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Texas Tech Basketball Still Undervalued By Many National Experts

By Matthew Conner

DALLAS, TX - MARCH 17: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders calls out instructions in the first half against the Florida Gators during the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament at the American Airlines Center on March 17, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - MARCH 17: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders calls out instructions in the first half against the Florida Gators during the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament at the American Airlines Center on March 17, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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Though the Texas Tech basketball team is in the Sweet 16, many experts around the nation seem to have little faith in the Red Raiders’ chances of advancing.

Most Texas Tech fans will be quick to tell you that the national media seems to undervalue the Red Raiders in almost every sport.  Such was the case with this year’s Texas Tech basketball team which was unranked in the national preseason polls and picked to finish 7th in the Big 12 before the season started.  This despite fielding a team with five seniors and four players that helped lead the team to the NCAA Tournament two seasons ago.

Fortunately, the pundits were wrong and Texas Tech surprised most of the nation by putting together a season which saw the Red Raiders finish second in the Big 12 and climb to No. 6 in the polls.

Now, the majority of experts are once again writing off Texas Tech ahead of this week’s NCAA Tournament action.

CBSsports.com has its experts picks for this weekend up and of the seven expert brackets posted in the piece, only two (Nick Kostos’ and Chip Patterson’s) have Tech advancing to the Elite 8.  Not surprisingly, none of the CBS experts have Tech surviving the weekend to head to the Final Four.

Meanwhile, The Sporting News gives Texas Tech slim odds to continue its run.  Using a computer generated formula, they give Tech just a 38% chance to beat Purdue, a 16% chance to reach the Final Four, an 8% chance to reach the title game and a 4% chance to win the national title.  However, Ryan Fagan of “The Sporting News” does have Texas Tech beating in Purdue but falling to Villanova in the Elite 8.

Meanwhile, ESPN.com has posted a piece that will certainly irritate the Red Raider faithful.  The so-called “world-wide leader in sports” has re-seeded the 16 remaining teams and has Tech seeded 8th behind a Nevada team that Texas Tech beat in December, West Virginia and Texas A&M which was 22-12 on the season and just 9-9 in the SEC.  Interestingly though, Tech is seeded ahead of Purdue but that would likely not be the case if the Boilermakers were healthy.

So why are the Red Raiders still not being valued by the national media?  There answer is complex and multi-faceted.

First of all, Texas Tech has built up no equity in the minds of most observers.  People will not believe that Tech can reach the top of the NCAA mountain until it does.  Schools like Villanova, Duke and Kentucky have been there so often that many believe they are safer bets.

Speaking of Duke and Kentucky, they have something that Texas Tech certainly does not, star power.  While Keenan Evans has received quite a bit of publicity for his stellar play this year, he is not the kind of player that the national media drools over.

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Rather, the adoration of the media goes to Duke’s Marvin Bailey III or Wendell Carter (both of whom are virtual locks to be NBA lottery picks this summer).  Likewise, Kentucky (Kevin Knox, Shai Gilgerous-Alexander, Hamidou Diallo), Villanova (Mikal Bridges), Texas A&M (Robert Williams) and Michigan (Moritz Wagner) all have players expected to be taken in the first round of this year’s draft.

The sport of college basketball has done a 180 in the last two decades.  Prior to the 2000’s, senior-laden teams were considered to have a distinct advantage over those relying heavily on true freshmen.  But in the era of the one-and-done college prospect, people have come to view players like Keenan Evans or Zach Smith, who have stayed in school four years, to be less talented than freshmen phenoms like Trae Young or Mo Bamba.

Though the blue-chip players that bolt for the NBA are likely to be better pro prospects than seniors, the media seems to forget that senior-laden teams often make for far better college teams.  For instance, top NBA prospects Trae Young (Oklahoma), Mo Bamba (Texas), Collin Sexton (Alabama), Michael Porter (Missouri) and Jaren Jackson Jr. (Michigan State) all failed to make it out of the NCAA Tournament’s first weekend.

While the Red Raiders’ lack of household names may keep people from believing in their chances this weekend, so too could their style of play.  The modern basketball fan has fallen in love with teams that play up-temp basketball and shoot tons of three-pointers.

Obviously, Texas Tech does not fit that bill.  Tech is not likely to be featured on the nightly sports highlight shows or in online clips because defense is not sexy.  Teams that draw charges and focus on rebounding do not churn the interest of the casual observer.

Speaking of the casual observer, most have not seen a non-NCAA Tournament game Texas Tech played this year.  That is because Texas Tech was relegated to ESPN-U for almost all of its conference games.  People making these predictions likely spent their time watching marquee games on ESPN while Texas Tech languished in obscurity on “the U”.  Thus, what they know about the Red Raiders probably comes from social media videos and second-hand sources of information meaning their takes on Texas Tech are nothing more than regurgitations.

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Fortunately, Texas Tech doesn’t need media hype to be successful in the NCAA Tournament.  In fact, this team is far more dangerous when it is counted out.  Let the experts and national media continue to bet against Chris Beard and his Red Raiders.  It just adds fuel to their fire.

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