Texas is back in March Madness, drawing NC State in the First Four with a West Region path that starts in Dayton and could continue against BYU.
Texas basketball is still alive, and the Longhorns are headed back to the most stressful corner of March Madness.
Texas earned a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will face No. 11 NC State in the First Four on Tuesday, March 17, at about 8:10 p.m. CT on truTV. The winner advances into the West Region to meet No. 6 BYU in Portland.
For Sean Miller, that is both relief and a challenge. Texas did not exactly sprint into Selection Sunday. The Longhorns dragged a rough finish to the table, dropping five of their final six games and flaming out early in the SEC Tournament.
That late skid is why Texas ended up in Dayton instead of safely planted in the main bracket from the jump. Still, getting in matters, especially for a team that spent the weekend twisting on the bubble.
There is also some familiarity waiting on the other bench. Texas already beat NC State 102-97 earlier this season at the Maui Invitational, which gives this matchup a weird little sequel vibe.
The Wolfpack are limping in with their own shaky close, so neither side arrives looking invincible. That is what makes these First Four games nasty ... two flawed teams, one shot, no patience.
If Texas survives, the bracket does not exactly hand out a reward basket. BYU is sitting there as the 6-seed, and the West Region’s No. 1 seed is Arizona.
The region also includes heavy hitters like Purdue, Gonzaga, and Arkansas, so the road gets mean fast. That is the tax for landing in a play-in game.
Still, this is not a funeral. It is a chance. Texas has seen this script before, and that may actually help. The Longhorns were one of the Last Four In, but they were not the final team squeezed into the field.
Now the job is simple: stop acting like a team waiting to be judged and start playing like one that belongs. Dayton is not glamorous, but it is a door.
If Texas kicks it open, nobody in Austin will care how messy the path looked getting there.