A loss last weekend to Oklahoma on the road seemed to bum everyone out, and got a knee-jerk reaction by some that this team was not up to snuff to get an invite to the Big Dance. Then a home win against a talented TCU at home rejuvenated all hopes. I hate to say this, but for this season… get use to it.
We are going to be a continual bubble team all season long, until the Big 12 tournament. The Big 12 tournament might even come into play with our chances to get into the NCAA tourney. So strap-in and ride the roller coaster with all the ups and downs that are going to come. We are unstoppable at home, but need to learn how to closeout games away from Lubbock.
Here is what Sports Illustrated had to say about the Texas Tech NCAA bubble watch this week…
The Oklahoma loss is a bit disconcerting for a team that also has a neutral-court loss to Auburn on its résumé, but the win over West Virginia is going to carry Texas Tech a long way. The early bet here is that a .500 record in the conference, with another strong win or two mixed in, will be plenty to get the Red Raiders into the field of 68.
I agree that we have a strong chance of going .500 in the conference. Pick up wins at home against KU and/or Baylor, or some other formula and we will get into the Big Dance. Yet, if we stumble against the highly ranked teams… we might be out of luck.
Also, according to Joe Lunadi of ESPN, in his recently updated bracketology Texas Tech gets in the tourney as one of the last four byes. Meaning he believes we are just barley escaping having to have a play-in game during the opening round of the Big Dance. Yikes!!! I do not know how excited/anxious I would be watching us play in a game during the opening round to get to the field of 64.
TeamRankings.com is a website that I have been checking on the reg, it has amazing breakdowns of trends and stats. In the bracketology section Texas Tech has a 38.3% chance of making the tourney, and their most likely seeding is the #8 spot. I would have to agree that we will have to get farther along in the season before we give ourselves a 50/50 shot.
Kenpom has us sitting at the #32 ranking in college basketball, and our ESPN RPI is #47. Again, I have stated before that I could go on and on about all these rankings and stats… but, they are all not going to mean anything until the end of the season. We can predict away at our chances of making the NCAA tournament all we want.
Yet, let’s sit back and take a breath. We still have a long way to go… and a few more wins and losses to happen before we can see the big picture and a clear path to the Big Dance. We are going to stay on that bubble, and our nerves are just going to have to take it. Wreck ’em Tech!!!