The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Forty Acres Insider: March 17
03.17.2026 | Forty Acres Insider
Important news happening in and around Texas Athletics compiled by Vice President and Athletics Director Chris Del Conte
Longhorn Nation,
Y'all know what time it is — LET THE MADNESS BEGIN! What a joy it was seeing our teams gather to watch the annual NCAA Basketball Selection Shows on Sunday, and when they heard our name called, those Horns went up and there was much rejoicing! We're in again, y'all, as both our Men's and Women's squads are goin' dancin'! Coach Schaefer and Women's Basketball earned a No. 1 seed for the third-straight year and are tipping it all off right here at Moody Center — where we're riding a 42-game home winning streak, to boot. Meanwhile, Coach Miller and the men are an 11-seed and in Dayton as we speak getting ready to square off with NC State in the "First Four" later tonight looking to survive and advance on to Portland. The road to a championship doesn't stop there for the Burnt Orange and White, as it's CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON FOR SWIMMING AND DIVING, TOO. This week, it's Coach Capitani and our No. 3-ranked women's quest for a crown in Atlanta (next week it's Coach Bowman and our defending champion men keeping their eyes on the prize!). Let's get those Horns Up and Hook 'Em — all the livelong day!
WE'RE IN 😤#HookEm pic.twitter.com/F3Go4zkho0
— Texas Women's Basketball (@TexasWBB) March 16, 2026
We may have Spring Break on campus, but we're full steam ahead here in Athletics with NCAA Championship action for the Basketball and Swimming and Diving programs and an action-packed week ahead on the Forty Acres. In addition to NCAA Women's Hoops being in town, Men's Basketball and Baseball are in action tonight, and Softball, Tennis and Beach Volleyball are taking to the courts and fields competing in the ATX and beyond this weekend. It will be a full-on Texas Sports Buffet! And the Horns were putting on a show off the fields of competition last week, too, with the sensational launch party celebrating our collaboration with Nike. We took to SXSW to team with Nike and our friends at YETI to host a spectacular premier unveiling our Blue Ribbon Athletes on Saturday in downtown Austin — that was quite the show, a blast to be a part of, and an awesome way to show off our latest and greatest NIL collaborations on the Forty Acres! WHAT AN AWESOME TIME IT IS TO BE A LONGHORN!
The brackets are out and hoops talk is at a fever pitch, so let's dig into March Madness! Our Longhorns are in, marking the SIXTH-STRAIGHT YEAR both our men's and women's programs have earned an NCAA Tourney bid. That's something very few programs can stake a claim to as we are one of only three programs nationally that have made each of the last six NCAA fields in both (Tennessee and UConn are the others). That's something you can certainly be proud of and just reinforces our prowess across the board! You can be loud and proud about that as you get behind our Horns and give us your best Texas Fight!!
Both the @TexasWBB AND @TexasMBB programs earned NCAA Tournament bids, marking the SIXTH-STRAIGHT year both teams are dancing🤘🏻
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) March 16, 2026
Texas is one of only THREE programs in the nation to make that March Madness claim across each of the last 6 NCAA Tourneys (joining UConn & Tennessee). pic.twitter.com/KUMxCOxbSN
With its 31-3 record (riding an eight-game winning streak) and SEC Tournament Championship on an outstanding resume already, Women's Basketball earned the NCAA Tournament's top seed in the Fort Worth Region and the right to host the first two rounds on our homecourt. It's the 10th-straight NCAA tourney bid for our women's basketball program, and we're looking to make another big-time run. Coach Schaefer has led our Longhorns to the Elite Eight in four of the last five tourneys — including last year's Final Four — and is hungry for more! That continues a long and rich history of success as we'll be making our 38th appearance in the NCAA Tournament — the second most of any program. The best part is we'll tip things off with Wednesday's winner of a "First Four" matchup between 16th-seeded Missouri State and Stephen F. Austin on Friday (3 p.m. CT on ESPN2). LET'S PACK THE HOUSE Y'ALL! The roof was raised, and it was a raucous atmosphere at The Mood all season long, and we're thrilled to have more of that. We're in the midst of the second-longest home winning streak in school history at 42 (43 is the program record) so here's to keeping the good times rollin' and cheering our Horns on to survive and advance with record-breaking win! Click here for all the info, to follow us all tourney long, and to get those tickets now!
times and TV channels just dropped 🤘✍️ https://t.co/0wmcpD1W6r pic.twitter.com/7F9idbG1dZ
— Texas Women's Basketball (@TexasWBB) March 16, 2026
Limited amount of NCAA Women's Basketball First & Second Round tickets still available!
Longhorn Nation! You've been incredible all season long, and we need you once again to bring the Texas Fight to Moody Center and cheer on our Horns in the NCAA First and Second Rounds. Only a limited amount of all-session tickets are still available for this weekend's games and can be purchased online at TexasLonghorns.com/tickets.
It's another NCAA Tournament bid for Men's Basketball, as well, as Coach Miller and the squad are IN DAYTON FOR A "FIRST FOUR" GAME TONIGHT. We'll face NC State at 8:15 p.m. CT on Tru TV with a spot in the West Regional and a first-round matchup against BYU on the line. That game will be played in Portland on Thursday and is set to tip off at 6:25 p.m. CT on TBS. It continues a rich history for our men's program, marking our the sixth-straight NCAA Tourney appearance and 40th overall. Taking that a step further — we're one of just seven men's programs to advance to the Big Dance in 24 of the last 27 NCAA Tourneys and among just six schools to earn a bid in 32 of the last 37. It's a It's another NCAA Tournament bid for Men's Basketball, as well, as Coach Miller and the squad are IN DAYTON FOR A "FIRST FOUR" GAME TONIGHT. We'll face NC State at 8:15 p.m. CT on Tru TV with a spot in the West Regional and a first-round matchup against BYU on the line. That game will be played in Portland on Thursday and is set to tip off at 6:25 p.m. CT on TBS. It continues a rich history for our men's program, marking our the sixth-straight NCAA Tourney appearance and 40th overall. Taking that a step further — we're one of just seven men's programs to advance to the Big Dance in 24 of the last 27 NCAA Tourneys and among just six schools to earn a bid in 32 of the last 37. It's a NEW OPPORTUNITY AHEAD, folks, so let's get on a run and ready to cheer on our Horns! Click here for all the details and up to the minute news on the Longhorns in March Madness., folks, so let's get on a run and ready to cheer on our Horns! Click here for all the details and up to the minute news on the Longhorns in March Madness.
And on the subject of men's hoops, shoutout to my man Dailyn Swain, who was already chosen the SEC Newcomer of the Year, and this past week was named a finalist for the 2026 Julius Erving Award, which is for the top small forward in the nation. You can help him out with the fan vote component here! I know he certainly has the votes of me and Coach Miller, who couldn't have explained it better what Dailyn means to our team!
Championships are on the line in the pool this month, too, as March is the month that No. 3 Women's and No. 1 Men's SWIMMING AND DIVING TAKE DEAD AIM at the National Championships. This week, it's Coach Capitani and the women, who are coming off a second-straight SEC Championship and 14th consecutive conference crown (including 12 in a row in the Big 12). Coach Capitani and our Horns have finished in the top-three at the last five NCAA Championships, taking second place three-straight times from 2022-24.
THE STAMPEDE CONTINUES FOR COACH WHITE AND NO. 3 SOFTBALL. With a convincing series sweep of Ole Miss — and y'all bringin' the heat with a full house at Red & Charline McCombs Field last weekend — our Horns made it a program-record-tying 24-straight wins. That matches the mark set back when our Longhorn Legend Cat Osterman was dominating the circle back in 2006. We left no doubt against the Rebels — pitching, fielding and hitting our way to a pair of run-rule victories (that makes it 14 run-rule wins in 27 games this season) and outscoring our SEC visitors 29-6 over the three-game series. In the only close one on Friday, we got a 12-strikeout pitching gem from Teagan Kavan for a 3-1 victory. The pitching remained on point and the bats really heated up the rest of the way, pounding out 26 hits and nine extra baggers (six doubles, three homers) in plating 26 runs. We'll step out of conference for a couple of games with a long-time Southwest Conference and Big 12 foe in Baylor this week, before getting back into SEC play against a big-time rival in Texas A&M — with Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown hardware on the line — at McCombs Field later this month. As for this week, it's a home game with Baylor on Friday (6:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network+) then a trip up I-35 to Waco for game two against the Bears on Saturday (6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN+). Let's keep the good times rollin' folks as our 26-1 Horns look to keep their incredible record-setting victory string alive. Horns Up!
NO. 2 BASEBALL TAKES SEC SERIES OPENER AGAINST OLE MISS. After dropping a nail-biting, hard-fought, 9-8 extra-inning heartbreaker in game one Friday night, Coach Schloss and our Horns bounced back to secure the series with emphatic wins on Saturday (11-2) and Sunday (8-2). That was capped off by Dylan Volantis' Sunday pitching gem when he struck-out a career-best 11 while Carson Tinney and Casey Borba smacked two-run homers to seal a series win. Friday's four-hour, 34-minute marathon ended a historic 16-straight wins to open the season — matching the best start to a season since the National Championship team in 2005. With the two wins after that, our squad is now 18-1 and one of only six teams in program history to start the year 18-1 or better, joining the 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982 and 2005 squads. And we've garnered that record in dominant fashion, outscoring our opponents by 136 runs (189-53) while run-ruling them on six occasions. We'll be back at home tonight against Tarleton State (6:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network+) before traveling to Auburn for an SEC series starting on Friday. See you at the yard!
It was ANOTHER GREAT WEEK OF TEXAS FIGHT, filled with victories for our Longhorns last week. Softball and Baseball secured SEC series wins at home, Women's Tennis took down No. 1 Georgia at the Texas Tennis Center on Saturday, Men's Tennis raised the Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown Trophy by taking down Texas A&M, and Beach Volleyball got three more top-15 wins on another trip to the west coast. Track and Field got a pair of bronze medals at the NCAA Indoor Championships with Kelsey Daniel taking third in the triple jump and Giavonna Meeks finishing third in the weight throw, as well.
And we've got plenty more to get those Horns Up for this week. Women's Golf is in the midst of competition at the UT Golf Club, hosting the Betsy Rawls Invitational. Winners of its last six SEC matches, Women's Tennis looks to keep that streak alive with a trip to Kentucky on Friday (11 a.m. CT) then back home against Tennessee on Sunday (Noon) at the Texas Tennis Center. Men's Tennis is in Nashville against Vanderbilt Friday (5 p.m. CT) and on to Lexington Sunday to face Kentucky (Noon CT). Beach Volleyball heads to Baton Rouge for some more big-time matches in the Death Valley Invitational, and the outdoor season gets under way for Track and Field at the UTSA Invitational. It's all Longhorns, all the time folks — get your Burnt Orange & White best ready and we'll see you at the courts!
got an action packed week for y'all 🤘🗓️#HookEm pic.twitter.com/bdZJMckUGE
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) March 17, 2026
Folks, we've got SO MANY INCREDIBLE STUDENT-ATHLETES REPRESENTING OUR ATHLETICS PROGRAM. I certainly was extremely proud watching our football veteran leaders Hero Kanu, Colin Simmons and up-and-comers Lance Jackson and Graceson Littleton taking the mic after practice last week to talk spring ball and Texas Football. The culture coach Sark has built is in good hands again in 2026 and the pride and winning tradition of The University of Texas is on full display with these guys. Makes me so darn proud to be a Longhorn.
Nike Partners with Longhorn Student-Athletes Through New Blue Ribbon Elite NIL Program
Fresh off last week's Kevin Durant-Madison Booker-Nike NIL collaboration, we had even more incredible news to share on Friday in the NIL space. Nike has added 16 of our Longhorn student-athletes to its new and innovative Blue Ribbon Elite NIL program. This unique program places Texas right where it belongs — among the best of the best — with a reimagined NIL opportunity that focuses on the future of sport and athlete branding. It provides some of our top student-athletes with an unmatched level of collaboration and engagement with Nike. I'm incredibly grateful for the leadership and work from Sarah Baumgartner and our staff in helping bring this initiative together, and I'm absolutely thrilled for our student-athletes involved. Bottom line, it's an incredible opportunity that we're beyond thankful to Nike for extending to us. It deepens our 26-year partnership and reinforces What Starts Here Changes the World. On Saturday, we had a chance to celebrate it during SXSW in collaboration with our friends at YETI and Nike — ain't no party like a Longhorn Party, y'all! And folks, we're just getting started. As always, there's plenty more ahead as we strive to continue to be the premier athletics program in the country.
the Texas and Nike collab just got better, y'all 🤘#HookEm | #TeamNIKE pic.twitter.com/VFtl5goAwh
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) March 13, 2026
Hook 'Em Horns,
P.S. — Horns Up to last Weekend!
TEXAS FIGHT‼️ Another victorious weekend for our Horns🤘🏻
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) March 15, 2026
🥎Softball: SEC series sweep, 24-straight Wins/ties best in program history
⚾️Baseball: SEC series Win
🏐Beach Volleyball: 3 top-15 Wins
🎾Women's Tennis: 2-0, Win over No. 1 Georgia
🎾Men's Tennis, Lone Star Showdown Win pic.twitter.com/9D8dzjHO72
P.S. — The first class of Texas student-athletes joining Team Nike!
introducing the first class of Texas student-athletes joining #TeamNike pic.twitter.com/yeLLDOAPoo
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) March 13, 2026
P.S. — Incredible story on our guy Colin Simmons!
"The best Colin Simmons is when he has a smile on his face."
— Bob Ballou (@BobBallouSports) March 12, 2026
Colin Simmons continues to grow into his role as a leader at Texas, which is a little easier for him to do - because he is exactly that to his family too. #HookEm@ClaysColorCrew @_monicamccarley @ColinSimmons__ pic.twitter.com/cJ42Ms4Ugo
P.S. — Shoutout to our SEC Champs — On to March Madness!
Your 2026 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament Champions 🏆🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/A5NXk1n7qh
— Texas Women's Basketball (@TexasWBB) March 16, 2026
P.S. — Longhorn Legends at the Houston Rodeo!
Coaches and a calf scramble 🤠🤝
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) March 13, 2026
Texans coaches Rod Wright and Frank Okam were spotted at the @RodeoHouston calf scramble this past week🤘 pic.twitter.com/Z2JZggb0Zf
P.S. — What Starts Here!
good luck to our Horns this season 🤘#HookEm | @NWSL pic.twitter.com/or7ygxIddn
— Texas Soccer (@TexasSoccer) March 13, 2026
P.S. — Texas + Nike + SXSW!
Arrive in style 🤘#HookEm | #TeamNIKE pic.twitter.com/Ljn1Pf3u9R
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) March 14, 2026
P.S. — Thanks for stopping by Russell!
"Hook'Em!" Fun time! Future's first campus visit! @TexasLonghorns 🏈⚾️ pic.twitter.com/gSLXWLs4um
— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) March 14, 2026
P.S. — Had a blast with Coach Mike White Day on Sunday!
Mike White day was a success 🤘🧹#HookEm pic.twitter.com/XugmKSev09
— Texas Softball (@TexasSoftball) March 16, 2026
