Major Laurence Seymore Eligibility Update And The New Look Texas Longhorns Front

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We react to huge Texas football news as transfer guard Laurence Seymore becomes eligible and changes the outlook for the Longhorns offensive line. Then we pivot to March Madness in Portland, breaking down the NC State thriller and what it will take to survive BYU and its superstar scorer. 
• Laurence Seymore's eligibility timeline and why missing spring still matters 
• A projected Texas offensive line with Goosby, Siani, Robertson and the guard debate 
• Why offensive line depth feels talented but unproven in SEC game reps 
• Texas officially “in the tournament” after beating NC State 68-66 
• How Texas wins despite a lower scoring game and what Sean Miller says about the defense 
• The late-game chaos including the near-technical and the accidental horns down 
• BYU matchup keys including AJ Dybantsa vs Dailyn Swain and BYU’s injury issues 
• The stats that matter most including travel rest rebounding and elite scorers 
• Score predictions and why stopping AJ Dybantsa decides everything 

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Transcript

Welcome And Show Roadmap

SPEAKER_02 0:40

Welcome into another edition of the Texas Longhorns on SI podcast. I'm your host, Matt Galaxon, and joining me as always is my co-host, Zach Dimmitt, who is live in Portland for March Madness. It's going to be a good one. Texas has BYU tonight. We will talk about that. We will also recap the NC State matchup and what it means for Texas to actually officially, in my opinion, be in the tournament. But first act, some huge news for the Texas Longhorns offensive line.

Lawrence Seymour Eligibility Boost

SPEAKER_02 1:13

According to reports, Lawrence Seymour, transfer offensive guard uh from Western Kentucky, second team All-American, according to Phil Steele. We've been, you know, we've been waiting for a decision. We finally now have one. Lawrence Seymour will be eligible to play for the Texas Longhorns in 2026. He will not join the team in the spring. He is finishing his uh degree at Western Kentucky before making the move over to Austin. But uh nonetheless, this is massive, massive news for the Texas Longhorns offensive line, which looks like it's taken a complete 180 from last year's leaky, you know, kind of overmatched offensive line to now what appears to be a very, very strong unit that should help lead a very explosive offensive attack.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Yeah, this was big news. Um, kind of came out of nowhere, but that's kind of how we expected this thing to go. Uh it was just gonna, the news is just gonna drop any point. Either he was gonna be eligible or he wasn't going to be. And um it was it was looking kind of grim there for a little bit, especially after the first spring practice where uh Sark said there still hadn't been an update. Doesn't mean you know, it didn't mean for sure that you know he wasn't gonna be eligible, but it was kind of like, I mean, it's been a little bit now and we still haven't heard an answer. Um, but you know, all all that, all that can be put aside now. You know, Lawrence Seymour's gonna be a Texas Longhorn. And uh it's unfortunate he won't be here during the spring. Um, but uh I I think that considering that he couldn't have been with the team at all, uh, this is definitely uh you'll do you'll definitely take that. Uh he'll he'll be able to join in the fall. He'll be a little bit behind with um, you know, learning the playbook and being able to uh work his way into the lineup because then at the end of the day, you know, he comes in from the transfer portal, but as we know with his coaching staff and with many coaching staffs around the country, not just gonna be handed a starting job. So uh he's got he's gotta at least work, he's gonna be a little bit behind uh what once he arrives at ball camp with kind of proving himself, I guess. Um but uh as we've kind of seen with like maybe some of the injury issues, this gives other guys a chance to step up and prove to the coaching staff what they have um to offer. Uh and you know, we'll see obviously an offensive line depth is gonna be a premium. Um, or you would love for it to be a premium. Uh, and so you know, the coaching staff will be able to see if they really do have that with some of these guys that are gonna be the sixth or seven or eighth offensive linemen um behind the projected starting group when you include Seymour. So uh yeah, big news yesterday. Um, and you you really, really feel good about the offensive line now heading into the

Projecting The Starting Five

SPEAKER_01 3:58

fall.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Yeah, and and Lawrence Seymour now being in the fold, uh joining probably in the summer. Uh I was for summer workouts, obviously honestly. With him now in the fold, what does the Texas Longhorns offensive line actually look like when we hit the field for the season opener against Texas State? Uh couple positions, we already know for a fact. Trevor Goosby at left tackle, I think you can lock that one down. Melvin Ciani at right tackle, pretty sure you can lock that one down. Connor Robertson at center, there really isn't another one on the roster, so you better lock that one down too. So, how do the guard positions actually play out? Uh, in my opinion, I think you should put Brandon Baker at left guard because he will eventually be your left tackle once Trevor Goosby, uh, at least in my opinion, once Trevor Goosby heads off to the NFL after next season. And then you can put Lawrence Seymour at right guard. Uh, you have a lot of continuity on the left with Goosby and Baker, who really know each other well, along with Connor Robertson in the middle. And then the true new two new transfers on the right and right guard and uh right tackle spots. I think that that is a very, very solid starting group. And I'm really excited to see what they can do because obviously the offensive line was a huge downfall of what happened last year with Texas losing three games. Look at the Florida game, you know, you look at the Georgia game, they were absolutely whipped up front. Uh, not so much in the Ohio State game. That that that came down to a few other things, but in those two losses in particular, they were just absolutely whipped up front, and it made the difference. Um, here's the other thing, too. You know, uh, is is excited as I am about the starting unit, the you know, the the start, the starting five, whatever combination it ends up being in whatever positions it ends up being

Depth Worries And Injury Scenarios

SPEAKER_02 5:53

in. The depth is still a little bit of a concern to me. Uh, it's very unproven. Dylan Sikorsky's played some Pac-12 football. Like, he's a good player, but like we don't know how he's gonna stack up in the SEC. Jonte Newman didn't really see the field at Texas AM. Uh, you know, some of these young guys haven't seen the field yet either. The Coleman Twins, Jackson Christian. Um, you know, there's a lot of new on this offensive line, both in the starting unit with Seymour and Ciani, but also behind them. Uh, how does that all shake out? I'm not so sure. I know that the talent is there, though. I also know that John Turntine the third has really been blowing people away so far in spring workouts. True freshman, though. So we let's not get too excited about that one. The point I'm trying to make here is the starting unit is fantastic, right? I love the starting unit. It gives me shades of you know 2023, 2024 Texas offensive line with you know Jake Majors and Hayden Christian, uh, you know, all those guys. Uh Kelvin Banks, great unit. Uh but behind them, if there's an injury, I'm a little concerned.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Yeah, I I totally agree with you. Um, and that's kind of what I had mentioned previously with Lauren Seymour not being with the team right away. It kind of allows the coaching staff a little bit to see what they have. Um, maybe at left guard. Uh you can throw in a but you can just try out a bunch of guys at that at that spot and see, you know, where their strengths lie because you really don't know whether you know what they're best at until they're um in practice against other SEC guys. And so uh the Coleman Twins, Jordan Chapman, or uh Jane Chapman, I should say. Um, you know, even Johnson Newman, I know he's listed as a tackle when he was at AM, uh, but he didn't, I don't think he even played at all. And maybe if if I'm mistaken, um, you know, I'll I'll admit that, but I don't think he saw any significant snaps maybe against like Sanford or something. And so uh, you know, try him at left guard too. You never you never know. You and so you gotta see what you have with some of these guys because it's a great starting unit now. But if you look at some of the projected uh departures for next offseason, you're gonna have to do the exact same thing next year with retooling the entire offensive line. Um Goosby's gonna be gone, Seymour's gonna be out of eligibility, Ciani's gonna be uh well we'll see about Ciani. It's he's listed as a junior, but will he declare? Um, I'm not sure about what his ex you know where his eligibility lies, but he he could be gone as well. Um and so you're kind of left with Connor Robertson too. Yeah, Connor Robinson is the registered senior, yeah. And so you're kind of left with the exact same uh situation with having to re- tool the offensive line. So if you can see what you have with some of these depth guys um before fall, uh and then you see, you know, and also getting some snaps and non-conference play, uh, that could be helpful. But um, yeah, I agree with you. It's a little bit of an issue, but uh we'll have to wait and see what happens. I think um that's the thing about college football is that there's always gonna be some uncertainty until these guys go out and prove it because every player at one point has to go out there and prove what they can do and prove that they are that they're productive players. So only time will tell.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

Yeah, and and and even the like I can hear the comments now. Like every you know, Andre Kojo is there. Yes, I know. Kojo, yes, yes. Uh Jaden Chapman is there, yes, I know. Uh we know about these guys, don't worry. The problem is they haven't really seen the field either. They're experienced in the program, they've played a few snaps here and there, but are they ready for 70 snaps in an SEC game? Like they've never seen that before. So that that's the point that I'm trying to make. And a lot of these guys, like, I'm not trying to shade the talent at Texas offensive line. I think that the room overall, like, if you go from left to right, the whole depth chart, I think it's really good and really talented and and and deep. I just, you know, me being the worry wort that I am, I worry about an injury because that could really throw things for a loop. I mean, hell, you saw what happened in 2025. When there's one position on the offensive line that's really leaky, it affects the rest of it. Uh that left guard issue really, you know, and not obviously there was an issue at center with Cole Hudson there for a little while, but you get what I'm trying to say. Like the left guard thing completely threw the offensive line out of whack. Uh, now you feel really good, so we'll see where that goes.

Sponsor Break

SPEAKER_02 10:26

Uh, Zach, let's take a quick break and uh, you know, hear a message from our our esteemed sponsor, Dalton Trigg, and then you know, we'll we'll get into uh what really matters right now, which is March Madness and the Longhorns winning a first four game. They have officially gotten farther than Rodney Terry in year one under Sean Miller, and I'm stoked about it.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

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Surviving NC State With Defense

SPEAKER_02 11:42

Welcome back to the Texas Longhorns on SI podcast. I'm your host, Matt Gulatson, joined by Zach Dimmitt, who is live in Portland for Texas Longhorns on SI. Uh, because you know why he's there? Because the Texas Longhorns are dancing and they beat the NC State Wolfpack in the first four on uh, what was it, Tuesday night?

unknown 12:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

Uh yeah, and uh it's it's a massive, massive deal for the Longhorns basketball program. You didn't know what was going to happen in year one under Sean Miller with this roster uh for a long time. We didn't think they were even gonna make the tournament. And then not only do they make the tournament, but they advance farther than Rodney Terry did in his final year, which can officially shut everybody up about whether or not it was the right idea to move on from Rodney Terry. I love Rodney Terry. I do. I think he's a great guy. I think Sean Miller's a better basketball coach. And now I'm vindicated. I am vindicated. Uh, but Zach, it was a very exciting game in Dayton uh with the Longhorns and the Wolfpack. Came down to the final moments, uh, a little bit lower scoring of a game than I anticipated. I believe the final score was 68 to 66. Uh, Travon Mark comes down the floor and hits a go-ahead jumper with almost no time left. Uh, and then a Texas Longhorns assistant runs it on the floor, nearly gets a technical, which would have well, that would have probably made Sean Miller's head explode. Uh, but they avoid that, they get the win. How did Texas emerge victorious in Dayton, Zach?

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Uh well, it was kind of surprising how they were able to emerge, to be honest. Not that they won. I th I thought they could have you know won the game, but it was the the style in which they won. Um, it was with their defense. And that's what Sean Miller said after the game. He's he doesn't sugarcoat things. He said this is he was truly trying to rem remember every game from the season. He said, This is probably the first game this season where we won with our defense. That was pretty much his exact quote. Um, and so uh yeah, if you're winning 68-66 um in a game in against a team that you beat 102-97 earlier in the season, uh, you definitely are doing something on the defensive end. Because if you'd have told me that Texas were gonna score was gonna score 68 points and beat NC State, I would have thought you were an absolute lunatic because uh you I even uh went on record uh whenever we recorded on the show uh a few days before the game, and I said that you know this game won't be one in the 60s, it'll be a high scoring game, and I was completely wrong about that. It was it was very surprising about how low scoring it was, and uh both these teams had a lot of offensive firepower, so it was pretty surprising. But it says a lot that Texas was was able to win in a game where they were well below their scoring average, so I think uh uh that's something to feel positive about, and um you know Tramon Mark once again, super, super clutch. Uh that that was his fifth career game winner. At first I thought it was his fourth career, but um, I believe they're counting uh a go-ahead basket he made with like 20 or so seconds left when he was at Houston. That was and that was in March Madness back when he was with the Cougars. So he's uh made two career game winners with Houston, two with Texas and one with Arkansas. Um and certainly the one last night he even admitted, or not last night, Tuesday night, he admitted was um up there with one being his favorite uh game winner that he's hit. So um, you know, big big win for Texas because if if you lose in the first four, in my opinion, I I think it would have been a disappointing season. Um there's not really much to feel good about when you don't even make it into the bracket all the way, and then you lose the play-in game. Now Texas is in the bracket against BYU. And yeah, as you as you said, you know, Ronnie and Terry wasn't able to um advance past the first four last season. Um there is a little bit of an argument to be made though that I think he deserves some credit for getting Texas. Uh he was four if uh before last season, he was four and two in the NCAA tournament, which is solid. Of course, the season where they went on their run, it was with mostly Chris Beard's team that he had put together. But Roddy and Terry does deserve some credit with leading that team for pretty much the entire season. So um, but at the end of the day, I think it was pretty obvious that a change needed to be made. Um, you know, especially when you had Trey Johnson on the roster last year and you still couldn't win a play-in game. Uh uh it was disappointing. And so I think Sean Miller things are trending up um because Texas almost blew that lead against NC State outmit, but against uh Xavier last year, they did blow the lead late and they ended up losing, they weren't able to hold on. So there's a few differences there to you know to to know. And so now uh Texas has a chance to potentially make a run. We'll see how things play out. It is March Madness, but we'll talk about talk about that once we get into the BYU stuff. But I think there's a chance for Texas.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Yeah, definitely.

Meathead Moments After The Win

SPEAKER_02 16:52

And there's this, so I used to be on this show called Open Gym on Texas Sports Unfiltered, which it is no longer around. It's now Bucky and BK. Shout out to Bucky and BK. But we had this segment that we did every every single day, me and my old co-host Patrick Davis, and it was called the Meathead of the Day. And I want to give an honorary meathead of the day, first of all, to the assistant who almost ran out on the floor and nearly cost Texas the game. Because if that if they call it technical there, and that goes to the uh goes to free throws, and that the game goes to overtime and Texas loses, that dude is out of a job, period. Uh, and then the real meathead of the day is actually Sean Miller. Because after the game, Sean Miller not only does the Xavier X to the to the Xavier fan that's in the uh in the crowd, he also accidentally does a horns down. At first I thought it was AI, Zach. I really did. But uh unfortunately it was not. Sean Miller gets caught with his metaphorical pants down, and uh that's okay though, because it was all in good fun. He was super excited, and I don't blame him because it's his first year as a head coach. I mean, how many times has he actually done the hook'em horns thing? You know, he's he's still learning, he'll he'll get it. He's gonna be here for a long time. You know why? Because he just won a tournament game, and that automatically means that he's gonna be in Austin for uh longer than Rodney Terry, probably, because that's just how it works, I guess. Uh anyway, let's get into the BYU game, Zach.

BYU Preview And Star Matchups

SPEAKER_02 18:32

Because this is a very interesting matchup to me. Uh Jay Billis predict predicted Texas to win this game. Uh, we both kind of agree that that is a certain uh certainly a possibility due to the injury issue that the BYU has, which I will let you explain here in a moment. But uh Dalen Swain versus AJ DeBonsa, is that how you pronounce it? DeBonsa? I I have a hard time with that one. Uh that is going to be a hell of a matchup because that is arguably the number one pick in the NF uh in the NBA draft in AJ DeBonsa versus what should be a at least mid, you know, mid to late first round pick in in Dalen Swain, should he indeed choose to go to the NBA. Um that's some star power in an 11-6 matchup. Um I I haven't seen AJ DeManza play yet. I mean, I I I've heard tremendous things. I just don't watch a ton of college basketball that's not Texas because I only have so much uh you know bandwidth for that kind of stuff. Zach is a junkie, so he watches all of it. But uh I mean how do you see that matchup in particular, Zach? Because I think it's gonna be super fun to watch.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Yeah, it's yeah, it's not often you get these NBA uh kind of level, you know, one-on-one matchups uh in college in college basketball, and especially March Madness. Uh so I I you know I'm I'm pretty excited about it. The thing, you know, you kind of think to yourself, oh, maybe Dalen Swain will be assigned with guarding AJ DeBonsa the entire game. And it just doesn't necessarily work like that. Uh I wish it did, because I think that if anyone's going to be guarding AJ DeBonsa, it should be Dalen Swain. I don't really see anyone else on the roster that is capable of being able to keep up with his size and speed and scoring ability because he is he is just such a natural when it comes to all those things. He's he leads the country in scoring for God's sakes, and he's a true freshman. I mean, that is insane. And it's not like he's on some crappy team and putting up all these points. No, he's in that he's on a tournament team that won like 10 straight games earlier this season and they kind of fell off a little bit. So this guy is the real deal. Um I I you know, I I think that it's it's hard to compare him and Dalen Swain is AJ DeBons is a is a generational talent, and Dalen Swain has had to uh sort of build himself up into an NBA player, which mate massive credit to him. But sometimes it's like you know, when when some when when a guy just stands out as just a you know potential generational guy, it it's really hard to compare those two, even though they're both gonna be first-round draft picks, in my opinion. So Dalen Swain uh is not gonna be about he I asked him yesterday during the press conference uh if that kind of uh you know heightens his competitiveness when he goes up against a player like that. But I made sure to preface it knowing what he was gonna say, saying, I know you're putting the team first, and he was admitting that yes, I am putting the team first, but uh of course it heightens his competitiveness, is what he was telling me. So um I think that we're gonna see uh the best out of both of those guys, hopefully, uh later today. And um, but I think the day it's gonna take a team effort to guard Agent Devonta because he's an elite scorer. He he can get to he can score at any at any Spot on the floor. He can shoot, he can drive, he's extremely athletic. Um, he's got great size, uh, and he can he can guard multiple positions. And if you have a small, if Jordan Pope is on AJ Devansa, I do not feel very good about my chances. And I think Jordan Pope's a great player, but he the defense is not his strong suit. And so uh you're gonna need to force double teams and quick rotations. It's gonna be tough. But um at the end of the day, you know, like you mentioned with BYU's injury issues, Richie Saunders is one of their uh uh best shooters and one of the best shooters in the uh in the Big 12. And he had a tornado CL a few weeks back, and he's been out for multiple weeks now. So they kind of have known he's not gonna be there. It's not like this has just happened, so they've kind of had some time to adjust, but it was uh something that headed into March Madness, people knew would kind of be an issue for them potentially. And so BYU's not at full strength, and so there is a there is a chance potentially for Texas to you know beat BYU. Let's see who they play if they play Gonzaga or Kennesaw State next round, likely Gonzaga, obviously, but um Gonzaga has injury issues also, so but uh clearly Vegas likes Texas's chances a little bit. BYU's only a two and a half point favorite. Um, and 11 seeds over six seeds is not considered some massive upset or anything like that. It's it's happened quite a bit over the years. We've even we've even seen some 11 seeds be favored over a six seed. Uh so we'll have to wait and see what happens, but uh it's gonna start and end with what AJ Devont is able to do for BYU because if he goes off for like 35 points, which is certainly a possibility against this Texas defense, and the Longhorns will be headed home.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

Yeah, I uh I I tend to agree with you, Zach. I mean the issues that Texas has had defensively this year are troubling. Uh, if you add the nation's leading scorer to the other team against that defense, uh I'm a little concerned. I I think that he could, you know. I mean, we saw Darius Acuff from uh from Arkansas just absolutely go off multiple times this year. Uh who did he score the 49 against? Alabama. It was Alabama. Yep. I'm not saying AJ DeMontsa is gonna score 49 against Texas, but the possibility is there. Like he's the nation's leading scorer, and he's going against an atrocious defense. Hopefully, Sean Miller has them ready. He's because the one thing that he has done decently this year is figure out how to take opponents out of their out of their you know, their bread and butter and their game plan at certain points in time uh that worked pretty well for them for a while. And uh maybe they'll be able to do that with AJ DeMontsa and BYU.

Five Stats That Decide Texas BYU

SPEAKER_02 24:51

I don't know. Uh what I do know though is that there are five stats that uh we have a we have an article up on Texas Longhorns on SI right now by Jordan Epp with five stats to know ahead of Texas and BYU. And there's a couple of them in here that are particularly interesting to me, Zach, because I don't know how people come up with this shit, but they do. Uh and props to Jordan for for this one in particular. Um Texas has to take roughly a seven-hour flight to the Pacific Northwest to reach the Moda Center in Portland, uh, where they play tonight. Further, uh, furthermore, they will play two games in three days, something that college teams rarely have to do. This season, Texas displayed six games that met a similar criteria, playing two games in four days with a travel day in between. This excludes back-to-back home games or Southwest, uh, the Southwest Maui Invitational where they did not travel in between games. In these situations, the Longhorns went four and two in the second game with wins over Texas AM, Georgia, Oklahoma, and LSU. And uh that's interesting. After long travel on short rest, the Longhorns are actually pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

Yeah, and also BYU's maybe a little bit rusty because it's been quite a few days now since they last played in the Big 12 tournament because they got eliminated early by Houston. Um, so they didn't play super deep into the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City or Texas. They didn't really have much time to think. As soon as the game in Dayton ended, um, granted, Sean Miller did say they had a little bit of like a plane issue and they were a little bit delayed off the runway. And uh so they they had a long flight cross-country to Portland. They didn't really have much time to think about okay, uh, when's our next game? We're getting or no, they're getting on a flight, and then they're going straight to media availabilities the next day, straight to practice, and uh you're you're just immersed into that, into all of that, where BYU has had a lot of sitting, had a lot of time to think. And so there's always like that cliche argument about if there's a rust factor when it comes to these teams, and um, you know, is rest better or does it cause rust? And so we'll have to wait and see. We have seen that happen before with teams, but there's also been times where uh, and regardless of what sport it is, that that entire idea just gets thrown out the window if a team is more talented. And I think BYU is certainly more talented. Um, so that can play into their advantage. But um, yeah, it will be interesting to see because Texas, you know, it was an emotional win, but they kind of have their legs underneath them, they have kind of some confidence a little bit that okay, now we're out of Dayton, now let's see what we can do. And um, yeah, we'll have to wait and see about that. I do want to point out with AJ DeBonsa, as Jordan does point out in his article, that uh yes, he leads the country in scoring, but the second closest guy to him is Jordan Riley of Eastern Carolina. And uh AJ DeBonsa has a full one like 1.7 points average over him. So that's that's how insane this guy is at scoring. And I, you know, and I pointed out that uh you see some of these higher scoring guys boast their numbers on a bad team, but uh and and and I think that there's cred uh there's uh evidence of that when you see that AJ Devonta's number one, and then you have a guy from Eastern Carolina, you have a guy from Kansas State, and then you have a guy from Jacksonville State. All those all those guys are not in the tournament, but AJ Devonta is, and so it I think it shows that he's the real deal, and I think Texas fans uh should be worried about him potentially tonight.

SPEAKER_02 28:30

Yeah, and I'm glad I'm glad you brought him up again because there's another I'm gonna read the rest of the four stats because I think all these are really cool. Um I'm glad you brought up AJ Devonta though, because like you said, leads the nation scoring 25.3 points per game. Uh this season, Texas is one and three against teams that ended the season with a 20-point per game score. They beat Alabama and LeBair and phylon, but lost to Cameron Boozer, Darius Acuff, and Josh Hubbard, uh, Josh Hubbard of Mississippi State. Um, so that does not bode well for Texas because they do not fare well against elite scorers uh in terms of record. Where they do fare well is in when they out-rebound their opponent. And I'm old school, I think that rebounding is like one of the three most important things in basketball. Uh, if you win the rebounding battle, you have a really damn good chance to win the game. Uh Texas outreaded out rebounded NC State by thir 13 uh and is now plus 265 in rebound margin this season, and they are 17 and 4 when winning the rebounding battle by five or more, but they are one and eight this season when they tie or lose the rebounding battle. So that is going to play another critical factor in this game. The the stats bear it out. Uh, a couple more for you. Sean Miller, nine and four in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Uh, this is his 14th appearance um in the tournament in his previous 13, 9-4. Uh, we don't count the first four because that's not really the NCAA tournament. It's a play-in game. But that's okay. Uh they are through it now and and we are where we are. And then the final one, this is really interesting to me. Like, there's a reason that Vegas has this game so close. I think this might be one of them. Uh entering the NCAA tournament, BYU ranked 24th in the nation, averaging 83.9 points per game, while Texas ranked 26th, averaging 83.8 points per game. So their scoring averages are literally 0.1 separate. So I don't know. Maybe the final score of this game will be 84 to 83 or something like that. In fact, I'm gonna predict

Predictions Tipoff Details And Sign Off

SPEAKER_02 30:51

that, Zach. I'm gonna predict Texas wins 84 to 83 and moves on to face Gonzaga in the round of 32. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 31:01

Yeah, I I don't I don't totally disagree with that. Um, of course, I'd love to see Texas advance um because I am here after all, and so I don't want to I want to see them play another game if I'm coming all the way out here to to Portland, so from Austin. But uh I do uh I do think it's gonna be tough with AJ DeBonsa. I'm not sure that I totally um buy into the Texas defense putting together a second straight game where they um you know are productive on the defensive end. So uh I do think Texas's season will end tonight in Portland. Uh if I were to do a final score, I'd probably go maybe uh 81, 70, 77 or something like that. Um so it'll be a close game. I do think that it's it is kind of seen as a toss-up game, even though BI used the number six seed because they have struggled at the end of the season, so did Texas, of course, but um, you know, well, I I think that that could play a factor in Texas obviously did play in the first four. So there's a chance for them uh to ride some of that momentum. But I do think with AJ DeBonsa, he's gonna be too much for Texas to handle. Uh, I'm not confident in the defense's ability to stop him. And so if he's getting his and the and you know, the rest of the the Cougars uh roster is getting theirs as well. Uh I don't see a path for Texas there. So you've got to stop AJ DeBonsa. But I do think Texas will fall, unfortunately. That's just that's just if I'm if I'm thinking with my head, that that's just that's just what I'm feeling. But of course, I do hope that I'm wrong. Uh but yeah, that that's just me though.

SPEAKER_02 32:32

Coward. I'm kidding. Uh no, I mean I I can see it happening. I just um I I like Sean Miller in these opening round games. I really do. He he tends to get the best out of his team when they're really up against the wall. Uh and that's you know, he's an he's very seasoned in the NCAA tournament, and that gives me a little bit of confidence. Uh I don't know. I'm just trying to be a little different too. I'm following Jay Billis' lead. You know, I'm uh Texas get to this get to the sweet 16, and then hey, maybe they'll go on a uh on an elite eight run. We don't know, probably not, but we don't know. Uh just a reminder Texas and BYU uh tip off tonight at 6.25 p.m. at the Moda Center. The game will be uh on TBS. You can listen to it on the Longhorn Radio Network. Uh the announcers are Brad Nessler, Wally Zerbiak. God, what a throwback. Uh, and Jared Greenberg, uh, who will be the reporter. And then uh, you know, we'll we'll see what happens. I I I like Texas's offense, I don't like Texas's defense. Um that's kind of been the story of the season, but but we'll see. Uh, but thank you so much for tuning into this edition of the Texas Longhorns on SI podcast. Please make sure to like, subscribe, and rate our podcast and comment down below on YouTube to let us know your thoughts. It really helps us out in the uh algorithm. Uh, but most importantly, be sure to tell somebody you love them, and we'll catch you in the next one.