Saturday could do the same. But Texas’ track record with one game to go has the looks of a team that will be selected to the field of 68.
Even so, Texas head coach Rodney Terry was asked after his team’s defeat at the hands of the Bears if he believed the Longhorns had earned the right to play in the NCAA Tournament.
“We’ve played one of the hardest schedules in the country,” Terry said Monday. “Look at our schedule. Look at our body of work. We’ve probably played Quad 1 (games) as much as anybody in the country. Look at our schedule. What do you want us to play?”
The Longhorns have played 13 Quadrant 1 games according to the NCAA Evaluation Tool, or NET. They are 5-8 in those games. In the Big 12, only Baylor and Kansas have played more Quadrant 1 games.
“We played six ranked teams (in a row) for the first time in school history,” Terry said. “We’ve done that. We stood toe to toe. Have we had a stumble here and there? Just like everybody in this league has, yeah. We’ve had that. But we’re one of the best teams in the country and we can play with anybody.”
From January 20 to February 6, Texas played six straight ranked teams. The Longhorns defeated then-No. 9 Baylor, took down then-No. 11 Oklahoma by 15 in Norman, lost to then No. 21 BYU on the road, succumbed to No. 4 Houston in Austin in overtime, defeated No. 25 TCU in Fort Worth by 11 points, and fell by five at home to No. 14 Iowa State. Texas posted a 3-3 record in those games, including a 2-1 mark on the road.
Terry made it clear he thought his team played a good game in Waco on Monday but the 42-21 discrepancy in attempts at the free throw line was too much for his team to be able to overcome in addition to the late-game injury to Dylan Disu.
“We come into a hostile environment – I don’t know what these guys were ranked today – but they needed every call that they could get today in terms of getting it done here at home,” Terry said.
At publication time, Texas was ranked No. 27 in the NET, sixth among Big 12 teams. KenPom had the Longhorns one spot better at No. 26.
Prior to yesterday’s games, Texas was projected to be an 8-seed on BracketMatrix.com and was in the tournament in 103-of-104 gathered field of 68 projections. The Longhorns are unlikely to see much of a drop for a loss in the home gym of the No. 11 team in the nation.
Evidence like Monday, and evidence from the previous 29 games, has Terry believing his team has done more than enough to make the NCAA Tournament field.
“What else do you got to do?” Terry said. “We can play anybody on any given night.”
