Rodney Terry hot seat: Pete Thamel offers update on Texas coach, potential replacements

Rodney Terry‘s time in Austin could be numbered, especially if Texas doesn’t hear its name called on Selection Sunday. But whether or not the Longhorns make their third straight NCAA Tournament under Terry, ESPN insider Pete Thamel doesn’t expect any hasty decisions on his job status to be made regardless of what happens Sunday evening.

“Fascinating moment in time for Texas, they’re squarely on the bubble and coach Rodney Terry’s future is also in flux. There’s certainly a case to keep Rodney Terry. This would be his third NCAA Tournament in three seasons, Texas went 19-15 this year and they endured a flurry of injuries. But as we know at Texas, the expectations are big,” Thamel said Sunday afternoon on ESPN’s College Basketball Live. “I’ve been told not to expect an imminent decision on Rodney Terry, regardless of whether Texas gets in today or not. One thing to keep in mind, athletic director Chris Del Conte‘s hiring history shows he tends to have a candidate lined up before making a decision on his current coach, noteably did that with Tom Herman (before) he transitioned to Steve Sarkisian, and that also happened in baseball and women’s basketball.

“Before promoting Rodney Terry last time, Del Conte did a lot of leg work on (Atlanta Hawks head coach) Quinn Snyder and Xavier‘s Sean Miller. Don’t expect Snyder to be a candidate this time around, but do expect Del Conte to swing at the biggest names in the sport.”

The Longhorns (19-15, 6-12 SEC) made its best case to make a fourth-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance during this week’s SEC Tournament in Nashville, dispatching both Vanderbilt and No. 14-ranked Texas A&M in the first two rounds as a 13-seed before succumbing to fourth-seeded Tennessee in the tournament quarterfinals Friday.

However, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi doesn’t expect the Longhorns to earn a ticket to the Big Dance.

Joe Lunardi makes prediction on Texas’ NCAA Tournament fate

“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 a Sunday 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?”

Nonetheless, it won’t be easy for the NCAA Selection Committee to overlook the Longhorns’ abnormal amount of losses, especially with fellow bubble teams like Xavier, Indiana and Boise State with fewer losses.

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, Terry made his team’s NCAA Tournament case.

“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.”

— On3’s Grant Grubbs contributed to this report.