The Longhorn Republic

The Texas Longhorns' baseball team had a tough weekend in Lubbock, as the pitching staff struggled nearly top to bottom -- dropping the weekend series but avoiding the sweep with a run-rule win on Sunday. It seems like the pitching staff has been falling apart since Tanner Witt ended his season due to injury, but how did it get so bad so fast and what can Texas do to fix it? Thankfully for David Pierce and his coaching staff, the bats seem to be able to try and keep pace with opponents as Texas tries to figure it out.

The Texas women's basketball team made its second-consecutive trip to the Elite 8 thanks to a convincing win over the Ohio State Buckeyes before falling to the Stanford Cardinal in a tough game. We look back on what can only be described as yet another successful season, with a young Texas team playing well ahead of schedule -- signaling big things to come.

Connect with the show on Twitter and Facebook.

Intro and Outro: Earth, Wind, Fire (Ryan Little / CC BY-SA 4.0)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The NCAA Tournament is in full swing.

On the men's side, the Texas Longhorns avoided the upset everyone wanted to happen and put together a drama-free outing against the Virginia Tech Hokies to pick up the team's first NCAA Tournament win since 2014. In the second round, Texas went up early on the Purdue Boilermakers but struggled to score in the first half and ultimately lost a game closer than the final score indicated.

The Texas women, however, took care of business as a two-seed, dominating Fairfield and Utah to advance to the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive year under head coach Vic Schaefer. This makes six straight Sweet 16s for Schaefer, leading a team that is young and talented, potentially even ahead of schedule as they look to knock off the Ohio State Buckeyes in the next round.

Connect with the show on Twitter and Facebook.

Intro and Outro: Earth, Wind, Fire (Ryan Little / CC BY-SA 4.0)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Both the Texas Longhorns men's and women's basketball teams are going dancing, but are on two very different trajectories and they head into the NCAA Tournament.

The Texas men lost three winnable games against the Baylor Bears and the Kansas Jayhawks to close the regular season, then followed that performance with a 20-point meltdown in the Big 12 tournament against the TCU Horned Frogs. The Longhorns were selected as a six seed in the tournament but drew one of the toughest 11-seeds in the country, the Virginia Tech Hokies. The ACC Tournament Champions won 13 of their last 15 games -- including a 15-point win over the Duke Blue Devils to claim the tournament title.

The Texas women, on the other hand, won their last 11 games heading into the tournament, including 67-58 win over the Baylor Bears in the Big 12 Tournament championship and end a decade of futility against the annual conference power. The women will now host two rounds of the tournament to close out the Frank Erwin Center, starting with the Fairfield Stags on Friday.

Connect with the show on Twitter and Facebook.

Intro and Outro: Earth, Wind, Fire (Ryan Little / CC BY-SA 4.0)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Texas Longhorns continue to adjust to the loss of Tanner Witt on the baseball diamond, struggling with consistency in the pitching staff and dropping their first season series 2-1 at the hands of the South Carolina Gamecocks. In spite of the loss, Ivan Melendez continued his big year of production, earning Big 12 player of the week honors for his troubles. However, Texas will need more than one big bat to get the job done in Big 12 baseball.

On the hardwood, while the men were giving up a 20-point lead in an opening-round loss to the TCU Horned Frogs, the ladies were marching through the conference tournament to bring the first conference championship trophy for that program since 2003. The men's track team brought home a national championship trophy, while the rowing team started its national championship defense in dominant fashion.

Connect with the show on Twitter and Facebook.

Intro and Outro: Earth, Wind, Fire (Ryan Little / CC BY-SA 4.0 )

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Texas Longhorns went to Houston with something to prove on the diamond and came away with convincing wins over ranked teams, topping the Tennessee Volunteers 7-1 and the LSU Tigers 6-1 in the ranked matchups of the weekend. With those two wins, Texas seemingly proved that when they are at the top of their game there are very few teams that can hang with them. However, with Sunday starter Tanner Witt scratched from the lineup as a precaution, the Longhorns learned that they are far from invincible, falling to the UCLA Bruins 5-1.

The men's basketball team hoped to close the season out with an upset win over the Kansas Jayhawks in Lawrence, but couldn't keep the offense going in overtime, losing their second game to close out the regular season. Locked in for a tournament-opening matchup against the TCU Horned Frogs, can the Longhorns snap the skid and avoid letting all of the wind out of their sails heading into the NCAA tournament?

Connect with the show on Twitter and Facebook.

Intro and Outro: Earth, Wind, Fire (Ryan Little / CC BY-SA 4.0 )

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Texas Longhorns are in the midst of closing out the Frank Erwin Center as a basketball arena and in the men's finale Texas was unable to hold off a late surge from the Baylor Bears. Despite a double-digit lead, Texas struggled to hit from three-point range and couldn't put enough distance between them and Baylor to stave off a late push. What went wrong and what does that mean for Texas as they close out the regular season?

On the baseball diamond, Texas struggled with the weather but the pitching staff held on, giving up just two runs in the weekend series with the Alabama Crimson tide to remain perfect on the year. The pitching staff continues to show why they're one of the elite units and can hold the Longhorns down on a night where the bats aren't quite in synch.

Connect with the show on Twitter and Facebook.

Intro and Outro: Earth, Wind, Fire (Ryan Little / CC BY-SA 4.0 )

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The No. 1 Texas Longhorns took to the diamond this weekend and looked every bit the part of the top team in the country, led by three dominant pitching performances in the sweep of the Rice Owls. Not to be outdone, the Texas bats -- led by Trey Faltine and Ivan Melendez -- put up gaudy totals in the season-opening series. What does that mean for Texas as they build to what they hope is a historic season?

The basketball team, after a thrilling win over the Oklahoma Sooners, rode a 10-minute scoring drought and dropped their second matchup of the season against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. The Longhorns tried to make a comeback in the second half -- led once again by Andrew Jones -- but were unable to get close enough to strike. How can Texas right the ship heading into the final stretch of conference play?

Connect with the show on Twitter and Facebook.

Intro and Outro: Earth, Wind, Fire (Ryan Little / CC BY-SA 4.0 )

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Texas Longhorns have big expectations and big hopes on the diamond ranked atop both the conference and the nation the season after making a legitimate push for a national championship. Coach David Pierce has had some talented groups on the Forty Acres but may not have had a group like this yet in his stint in the dugout for the Longhorns. So how do they stack up against a team that was a walk-off single away from playing for a title?

We also dive in on the men's basketball team's struggles against Baylor, the women's basketball team seemingly finding its stride, and the rest of the competition happening on campus as we Down the Forty. We close the show out looking at some Longhorns preparing for the next level and a few Valentine's Day movie recommendations.

Connect with the show on Twitter and Facebook.

Intro and Outro: Earth, Wind, Fire (Ryan Little / CC BY-SA 4.0 )

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Texas Longhorns men's basketball team may finally be on the right track, rattling off back-to-back statement wins in an effort to shake off a disappointing outing against Texas Tech.

It started with a dominating performance against the Iowa State Cyclones, scoring 24 points off of 18 turnovers and holding the No. 20 school in the nation to just 28 percent shooting for the game. Texas also got big contributions from Marcus Carr and Andrew Jones, who both chipped in 14 points in the win.

The momentum continued as Texas welcomed in the Kansas Jayhawks and pulled off their biggest win of the year, upsetting the No. 8 team in the country. The win, thanks to suffocating defense from Courtney Ramey and a career night from Timmy Allen, keeps Texas firmly in the Big 12 race with just three weeks left in the regular season.

Connect with the show on Twitter and Facebook.

Intro and Outro: Earth, Wind, Fire (Ryan Little / CC BY-SA 4.0 )

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After the flurry ahead of the Early Signing Period, the Texas Longhorns had a relatively quiet close to the class but added a massive piece with the addition of five-star offensive lineman Devon Campbell from Arlington Bowie. The addition of Campbell not only gives the Longhorns their highest-ranked offensive lineman since the Mack Brown era, they also added a second five-star prospect that could be an early contributor for Texas.

With the addition of Campbell, Texas added seven offensive linemen in the cycle -- three of which sit in the top 100 players in the country -- to shore up one of the key areas of need. Add to that the seven defensive linemen and edge rushers in the class and half of the players signed play in the trenches. What does that say about how the Longhorns will look and play in the distant, and not-so-distant, future?

Connect with the show on Twitter and Facebook.

Intro and Outro: Earth, Wind, Fire (Ryan Little / CC BY-SA 4.0 )

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices