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Texas draws Iowa State in the first round of the Big 12 tournament on Wednesday. The Horns are the 6th seed in the conference tournament and will have to go through the Cyclones, Baylor and either Kansas State or one of the Oklahoma schools to make it to the finals on Saturday. >MORE

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Three-way tie for Big 12 bye to be settled on the court

  • Eight days are left in the college basketball regular season and it will almost certainly come down to the final Saturday as far as the Big 12 tournament seedings go. Texas, Baylor and Texas A&M all have three games remaining and, at the moment, the teams are all 8-5 in Big 12 play. The Longhorns control their destiny as they play both Baylor and A&M on successive Saturdays. The Bears already beat A&M by four on Wednesday so they have the upper-hand as of today.
  • For Texas, it starts tomorrow when it heads to College Station for a showdown with the Aggies. The Horns’ win over Oklahoma State on Wednesday was big, but a win against A&M on Saturday would be huge as this team tries desperately to right the ship before tournament play begins.
  • It could come down to Baylor and Texas playing for the all-important 4-seed a week from tomorrow in Waco. If the Longhorns can somehow pull off winning at A&M and Baylor to end the regular season they’ll get a bye in the first round of the Big 12 tournament.
  • Before I get ahead of myself let’s see how the boys play in Aggieland tomorrow afternoon. After an up-and-down regular season this team is starting to show signs of life. For a team that’s been on the brink of collapse since early January a win tomorrow could get them off life-support and put them on their way to a deep tournament run.

Now or never for Texas basketball

  • Tomorrow night’s game against Texas Tech marks the beginning of what needs to be a great finish to the season for Texas. The Longhorns will be in Lubbock facing a team that beat by 12 at home in January and a team that is struggling just as bad as Texas.
  • A win on Saturday could give the Longhorns some momentum heading into their last four games against Oklahoma State, #23 Texas A&M (there), Oklahoma and #22 Baylor (there).
  • Texas should win the two games against the Oklahoma schools. They beat the Cowboys in Stillwater so getting them at home shouldn’t change the outcome and they have more talent than Oklahoma so they should be able to handle the Sooners at home.
  • The two games on the road however will tell us whether or not this team can do anything this year. A&M and Baylor are both playing well and find themselves in the top 25 at this point. Wins against them would not only give us Horn fans something to cheer about but it would also boost our seeding in the NCAA tournament.
  • This may be a lot to ask a team that has failed to deliver over and over again since Big 12 play started. If ever there was a time for this team to find itself though I think it’s tomorrow afternoon in Lubbock. A win against the Red Raiders could put this team on a path back to the college basketball elite. Something that moves further and further away as the Ls stack up.
  • -Dave Behr; Hookem.com Content Editor

Texas loses to Baylor on the free throw line

  • The Longhorns need help. Texas played its third ranked opponent in the last two weeks and lost all three of them. This team showed signs of greatness before Big 12 conference play started but since then they’ve looked extraordinarily average.
  • Once again free throws were a huge issue for the Longhorns. They missed freebie after freebie in the closing minutes of regulation and overtime that could have swung the game in their favor. As a team they shot just 61.3% (19-31) and even their best free throw shooter, J’Covan Brown, missed one that would have put Texas up by three with under 10 seconds to play. Baylor got an easy put-back to tie the game and send it to OT.
  • This team is officially in trouble. It looked like they could have walked into a buzz saw at Kansas State and then an emotional Connecticut team in Storrs, but losing to Baylor in Austin is not good. It’s not going to get any easier too as the Longhorns travel to Oklahoma State next. Rick Barnes has to get these guys playing better and fast. I think I might recommend that he should start at the free throw line.

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