For the 36th time, the Texas women’s basketball program has qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
That 36th championship run − a run that Texas has successfully completed in just 1986 − will get underway last this week when Texas (30-4) hosts Drexel (19-14) for a first-round game at Moody Center. The Longhorns have earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament field.
Here’s what you need to know about the matchup:
Madison meets March
Throughout this season, Texas freshman point guard Madison Booker has accumulated accolades aplenty. Big 12 co-player of the year. Big 12 freshman of the year. Big 12 Tournament most outstanding player. Naismith Trophy semifinalist. Cheryl Miller Award finalist.
Now, Booker gets to see what she can do in the NCAA Tournament.
The fabulous freshman will enter the NCAA Tournament averaging 16.9 points, 4.9 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game. What should Texas fans expect from Booker in her NCAA Tournament debut? If the Longhorns are lucky, Booker will mimic two of her teammates.
Two years ago, Texas opened its NCAA Tournament run with a 70-52 win over Fairfield at the Erwin Center. In that 18-point victory, Texas got 10 points and 11 assists from then-freshman point guard Rori Harmon. Freshman Aaliyah Moore scored a team-high 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while playing 20 minutes off the bench.
“I’m gonna tell her to get ready because every game matters. We have no room for error now, you win or you go home,” Moore said. “I know she’s locked in. She’s made for it.”
The scoring record for Texas freshmen in the NCAA Tournament is the 32 points that Clarissa Davis scored in a 1986 national semifinal game against Western Kentucky.
Is Texas a 3-point shooting team now?
Of the 349 qualified Division I teams, Texas ranks 18th in 3-point shooting percentage at 36.4. That’s good. Texas, though, has attempted just 374 3-pointers this season. Only 10 Division I teams have tried to make fewer 3-pointers, and Ole Miss (364) is the only one of those teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament. That’s not as good.
Texas coach Vic Schaefer has publicly bristled at the idea that his team needs to shoot more shots from deep. But should the Longhorns?
At the Big 12 Tournament, the biggest shot of UT’s 71-64 win over Kansas State in the semifinals was a 3-pointer by Shay Holle that broke a tie with 73 seconds left. In the championship game, Texas then knocked down seven of the 11 3-pointers it tried in a 70-53 beating of Iowa State.
Texas is averaging four 3-pointers per game. Over its 21 games against Big 12 opponents, Texas made 5 3-pointers on just three occasions.
What does Drexel do well?
Despite being a No. 7 seed in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament, Drexel won four times in a four-game span to secure its third-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Drexel is led by guards Amaris Baker and Brooke Mullin, who are respectively averaging 11.8 and 10.3 points per game. A graduate transfer, Mullin started last year for a Villanova team that reached the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
What do the Dragons do well? Drexel currently ranks 13th nationally in scoring defense at 55.1 points per game.
Texas vs. Drexel prediction
Texas. Harvard is the only No. 16 seed to ever beat a No. 1 seed in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, and that upset of Stanford happened in 1998. History won’t repeat itself in Austin this week.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas vs. Drexel prediction: March Madness, NCAA women’s pick
