Opinions of Texas Tech basketball team shouldn't change during 3-game slide | Giese

WACO — It seems like just yesterday the Texas Tech basketball team was the darling of the college basketball world, where Grant McCasland was getting recognized as a coach of the year candidate locally and nationally.

It wasn't yesterday, but it also wasn't that long ago. Rewind a few games, back to when the Red Raiders were in the midst of a historic start not seen since the legendary Bob Knight roamed the sidelines in Lubbock. That 16-3 start, as surprising as it was, was a fun time for Tech faithful near and far.

Three games later, the temperature around the team seems to have cooled considerably. Dropping three-straight games will do that to a team. Tuesday's 79-73 loss to No. 13 Baylor, which followed losses at No. 25 TCU and at home against Cincinnati, could be an easy one to look at and say, "Maybe it was all a mirage."

That would be the lazy explanation, because examining the totality of the No. 23 Red Raiders is a bit more complicated than that.

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In a sport like football, it's easy to overreact. Fewer games and more time between contests allows ample opportunity to dissect anything and everything. Basketball, which features three-times more games and much short turnarounds, leaves everybody making the same kind of generalities about teams depending on the outcome.

Your team won? Congrats, you're the hot item of the day.

Your team lost? Well I guess they're just not very good.

The reality is no one game can clear up everything you know about a team, and a three-game span doesn't exactly tell the whole story.

So, I'll try to put this as clearly as possible: the Texas Tech team that went 16-3 to start the year is the same one that has lost three straight games.

Of course, we must acknowledge that the last two contests have come with key absences — Lamar Washington on Saturday, Warren Washington on Tuesday. However, Texas Tech had great chances to win both of those games and came up short. Plus, everybody's dealing with injuries and illnesses at this point of the year. That doesn't make the Red Raiders special.

What does make this Texas Tech team unique is that on any given day, it can beat anybody — yes, even powers such as Purdue and Connecticut — and lose to anybody in the country. More or less, that's how this team is built.

By February, every team has an identity. Tech can be broken down by its three biggest strengths and three biggest weaknesses.

Strengths: One of the top 3-point shooting teams in the country; one of the top free-throw shooting teams in the country; and, when the ball is moving, one of the most lethal offenses in the sport.

Weaknesses: Rebounding, McCasland's biggest sticking point of the season; defending the perimeter; and a thin roster, both in terms of depth and size.

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Each of the strengths is why the Red Raiders have looked like a team of destiny at times. In wins over Kansas State, No. 20 BYU and No. 11 Oklahoma, Tech used its strengths to cover up for its weaknesses. The losses to TCU, Cincinnati and Baylor were times where those weaknesses overshadowed the strengths.

With the roster makeup, it's always been about how well the Red Raiders can make up for their shortcomings in other areas. That also leaves the door open for those shortcomings to triumph at times, which has been the case the last three games. It doesn't mean the team has suddenly gotten worse, it simply means the strengths weren't quite strong enough to make up the difference.

If you want to look at the losing streak as a red flag now, then you're overreacting. Instead, look at the entirety of the season, really dive in, and see the team is the same as it has been the last few months.

We must also consider something else I've pointed out previously: if you want to take pride in the Big 12 being the best, toughest conference in the country, you also have to realize that's going to come with some pratfalls along the way of an 18-game league schedule.

Everybody but Kansas and Iowa State have lost back-to-back games in conference play. Some have done it multiple times — like BYU and Texas. And Texas Tech isn't the first team to lose three straight Big 12 games this season. Baylor is one of them, as is Kansas State.

The margin for error remains razor thin, and that's not exclusive to Texas Tech. Sometimes you'll survive by the hair on your chinny chin chin. Sometimes you'll get nicked and need a bandage. This is basketball, after all. There's a lot of games and a lot of ways things can go.

For better or worse, Texas Tech is the same team at 16-6 and tied for fifth in the conference as it was at 16-3 and alone in first place, and it'd be the same if the record was 19-3.

Nothing has changed in the last 12 days other than game results. And we've seen how quick those can flip.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Opinions of Texas Tech basketball team shouldn't change during 3-game slide