Why is everyone acting like Tech is terrible?

[Mr.B!!!]

We are losing a bunch of games that I thought we wouldn't this season. Wish we could have put Blake in a disguise and throw him out there for 40 and 20.

 

[campbest]

I think all of this hating on Tech is funny...they are a bubble team. If they can get to 20 wins and make it to the second round in KC...they are getting a bid.

 

[Mr.B!!!]

Tech is more solid than I thought, just thought we were "better" than them at home.

 

[Smash Williams]

I think all of this hating on Tech is funny...they are a bubble team. If they can get to 20 wins and make it to the second round in KC...they are getting a bid.

Is simply getting four more wins enough for Tech to get into the tournament? This is an honest question because I haven't followed the college basketball national scene as closely this season, and from reading your posts in the past, it's obvious that you know your stuff. Even though I know factors such as the Pac 10 being so down may potentially open the door for several teams who might not normally make it, I honestly can't make a truly educated assessment of what type of resume it will take to get into this year's tourney.

With that said, I was a little surprised to see that Tech's RPI is so high, and it does seem a bit misleading when looking at their resume. They're getting a huge boost from their strength of schedule, and they're protecting their home court against good (but not great) teams. 5-7 versus RPI top 100 opponents isn't bad at all, but when you break it down, they have only one Top 50 RPI win (vs. OSU at home) and only one Top 100 RPI road/neutral win (vs. OU). I understand that winning four of their remaining conference games would mean picking up at least two more Top 50 wins, but suppose they get those four wins in a way such that their signature victories end up being Texas, Baylor, and OSU in Lubbock (RPI Top 50 wins, but all at home), with only one RPI Top 100 road/neutral win (at OU, RPI #83). Given how the selection committee has traditionally stressed the importance of teams proving that they can win games away from home, is Tech still a lock with four more wins, even if none of those four wins comes against a quality opponent on the road? Again, the sticking point for me is that Tech hasn't done anything on the road besides beating OU, and that's not a real signature victory, so I wonder how much the inability to win on the road against quality opponents is going to hamper the chances at an NCAA bid, especially without any wins over elite teams at home to compensate for that shortcoming on their resume.