Texas Tech basketball moves up three spots to No. 8

The Texas Tech basketball team moved up to No. 8 in the national polls this week thanks to wins over West Virginia and Kansas State.

Monday, the Texas Tech basketball team received its highest ranking thus far in the 2018-19 season when it checked in at No. 8 in both national polls. The Red Raiders jumped three spots in this latest rankings after a week that saw their record to move to 13-1 after opening Big 12 play with wins over West Virginia and Kansas State.

Beating the Mountaineers in Morgantown on Wednesday night was a huge statement as the Red Raiders were able to prevail in their first true road game this season. Likewise, the win over the Wildcats was impressive considering that KSU was picked second in the Big 12 preseason poll.

Interestingly, both of Texas Tech’s victims last week opened the year raked with WVU beginning the season at No. 13 and KSU at No. 14 in the Associated Press Top 25. Meanwhile, Tech received only six votes in the first poll of the year. Fortunately, quite a bit has changed in past two months.

Overall, half of the Big 12 is ranked. Kansas is just ahead of Tech at No. 7 while Iowa State sits at No. 20, OU remained at No. 23 and TCU moved into the polls at No. 25. Understandably, some Red Raider fans may be a bit frustrated by the fact that the Jayhawks are still the highest-ranked team in the conference.

KU has already dropped two games this season including a 17-point drubbing to what was an unranked Iowa State team in Ames on Saturday. Meanwhile, Tech has only one loss on its resume, and that is a closely contested defeat to the No. 1 team in the nation, Duke.

The Blue Devils remain atop the polls for the third-consecutive week. Michigan checks in at No. 2, Tennessee is at No. 3 while Virginia, Gonzaga and Michigan State comprise the remainder of the teams ahead of KU and Texas Tech.

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This is the first time Tech has been in the top-10 this season but under Chris Beard, the Red Raiders are becoming a mainstay in the sport’s upper echelon. Finishing last season at No. 6, Tech spent seven weeks in the top-10 a year ago but that total could be surpassed this season given that the Raiders are in the top-10 nearly a month earlier this season.

In the latest ESPN Power Rankings, Chris Beard’s team is at No. 6, higher than any other Big 12 team. Meanwhile, Sports Illustrated has Tech at No.9 up three places from last week.

And in the all-important NCAA NET rankings, the Raiders are No. 7 overall, which is important because the NET rankings are a critical factor in helping determine NCAA Tournament seeding. And Tech should have an opportunity climb even higher in all of the rankings with two games this week against quality teams.

Tuesday, the Red Raiders host No. 23 Oklahoma in an early-season conference game that could have a huge impact on the Big 12 race. Then on Saturday, Tech travels to Texas where it has not won since the Bill Clinton administration.

The Longhorns are not currently ranked but have already secured wins over North Carolina, Arkansas, Purdue, Kansas State and West Virginia this year. On the other hand, Shaka Smart’s team has also dropped home games to Radford, VCU and Providence. However, it would be foolish to expect the Red Raiders to get anything but the Horns’ best shot this week.

Next. What we learned in win over Kansas State. dark

If Tech can figure out how to have another 2-0 week, it will not only have an opportunity to climb to its highest ranking in the national polls in the Big 12 era (if there are more losses by teams ahead of them), it would more importantly put the Red Raiders in great position in the conference race. Tech is currently one of three teams atop the league standings joining Texas and Iowa State at 2-0.

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