By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Speculation is swirling that the UTSA women’s basketball team might be headed for the NCAA First Four.

The Roadrunners are projected by ESPN’s Charlie Creme to play the Howard Bison in a battle of No. 16 seeds, with the winner moving on to face the No. 1 regional seed Texas Longhorns in the Round of 64.

First Four games will be played either Wednesday or Thursday, with the winners advancing to face No. 1 regional seeds either Friday or Saturday.

The official NCAA women’s tournament bracket reveal is scheduled for 7 p.m. Sunday on ESPN.

The Longhorns, who have already been named as an NCAA first-weekend host, raced to a 31-3 record on the way to a Southeastern Conference postseason title.

Howard won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference postseason title with a 53-46 victory over Norfolk State (Va.), while UTSA won the championship in the American Conference by defeating Rice, 54-40.

Howard will bring a record of 26-7 into its first NCAA tournament since 2022. UTSA will be playing in the tournament for the first time since 2009.

UTSA entered the American Conference postseason tournament one game under .500, won four straight games in Birmingham and emerged with an 18-15 record for its first NCAA appearance under fifth-year coach Karen Aston.

In 18 years as a college head coach, Aston has taken three teams to a combined eight NCAA tournaments, including one at Charlotte, six at Texas and one at UTSA.

At Texas, Aston worked eight seasons as head coach and led the Longhorns to the Elite Eight once and the Sweet 16 three other times.

Texas did not renew her contract after the 2020 season. UTSA, coming off two wins in 2020-21, hired her for the following season.

Aston is 82-77 in five years at UTSA. She is 62-35 in her last three seasons, with trips to the WNIT in 2024, the WBIT in 2025 and NCAA this year.