The NCAA Basketball season is less than a month away and the excitement is buzzing among these programs and their fans. The achievements or disappointments of last season are washed away and everyone starts at 0-0. We still have weeks of prognostications and predictions and it’s certainly true that some teams have higher expectations than others, but everyone is starting with a clean slate.
The interesting thing is to see who can keep that slate clean the longest. What we mean is that it’s always interesting to see which teams are undefeated for the longest during the season. Three years ago, San Diego State won their first 26 games before falling in late February, while Gonzaga marched to the title game the following year with an unblemished record. No team has finished the season with a perfect record since Indiana nearly fifty years ago, way back in 1976.
Today’s goal is to look closely at our Top 25 teams and figure out when we think their unbeaten runs will come to an end. We’re diving into the schedules of the best teams in the nation, though that obviously doesn’t mean these are the 25 teams that will be the final unbeaten. Some of these programs play each other in the first few weeks of the season. We’re simply looking at these squads and figuring out when that first loss will come. Let’s get right into it: we’ve got 25 teams to consider after all.
25. Texas Tech
First loss: Creighton
The Red Raiders of Texas Tech did not take a step back last season after the loss of head coach Chris Beard, who jumped to rival Texas. New head coach Mark Adams kept that dynamic defense in place and the Red Raiders were an impressive squad again. Early expectations are just as high for this year’s team, despite a few changes, though they’ll get themselves quite the test early in the season.
Texas Tech has three very winnable home games to start the season before packing their bags and heading to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational. Playing in one of the most prestigious holiday tournaments in the sport, Texas Tech gets little love, drawing a tough Creighton team for their opening-round matchup. If they could leave Maui with a title, they may not lose a game until Big 12 play. However, the Red Raiders will start the season 3-0 before falling to a hungry Bluejays team in that first Maui game.