It was important for the Texas Tech basketball team to capitalize on their second opportunity in as many years to reach the program’s first Final Four. After all, Tech has been to the Elite 8 just twice in program history so opportunities such as this do not come around all that often.
And in recent seasons, we have seen some other good programs fail to get past the Elite 8. For instance, Xavier has been in a regional final three times since 2004 (most recently in 2017) and is yet to break through.
Then there is former Big 12 foe Missouri, which has been to five Elite 8’s and is yet to win one.