Regardless of how unfortunate a comparison it may be, Tubby Smith’s Texas Tech Red Raiders are quickly becoming this season’s TCU of the Big 12.
The Horned Frogs were a very inexperienced team lacking the depth and star-caliber talent required to survive in a daunting Big 12, just as the Red Raiders are this year. But most concerning of all for Texas Tech is the very possible outcome of concluding conference play without a single Big 12 victory, much like last season’s (0-18) Horned Frogs.
The Big 12 has established itself as the most rigorous conference, top to bottom, to compete in on a nightly basis with six teams currently ranked. This, combined with the fact that there’s NBA talent on nearly every other Big 12 roster this season doesn’t provide any relief to Tech’s seven newcomers, which include five freshmen.
Thus far, Texas Tech has skidded through the first six games of conference play without a single victory. They were expected to drop matchups with the conference powers of Texas, Kansas and West Virginia, but the guarantee that Texas Tech was in for a rugged Big 12 season came after their fifth-straight conference defeat, which ended a 21-game Big 12 losing streak for the same club whose conference record Texas Tech will likely match by March: TCU.
“Maybe the worst output that we’ve had here,” Smith told ESPN after his Red Raiders got embarrassed at home by 20 points to TCU.
But it’s still early in conference play so Texas Tech should be able to turn it around and snag a win or two, right?
Based on their upcoming schedule — which features eight ranked matchups in their next nine games – the very likely answer is no.
Texas Tech will be fortunate enough to begin the 12-game stretch to conclude conference play with the most recent Big 12 favorite, No. 9 Iowa State, and outside of an extremely poor shooting night and a few extra prayers, there’s no way the Red Raiders kick off this portion of their schedule with a win.
They’ll follow that up with trips to Norman and Morgantown to face Buddy Hield’s No. 19 Sooners and No. 18 WVU, whom they’ve already lost to by double digits, 78-67. And with the recent upspring in play for Kansas State, Texas Tech should expect to reach double-figure conference losses before grabbing hold of their first win.
Wins won’t be any easier to come by from there, as their next five games will come against No. 9 Iowa State, No. 11 Kansas, No. 17 Texas, No. 21 Baylor and No. 19. Oklahoma. Tech will have the benefit of playing at home in three of these matchups, but regardless of location, the available talent in Lubbock simply isn’t up to par with any of these five teams, which is why they’ll still be winless in the conference after this stretch.
In reality, the most likely chance Texas Tech has this season in their efforts to refuse going winless in the Big 12 will come on the road against the last team to go winless in the conference. But Texas Tech will even come in as underdogs in this matchup after being blown out at home by the same TCU team in the early stages of conference play.
There’s always the chance of an upset, but based off what this Red Raiders team has shown as of late, there shouldn’t be much hope for very many wins, if any, to finish up Big 12 play. I think it’s safe to say an 0-18 conference record is looming.