The Big 12 released the upcoming men’s basketball slate, and it sets up about as well as Texas Tech could have hoped. Of course, being the Big 12, the challenges are continuous, and the Red Raiders will never be able to truly let down their guard—so to speak. But that statement doubtless holds true for every other Big 12 club, including preseason favorite Kansas.
Tech opens conference play at home on January 4 with Oklahoma State. The Red Raiders have been double trouble for everybody in Lubbock, but the Cowboys very nearly upended Tech in the USA last season, and they will be a much improved team. All five starters return, plus a very good recruiting class highlighted by swingman Marcus Watson.
Baylor, picked by some as the second best team in the Big 12, visits Lubbock three days later. The Bears have struggled in Lubbock recently, but will be a major threat this time round. Regardless, Tech fans should see two outstanding conference games right off of the bat.
Tech’s first conference road test will occur in game three when the Red Raiders travel to Morgantown to tangle with the West Virginia Mountaineers. WVU is my sleeper in the Big 12, and they are always a load at home. Tech/West Virginia has become as heated a basketball rivalry as exists in the Big 12, and this game should be intense as per usual.
There are no real reprieves in the Big 12, but relatively speaking Tech may receive one in their next three games, which come against Kansas State on the road, Iowa State in Lubbock and TCU in Fort Worth. Keep an eye on Horned Frog guard, P.J. Fuller, however. He’s a good dark horse pick for Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.
The conference slate is then interrupted by the Big 12/SEC challenge in which the Red Raiders take on an outfit known as the Kentucky Wildcats. It’s not out of the question that that game could sell out.
After Kentucky, two more major tests present themselves as the Mountaineers pay a visit to the Hub City, and the Red Raiders travel to Lawrence, Kansas, where they’ve won only once. It wouldn’t be surprising if the game against the Jayhawks is a battle for first place in the conference standings.
The next three games could be another fairly soft spot in Tech’s schedule. First Oklahoma comes to Lubbock, then the Red Raiders travel to Austin to play Texas, followed by TCU visiting Tech. Austin has been unkind to Tech, of course, but the Red Raiders got the Horns in the state capital last year, and I foresee this Texas team as a strong candidate for Big 12 cellar dishonors.
A very difficult trip to Stillwater follows that trio of games. Tech then draws what figures to be an average K-State team in Lubbock, and then makes the always difficult voyage to Hilton Coliseum to face Iowa State. That was the court upon which the Red Raiders clinched a share of the Big 12 title last season, and the Cyclones will still be steamed about it. Another road trip follows, with Tech traveling to the usually catatonic Lloyd Noble Center to take on Oklahoma.
Tech’s final three games should be doozies.
The hated Horns put in an appearance in the USA on Leap Day, February 29. Tech then travels to Baylor for a game sure to have huge implications at the top of the conference, and then the Red Raiders draw Kansas in Lubbock for Senior Night.
To say Tech’s conference schedule ends with a bang would be putting it very mildly. The whole enchilada could easily be on the line when the Jayhawks come calling.