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Texas Tech basketball stays steady in polls despite loss to Duke

By Matthew Conner

BOSTON, MA - MARCH 23: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts against the Purdue Boilermakers during the second half in the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament East Regional at TD Garden on March 23, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - MARCH 23: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts against the Purdue Boilermakers during the second half in the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament East Regional at TD Garden on March 23, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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In this week’s rankings, the Texas Tech basketball team was not penalized for losing to No. 2 Duke Thursday in New York City.

Despite dropping a game for the first time this year, the Texas Tech basketball team did not lose ground in the national rankings this week.  In fact, the Red Raiders actually moved up a spot in one of the polls.

At 10-1 overall, Tech finds itself ranked No. 11 in the Associated Press Top-25, up one spot from last week.  Meanwhile, in the Coaches Poll, the Red Raiders fell on place to No. 13.

The voters clearly took into consideration the Red Raiders’ performance against Duke in which Tech held the lead for over 20 minutes.  Though Tech fell by double-digits, the hard-fought loss earned the Red Raiders more respect than any of their ten wins this season.

Prior to last week, the biggest knock against the Red Raiders was their strength of schedule that ranked just 350 out of 353 teams. But that has jumped to 189th overall after adding the Blue Devils to the equation.

And speaking of Duke, they find themselves at No. 1 this week thanks to Kansas’ loss to Arizona State on Saturday night.  Though it might pain those that take joy in seeing Duke lose, Tech fans now have a reason to pull for the Devils this year because their success will only help bolster the Red Raiders’ resume.

As for Kansas, they now sit at No. 5 in both polls.  The only other Big 12 team to be ranked this week is Oklahoma which is No. 25 in the A.P. poll.

It appears that the Big 12 will not be the marquee conference in the country this year as was the case last season.  Therefore, Tech will have fewer opportunities for top-shelf wins in league play than it had last year when West Virginia and Kansas were top-5 opponents when they played the Red Raiders.

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That is why playing Duke was so important for the Red Raiders this year.  Though Tech does not look like a team that will need to sweat Selection Sunday, when it NCAA Tournament seeding is set, strength of schedule will play a critical role.

Tech will have an opportunity to secure two wins against Kansas, which would help boost their tournament resume, but it looks like programs such as Texas, Kansas State and TCU are not going to provide as good of opportunities for high-quality wins as it might have appeared prior to the season.

That is not to say that the Big 12 will be a walk in the park.  As always, it will be a rugged battle between teams that are loaded with talent.

But Tech is not going to play another team as talented and highly-respected as Duke.  Therefore, Tech will continue to benefit from last week’s loss to the Blue Devils all season.

This marks the the fifth-consecutive week that Chris Beard’s team has been ranked.  What’s more, Tech jumped from No. 9 to No. 7 in the NCAA N.E.T. rankings (which replaces the old R.P.I. system).   The Raiders also moved up one spot in the ESPN Power Rankings checking in at No. 8.

Next. Tech emerges victorious in NYC despite loss. dark

Tech returns to the court Saturday to take on another non-major opponent in UT-Rio Grand Valley in Lubbock.  That will mark the final non-conference game this year as Big 12 play arrives on January 2nd when Tech travels to Morgantown to take on West Virginia.

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