It is a joke that Texas Tech basketball remains unranked

The Associated Press released its top 25 top 25 men’s basketball poll on Monday and much to the chagrin of Texas Tech fans, the Red Raiders failed to climb into the top 25. Texas Tech basketball has not been ranked in the AP poll since the 2009/2010 season and its fans were hoping that streak would end this week. Unfortunately, it did not but a close look at the numbers reveals why it is a complete joke that Texas Tech remains outside the top 25.

Here is a blind look at the season resume of two college basketball teams.

Team “A” has an RPI of 14. It has nine wins over teams in the RPI top 150. Only two of those wins are against teams in the RPI top 50. It has lost two games to teams with an RPI over 50. In its last 8 games it has a record of 4-4 and, it plays in conference ranked 8^th in overall RPI. Most importantly, its strength of schedule is ranked 75^th in the nation.

Team “B” has and RPI of 24. It has 10 wins over teams in the RPI top 150 with six of those wins coming over teams in the top 50. Team “B” has also lost two games to teams outside the RPI top 50. In its last eight games, this team is 5-4 while playing five teams in the top 28 of the RPI rankings. Team “B” plays in the conference with the top RPI in America and has the second-toughest strength of schedule in college basketball.

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By now, you probably have guessed that Team “B” is the Texas Tech basketball team. Team “A” is the SMU Mustang basketball team which (aside from being ineligible for postseason play due to NCAA rules infractions) is ranked 24^th in this week’s AP poll.

The Texas Tech Red Raiders are perhaps the hottest team in college basketball. In the past two weeks, Tubby Smith’s team has wins over the Nos. 3, 18 and 22 teams in the RPI and is 7-7 in Big 12 conference play.

Logic would indicate that a team with Texas Tech’s resume, given its strength of schedule and quality wins (which include Texas, Oklahoma, Baylor and Iowa State) is one of the best 25 teams in the game. But unfortunately, logic does not vote in the AP Poll.

What seems to count more than the facts in the rankings is name brands. Somehow, Texas is ranked No. 25 after suffering a 14-point home loss on Saturday. The Longhorns are four spots behind Texas Tech in the RPI and have a 17-10 overall record, half a game worse than Texas Tech’s 17-9 record on the season.

Texas Tech and Texas split the season series with each winning at home. But in Texas’ last five games, it has gone 2-3 with all three losses against teams Texas Tech has defeated in its current 4-game winning streak.

If the roles were reversed and an unranked Texas team were able to rattle off four straight wins including three consecutive over Iowa State, Baylor and Oklahoma there is no way Texas would be left out of the top 25. Yet, that is exactly what has happened to the Red Raiders.

What is more disappointing is the fact that of the unranked teams that received votes in the AP poll, Texas Tech is behind four other schools with less impressive resumes. For example, Dayton has a strength of schedule ranked 50^th, Providence’s RPI is 37 and its strength of schedule is 49^th.

Perhaps the reason Texas Tech isn’t ranked is because it has played the vast majority of its games on ESPNU while teams like No. 23 Notre Dame and No. 25 Texas have been on ESPN or ESPN2 most of the year. For example, Texas Tech’s biggest win this season, last Wednesday’s upset of Oklahoma was aired on ESPNU at the same time ESPN aired Duke vs. North Carolina.

On almost any other night, Texas Tech knocking off Oklahoma in a one-possession game would lead the college basketball news. But on the night Duke beat the Tarheels on the final play of the game the Red Raiders’ were just a footnote.

Texas Tech fans have long felt their team is frequently ignored and discounted by the national media. The fact that the Texas Tech basketball team was left out of the top-25 again this week just adds more fuel to that fire.

However, this is the reality of being Texas Tech. Nothing is ever handed to us and we have to do more than others to receive our rightful recognition. Life as been that way for Texas Tech University since the day the school opened its doors in 1923.

Once again, Texas Tech is being underrated and overlooked by people around the nation. Anyone that has seen the Texas Tech basketball team play in the last month would easily be able to see that it is worth of being ranked.

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Just like everything else, there is nothing Texas Tech can do but continue to earn the respect it deserves. Ultimately, a national ranking is nothing more than an arbitrary number next to the name of a team.

Still, it would be nice to see Texas Tech basketball be given the recognition it has struggled so mightily to earn. But if Tubby Smith and his team can continue to win game, eventually the nation will be forced to acknowledge its place among the nation’s best.

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