Rick Barnes fights for Texas to make NCAA Tournament with passionate message

The Texas Longhorns lost to the Tennessee Volunteers in the SEC Tournament on Friday. And for now, the Longhorns will have to anxiously await their fate in the upcoming 2025 NCAA Tournament. Selection Sunday is only a few days away, and Texas will now have to wait and see if they’re picked for the big dance. Following their SEC Quarterfinal matchup, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes stumped for the ‘Horns to be included in the NCAA Tournament.

“There’s no doubt. Texas is an NCAA team…There’s no doubt in my mind they did enough. I think they’ve done more than enough. I think we should have 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament is what I think,” Barnes said.

The Longhorns currently sit at 19-15 overall, ranking them 13th in the SEC. Texas is 7-11 in Quad 1 games, much better than another bubble team like the North Carolina Tar Heels. UNC is 1-11 in Quad 1 games, which is quite a drastic difference. College basketball analysts such as Jon Rothstein and Seth Davis have stumped for the Longhorns to be in the NCAA Tournament over the Tar Heels.

Texas defeated Texas A&M in the second round

It took two overtime periods, but Texas defeated Texas A&M in the second round of the SEC Tournament on Thursday afternoon, keeping their conference championship hopes alive. Extending their season, could the win over the Aggies have secured the Longhorns’ spot in the NCAA Tournament?

“Entering the game, Joe Lunardi has Texas as the first team out,” ESPN commentator Dan Shulman explained as the Longhorns led the Aggies by one point in the final minutes of regulation. “He says that if they win, they will replace Indiana and become the last team in.”

With Indiana exiting the Big Ten Tournament in the second round on Thursday afternoon, the Hoosiers no longer control their own destiny.

Elsewhere in the SEC, on Thursday, both Vanderbilt and Arkansas were projected by Lunardi to be in the ‘last four byes’ section of the bubble. With Texas joining the Commodores and Razorbacks on the inside of the bubble, the SEC could now send as many as 13 teams to the NCAA Tournament.

We’ll have to see as the updates come rolling in throughout the weekend. The bubble for Selection Sunday can change very quickly. And there’s plenty of college basketball games the next few days to add clarity to the NCAA Tournament picture.

On3’s Barkley Truax also contributed to this article.