I’m not from Texas originally, but I live in Austin, and generally root for the Texas Longhorns.
In my opinion, Texas didn’t deserve to be in the NCAA tournament this year at all. They should have been left out entirely. BUT… if they had to get in, why were they given an 11 seed? Surely, they deserve to be lower!
All in all, I’d be inclined to make Texas a 15 or 16 seed. That’s how little I think of them.But as a practical matter, schools from major conferences NEVER get ranked that low.
Why not? I just don’t see why Texas deserves any more respect than
New Mexico State or Valparaiso or even Harvard.
The “eye-test” might tell you they are no better than any of these 15-16 seeds, or the teams you named, but if you look at who Harvard, NM St and Valpo played vs. who Texas played, you will see that none of those teams beat a ranked team. In fact, Valpo didn’t even play a ranked team. Texas played a lot of ranked teams. It is true that they lost most of them, but they did manage to win a few so they have proven that they can beat a ranked team. None of those other guys proved it.
Also, in general, all of the players on those others teams could never start for Texas. There may be an exception or two of course, but how fair would it be to Kentucky to have to play Texas instead of whatever low major team they got matched up with in the first round. Texas would probably lose, but they have the players with the size and athletisicm to give Kentucky a game. In fact, Texas only lost to Kentucky by 12 earlier in the year. I highly doubt Kentucky’s first round opponent will be within 30 points.
No #16 seed has ever beaten a #1, although a few #15’s have beaten #2’s who forgot they need to take every opponent seriously. Yes, Texas could beat Kentucky with a few breaks, but Manhattan or Hampton cannot. The small schools don’t have good enough big men to get the ball inside, or keep it out on defense, even if they often do have good guards.
If Texas was even slightly worse, they’d be one of the favorites to win the NIT. Being one of the worst teams in the NCAA is actually better, and it’s their reward for being competitive playing a big-conference schedule.
Seriously? New Mexico State plays in a conference against Cal State-Bakersfield, Grand Canyon, Missouri-Kansas City, Seattle, Texas-Pan American, Utah Valley, and Chicago State. Is there really anything more to be said?
Reviewing the RPIs of the participating schools would probably illuminate the seedings, since those rankings incorporate the factors discussed here, such as strength of schedule.