College basketball week 6: 5 biggest takeaways

5. Texas may already be destined to miss the NCAA Tournament

Outside of the traditional blue bloods of college basketball, there are few teams who can boast a roster as talented as the one helmed by Shaka Smart at Texas.

Of the nine players currently averaging double-figure minutes for the Longhorns, seven of them were top 100 recruits. Four of those seven were ranked in the top 50, according to 247 Sports. The other two rotation players — Jacob Young (105) and Kendal Yancy (109) — fell just outside of the top 100 in their respective recruiting classes.

That makes Texas’ start to the season even more perplexing. After losing to Arkansas on Saturday, the Longhorns are now just 5-5 and in real danger of missing the NCAA Tournament. According to Team Rankings, Texas currently has a 2.5 percent chance of playing in March Madness, which makes sense when you look at their remaining schedule.

The Longhorns have two remaining non-conference games, both at home, against UAB and Kent State. After that, they’ll being Big 12 play where they are project to finish with a 5-13 league record, per KenPom. Of the 10 teams in the conference, Texas ranks as the worst with an adjusted efficiency margin of just +8.30.

Next: Can Gonzaga make the Final Four?

There are fundamental problems with the Longhorns’ ability to produce enough points to win games — namely, their lack of a true point guard and their inability to shoot — that deserve more space, but for now, it’s enough to know that Smart seems destined to miss the NCAA Tournament in his second season at the helm in Austin.