You probably don’t think of Texas Tech as a basketball power. But they’ve been to the Final Four more recently than Duke, 2019 to be exact, when the Red Raiders lost to Virginia in a close and controversial title game.
That’s not the only time Texas Tech and Virginia have been mentioned in the same sentence. Both programs have built their program on the defensive side of the ball. Tech calls it “no middle,” trying to push the ball to the edge of the court on every dribble, every pass.
And they play it with a level of physicality that belies even the vaguest adherence to the concept know as “freedom of movement.