Texas earns No. 2 seed in NCAA Tournament, will face No. 15-seed Colgate

The 2023 NCAA Tournament bracket is now set, and the Texas Longhorns have earned the No. 2 seed in the Midwest region, where they’ll meet the No. 15-seeded Colgate Raiders.

Texas enters the tournament with a 26-8 record to mark the program’s most wins in a single season since the also 2-seeded Longhorns amassed 31 en route to their Elite 8 run in 2008. More impressively, maybe the most significant factor in Texas locking up a two seed is that half of those 26 wins came against Quad 1 competition. So, the Longhorns weren’t only winning at a high clip this season, but they were doing so against high-level competition.

And now, rewarded with the second seed in the Midwest region, the Longhorns will begin the big dance against a Colgate team that won 26 games of its own, capped by a Patriot League title. The Raiders got off to a bit of a slow start to the season, struggling to a 6-7 mark early on, but from that point, lost just one game to finish on a 20-1 run and ultimately earn their tourney bid.

The Longhorns and Raiders will meet on Thursday in Des Moines.

Interestingly enough, the drama for Texas is already at play — if Texas does beat Colgate, they could meet No. 7-seed Texas A&M in the Round of 32 if the Aggies survive No. 10-seed Penn State. Also in the Midwest region and potentially on Texas’ path to a Final Four is 1 Houston, but that’s a matchup that wouldn’t take place until a Elite 8 if both teams handle business.

Entering the dance, Texas currently owns the sixth-best odds to win the NCAA Tournament title at +1400, according to DraftKings, and is a 15-point favorite over Colgate.

Odds/lines are subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.