When people think of March Madness, what do they think of? Upsets, close games, blowouts, future NBA stars, and of course, Cinderella teams. A Cinderella team is a low seeded team in the tournament that goes far and upsets teams that are supposed to be “better”. This year has one of the most unlikely Cinderellas in a while, the 11-seeded Texas Longhorns, who snuck into the tournament and are now making a name for themselves.
The Longhorns had a very rough path to where they are right now. They were not only a low seed but also had to play a play-in game against NC State to even make the tournament. The thriller match ended with Texas squeezing out the win in the final seconds. It didn’t get any easier after that in the first round of the tournament, they had to play BYU, who has arguably the best college player in the country right now, AJ Dybantsa, who dropped 35 points in their matchup.
Then the Longhorns played against Gonzaga in round two, winning 74-68. Gonzaga has been a great team in the tournament for a while, as they’ve been to the Elite Eight and Sweet 16 all within the last four years. Texas then held its own against the Bulldogs shooting 52% on field goals. Now the Longhorns are faced with the unthinkable two-seeded Purdue, an extremely hot team, recently beating Miami(FL), and Queens, NC by 33 points.
This Cinderella becomes even more impressive when we see that the Longhorns were tenth in the SEC standings at the end of the regular season. Out of the ten SEC teams that made the tournament, only four remain, one of which is Texas. The Longhorns are led by new head coach Sean Miller, who has really brought life into this team into their full potential with key players like veteran guard Jordan Pope, transfer forward Tramon Mark, and guard Chendall Weaver. The Longhorns expect to be a threat to the SEC and the tournament.
Although Texas has been a consistent team in the tournament making it to March Madness 23 times out of the last 26 seasons. They haven’t made an Elite Eight appearance in eight years, and they haven’t been to the Final Four since 2003. Though they have won games in march, they still aren’t a dominant team like Florida or Uconn. However, with a win against Purdue they could make history for their program and solidify themselves as one of the best Texas teams ever.
