{"id":85385,"date":"2025-03-12T18:13:29","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T23:13:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/ron-slay-emphatically-stumps-for-texas-to-make-ncaa-tournament-these-folks-need-to-be-in\/"},"modified":"2025-03-12T18:13:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T23:13:29","slug":"ron-slay-emphatically-stumps-for-texas-to-make-ncaa-tournament-these-folks-need-to-be-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/ron-slay-emphatically-stumps-for-texas-to-make-ncaa-tournament-these-folks-need-to-be-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Ron Slay emphatically stumps for Texas to make NCAA tournament: \u2018These folks need to be in\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Texas<\/a><\/strong> headed to Nashville for its first-ever SEC tournament, the Longhorns were also fighting for their postseason lives. They are squarely on the March Madness bubble, and an appearance in the bracket is at stake this weekend.<\/p>\n

Texas took a big step to get there, defeating Vanderbilt<\/a><\/strong> at Bridgestone Arena Wednesday afternoon. That sets up a matchup against Texas A&M<\/a><\/strong> on Thursday as the Longhorns keep fighting to hear their name called on Selection Sunday.<\/p>\n

To SEC Network\u2019s Ron Slay<\/strong>, there isn\u2019t much debate. He stumped hard for Texas to make the Field of 68 following the win over Vanderbilt, telling Rodney Terry<\/a><\/strong> not to worry about saying anything in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to tell the nation. Nation, be ready for a treat,\u201d Slay said after the game. \u201cI\u2019m telling you right now, Joe Lunardi<\/strong>, these folks need to be in. The nation needs to see this young man [Tre Johnson<\/a><\/strong>] play on a national platform. Put the highlights on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m telling you. This Texas team \u2013 Coach Terry, don\u2019t you say another word. I\u2019ve got this one. Put them in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texas entered Wednesday as one of the first four teams out of the field, according to ESPN\u2019s Joe Lunardi<\/a>. The Longhorns are No. 42 in the NET rankings<\/a> as of Wednesday evening thanks to seven Quadrant 1 victories. They\u2019re also No. 44 in the KenPom<\/a> metrics.<\/p>\n

The win over Vanderbilt was significant for Texas\u2019 hopes of playing in March Madness. However, as Lunardi noted before the game, a second victory \u2013 over not only a rival, but a team ranked No. 17 in the NET rankings \u2013 would help the Longhorns \u201cfeel comfortable<\/strong><\/a>\u201d about their chances of making the NCAA tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know what all the teams around them are going to do or if any of the spots are going to disappear,\u201d Lunardi said. \u201cWe all remember that there were five that disappeared in a span of 48 hours last year. While I don\u2019t think that will be the case \u2013 in fact, I\u2019m sure that won\u2019t be the case \u2013 those opportunities really don\u2019t exist to that number this year. They probably need two wins to feel comfortable this year, even though they may see themselves swing on a pendulum between being in and out and in and out more than once over the next three or four days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI apologize in advance to the people of Texas if I do that to them. We just kind of call that an occupational hazard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Ron Slay emphatically stumps for Texas to make NCAA tournament: \u2018These folks need to be in\u2019<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Texas headed to Nashville for its first-ever SEC tournament, the Longhorns were also fighting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85385\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}