Longhorns want to hold on to No. 1

Top seed in South Regional hopes to avoid repeat of recent early-round losses

? Texas knows all about early exits.

Several of the Longhorns played in a first-round loss in the 2001 NCAA Tournament and experienced another one-and-done with last week’s Big 12 Conference tournament quarterfinal setback.

But the Longhorns insist they learn from their mistakes. And they say they won’t squander their first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

“We want to be a great team, not a good team,” junior guard Brandon Mouton said. “We really want to win a national championship. Our eye is on the prize.”

Texas (22-6) is the top seed in the South Regional. The Longhorns open Friday in Birmingham, Ala., against the North Carolina-Asheville, which beat Texas Southern, 92-84, in overtime in Tuesday’s play-in game.

Coach Rick Barnes has led Texas into the tournament each of his five years in Austin but the Longhorns were never seeded higher than fifth.

The nucleus of this year’s team were freshmen when Texas lost to Temple in the first round in 2001.

Point guard T.J. Ford joined them in 2002 and guided the ‘Horns to two tournament wins, a surprising run to the round of 16.

Now, without a senior starter among them, Texas fields a seasoned bunch of veterans in search of a title.

“I’m quite eager myself to see how they handle it,” Barnes said. “They understand how quickly it can be over with, they do know that.”

Texas earned the top seed on the strength of an entire season ranked in the top 10, a second-place finish in the Big 12 and a tough non-conference schedule. Texas beat fellow No. 1-seed Oklahoma twice.

Even so, Barnes has found himself defending his team’s lofty tournament status. Kansas University, the Big 12 regular-season champion, beat Texas in their only head-to-head matchup this season and went deeper into the conference tournament.

Kansas is the No. 2 seed in the West.

And by picking Texas, the NCAA selection committee also bypassed Pittsburgh (26-4), which won the Big East and hoped it would get a top seed. Instead, the fourth-ranked Panthers are No. 2 in the Midwest.

But Barnes makes no excuses.

“If I were a person who wanted to make a case for Texas, I would have a pretty good case for that, that we are worthy of a No. 1 seed,” he said. “And there are other teams that could say that.

“Every school could say we’ve got a shot at it. But the way it was laid out, we’ve got to take it and see what we can do with it.”