14 SEC teams made it to the Big Dance and Texas was the 14th. This will be the test to see how much strength of schedule matters. Six teams with the toughest schedules came from the SEC, Texas was 16th. By contrast, Marquette was the first Big East team on the list, playing the 30th-hardest schedule and Xavier was 49th. The Longhorns played 17 Quad 1 games, going 7-10. The Musketeers played just 10 Q1 games and went 1-9. There aren’t any Seton Halls or Georgetowns in the SEC. The last-place teams in the SEC, S Car and LSU both have more Q1 wins than Xavier. The Longhorns have a more dynamic offense, and while both teams have similar defensive numbers, Xavier tends to give up serious points to good teams. The Musketeers are a very good FT shooting team 80%, but the Horns aren’t bad, 75%, and they get to the line a little more often. Texas makes up for that by being a better rebounding club, especially on the offensive glass, where Xavier ranks 344th. To me, this game should be a pick ‘em at worst, so I’ll definitely take the points.