Texas Tech Basketball: How Red Raiders reached the 2019 Final Four

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ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 28: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders speaks to Jarrett Culver #23 during the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament West Regional game against the Michigan Wolverines at Honda Center on March 28, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

Preseason Expectations

The best way to describe Texas Tech’s preseason expectations is that there really weren’t any.

Let’s rewind to last season. Texas Tech made a run to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history. However, once the Red Raiders fell short of the Final Four, they took a huge step back. Four of five starters either left for the NBA, or graduated, including senior star Keenan Evans, and the top NBA draft prospect in Texas Tech history, freshman Zhaire Smith.

For any team, losing four starters is devastating. For Texas Tech, it essentially erased any chance of repeating the previous season, at least in the eyes of the media.

Texas Tech was expected to be a stretch to make the NCAA Tournament, with Jarrett Culver being the lone bright spot.

Needless to say, all of these expectations were exceeded.

Texas Tech performed better than expected in every aspect of the game, between non-conference play, conference play, on-court performance, seeding, and NCAA Tournament performance.

Expectations shouldn’t define a team’s season, and Texas Tech didn’t allow them to. The Red Raiders proved how silly expectations and predictions are, blowing them all away en route to their best season in school history.

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