Texas Tech basketball: Bracketology experts still high on Red Raiders

The Texas Tech basketball team remains one of the most highly-regarded teams in the nation despite falling to Duke. Let’s see where various bracketology experts have the Red Raiders seeded.

One of the newest developments in the world of college basketball over the past decade has been the advent of bracketology predictions. Now, numerous experts from across the nation begin predicting the NCAA Tournament field almost as soon as the previous year’s tournament ends.

Prior to this season, most considered Texas Tech a fringe tournament team. The prevailing thought was that the Raiders would struggle to overcome the loss of five seniors and six of the team’s top eight scorers from last year’s Elite 8 team.

But after a 10-0 start, Tech found itself in virtually every NCAA Tournament projection as a top-3 seed. And despite dropping a game to Duke, Chris Beard’s team is still being thought of as a top-tier team come March.

ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi projects the Red Raiders to be a No. 4 seed in the West region taking on No. 13 seed Saint Louis. What is interesting about this seeding is that Tech would be sent to Tulsa for the first weekend of the tournament, the closest to Lubbock of any first weekend venue. Last year, we saw how important the partisan Red Raider crowd was in Dallas and through it would not be as overwhelming in Oklahoma, a huge turnout of Red Raiders would be expected again if Tech winds up in Tulsa.

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Another site that has the Red Raiders in Tulsa is CBSSports.com. But in their projection, Tech is a No. 2 seed taking on South Dakota State. Take this with a grain of salt though because CBS released their latest bracket on December 17, prior to Tech’s loss to Duke.

Meanwhile, Bracketville also has Tech staying as close to home as possible as a No. 3 seed in the East region taking on New Mexico State in Tulsa. This would not be an easy task as the Aggies recently took Kansas to the wire falling 63-60 to the Jayhawks on December 8th.

Meanwhile, our friends at Busting Brackets also have Tech as a 3 seed. They project a matchup with No. 14 Pennsylvania in the West Region. The Quakers are a tough team having already scored wins over Villanova, Miami and New Mexico.

Overall, Texas Tech seems to be largely projected as a No. 3 seed. The site Bracket Matrix has complied 35 projections and Tech’s average seeding comes out to 3.60, the 11th best seeding average of any team.

Three of the 35 sites surveyed have Tech as a No. 7 seed, the Red Raiders’ lowest projected seeding while one has Tech as a No. 1 seed. The only other Big 12 team with a higher average seeding is Kansas which averages a 1.17.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma checks in as a No. 4 seed with a 4.23 average ranking while Kansas State (7.83) and TCU (7.94) project as No. 8 seeds and Iowa State (8.70) and Texas (9.20) project as No. 9 seeds.

Only three of Texas Tech’s non-conference opponents are projected to be in the field. Duke is the highest rated team on Bracket Matrix with an average seeding of 1.11 while Nebraska is a No. 5 seed with an average of 5.40. Meanwhile, Abilene Christian is projected as a No. 16 seed based on the assumption that they win the Southland Conference.

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Of course, there will be plenty of shifting in these bracketology projections before Selection Sunday. But it is interesting to see that Texas Tech remains one of the top teams in the nation in the eyes of some of the top experts in the game. That’s not bad for a program that many believed was just a flash in the pan.

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