20. Texas Tech (22-10)
Owning wins over Arizona, Duke, Iowa State, and Houston, you can look at Texas Tech’s resume and be incredible impressed. It’s hard to find a better list of top wins anywhere in the country, but that’s not what the focus is really on in Lubbock right now. Things took a big turn for the Red Raiders when they lost JT Toppin for the season less than a month ago and the situation isn’t exactly getting better.
The Red Raiders didn’t exactly enter the Big 12 Tournament with momentum, losing their final two regular season games last week. They received the coveted double-bye into the quarterfinals but found themselves playing a Top 10 team in Iowa State. Texas Tech was quickly dispatched in a 75-53 loss but that’s not even the worse news. Christian Anderson pulled a muscle on the Big 12’s bizarre court and the Red Raiders fell out of the game in the second half.
Nobody wants to enter March Madness on a three-game losing streak and it’s clear that the Red Raiders aren’t at their best. It just isn’t possible to replace Toppin in the lineup and a potentially hobbled Anderson is news that’s just as horrific for the faithful in Lubbock. What happens next will show us a lot about Grant McCasland’s coaching ability and how he helms a team that looked like world beaters that’s currently heading towards the iceberg.