Big 12 Basketball Tournament predictions for Texas Tech and the rest of the conference

In just two weeks, the Phillips Big 12 Basketball Tournament will take place in Kansas City. It will mark one of the most exciting weeks of the year for basketball fans.

Currently, four Big 12 teams are ranked in the A.P. Poll while four more received votes this week. That includes Texas Tech, which fell from No. 23 to out of the rankings.

So as we start to turn our attention to March, let's look at a few predictions for what might happen when the conference tournament arrives. And we will start by looking at a troubling trend for the Red Raiders...or is it?

Texas Tech will make a hasty exit again

There's no denying that Texas Tech has historically been one of the worst schools in the Big 12 Tournament. Tech has only reached the event finals twice (2005 and 2022) and has never cut down the nets in K.C.

What's more, 15 times in the history of the event, Tech has failed to win a single game. Taking it a step further, 21 times Tech has failed to win two games.

That will continue again this year. This Red Raider team feels like it is running on fumes. It is coming off of a bad loss to UCF, one of the worst teams in the league, and it has dropped five of its last eight games.

However, would an early exit be the worst thing for Texas Tech? Perhaps not. If what this team needs is rest, then maybe losing in the first or second game would be in the Red Raiders' best interest.

Assuming that Tech wins a few more games to close out the regular season, then an NCAA Tournament birth should be sown up by the time Tech gets to K.C. So why go all out and deplete an already thin roster by trying to win a tournament that doesn't need to be won? After all, the biggest prize is the NCAA Tournament, not the Big 12 Tournament.

So don't be shocked if Tech falls early to a lower-ranked team. And don't be upset if that happens. This team needs rest rather than playing three games in three days just to win a tournament that won't do all that much for the Red Raiders' seeding in the event that matters most.