Texas Rises To No. 4 Seed in NCAA Tournament Bracketology
Texas’ victory over Kansas on Monday night helped the Longhorns rise to a No. 4 seed in the latest ESPN Bracketology piece released on Tuesday.
Joe Lunardi’s latest 68-team field has seven Big 12 teams solidly in the field, while West Virginia has fallen off the bubble completely. Also, for the first time, there is no Big 12 team on a No. 1 seed line. Lunardi told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt on Monday night that he fully expects there to be a Big 12 team on the No. 1 seed line come selection Sunday on March 13.
Texas has now won five of its last six games and two ranked teams in a row, including their win over Iowa State on Saturday. But by beating Kansas at home, it was enough to impress Lunardi and move the Longhorns up two seeds from his last Bracketology on Friday.
Other takeaways:
Moving up: Kansas moved back up to a No. 2 seed after dropping to a No. 3 seed on Friday.
Moving down: Baylor dropped off a No. 1 seed line for the first time this season after its blowout loss to Kansas. The Bears are now a No. 2 seed. TCU dropped from a No. 8 to a No. 9 seed after its loss to Kansas State. Iowa State dropped to a No. 9 seed after its loss to Texas. Oklahoma dropped to a No. 11 seed after falling to Oklahoma State.
Holding steady: Texas Tech remained a No. 3 seed.
How the bracket looks for the Big 12 as of Feb. 8:
Midwest Region (Chicago)
No. 2 Kansas vs. No. 15 Longwood
South Region (San Antonio)
No. 2 Baylor vs. No. 15 Cal State Fullerton
West Region (San Francisco)
No. 3 Texas Tech vs. No. 14 Jacksonville State
No. 9 Iowa State vs. No. 8 Boise State
East Region (Philadelphia)
No. 4 Texas vs. No. 13 Ohio
No. 9 TCU vs. No. 8 Wake Forest
No. 11 Oklahoma vs. No. 6 UConn
Future Big 12 members
Midwest Region (Chicago)
No. 4 Houston vs. No. 14 New Mexico State
West Region (San Francisco)
No. 12 BYU/North Carolina winner vs. No. 5 Villanova
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
