Each of the No. 2 seeds in the 2023 NCAA Tournament bracket enters the Big Dance with momentum. Texas, Arizona, and Marquette each won their respective conference tournaments, while UCLA finished as the runner-up to Arizona in the PAC-12 title game.
While there is precedent for a team to use a conference tournament run as a springboard to a national title, it hasn’t happened often. It did occur recently at least, with last year’s national champion Kansas cutting down the Big 12 and national title nets. Before that, Villanova completed the sweep in 2018, as did Louisville in 2013, then UConn in 2011, and Duke in 2010.
We’ve also seen No. 2 seeds get tripped up plenty of times well before the second weekend. And that’s what we’re going to look at in this piece. Here’s an overview of each No. 2 seed and my prediction for which one gets picked off first.
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Which No. 2 Seed Will Lose First?
It’s been an odd year for Texas that started with the dismissal of head coach Chris Beard. The Longhorns looked pretty wobbly entering the regular season, going 4-4 down the stretch. But they figured things out in Kansas City, dispatching Oklahoma State, TCU, and Kansas in a rather impressive fashion.
Texas has a lot of what you’re looking for in a potential Final Four team. They’re a deep, experienced team with five seniors playing significant minutes. They play very good defense and are sound offensively. And they have an impressive resume.
But the Longhorns have concerns too. They don’t shoot the three all that well, are vulnerable on the glass, can get into foul trouble, and have an inexperienced coach in interim Rodney Terry.