The Texas Longhorns men’s Basketball team, under Head Coach Rick Barnes, has achieved a success that most college teams dream of. He has led his teams into the NCAA playoffs every year of his 12-year tenure.  This season, the team finished the year at 24-10 (9-7 in the Big 12) and earned an at-large bid to the 2010 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament as an 8th seed in the East Region.

This team had a large number of freshman players, (6), and was led by Avery Bradley who averaged 11.6 ppg.  Overall, the team was led by senior Damion James who averaged 18.0 ppg, 10.3 rpg while shooting 50% from the field.

In the NCAA Tournament, the #8 seeded Longhorns met #9 seeded Wake Forest and the game was a knock down drag out battle that went into overtime.  In the end, the Longhorns came up two points shy of a victory losing to Wake 81-80 in overtime.

Look for the Longhorns to again compete for a spot in the NCAA Tourney.

A SHORT HISTORY

The University of Texas Varsity Men’s Basketball began play in 1906 and have compiled a 1586-947 record which is good for the 18th ranking for total victories among all NCAA Division I basketball programs.  Fourteen players who have donned Texas jerseys also donned one in the National Basketball Association.  They were:

1949       Slater Martin – Joined the Lakers
1977       Johnny Moore – Played for the Seattle Supersonics, NJ Nets and the San Antonio Spurs
1979       Jim Krivacs – Drafted by the Kansas City Kings
1980       Ron Baxter – Drafted by the LA Lakers
1982       LaSalle Thompson – Played for the Kings, Pacers, 76ers and the Denver Nuggets
1990       Travis Mays – Drafted by the Sacramento Kings
2000       Chris Mihm – Drafted by the Chicago Bulls
2003       T. J. Ford – Drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks
2004       Royal Ivey – Drafted by the Atlanta Hawks
2006       P.J. Tucker – Drafted by the Toronto Raptors
2006       LaMarcus Aldridge – Drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers
2006       Daniel Gibson – Drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers
2007       Kevin Durant – Drafted by the Seattle Supersonics
2008       D.J. Augustine – Drafted by the Charlotte Bobcats

The Longhorns basketball team has won three Final Four Tournaments (1943, 47 & 2003), made it into the NCAA Elite Eight four times (1939, 1990, 2006 & 2008), made it into the NCAA Sweet Sixteen six times (1960, 63, 72, 97, 2002 & 2004) and have appeared in the NCAA Tournament  twenty-seven times.  The Longhorns have also been crowned Conference Champions two times (1994 & 1995) and Conference Champions twenty-five times (22 in the SWC and 3 in the Big 12)