KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The players flooded off the Texas bench, right past interim coach Rodney Terry and to the middle of the court inside T-Mobile Center, where they couldn't wait to get their hands on the trophy crowning them Big 12 champions.
After the season they had, who could blame them?
It began under the darkest of clouds with their high-profile coach, Chris Beard, fired following a domestic incident. Terry was given the job and the tall task of guiding the Longhorns through a grueling schedule, and what many have called one of the toughest conferences in college basketball history.