Texas will be well represented in the March Madness NCAA Tournament. Seven men’s and six women’s basketball teams are competing this year.
The highest-ranking seed earned by a team from the Lone Star State is on the women’s side. The University of Texas secured a No. 1 seed, which means they get a home court advantage for the first two rounds.
For the men, the highest-seeded team going into the tournament is the University of Houston, earning a No. 2 spot.
Matt Young, trending sports reporter at the Houston Chronicle, joined the Standard to talk about the prospects for the teams heading into the tournament. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: Let’s start with the Lady Longhorns. The last AP poll had them at No. 3 in the nation. As we said, their first two games are at home. What is their outlook for the tournament?
Matt Young: They look really strong. They’re one of the best teams in the SEC and the SEC is the best women’s basketball conference in the country. So they’ve been well tested playing teams like South Carolina and LSU throughout and beating those teams or having their fair share of battles with them anyway.
So their region looks really good. They have Michigan as the two seed on the other side of the bracket. I really think they look like a pretty good bet to make the Final Four.
And that’s when it starts getting tough. That’s when you run into some of the other teams that they’ve seen before, like UCLA will be matched up on the other side of the Final Four for them or possibly LSU.
But I think a Final Four trip for Texas would be huge and they’d like to get it all the way to the end and get Vic Schaefer his first national title.
So what else sticks out to you in the women’s bracket? We’ve got teams that are familiar to the tournament like Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech.
Yeah, TCU has really come on as a women’s program lately. They got a three seed. I think they’re for sure going to make the Sweet 16 from there.
They’d have to face No. 2 Iowa. Of course, we all know Iowa from Caitlin Clark. Obviously she’s gone, but they’ve still put together a strong team. So I think a TCU-Iowa matchup in the Sweet 16 is one to watch.
Baylor is a six seed. Not quite as good as what they’ve been in the past, but still very strong. They would match up against three-seed Duke, probably, in the second round and that would be a good matchup to watch.
Texas Tech, also strong program. They’re a seven seed. If they get past their first game they get LSU in the second round. That would be tough one for them.
Well, switching over to the men, we mentioned the Cougars are the highest-ranked team going in. They had a roller coaster of a season at one point, ranked No. 2 in the nation. Then they had a string of losses. How do you feel about their tournament chances?
Really good. They didn’t get the one seed that they wanted, but the main thing they wanted was to be able to play the regional in Houston, and that’s what they’re going to get to do. They’re going to play at Toyota Center there in downtown Houston.
If they win their first two games, which they should, that’s a good home court advantage for them. The matchup everyone’s looking forward to is Houston versus Florida in the region final. That would be a rematch of the national championship game from a year ago where it looked like Houston was going to win and they lost it down the stretch.
Getting Florida to play in Houston, just maybe 10 miles from the U of H campus, would be a huge win for U of H and it’d be a great atmosphere, everyone would be looking forward to it.
Yeah, very exciting. Well, next up, Texas Tech. They got No. 5 seed, but the team had a late-season injury that could be a factor. What can you tell us about that?
Yeah, JT Toppin is really one of the best players in the country. So him tearing his ACL in February is worst-case scenario for Texas Tech.
Christian Anderson is really good. He’s come on and he’s kind of filled the Toppin role for Tech and he looked like one of best players of the country himself. So I think they’re still like a Sweet 16-type team, but I think their Final Four hopes, without JT Toppin, it’s going to be tough for them to advance much further than that.
So I understand Prairie View A&M has a great story. Tell us about the team.
They’re really one of the more fun stories in the tournament.
They barely made their conference tournament. They’re 18-17, so you would think that’s not a team that makes the NCAA tournament, but they got hot and won their SWAC tournament, and now they’re trying to win their first NCAA tournament game in school history.
They play Lehigh on Wednesday, and that’s a game that they could win. So that’d be fun if the Panthers could get their first win in program history.
Well, putting you on the spot, if you had to fill out a bracket this morning, what Texas teams do you have going furthest, both the men and the women, and what about a wild card run by a lower-ranked team?
Okay. Well, I would say U of H definitely has the best chance among the men. They’re probably the only real true Final Four threat out of there.
If I had to pick a wild card for the men, I think probably Texas Tech. That’s not too much of a wildcard because they’re a five seed, but I think you just never know with Christian Anderson. If Christian Anderson really gets hot, really gets going, then I can see him carrying them for a few rounds.
On the women’s side, I think Texas obviously has the No. 1 seed as clear as the team that’s the favorite from Texas to go the farthest. I think they’re definitely a Final Four team.
And then I mentioned TCU earlier, I like them to go farther, a three seed. Like I said, they would match up with Iowa in the Sweet 16 and I think that’s a winnable game for them.
Unfortunately, on the other side of the bracket would be South Carolina. So TCU-South Carolina match up in the region final would be fun, but I think South Carolina would be definitely the favorite there.
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