Texas women vs. Alabama: Scouting report, prediction for 2024 NCAA Tournament second round

The future will meet the present Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Women's Tournament.

With a Sweet 16 spot at stake, Texas and Alabama will play in the round of 32 (5 p.m., ESPN, 103.1). Texas and Alabama last played in 1984, but they will be rivals in the Southeastern Conference starting next season.

Texas (31-4), the top seed in the Portland 4 region, opened the NCAA Tournament with an 82-42 rout of Drexel on Friday. Eighth-seeded Alabama (24-9) recorded an 82-74 win over Florida State.

Here's what you need to know about this matchup:

Freshmen not playing like freshmen in NCAA Tournament

Alabama and Texas both have a player who made the conference's all-freshman team. And both Longhorns guard Madison Booker and Crimson Tide forward Essence Cody had strong NCAA debuts Friday.

Booker distributed 14 assists in the win over Drexel, just three shy of Kamie Ethridge's school record, and it was the most assists for a Longhorn in an NCAA Tournament game. Booker sat out the entire fourth quarter of Friday's game. Cody also looked like a seasoned veteran. In the eight-point win over Florida State, she had a career-high 20 points, a career-high 14 rebounds and four blocks. She made eight of her 12 shots.

Booker and Cody were listed 12th and 22nd in the ESPN HoopGurlz's rankings for the 2023 recruiting cycle.

Looking for a different result

Last year Texas was denied a trip to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 by a 73-51 loss to Louisville at Moody Center. While the Longhorns have moved past the stage of grief in which they were posting reminders of that Louisville score around the team facility, they haven't forgotten it.

"I think we learned a lot," UT guard Shay Holle said recently. "Almost that entire team has returned for this year, so we all know the feeling, and we remember it pretty well. We all remember that feeling, and we know what happened and why. So just learn from it and have it not happen again."

Under head coach Vic Schaefer, Texas is 2-1 in second-round games in the NCAA Tournament.

Defend this Alabama shooter

Crimson Tide senior guard Aaliyah Nye has knocked down a school-record 106 3-pointers this season. For comparison's sake, Texas has made 141 3-pointers as a team. Nye's total trails only Iowa's Caitlin Clark's 173 and Syracuse's Dyaisha Fair's 107 nationally.

Nye "works hard — really, really hard. She's not just a good shooter because she's just a good shooter," said Sarah Ashlee Barker, Alabama's leading scorer. "All the hours she puts in. I see it all the time. She doesn't miss in practice. There's a reason you don't miss in practice: because of all the hard work she puts in. She's not going to say that. I'm very grateful to have a teammate that works as hard as she does."

Texas is allowing 5.3 3-pointers per game.

Texas vs. Alabama prediction

Texas. Alabama will provide a much tougher test than Drexel, but the top-seeded Longhorns won't slip up in the second round this year.