ESPN's Joe Lunardi dives into Texas' bubble case, makes prediction on NCAA Tournament fate

After picking up wins over Vanderbilt and Texas A&M to advance to the SEC Tournament quarterfinals, Texas is officially on the NCAA Tournament bubble. However, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi doesn’t expect the Longhorns to earn a ticket to the Big Dance.

“Look, I’ve been on the Texas bandwagon for most of the year, but they’re going to have a hard time with 6-12 in the league. They’re going to have a really hard time with 15 losses,” Lunardi said during an appearance on College Basketball Live.

“At the end of the day, i just don’t see a fourteenth SEC team making it when you consider the dynamics of the room… But if you play the game of who’d you play, who’d you beat — absolutely. Like how many times in recent years — I think of Texas A&M a couple of years ago — where an SEC team was left wanting at the end?”

Texas is 19-15 this season and posted a 6-12 record in conference play during the regular season. Of course, a 6-12 record in the historically talented SEC isn’t the same as a 6-12 mark in other conferences around the country.

Nonetheless, it won’t be easy for the NCAA Tournament selection committee to overlook the Longhorns’ abnormal amount of losses. Teams like Xavier, Indiana and Boise State are also each on the bubble but have fewer losses than the Longhorns.

Alas, it’s worth noting none of those teams have as many quality victories as Texas, either. After the Longhorns’ loss to Tennessee on Friday, Texas head coach Rodney Terry explained why his team deserves a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

“When you look at body of work, we have seven Quad 1 wins. I think last year we got in with five Quad 1 wins,” Terry said. “We play in the best conference in the history of college basketball this season. Seven of those Quad 1 wins are against the field that’s going into the tournament.

“Never say we had bad losses. I think we’ve done a pretty good job in terms of when we have lost, I think they’ve been pretty good. Ohio State, they’re a Quad 1 loss, you know? South Carolina, they’re tough at home. That’s probably our one tough game. Outside of that, we really didn’t have any losses that I think that were bad losses. No one wants to hear a bad loss. A loss is a loss, right? When you look at the profile, I think it’s pretty good in that regard.”

Texas is 9-0 in Quad 3 and 4 showdowns this season. On Sunday, the Longhorns will learn their postseason fate during the selection show at 6 p.m. ET on CBS.