The Texas Longhorns have earned one of the final spots in the NCAA Tournament. Now the madness begins.
From "last four in" to first four to play.
The Texas Longhorns have officially earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament field.
After being listed as one of CBS's "last four in", the Longhorns have been selected in Sean Miller's first year at the helm and will play in one of the first-four matchups to then officially enter the 64-team bracket.
Texas has drawn a No. 11 seed in the West Region and will play NC State in Dayton, Ohio.
With a win, the Longhorns would play No. 6-seed BYU in the First Round in Portland. The Cougars are led by the nation's leading scorer in fabulous freshman AJ Dybantsa (25.3 PPG).
The Longhorns ended the regular season 18-14 overall, with their postseason ending in a first-round exit in the SEC tournament to Chris Beard's Ole Miss.
Playing in one of the country's toughest conferences helped the Horns earn a good chunk of quality wins (9-9 in SEC play), but the schedule now meets a Wolfpack program that is no stranger to the madness of March.
Just two seasons ago, NC State made a memorable run to the Final Four before losing to No. 3-seed Purdue, who was led by the national player of the year Zach Edey.
Texas is one of 10 SEC teams who got a bid into this year's bracket, which led all conferences.
This year, the Wolfpack remained a formidable contender in the ACC.
NC State finished the regular season with a 20-13 record, but suffered a four-game losing streak going into the conference tournament. In the ACC bracket, the Pack beat Pitt by 10 before losing to No. 10-ranked Virginia.
This draw for the Longhorns could be favorable as it is a rematch of an earlier matchup from non-conference play this year - and one Texas came out of with a victory.
Back on Nov. 26, the Longhorns tamed the Wolfpack in Hawaii at the Southwest Maui Invitational by a score of 102-97. NC State was ranked at No. 22/23 in the country at the time.
Longhorns veteran Jordan Pope scored a game-high 28 points to help Texas finish fifth in the tournament.
The victory was just the second (and most-recent) time the Horns scored at least 100 points in a game this year.
With a trip into the field of 64 on the line, the Longhorns hope they can replicate that offensive output against the Wolfpack in Dayton on Tuesday March 17 at 8:15 p.m. CST.
