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Texas Tech basketball: Five bold predictions for the 2020-21 season

By Matthew Conner

March 30, 2019; Anaheim, CA, USA; Texas Tech Red head coach Chris Beard celebrates the victory over Gonzaga Bulldogs following the championship game of the west regional of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
March 30, 2019; Anaheim, CA, USA; Texas Tech Red head coach Chris Beard celebrates the victory over Gonzaga Bulldogs following the championship game of the west regional of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jan 16, 2019; Lubbock, TX, USA; Pre-game introductions before the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Iowa State Cyclones at United Supermarkets Arena. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 16, 2019; Lubbock, TX, USA; Pre-game introductions before the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Iowa State Cyclones at United Supermarkets Arena. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /

Tech will win the Big 12 regular-season title

This year, the Red Raiders will once again claim the Big 12 regular-season title.  That will be the second in three years for a program that had previously never come close to sniffing that level of success.

It won’t be easy.  The Big 12 is loaded.  But each contender has major flaws that can be exposed.

We’ve already covered Kansas, which was picked second in the preseason poll.  So let’s look at conference favorite Baylor.

Make no mistake, BU is Tech’s top competition in the conference this year.  There’s good reason why they open the year ranked second in the nation.  They return almost everyone from last year’s team, which was in line for a no. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

But I don’t think Baylor will be as tough inside as they were a year ago.  They lost versatile forward Freddie Gillespie, their best defensive player, to graduation and they were counting on 6-foot-10 forward Tristan Clark to return to form after he struggled last season following a severe knee injury the previous year.  However, Clark has recently retired from the game for medical reasons and there isn’t a dominant presence behind him to step up.

Those losses coupled with Tech’s additions of Santos-Silva and Ntambwe neutralize the primary advantage the Bears had over the Red Raiders, post presence.  In fact, I think Tech will be just as good, if not better than BU inside, and if the backcourt matchups are a wash, Tech could have a small edge.

Speaking of guards, no one can really believe that West Virginia has enough talent there to win the Big 12.  In fact, no returning guard on their roster put up more than 9.5 points per game last year.

Texas is talented by they are also coached by Shaka Smart.  Advantage Tech.

Those are the four teams picked ahead of the Red Raiders in the preseason poll and for the life of me, outside of Baylor, I can’t understand why.  But that just gives Beard another season in which he can play the disrespect card as he did in 2018-19 when Tech was seventh in the preseason poll.  And just like that year, the Red Raiders will win the Big 12 regular-season title in 2020-21.

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