Unfinished business: Texas has plenty left to prove as it hosts first two rounds of NCAA Tournament
The Texas women’s basketball team came up a game short of winning the Big 12 Tournament title but will still carry plenty of momentum with it when it opens play on Saturday in the NCAA Tournament.
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And the Longhorns still have plenty to prove – just ask Texas coach Vic Schaefer.
The Longhorns (25-9) are the fourth-seeded team in the Seattle 4 bracket and will host first- and second-round games in Moody Center on Saturday and Monday. Texas plays No. 13 seed East Carolina in the Round of 64 on Saturday, with a contest with either No. 5 seed Louisville or No. 12 seed Drake on tap if it wins.
This will be the Longhorns’ 35th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament, which is the fourth most among NCAA Division I teams. It’s also Texas’ 14th consecutive berth.
Texas has played in every NCAA Tournament since 2007-08 and has advanced to the Elite Eight the past two seasons under Schaefer.
The Longhorns have just one national championship, in 1986 when they went undefeated.
“I’m excited for our kids. It’s going to be an exciting time,” Schaefer said. “To have the NCAA Tournament on your home floor? Man, what an opportunity. This team has worked extremely hard to get to this point and been through a lot. So many injuries. So excited for them and excited for the week.”
East Carolina (23-9) garnered its berth in the NCAAs with a win over Houston in the American Athletic Conference Championship on Friday. The Pirates are making their first trip to the Tournament since 2007.
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Stanford is the top-seeded team in the Longhorns’ bracket, with Iowa No. 2 and Duke No. 3.
Virginia Tech, Indiana and defending national champions South Carolina are the other No. 1 seeds in the Tournament.
The at-large bid into the Big Dance was produced mostly by Texas’ 14-4 record in Big 12 play that earned the Longhorns earned a share of the league’s regular season title, their first since the 2003-04 season.
Texas had to settle for a runner-up finish in the Big 12 tournament when it was defeated by Iowa State 61-51 in the championship game in Kansas City. Iowa State is a fifth seed in the regional headed by South Carolina.
“It stings, and it should,” Schaefer said of the loss to Iowa State. “When you’re invested emotionally in something and it’s your passion like it is for these young ladies, it should bother you. It bothers me, but it’s not going to bother me to the point where I dismiss how hard these kids play. We still competed our tail off, and I’m awfully proud of them.”
