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Horns Embrace 14th Straight Trip to NCAA Tournament

Updated: Thursday, March 15 2012, 05:02 PM CDT
Texas might not have made the trip to Nashville if not for a second half comeback vs. Iowa State in last week's Big 12 tournament. 

Down at halftime, Texas head coach Rick Barnes wrote the letters "N-I-T" and "N-C-A-A" on the white board in the locker room, and asked his players where they wanted to be.

"I just said to them I don't know if we are in or not, the NCAA Tournament right now, but if you need any motivation, I would think about that right now," said Barnes.  "I would put it all out there."

The Longhorns did put it all out there and got the win, a victory that pushed them into the NCAA tournament field of 68.  Up first for 11th seeded Texas is 6th seeded Cincinnati. 

The roller coaster ride this season for UT is unparalleled with any Rick Barnes has coached in Austin, but even Barnes has enjoyed the way this team came together.

"We definitely had a group of guys that had a lot to learn and we had -- even our older guys, they were in roles they had never been in," said Barnes Thursday.  "When you become a starter and you're expected to perform day in and day out and you've never had that expectation, you got to learn to deal with that.  We've kept that focus.  We did it this week.  We went back after Big 12 tournament and went back to work and worked on the there's that we think we have to continue to do to be successful winning basketball games."
Horns Embrace 14th Straight Trip to NCAA Tournament