BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — It’s a guarantee the state of Texas will be represented in the Final Four. The matter at hand is which team.
No. 1 Texas and No. 2 TCU secured their spots in the Elite Eight and will meet on Monday in the Birmingham 3 regional final at Legacy Arena. It’s the state star versus the starry up-and-comer in what most coaches, including Texas head coach Vic Schaefer, describe as the most difficult game to win.
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“We could have met in Corsicana [Texas] and saved money playing ’em,” Schaefer quipped following a 67-59 win over No. 4 Tennessee on Saturday. “But nonetheless, I think it’s great for our state.”
They hold one national championship between them, a Longhorns’ victory in 1986. Texas hasn’t been to the Final Four since 2003, when it finished off a two-year run. TCU has never been. The Horned Frogs have already made their deepest run into the tournament, eclipsing their previous five trips to the second round.
The game will feature nine players born and raised in Texas. The Longhorns roster six of them, led by Houston-born Rori Harmon. Schaefer recruited the point guard while he was at Mississippi State and successfully signed her at Texas when he took the job in 2020.
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“As you know, when you are at the University of Texas, you try to close the borders and close the walls and keep the good ones in the state,” Schaefer said on Friday. “In my mind she was one of the best in the country, if not the best.”
TCU stunned within the state in its own way when head coach Mark Campbell took the job in 2023 and brought home 6-foot-7 center Sedona Prince, a Liberty Hill native who he coached at Oregon.
The state’s women’s basketball success has largely been controlled by Baylor, a three-time champion under former head coach Kim Mulkey. They won titles in 2005, 2012 and 2019, plus a 2010 Final Four run ended by mighty UConn. Texas Tech (1993) and Texas A&M (2011) have made one appearance each.
In Mulkey’s absence, Baylor kept winning, but at a less successful postseason rate. The Bears haven’t made it out of the Sweet 16 since losing in the 2021 Elite Eight during Mulkey’s final season. The head coach took over at LSU, where she’s already won a fourth title and could meet a Texas squad in the national championship game. The Tigers face No. 1 overall seed UCLA in the Spokane 1 regional final on Sunday.
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It’s the Longhorns and Horned Frogs taking over the Lone Star State. Since the Longhorns dismissed Karen Aston, Schaefer has taken them to four regional finals in five seasons. They lost all three previous games.
“That game is very difficult and you gotta have kids that can just kinda block out all the distractions and everything around ’em and just go play the game,” Schaefer said.
The only year Schaefer didn’t take Texas to the brink was in 2022 when, without their leading scorer, Louisville thumped the Longhorns by 22 in the second round. Hailey Van Lith scored 21 on a 63.6% shooting day.
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Yes, the same Hailey Van Lith who carried TCU in its Sweet 16 win. For as much of a nightmare as Schaefer said the SEC is for him, HVL could provide more. The Horned Frogs are following a modern Mulkey model building a loaded roster via the transfer portal and reaching historic heights. They’re the feel-good story of the tournament, a Final Four contender a year after holding tryouts for walk-ons.
To build their way to the Elite Eight, they swept three games with Baylor after a 35-year skid against the in-state rival. It began a strong couple of months of firsts on their way through the bracket. They can continue by beating another in Texas, which is 50-4 over TCU in the all-time in the series.
“This group embraced it,” Campbell said. “When you go to the Big 12 tournament and you had never won one in school history, this group doesn’t flinch. There is no fear.”
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