The Red Raiders made it to Raleigh, North Carolina safely and are gearing up for their first game in the Big Dance against the Butler Bulldogs. As late as January 31, the Red Raiders weren’t even on the NCAA Tournament radar, after losing six of their first eight conference games and falling to Arkansas in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
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After a rainout forced the cancellation of game two of a scheduled doubleheader on Saturday, Sunday afternoon’s baseball game with the Texas Tech Red Raiders, has also been cancelled due to inclement weather.
Their opponent is somewhat of an enigma as well.
The Butler Bulldogs are 21-10 this season and that earned them a number nine seed in the Midwest bracket of the NCAA Tournament. Then the Big 12 schedule whacked them again and a again; but the league has so many strong teams that at 3-7, they had only suffered one “bad” loss at Arkansas. Defensively, Texas Tech yields 69.8 points against the opposing teams.
Still, Butler has a lineup that could lead the Bulldogs to the Sweet 16.
6-6 senior guard Kellen Dunham is a prodigious scorer (16.3 ppg), and he can stroke it from deep.
Red Raiders head coach Tubby Smith has a well-balanced scoring lineup that features Toddrick Gotcher, Devaugntah Williams, Aaron Ross, and Zach Smith who all average between 10 and 11 points per game.
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Of those five programs, Smith has led Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, and now, Texas Tech. The difference is likely to come down to defense and if Butler can rebound on the offensive end.
