NCAA Basketball: Predicting when the last 11 undefeated teams of 2018-19 will fall
Texas Tech (7-0)
Despite losing key pieces such as Keenan Evans and Zhaire Smith from their 2017-18 team, the Red Raiders have done a good, if not great, job of exceeding exceptions in the early portion of this years campaign, most of which has been fueled by potential Big 12 Player of the Year candidate, Jarrett Culver.
Culvery, who is scoring 19 points per contest on .517 shooting, has been the focal point for their early attack on their schedule. Doing what they should have done against Incarnate Word, Mississippi Valley State and Southeastern Louisiana, Tech didn’t really move the needle until they scored back-to-back neutral court wins over USC and Nebraska before knocking off Northern Colorado and got tested by Memphis.
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Their next two games are virtual guarantees according to KenPom, as he gives them a 99.6% chance to beat Arkansas Pine-Bluff and 99.9% chance to take down Northwestern State.
I like those odds.
Then comes December 20th and a neutral court showdown with Duke.
Despite being ranked tops in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency (89.3), first in defensive eFG% (38.8) and top-10 in defending the three-point shot, shots within the arc and blocking percentage, the Red Raiders have not faced a juggernaut such as Duke.
With their average KenPom opponent ranking being 190th, it’s easy to see where the numbers can skew.
Even with the red-hot Culver, it’s hard to see how Tech has enough in their arsenal to take on the three-headed Freshman monster of RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish and Zion Williamson.