ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi state Texas needs two wins to 'feel comfortable' about NCAA Tournament

Going into the SEC Tournament, the Texas Longhorns find themselves firmly on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament, looking to lock themselves into the field. However, according to ESPN bracketologist, Joe Lunardi, the only way for the Longhorns to feel comfortable would be by winning at least two games in the SEC Tournament.

Lunardi explained while on a teleconference that one win on Wednesday against Vanderbilt wouldn’t be enough to guarantee a trip to the NCAA Tournament. That’s because other teams are still competing and would have an opportunity to add more than the Longhorns do in that scenario. So, Texas needs to make some noise.

“A win today would definitely not be enough to guarantee it,” Joe Lunardi said. “Because while that may put them in for the moment depending on what other people do — a, they don’t stop playing if they win. They play again.”

Texas finished the regular season 17-14 overall and 6-12 in SEC play. That was tied for 13th in the conference standings overall. That includes losing four of their final five games. The last time Texas won two games in a row was in January when they beat Missouri and Texas A&M respectively. For the season, Texas is 5-10 against Quad 1 opponents and 3-4 against Quad 2 opponents. They’re unbeaten against anyone from Quad 3 or Quad 4.

“And we don’t know what all the teams around them are going to do or if any of the spots are going to disappear. We all remember that there were five that disappeared in a span of 48 hours last year. While I don’t think that will be the case,” Lunardi said. “In fact, I’m sure that won’t be the case those opportunities really don’t exist to that number this year. They probably need two wins to feel comfortable this year, even though they may see themselves swing on a pendulum between being in and out and in and out more than once over the next three or four days. I apologize in advance to the people of Texas if I do that to them. We just kind of call that an occupational hazard.”

The SEC is going to rapidly fill the NCAA Tournament. In fact, in his latest bracketology, Lunardi projected that 13 SEC teams will make the field. Texas, however, is currently on the outside looking in as one of the First Four Out.

The Texas Longhorns open their SEC Tournament run on Wednesday, March 12th against the Vanderbilt Commodores. If they win that game, they’ll move on to take on the Texas A&M Aggies in the second round.