Big 12 Tournament 2012: Texas Must Fight Way into Title to Earn Big Dance Berth

Two W's stand between Texas and the Big Dance.

Right now, the Longhorns aren’t worthy of an NCAA tournament bid—their resume just isn’t strong enough.  If they fight their way into the Big 12 title game, though, Texas will hear their name called on Selection Sunday.

Rick Barnes’ crew enters the conference tourney with a 19-12 regular season record, and they were just 9-9 in the Big 12.  Their road record on the year is just 4-9.  Sure, they boast the 21^st-ranked strength of schedule, but when you get into RPI, it gets ugly.

Texas itself has an RPI of 51—nothing to brag about.  Against top-50 RPI teams, they’re just 3-9, and they're 4-10 vs. top-100 RPI teams. 

As poor as those numbers are, one positive still remains: They don’t need to KO Kansas to punch their ticket to the Big Dance.

Iowa State is the first team that stands in the Burnt Orange and White's path.  The two teams will face off on Thursday at 9:30 EST.  Texas and the Cyclones split their season series at a game a piece, with each team successfully defending their home court.  ISU doesn’t possess the star power that the Longhorns do, but as the 25^th-ranked team in the country, they’ll be a tough out.

If J’Covan Brown and company are able to take out the Cyclones, they’ll then play the winner of Missouri vs. Oklahoma State.  So, basically, they’ll play Missouri.

The Tigers already dehorned Texas twice this season, but in their last meeting, the Longhorns only lost by one point.  Missouri doesn’t need to do anything in the Big-12 tournament.  And that’s Texas’ edge: they want it more.

But the Tigers are ranked No. 5 in the nation, and it’d be a huge upset if the Longhorns were to pull it off.

If Texas trips over one of the two giant hurdles standing in the way, they’ll be filling out brackets without their name on it with the rest of America. 

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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