Now that the college basketball regular season has come to an end, the focus turns to brackets, and in the Big 12, we now have one set. That means that the Texas Tech basketball team's path to their first conference tournament crown is laid out.
The Red Raiders don't have a great history in the Big 12 Tournament. In fact, all-time, Tech is just 15-24 in the event. That's a winning percentage of just .384.
The Red Raiders have competed in the Big 12 Tournament since its inception in 1997. During that time, it's been far more likely for Tech to have a short stay than to make a run.
In fact, on 12 occasions, the Red Raiders have lost in the first round. What's more, in 16 of the 27 years that the tournament has been held, Tech has failed to win a game.
The only two seasons in which Tech has reached the championship game were in 2005 and 2022. In 2005, Tech fell to Oklahoma State 72-68, and in 2022, it was a 74-65 loss to Kansas that ended the Red Raiders' run in the conference tournament.
Could this finally be the season that sees the Red Raiders earn the Big 12's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament? It will be tough to accomplish that goal, but the Red Raiders' path to the championship is manageable, thanks to how the bracket fell.
Breaking down Texas Tech's path through the Big 12 Tournament
As the No. 2 seed in the tournament, Texas Tech is one of four teams that have earned a free pass into the quarterfinals, which will be held on Thursday, March 13. That means that the Red Raiders get to skip the first two rounds and rest up while lower-seeded teams battle it out.
In the Red Raiders' portion of the bracket, No. 10 seed Kansas State and No. 15 seed Arizona State will meet in the first round on Tuesday. The winner of that game will then take on No. 7 seed Baylor on Wednesday.
Tech will then face either Baylor, Kansas State, or Arizona State on Thursday at 6 p.m. Central. It was important for the Red Raiders to be the No. 2 seed instead of the No. 3 seed because that allows them to avoid playing Kansas, which has an unfair home-court advantage being as their campus is less than a 40-minute drive from Kansas City, in the quarterfinals.
The OFFICIAL 2025 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship bracket. pic.twitter.com/X61MfbE7VJ
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) March 9, 2025
If Kansas survives a second-round game against either No. 14 seed UCF or No. 12 seed Utah in the second round and then upsets No. 3 seed Arizona in the quarterfinals, then the Jayhawks could meet the Red Raiders in Friday's semifinals.
Tech also is on the opposite side of the bracket from another perennial Big 12 Tournament bully, Iowa State. Like Kansas, Iowa State always has a healthy following in Kansas City, being as Cyclone fans are always happy to use the 3-hour drive to K.C. as a great excuse to get out of Iowa for a weekend.
The Cyclones are actually the No. 5 seed this year, meaning they will play either No. 12 Oklahoma State or No. 13 Cincinnati in the second round before possibly facing red-hot No. 4 seed, BYU, in the quarterfinals. Then, it is likely that either BYU or Iowa State will take on No. 1 seed Houston in the semifinals.
Heading into the tournament, it you would have given savvy Texas Tech fans the choice of three teams they'd like to be on the opposite side of the bracket from, many might have picked BYU, Iowa State, and Houston and it has worked out that Tech won't have to deal with any of those teams until a potential championship game matchup on Saturday.
However, Baylor, Kansas, and Arizona could be potential stumbling blocks in Tech's half of the Big 12 bracket. What's more, an upset or two could always throw a wrench in things as this is the time of the year when Cinderella loves to go dancing.
If there was ever a year that Tech could make some noise in the Big 12 Tournament, it might be 2025. The Red Raiders beat every team in the conference except UCF and Iowa State, and they were the only team to beat Houston in conference play. That's proof that head coach Grant McCasland and his team can take down any team in the league.
What's more, the bracket sets up well for Texas Tech to hang around KC for a few days. Hopefully, they will do that and return home with the program's first Big 12 Tournament trophy.