After falling to Arizona in the semifinals of the Big 12 Conference tournament on Friday, the Texas Tech basketball team has turned its attention to Selection Sunday and seeing where the squad will be headed for March Madness.
The Red Raiders will be entering the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. Here’s a quick glance at the rest of Tech’s resume as of late Saturday evening.
- Records: 25-8 overall, 8-2 on road, 2-3 neutral
- NET: 7th (Quadrant 1: 9-5; Quad 2: 4-3; Quad 3: 6-0; Quad 4: 6-0)
- KenPom: 7th (Offense: 125.3, 6th overall; Defense: 97.3, 37th overall)
- Bart Torvik: 7th (Offense: 15.7, 6th overall; Defense: 96.9, 32nd overall)
While national rankings have no merit in NCAA Tournament selection, the Red Raiders are currently ranked ninth in both polls. Coupled with the predictive metrics of KenPom and Bart Torvik and the NCAA’s own NET rankings, the Red Raiders should at the very least be among the top 10-12 teams seeded in the field.
Here’s where bracketologists have Texas Tech going and who it will possibly see in the first round.
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ESPN: 3-seed (West Region)
As of 8 p.m. CST Saturday, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had Texas Tech pegged as the No. 3 seed going to Wichita to take on 14-seed Utah Valley in the West Region. The opposite matchup would feature 6-seed UCLA taking on 11-seed UC San Diego. This would be the first matchup between Texas Tech and Utah Valley while the Red Raiders last played UCLA during the 2005 NCAA Tournament, a game won by Tech.
CBS Sports: 3-seed (South Region)
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports hasn’t agreed with Lunardi on Texas Tech much this season, but he has the exact same seed, opponent (Utah Valley) and game location (Wichita) in his Saturday morning projections. He differs on region, though, putting the Red Raiders in the South Region. The Texas Tech-Utah Valley winner would then play either 6-seed Clemson or one of the 11-seeds, Indiana or San Diego State, in the second round. Texas Tech is 0-4 all-time against Clemson though the teams last squared off in 1986.
FOX Sports: 3-seed (South Region)
Michael DeCourcy of FOX Sports doesn’t have a game location set, but he has the Red Raiders going to the South Region and taking on 14-seed Troy. The winner of that game would face either Saint Mary’s or Drake in the second Round. Texas Tech and Troy have only met once before in the 2010-11 season opener. Either Saint Mary’s or Drake would have their own intrigue. The Red Raiders and Gaels “secret” scrimmaged each other before the season while Drake is coached by Ben McCollum, who was expected to become a lead assistant under Grant McCasland when he became Texas Tech’s head coach in the spring of 2023.
USA TODAY: 2-seed (South Region)
As of this writing, the USA TODAY bracket was last updated Friday morning before Texas Tech lost to Arizona. In this update, the Red Raiders were a 2-seed, also heading to Wichita, to take on 15-seed Omaha. The winner there would face either UCLA or Arkansas in the second round.
