Bracketology 2023: Texas, Indiana and Saint Mary’s among week’s biggest winners

Texas Tech Red Raiders

By being in the Big 12, literally, no one can be eliminated from postseason contention with a month left. Even Texas Tech didn’t beat anyone in the non-conference portion of the season and started out league play with a 0-8 record. But after beating LSU, who isn’t very good at this point in the Big 12/SEC Challenge, a slight glimmer of hope emerged.

The Red Raiders were at home against Iowa State, who then went on to beat Kansas this weekend. They were down by 20 points in the second half before pulling off a miraculous comeback to push the game into overtime, before winning 80-77.

Kevin Obanor stepped up to produce 24 points and 13 rebounds, while De’Vion Harmon had 16 points and five assists. They didn’t have Pop Isaacs and Fardaws Aimaq for the game, which made the result all the more important. It was their first Quad 1 victory on the season and brings the NET ranking inside the top 70.

A blowout loss to Baylor hurt them but beating the Cyclones stands as a signature victory. If they can somehow end up with five wins in the final eight games, Texas Tech will have the same number of Quad 1 wins as the rest of the bubble. It’ll be hard but being in the Big 12, it’s possible to achieve.