With the college basketball postseason quickly approaching, fans of top teams are starting to debate who should be the highest seeds in the NCAA Tournament. Fortunately, the Texas Tech basketball team has played well enough to be in those conversations. In fact, some experts even have the Red Raiders as a No. 2 seed in their latest Bracketology projection.
The Red Raiders have never been higher than a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. That still seems to be the most likely seed for head coach Grant McCasland and his team this year because of Tech's poor non-conference resume.
Texas Tech has little to show from the non-conference portion of the schedule
Texas Tech played a laughable non-conference schedule this season, and even if the Red Raiders would have gone undefeated in that portion of the schedule, they wouldn't have a non-conference resume to match other contenders for a No. 2 seed. What's more, Tech didn't take advantage of the two main non-conference opportunities it had to beef up its resume.
In November, Tech dropped a 78-77 game to Saint Joseph's in Brooklyn, New York, at the Legends Classic. Currently, that is a Quad-2 loss as Saint Joseph's has put together a respectable 20-10 season to sit in third place in the Atlantic-10.
Of course, that loss also prevented Tech from getting to face Texas the next night. Rivalries aside, that opportunity would have boosted Tech's resume with Texas sitting at No. 40 in the NCAA NET Rankings as of Friday. Instead, the Red Raiders played Syracuse, which is No. 140 in the NET.
Fortunately, Tech did beat the Orange, but that win is doing little to help the Red Raiders. In fact, given how bad Syracuse is, that game is actually hurting the Red Raiders when it comes to the computer-generated metrics.
Then, in early December, Texas Tech lost a winnable game to Texas A&M, a team that has spent plenty of time in the top-10 this year and which is a candidate for a top-four seed in one of the NCAA Tournament regions. The Aggies are No. 20 in the NET, so it isn't hard to imagine what a win over them would do for the Red Raiders' resume. Of course, that loss still stings for Tech fans because it came without star forward JT Toppin on the floor as he dealt with a lower-leg injury at that time.
Currently, Texas Tech has a non-conference NET Strength of Schedule of just 298th in the country (according to the website Bracketologists.com). Only because of the strength of the Big 12 does the Red Raiders' overall strength of schedule rise to No. 50 in America.
Though Tech is 12-6 in Quad 1 or 2 games, none of those wins came outside of conference play. Therefore, the Red Raiders' resume might not stack up well against other contenders for a No. 2 seed.
How resumes of other No. 2 seed contenders compare to Texas Tech's
According to ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi, the other three No. 2 seeds are currently Michigan State, Tennessee, and Alabama. The average NET out-of-conference strength of schedule for those teams in 93.6. Of that group, Michigan State has the lowest at 141, while Alabama has the highest at No. 10 in the country. The Crimson Tide has wins over Illinois, Houston, Rutgers, Creighton, and North Carolina while also playing Purdue and Oregon in their non-conference schedule.
Even teams that Lunardi has as a No. 3 seed have far better non-con resumes than Texas Tech. St. John's has a non-conference strength of schedule of 165. Iowa State's is 102. Wisconsin's is 115. Texas A&M's is 37 (and, of course, A&M has a head-to-head win over the Red Raiders).
Taking it a step further, even the No. 4 seeds have done more in the non-con than Tech has. Kentucky (No. 43), Arizona (No. 33), Purdue (No. 9), and Maryland (No. 53) each have a significantly higher non-conference strength of schedule than Tech does.
Ultimately, Tech has played a dangerous game with its schedule. By having one of the worst non-conference schedules in the nation, the Red Raiders left their entire NCAA Tournament fate to what happens in the Big 12 portion of the schedule.
Fortunately, Tech has done more than enough in conference play to earn an NCAA Tournament bid. In fact, Tech has been so good that it has put itself in position to be a top seed come Selection Sunday. However, because of the atrocious non-conference resume that the Red Raiders boast, they may not earn as high of a seed as they would like in the Big Dance.
Fortunately, the difference between being a No. 2 or a No. 3 seed is minimal as both seeds allow teams to avoid facing a region's No. 1 seed until the Elite 8. However, moving forward, Texas Tech must challenge itself more stringently outside of Big 12 play if it wants to take the program to an even higher level.