Texas Tech basketball's March Madness potential hinges on health, not seed line | Giese
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Part of the thrill of March Madness time is seeing where your favorite team could wind up playing. And if they're good enough, it could also involve plotting out a potential path to the Final Four.
Texas Tech basketball fans have been able to do this for some time, the Red Raiders' NCAA Tournament fate sealed well over a month ago. Fans have taken to social media and podcasts to discuss what seed Texas Tech could get and what that means for its prospect of succeeding in the big tournament.
Lost in that discussion is that Texas Tech's seed has never been as important as who is and isn't able to take the floor on any given night.
Look at what the Red Raiders achieved in Houston: JT Toppin and Grant McCasland were ejected less than four minutes into the game and Kevin Overton was already out before the tip. Yet, none of those absences mattered. The Red Raiders got one of the biggest wins any team has achieved in the country this season, and are still the only team in the Big 12 Conference to have defeated the Cougars in 2025.
Houston is considered one of the best teams in the nation for a reason, their possible inclusion as a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament being an example of how good the Cougars are. And Tech beat them as a shorthanded team on the road.
Being shorthanded has been a common theme for the Red Raiders this season, sometimes for complete games, sometimes for long stretches for any particular contest. Injuries are the thorn in Texas Tech's side. Grant McCasland has done well to manage them best he can, but there was no avoiding them on Friday night in the T-Mobile Center.
Playing their second game in as many days, Tech was down its second- and third-leading scorers before the tip, ruling out both Chance McMillian (upper body strain) and Darrion Williams (lower leg). Going against an Arizona squad that already presented some tough matchup situations, the Red Raiders were in for an up-hill battle.
The usual eight-man rotation was cut down to six, and became an even bigger issue when Federiko Federiko and Elijah Hawkins got into some foul trouble. Even still, the Red Raiders battled a red-hot Caleb Love and even held a lead for the latter portion of the first half before the wheels started to fall off.
Cliche as it is, one thing you're going to see the Red Raiders do is play hard — regardless of who's on the floor. It's just a lot easier to win those fights when you have all your bullets in the chamber.
Texas Tech got to the 25-win threshold before Friday's semifinals largely due to its depth and the variety of options McCasland has to use and rely upon. Take one strand away from the thread and others form around it, a new identity forming that's just as tough as the original product.
McCasland will never stop coaching hard. He certainly didn't on Friday, just as he didn't when the Red Raiders went only six-deep at home against Houston a few weeks ago when the team was also without Williams and McMillian. The eight-point loss to the Cougars was nothing to scoff at, all things considered, just as falling to the Wildcats on Friday night doesn't diminish the run to this point.
The Red Raiders have the pieces to make a deep run into the NCAA Tournament. That trip to the Final Four? It's still a possibility, and it will have nothing to do with what seed number will be next to their name on Selection Sunday. That potential will be determined by the health of Williams and McMillian, and of Toppin and Hawkins.
No coach will ever say conference tournaments don't matter, but for this Texas Tech team, it's pretty accurate. What happened in Kansas City had no real bearing on the Red Raiders for March Madness and what they can achieve when they get there.
Whether it's a two, three or four the Red Raiders receive on Sunday, all that really matters is who's playing for them, not against them.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Healthy the main focus for Texas Tech basketball ahead of March Madness
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