Texas Basketball: Examining the importance of earning the No. 1 seed
The Texas Longhorns have not reached the Sweet 16 since 2008. That season, Texas ultimately fell to the Memphis Tigers in the Elite Eight.
Rodney Terry’s team will look to snap that abysmal streak with a berth in this year’s Round of 16. They can increase their chances of reaching that goal by winning games like Monday night’s matchup against Kansas and earning a No. 1 seed.
Last week’s wins over then No. 7 Kansas State and No. 11 Baylor are important for a number of reasons. The most important reason revolves around bolstering a No. 1 seed resume.
For starters, only one No. 1 seed has lost to its first opponent in a tournament model of 64 teams or more. Virginia fell to UMBC in 2018.
Escaping past the next opponent has been difficult in recent years, but the odds of a first round exit are slim for most teams.
On top of that, No. 1 seeds are nearly twice as likely to reach the Final Four as No. 2 seeds. Since the tournament grew to over 64 teams, over 52% of tournaments have seen two or more No. 1 seeds reach the Final Four.
Put simply, Texas can do nearly as much to determine its fate during the regular season as it can in March. With wins over Gonzaga, Kansas State, Baylor and TCU in hand, a win at No. 9 Kansas can inch the Longhorns closer to a deep tournament run.
