1. Texas Tech sweeps Texas

A once Longhorn dominated rivalry has now shifted in favor of the Red Raiders, who have swept UT basketball two seasons in-a-row with four-straight wins in Austin. But to Red Raider fans, players and coaches, there was clearly much more to Saturday’s game. Following the matchup, Tech junior guard Clarence Nadolny said, “That was personal, you know … You don’t want to lose to the guy that left you.” And for Tech,it was mission accomplished, sweeping the Beard-led Texas squad and furthering a pattern of dominance over the last 11 games against the Longhorns with 9 wins in the same time span.

2. Mark Adams puffs up coach of the year resume

Following a season sweep of the reigning national champs, Mark Adams’ greatness was finally recognized, as he was added to a list of 15 coaches on the 2022 Werner Ladder Naismith Men’s Coach of the Year Late Season Watch List. Joining longtime, legendary counterparts like Kentucky’s John Calipari, Gonzaga’s Mark Few and Baylor’s Scott Drew, Adams was just one of two first-year head coaches on the list. But the case for Adams got pushed even harder when the head of the Red Raider program swept No. 20 Texas on Saturday and ultimately put Tech in a league of its own against ranked opponents with 7 wins over top-25 teams, a national lead. But what fuels his case even more is the steady rise to national stardom he’s led the Red Raiders to. Opening the season unranked, Tech has now pushed its way to a likely top-10, potential top-6 ranking thanks to the joint efforts of the Tech program, and Mark Adams is at the helm.

3. Tech fans turn F.E.C Red

One of the most increasingly tense battles in the Big 12 took to the Frank Erwin Center on Saturday, but despite it being a road game in Austin, the Longhorns’ Frank Erwin Center for 40 minutes sounded more like a neutral court. Busses full of Red Raider loyals flocked to the drum including Tech’s president Lawrence Schovanec. Some say the crowd was 40-60 Texas fans, some say 50-50 on both sides, but regardless, the sea of red was evident and daunting once again on the road. NBCSports’ Rob Dauster said, “Texas Tech went into Austin and wins a home game, there were defense chants when Texas had the ball down the stretch, there were airball chants in the second half.” And even to some Tech players, the Frank Erwin Center looked like a home away from home with all the Red Raider fans in attendance.

4. Tech baseball wins one, drops 2 to open season

It was a rough start to the Red Raiders’ baseball season, but despite a pair of losses on opening weekend, a few bright spots came to light. One of those came from the bat of the youngster, freshman Owen Washburn, who garnered his third, and most important hit of the contest on a 2-1 pitch that he hit to seal Tech’s win over Michigan in walk-off fashion. The team showed some resilience and Washburn capped it off in the team’s season opener with a stellar debut at the plate. Although a tough weekend, the Red Raiders will now look to regain traction at their own palace at Dan Law for the home opener against Dallas Baptist Tuesday at 2 p.m.

5. Lady Raiders down no. 15 Oklahoma, Gray hits 2k career points

Behind an injury-ridden season, the Lady Raiders have still willed their way to 3 ranked wins on the season, and against Oklahoma, an early senior night was at the forefront of the win. Vivian Gray had 35 points in the win and chalked off the 2,000 career points milestone on the way as one of the purest scorers in the country. She’s scored 20-or-more in four-straight games and has notched 30 points three times this season already. But it was not just Gray, the Lady Raiders were rolling on all levels, nearly breaking the program record of 36 points in the fourth quarter, they came up just short, however, with 34. Once again a shining light for the program, Gray is the first player since Alicia Thompson in 1998 to reach 2,000 points in Tech program history.

6. Tech remains hot in ‘23 recruiting class

There is absolutely no secret that Joey McGuire has worked relentlessly to bring the best recruits possible to Lubbock, but the odds of having one of the best early recruiting classes in the country for 2023 was probably beyond most people’s odds. Now facing reality, the Red Raiders have more total class of 2023 commits than any other school, and rank No. 2 nationwide in the same class recruiting rankings. The latest commits are from 4-star Jmaury Davis and 3-star Marcus Ramon-Edwards.

7. Red Raiders in contention for 4-star defensive back

Highly touted defensive recruits remain in recognition of the Red Raiders’ developing structure, and Sunday gave way for 4-star talent Ryan Yaites to do the same. The No. 73 player in his class, according to Rivals, placed Tech in his top-4 alongside Michigan St., Cal and LSU. A Denton, Texas, native, the Texas ties run deep in Yaites.

8. Men’s, women’s track keep top-10 rankings

Texas Tech track and field wrapped up its non-conference indoor slate and will now head into the Big 12 championships for a real test of placement. But to this point, both the men’s and women’s side have kept stride among the best programs in the country. Most recently, head coach Wes Kittley’s men’s program was ranked No. 4 in the country while the women were ranked No. 6 in the country.

9. Red Raider golf holds top-10 ranking

Quietly, Tech golf has assumed a top-10 position nationally behind a strong start to their season. A second-place finish for the sophomore Baard Skogen and an overall second place finish at the Amer Ari event skyrocketed the program to No. 7 in the country. They will look to keep stride at the uber-competitive Prestige event which holds No. 5 Pepperdine, No. 9 Stanford, No. 14 Kansas and No. 25 LSU.

10. Opinion: The basketball recruiting trap

College basketball recruiting has historically been dominated by the “Blue bloods” the Kentucky, Duke, Gonzaga schools that bring in and shoot out 5-star, 1-year talent like clockwork. But with Texas Tech basketball pushing closer and closer to this elite company, I wonder, and worry how the recruiting trail will work. It is no secret that Tech has been extremely successful with transfers, 3-star and 4-star talent that buys in and really takes in the culture, but I worry the upper-echelon of some recruiting classes will not feel the same way. Chris Beard went more to the highly-touted recruit template, and the issue is evident: He is left with a lot of great players lacking in fluidity or connectedness. With the Red Raiders on the rise, I would hate to see them fall into the 5-star trap where your best players leavefor the draft a year later. I believe a sustainable culture with your best players sticking around can do miracles, just ask Kevin McCullar or Terrence Shannon Jr. Age, culture-builders and program veterans breed success, the same is not as true for the blue blood 5-stars. I hope Tech in its rise to national stardom gets their share of talent, but continues on the path that got them to national success.