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Last Four In, First Four Out named following NCAA Tournament bracket reveal
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The last four teams to squeeze into the NCAA Tournament on Sunday had an SEC angle to it.
That’s because Texas was the first team on that 4-team list that narrowly found its way into the tournament and could breathe easy as the 68-team field was unveiled on Selection Sunday.
Texas was the 13th seed at the SEC Tournament this past week in Nashville, which in any normal season in a normal conference would’ve disqualified the Longhorns from any hope of making the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team. But this was no normal season in the SEC, which was powerful and incredibly deep, right down to a Texas team that made some noise in Nashville by beating Vanderbilt and upsetting Texas A&M to reach the quarterfinals.
But 2 days after falling short against Tennessee in the quarterfinals on Friday, the Longhorns were rewarded for hanging tough in the rugged SEC despite having 15 losses overall this season. Texas will be dancing this week, as 1 of the Last Four In along with Xavier, San Diego State and North Carolina.
Meanwhile, the opposite mood could be found among the First Four Out on Sunday, a list of teams that included West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio State and Boise State.
That quartet of teams was good this season but just not good enough to warrant an NCAA Tournament berth.
Here is the list of relieved and upset teams on Sunday that was revealed after the full NCAA Tournament bracket was announced:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
