17. Texas Tech (22-9)
Nearly three weeks ago Texas Tech lost their star and their season took a massive hit. Without JT Toppin, the ceiling is certainly lower for the Red Raiders but let’s not pretend like they’re just some dead doornail. Without Toppin this team scored a legendary win at Iowa State last weekend, winning their third straight game since the injury and proving they can still contend.
However, this week really hurt that argument, starting with Tuesday’s stunning 73-65 home loss against TCU. Donovan Atwell had 19 points and Jaylen Petty scored 17 but they were downed by a hungry Horned Frogs team in their final home game. Things weren’t much better over the weekend, with Texas Tech blowing a halftime lead and eventually falling 82-76 at BYU. Atwell and Christian Anderson put up 23 points apiece, but the Cougars found a way on a poor shooting night to hold serve in Provo.
The realistic expectations for the Red Raiders are clearly fluctuating quite a bit in the latter weeks of the season. We know they won’t have Toppin and that they can win games without him, but the margin for error is smaller and they really need Anderson and the other talent to step up to make a deep run. We’ll see just what that means next week at the Big 12 Tournament.