Monday, the latest college basketball polls were released, and after a week that saw the Texas Tech basketball team go 1-1 with a home loss to No. 4 Houston and a road win at Kansas, the Red Raiders moved up one spot to No. 9 in both the Associated Press and the Coaches Poll.
This is the sixth consecutive week that the Red Raiders have been ranked and the third week in a row that they have been in the top 10. What's more, the team is now at No. 7 in the NCAA NET Rankings.
Other Big 12 teams in the polls include Houston, which moved up one spot in both polls to No. 3, Iowa State, which moved down one spot in both polls to No. 10, BYU, which rose two spots in the A.P. Poll to sit at No. 23 and four spots in the Coaches poll to No. 22, and Arizona, which is at No. 24 in the A.P. Poll and No. 23 in the Coaches, a drop of two places in each ranking.
Meanwhile, the only other team in the conference to receive votes was Kansas, which got five votes in the A.P. Poll.
Auburn is No. 1 in both polls after receiving all 61 votes in the A.P. Poll and 30 of 31 in the Coaches Poll. Meanwhile, in both polls, Duke, Houston, Tennessee, Florida, and St. John's are next in order. After that, Alabama is at No. 7, and Michigan State is at No. 8 in the A.P. Poll. In the Coaches Poll, those teams are flipped in the rankings.
Those are the only teams ahead of the Red Raiders in this week's top 25. That's a reminder of just how far Tech has come from the start of the season when Grant McCasland's team was unranked in either poll.
This week, the Red Raiders have to avoid two potential trap games. Wednesday, they play Colorado in Lubbock. The Buffaloes are the last-place team in the Big 12 standings with a 2-16 record in league play.
Then, on Saturday night, Tech will close out the regular season with a road game at Arizona State. The Sun Devils are second-to-last in the conference race at 4-14.
If the Texas Tech can go 2-0 this week, perhaps the Red Raiders will be able to climb even higher in the top 10 next week. But more importantly, they will ride some positivity into the postseason.