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NCAA Basketball: Dayton, Oklahoma State excel and more weekly takeaways

By Brian Rauf

LAHAINA, HI - NOVEMBER 26: Obi Toppin #1 of the Dayton Flyers celebrates after throwing down a dunk during the second half against the Virginia Tech Hokies at the Lahaina Civic Center on November 26, 2019 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)
LAHAINA, HI - NOVEMBER 26: Obi Toppin #1 of the Dayton Flyers celebrates after throwing down a dunk during the second half against the Virginia Tech Hokies at the Lahaina Civic Center on November 26, 2019 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images) /
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – NOVEMBER 28: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders talks to his players during a stop in play in the 2019 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on November 28, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Hawkeyes defeated the Red Raiders 72-61. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – NOVEMBER 28: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders talks to his players during a stop in play in the 2019 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on November 28, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Hawkeyes defeated the Red Raiders 72-61. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

3) Texas Tech does not deserve to be ranked

Normally when you talk about quality defenses in the Big 12, you’re talking about Texas Tech. Despite losing most of their production from last season’s national runners-up, the Red Raiders entered the week ranked No. 12 in the country – a sign of earned respect given to the program under head coach Chris Beard.

However, this roster still had some questions, and those question marks were exposed in disappointing losses to Iowa and Creighton at the Las Vegas Invitational. They got off to slow starts in both losses, and Beard pointed to that as his biggest concern following the event.

"“You can’t be down 10 points to Iowa at halftime and you can’t be down 14 to Creighton at halftime. That’s falls on me. I have to find a way to coach these guys better.”"

It’s clear that Texas Tech still has a lot of growing to do on both ends of the floor. Usually a dominant defensive team, they allowed 11 three-pointers against Iowa and 10 against Creighton. They also allowed the Bluejays to shoot 51.7 percent from the floor.

On the flip side, the Red Raiders struggled from deep, shooting just 12/54 (22.2 percent) from long-range over the course of the two games.

I fully expect Beard to turn things around by the time Big 12 play starts (he’s too good of a coach and this team is too talented for them not to), but they currently don’t have a win over a team ranked in the KenPom top 245. They simply don’t have the resume of a ranked team and should drop out of the top 25 on Monday.

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