Texas Tech basketball: The defining moments of the 2019-20 season

Raising the Final Four banner

Perhaps the best moment of the 2019-20 season occurred before the year technically began.  On November 5, 2019, the 2019 Final Four banner was dropped from the rafters of the United Supermarkets Arena prior to the season-opener against Eastern Illinois.

In a moving ceremony to celebrate the program’s first-ever trip to the Final Four, fans were treated to a fantastic video montage the likes of which we’ve come to expect from the Texas Tech basketball media department, which is producing content head and shoulders above that which we get from the other programs on campus.

It was a moment that most Texas Tech basketball fans doubted we would ever see in our lifetimes.  It was also a reminder of the elevated stakes that are the new reality for the program.

For the first time that I can recall in my two decades as a Texas Tech student or alum, this was a moment when the game was the secondary attraction to the pregame festivities.  No one really wondered if the No. 13 Red Raiders were going to be able to bludgeon the Panthers to death, which they did by the score of 85-60, and while we were interested in seeing the new-look team, we were more pumped to see the banner with our own eyes.

For what it’s worth, Jahmi’us Rasey led the way that night with 19 points in his college debut while T.J. Holyfield added 15 in his first game as a Red Raider.  But for one night, the most important development was what happened prior to the game.

It was a celebration of Texas Tech basketball and one last special moment provided by the 2018-19 team, all of which but three players had moved on.  By unfurling the banner that night, it not only provided all of us a permanent symbol of what was the most unforgettable season in the history of Texas Tech men’s athletics, it also gave future generations of Red Raiders something to which they can aspire.