AUSTIN -- The first reaction was one of relief. Long
considered a bubble team, Texas is in the NCAA tournament as the
No. 8 seed in the Chicago Regional.
Then came the second reaction.
Gulp.
Should Texas (20-10) get past No. 9 Nevada (24-6) in their
first-round game in Indianapolis on Thursday, the Longhorns will
likely run smack into the most dominant team in the country this
year: No. 1 Illinois.
Considering no top seed has lost in the first round since the
tournament expanded to 64 teams, it's a safe bet the Illini will be
ready and waiting for their second round opponent.
There's no guarantee that will be Texas. Nevada won the Western
Athletic Conference regular season title.
But hey, after an up-and-down season of academic problems,
injuries and seven losses in their last 13 games, the Longhorns
woke up Sunday pretty sure, but not completely confident, they
would get their seventh straight tournament bid. There were cheers
when they saw their name appear on TV.
"There were other years when it was pretty automatic. This year
was not," said senior guard Sydmill Harris. "I was pretty anxious
to see if we'd be in."
The Longhorns have felt the pressure of fighting for NCAA
tournament status since mid-January, when their best player,
sophomore forward P.J. Tucker, was declared academically
ineligible, and promising freshman center LaMarcus Aldridge was
lost with a hip injury that required surgery.
The Longhorns battled their way to a 9-7 finish in the Big 12
with two key wins over Oklahoma State. The second came on the road
in the last game of the regular season.
Just when it seemed like they were guaranteed an at-large bid,
the Longhorns dropped a first-round loss to lowly Colorado, the
second time the Buffaloes had beaten Texas this season.
"It's been a roller-coaster ride," said freshman point guard
Daniel Gibson. "(But) we're ready for more now."
Forward Brad Buckman said the constant NCAA worries took a toll
during the regular season and may have contributed to some of the
losses.
"Going through all that stuff was mind-boggling," he said.
"Now we've wiped the slate clean and we can just play. We don't
have to worry about seeds anymore, or getting in. We can just
play."
The No. 8 seed is the lowest under coach Rick Barnes. Texas was
a No. 10 in the 1997 tournament under coach Tom Penders and
advanced to the round of 16 that year.
Texas has made it at least that far the last three seasons but
would likely have to pull off a shocker to do it again this year.
Illinois (32-1) will play its first two tournament games only about
two hours from its campus.
Still, the attitude among the Longhorns on Sunday was that if
they can just get to the second round, anything can happen.
"We'll just try to take it one step at a time," Gibson said.
"We're sliding under the radar at No. 8. Teams won't be worried
about us."