AUSTIN — Vic Schaefer, the SEC Coach of the Year, has been named a semifinalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year Award after leading the Texas Longhorns to a 31-3 record heading into the NCAA tournament.

Schaefer was named a semifinalist with several other coaches, listed here:

Geno Auriemma – UConn

Kenny Brooks – Kentucky

Mark Campbell – TCU

Cori Close – UCLA

Lindsay Gottlieb – USC

Niele Ivey – Notre Dame

Wes Moore – NC State

Shea Ralph – Vanderbilt

Dawn Staley – South Carolina

This season, Schaefer has only lost to two other coaches on this list, Dawn Staley and Niele Ivey. Texas fell to Notre Dame in overtime in the ACC-SEC Challenge, a preseason showcase and South Carolina in Columbia and the SEC Tournament.

Now, Schaefer and his team will await their seeding by the NCAA Tournament selection committee. He feels that his team has the resume to be a top seed, and NCAA Bracketologist Charlie Creme agrees.

“I think our body of work and our net, you know, it speaks for itself,” Schaefer said. “I think with what we’ve been able to do, you know. And again, I’m not in there. I’m not on that at this point. For me, it’s just tell me what time the bus needs to load, where from, and I’ll make sure my team’s on it. But I certainly think we’ve established ourselves as one of the top two teams in the country when it comes to see and I know Dawn (Staley), I think (South Carolina) should be over us because they beat us twice.”

The Longhorns are a lock to host for the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament. The main question is if they will snag the final No. 1 seed or be a No. 2 seed. For now, all they can wait for is to be told who to play and when.

Schaefer is going to take his next opponents one game at a time, telling his team that they need to go on a six game win streak if they want to achieve their main goal, winning a national championship.

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On Friday, all of DFW will be in the zone for critical fire danger. In North Texas, crews that were deployed to help with the historic Los Angeles fires are drawing from their experience there.

The Krum Fire Department in Denton County deployed two firefighters for more than two weeks to assist with the Palisades and Eaton fires in L.A. While the landscape in North Texas is different, officials say one lesson stands out: high winds can change everything in an instant.

Krum Fire Captain Hector Hernandez was on the ground for 18 days. What he witnessed will stay with him for some time.

“Kind of seeing fire behavior coming off the Pacific like that, interesting just seeing the kind of damage it can do in such a short amount of time,” he said.

Hernandez especially remembers how the Los Angeles fires were fueled by dry conditions and very strong winds.

“The more wind we get, the more favorable it’s going to be for fire conditions. So that little spark you have from your welder can take off into a grass fire in no time,” he said. “Once it finds what it likes in terms of fuel, wind conditions, humidity, there’s not a lot we can do on the ground to stop it.”

Michelle Mendoza knows all too well how quickly life can change from shifting winds. She lived with her husband and eight children in Altadena when the fires broke out.

“I think it took probably about six hours, and then my house was completely destroyed,” she said.

The family of 10 is now in neighboring Pasadena, crammed into a one-bedroom apartment. Mendoza also remembers how powerful the winds were just hours before the fires spread, and she had this message for North Texas.

“It was very windy. It was some branches all over the place,” Mendoza said. “The winds were traveling really far. So, it’s something not to be played with. So, if you do see the winds, try to be really on alert.”

Hernandez said he’s hoping for the best, but Krum and neighboring departments are prepared.

“You kind of look at the direction that the fire is burning in and try to find any natural barriers, whether it’s a body of water, roadways, major highways, see if that’s a major point to stop it at,” he said.

Hernandez said if natural barriers don’t work, the next step would be getting ahead of the fire and starting to dig dozer lines.