Big 12 Bracket 2012: Texas Must Win 2 Games to Earn NCAA Tournament Bid

The Texas Longhorns have never missed the NCAA tournament under the tutelage of head coach Rick Barnes.

But if they don't win two games in the Big 12 tournament, they may break that streak.

The Longhorns are firmly on the bubble with a 19-12 record (9-9 in the Big 12). Joe Lunardi of ESPN currently has them on his "First Four Out" list, and for good reason—the team's RPI is 51st in the nation, and the they only have marquee wins against Temple, Iowa State and Kansas State.

Good teams, but certainly not elite teams.

In other words, the Longhorns seriously need to turn heads at the Big 12 tournament.

A quarterfinal win over Iowa State would be a nice addition to the Longhorns' resume and could possibly be enough to vault them into the NCAA tourney, though with the potential of teams stealing berths at conference tournaments, it's no guarantee Texas would get in.

Should the Longhorns beat the Cyclones, they would more than likely be looking at a semifinal game against Missouri, a daunting foe for sure, but one they took to the wire on Jan. 30 before losing 67-66.

And with J'Covan Brown always capable of exploding—he averages 20.0 PPG and has scored 25 points or more six times this year—you can't ever count Texas out.

Yes, the broken wrist injury to Alexis Wangmene, who's an excellent interior defender for the Longhorns, hurts the team's chances of beating either Iowa State or Missouri. But if they want to guarantee themselves an invitation to the Big Dance, they'll have to find a way to do just that.

Here's your Big 12 tournament bracket:

Wednesday, March 7 (First Round)

G1: No. 8 Oklahoma vs. No. 9 Texas A&M;  7 p.m. EST, Big 12 Network

G2: No. 11 Oklahoma State vs. No. 10 Texas Tech; 9:30 p.m. EST, Big 12 Network

Thursday, March 8 (Quarterfinals)

G3: No. 4 Baylor vs. No. 5 Kansas State; 12:30 p.m. EST, ESPN 2

G4: No. 1 Kansas vs. G1 Winner; 3 p.m. EST, ESPN 2

G5: No. 2 Missouri vs. G2 Winner; 7 p.m. EST, Big 12 Network

G6: No. 3 Iowa State vs. No. 6 Texas; 9:30 p.m. EST, Big 12 Network

Friday, March 9 (Semifinals)

G7: G3 Winner vs. G4 Winner; 7:30 p.m. EST, Big 12 Network/ESPNU

G8: G5 Winner vs. G6 Winner; 10 p.m. EST, Big 12 Network/ESPNU

Saturday, March 10 (Championship Game)

G9: G7 Winner vs. G8 Winner; 6 p.m. EST, ESPN

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