Texas Tech basketball is the No. 3 seed in the West Region and will play UNC Wilmington, the 14th seed on Thursday night, March 20th in Wichita, tip-off at 9:10 CST with the game on TruTV. Let’s do some links.
CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander: 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket: Ranking every team playing in March Madness from No. 1 to 68
Don’t be startled in seeing Grant McCasland’s Red Raiders ranked this high. TTU has clocked in as a top-10 team in the metrics for about six weeks at this point. Tech has a top-10 adjusted offensive efficiency and averages 81 points per outing. The star is JT Toppin, who was in this tournament a year ago at New Mexico. With the Red Raiders, he’s been an All American-level player: 18.1 points, 9.2 rebounds per night. Though Toppin’s the topper, Darrion Williams, Chance McMillian, Christian Anderson and Elijah Hawkins (the point guard at the front of it all) combine to create the most underrated starting five in college basketball. The lads from Lubbock are plenty capable of making it back to their home state and playing in San Antonio for the Final Four.
CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd: Houston adding a potent offense to its suffocating defense has the Big 12 champs set for a Final Four run
ESPN’s Myron Medcalf: Men’s March Madness 2025 bracket: Get to know all 68 teams
Texas Tech has had one of the best seasons in America. The Red Raiders finished second in the Big 12. They were also the only Big 12 squad to beat Houston (82-81 in overtime) on the road. From Jan. 1 through the end of the regular season, they were ranked 10th in adjusted offensive efficiency and 21st in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to BartTorvik.com. They also made 37% of their shots from beyond the arc. They’re legit. And JT Toppin (18.1 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 1.2 BPG) is their superstar, who hasn’t gotten the same attention as some of the other All-America contenders in college basketball. Lubbock’s brightest talent could very well go viral if he leads Texas Tech to its second Final Four in six years.
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello: Predicting every game of the 2025 men’s NCAA tournament (Borzello has Texas Tech losing to St. John’s by 1 in the Sweet 16)
NCAA Bracket (you can print out this bracket if people still print things)
Action Network: UNC Wilmington vs. Texas Tech Odds & Betting Predictions – March 20, 2025 – Texas Tech -15.5