Tourney Time for the Texas Longhorns: Week One, Little Rock

The Texas Longhorns enter the tournament with one of the best teams they've had in the Rick Barnes era, and considering where they'll be playing, the Horns probably have the second-best team in terms of the path they will take on the road to the Final Four.

Texas, with the loss to Kansas last Sunday in the Big 12 Championship Game (for the thirrd consecutive year), was named a #2 seed in the South Region, which actually was a better announcement than being a #1 seed in the Midwest. Why? Texas plays the first 2 rounds in Little Rock, Arkansas (a 7-8 hour drive, not bad for the NCAAs), then plays the regionals (assuming they are not upset on Friday or Sunday) in Houston, as opposed to Ford Field in Detroit (about 1,400 miles away as opposed to 150). Playing Memphis as the estimated Elite Eight teams wouldn't be much different than playing Georgetown, who probably would have more home-court advantage in Detroit than even Kansas, let alone Texas. 

For the first round, Texas is playing Austin Peay, the OVC champions. They have been hot as of late, winning 11 of their final 12 games, though their biggest win was against Georgia Southern during the run. They did play both Vanderbilt and Memphis in the regular season, losing to Vandy by 14 and the Tigers by 22. Texas will probably somewhere within that realm, and if they lose, would be among the five biggest upsets in NCAA tournament history (especially since they'd be the fifth 2-seed to lose in the first round). I doubt that will happen and Texas should cruise.

The Governors (yes, that is the Peay's mascot) are a very balanced team, with five players scoring in double figures, all between 10.9 and 14.6 points a game. They are a running team as well, scoring 74.6 a game and forcing almost ten steals per contest. However, they only play one player above 6-6, Tomas Janauskas, and the 6-8 center only plays 3 minutes a contest. Texas potential size issues when playing 3 guards under 6-2 as they typcially do will not be a factor in this game.

The next game will be against either the Miami Hurricanes or Saint Mary's from the West Coast Conference. Matching up against St. Mary's will be a bit surprising, as Texas already played the Gaels at home early January in what Horns coach Rick Barnes cited as one of the best performances by his team this season in an 81-62 blowout. The second matchup would probably be closer, as the Arkansas crowd will likely feature enough Razorback backers that remember the SWC days with the Horns enough to back the 10-seed underdogs should they matchup with Texas.

I still think the Longhorns would win, relatively comfortable, probably around ten or so. Many analysts would hype the point guard matchup between First-team All-American D.J. Augustin and talented freshman Patrick Mills, though in the first meeting, Texas completely shut down Mills to the tune of 12 points, one assist, and five turnovers, while Augustin finished with 30 points and four assists. 

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