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Texas Tech basketball: 5 teams that hopefully won’t end up in Red Raiders’ region

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - FEBRUARY 23: Norense Odiase #32 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders dunks the basketball during the second half of the game against the Kansas Jayhawks on February 23, 2019 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech defeated Kansas 91-62. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TX - FEBRUARY 23: Norense Odiase #32 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders dunks the basketball during the second half of the game against the Kansas Jayhawks on February 23, 2019 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech defeated Kansas 91-62. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
(Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /

The Texas Tech basketball team will learn its NCAA Tournament draw draw today.  So ahead of this year’s bracket reveal, let’s take a look at five teams that Red Raider fans would rather not see in Tech’s portion of the draw.

Selection Sunday has arrived and fortunately for the Texas Tech basketball team, there is no doubt about whether or not they will be one of the 68 teams in the field.  In fact, there has been virtually no reason to believe that the Red Raiders were not going to make the NCAA Tournament since the first month of the season.

Now, the question that everyone in scarlet and black is waiting to have answered is how the Red Raiders will be seeded and what teams will be in their portion of the bracket.  The NCAA Tournament is all about matchups because of the single elimination nature of the event.  That makes it as important to be in a region with teams that are a favorable matchup as is is to be sent to host sites that are geographically favorable.

As for where Tech will play, Tulsa is the best option because it is the closest opening weekend host site to Lubbock.  Though the games in Tulsa would not be virtual home games like last year’s first and second round games in Dallas were, the Red Raiders would have more than a healthy group of supporters on hand should they be sent there.  The other possible locations include Salt Lake City, Utah, Jacksonville, Florida, San Jose, California, Hartford, Connecticut, Des Moines, Iowa, Columbus Ohio and Columbia, South Carolina.

Should the Red Raiders advance to the second weekend, the most preferential site would be Kansas City, where Tech has played twice already this year.  In November, the Red Raiders won the Hall of Fame Classic in K.C. by beating U.S.C. and Nebraska but last week’s return to the Sprint Center for the Big 12 Tournament was far less successful.

Virtually every prediction has Chris Beard’s team as a No. 3 seed, which is exactly what the Red Raiders earned last year.  Hopefully, that leads to another deep run like it did a year ago when Tech reached the Elite 8 for the first time in program history.

And many believe this year’s version of the Red Raiders is capable of reaching the Final Four in Minneapolis.  But for that to happen, the matchups have to somewhat fall in their favor.  Certainly, reaching Minneapolis will require Tech to beat some quality teams but if the Red Raiders could avoid the following five teams, their chances of reaching the Final Four would increase tremendously.

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