State of Texas College Basketball

[Pony_Fan]

Not looking so hot right now...UT sure looks bipolar - I don't think they will get very far in the tourney - too hot and cold.


But for a lone star, we're in a bad state
Despite A&M's upset, Longhorns remain Texas' only NCAA lock
12:09 PM CST on Friday, March 3, 2006


Early this week, a CBS SportsLine columnist described Texas as "that big ol' state of bad basketball."

Today, we take slight umbrage.

Obviously the guy jumped the gun, also writing, "Whoever started Texas A&M's NCAA Tournament campaign ... please stop. Devote your time to something that might happen."

Well, it may indeed happen, thanks to the Aggies' upset of No. 6 Texas on Wednesday – a result that forced the same columnist to declare A&M on "semi-solid" NCAA Tournament footing.

The purpose here is not to pick on anyone. Can't in good conscience do that after submitting a preseason AP ballot that ranked Michigan State No. 3, Louisville No. 7, Stanford No. 14 and Texas Tech No. 23.

No, this is about national perception and whether our state's basketball reputation, which in recent years seemed to be on an uptick, has backtracked this season.

The harsh truth is that the SportsLine columnist, Gregg Doyel, is roughly 80 percent correct. This has been a particularly horrid year for Texas' Division I teams, which is why A&M's victory represented progress, despite the unsightly 46-43 score and ragged play.

Look at this week's official Ratings Percentage Index, if you can stomach it. There are 334 Division I teams. Texas has 20, 13 of which rank No. 200 or lower.

Texas has as many schools ranked in the 300s (four) as it has among the top 110 (Texas, Houston, A&M, UTEP).

Three Texas schools dwell among the bottom eight. A Texas team, Prairie View A&M, weighs in at No. 334.


ERICH SCHLEGEL / DMN
Texas, led by forward P.J. Tucker, is the only school in Texas with an RPI rating under 50.
Is our basketball the worst in the country? Consider that Texas residents comprise an estimated 7.7 percent of the country's population, and that Texas has 6 percent of the Division I basketball schools. Yet if you use the No. 200-or-below RPI rank as the yardstick, we are playing 10 percent of the bad basketball.

Go ahead and argue the validity of a ranking system that deems Missouri State the No. 20 team in the country. The discouraging part about the RPI, if you're a basketball fan in Texas, is that it is strictly based on numbers.

There is no subjectivity, no East Coast bias. It doesn't compute unfortunate tidbits such as the fact this is the 40th anniversary year of the state's only Division I national basketball championship.

If you're a fan of Texas college basketball, perusing the RPI two weeks before the NCAA Tournament is like queuing up Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo on the eve of the Oscars.

As of today, Texas is this state's only lock NCAA Tournament team. Just three years removed from the Longhorns' Final Four trip to New Orleans, the state is in danger of sending only one team to the NCAAs for the first time since 2001. Before that, the last time it happened was 1991.

With 18 Texas schools spread among the Big 12, C-USA, Mountain West, Southland, Sun Belt and Southwestern Athletic conferences (A&M-Corpus Christi and UT-Pan American are independents), only one has carved a guaranteed spot among the nation's final 65?

Texas A&M, Houston, UTEP and perhaps Sam Houston State (which will enter the Southland Tournament as the No. 2 seed) could change that with strong finishes.

In terms of perception, it doesn't send a resounding national message when the season's marquee intrastate game produces 34 second-half points.

But the Aggies and their euphoric fans showed the country and the NCAA Selection Committee how badly they want their school's 19-year NCAA Tournament drought to end.

They also gave at least one columnist cause for pause, although it will take a lot more than one game to alter this big ol' state's bad basketball reputation.


RATING TEXAS TEAMS
Texas schools' NCAA RPI rankings, computed through Monday's games, and their most recent NCAA Tournament appearance:
School RPI rank App.
Texas 8 2005
Houston 54 1992
Texas A&M 57 1987
UTEP 63 2005
Sam Houston State 114 2003
Texas Tech 122 2005
Baylor 150 1988
North Texas 200 1988
UT-Arlington 203 None
A&M-Corpus Christi 205 None
Lamar 206 2000
Rice 209 1970
UT-San Antonio 259 2004
SMU 271 1993
Stephen F. Austin 277 None
TCU 285 1998
Texas Southern 305 2003
UT-Pan American 327 None
Texas State 328 1997
Prairie View A&M 334 1998