Top Five: Texas Tech basketball games I'm looking forward to

Tuesday marked the first official basketball practice of the season, and the Tech hoops team hosted members of the media to watch practice at The Womble.

Head coach Mark Adams also held a press conference and the vibes around the program are good with the season tip-off in approximately 6 weeks.

With the schedule now set, which games are the most intriguing? RedRaiderSports' Ben Golan lists his top five games he's most looking forward to.

North Florida???

Yup. There's something special about season openers, even if this game will likely be a blowout win without much drama.

With the coaching changes and all the new roster additions, I'm just curious to see it live on the floor for the first time.

Barring injury, this game could mark the Texas Tech debuts for Kevin Obanor, Davion Warren, Daniel Batcho, Sardaar Calhoun, Ethan Duncan, Bryson Williams, Mylik Wilson, KJ Allen and Adonis Arms.

Let's not forget about the five players who stayed after the coaching change either. What do TJ Shannon, Clarence Nadolny, Marcus Santos-Silva, Kevin McCullar and Chibuzo Agbo look like as they continue their Red Raider careers?

The season opener is a must-see game for any Tech basketball junkie.

Initially I had the game in Lawrence here - one of my favorite Tech basketball memories is the 2018 win up there - but decided to flip it to the home game. While it is special playing at Allen Fieldhouse, a packed United Supermarkets Arena is just as hype. And a packed USA we will get.

This game comes relatively early in the conference slate, right after games vs Oklahoma State and @ Iowa State.

This is a big game for many reasons, but the Big 12 usually goes through Kansas and any team that wants to make a run at a league title will need to beat them. Tech will have their shot at the Jayhawks early, and a win here would be huge.

Playing at Madison Square Garden is always so special.

Despite losing the game, who can forget watching Tech play vs Duke and NBA stars such as Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett in 2018?

The next year Tech returned to New York City and upset #1 ranked Louisville in what was probably the best win of Tech's season.

Now the Red Raiders will compete against a Tennessee program that has made the NCAA Tournament for three years in a row and signed a top five recruiting class last season.

This one should be a doozy.

No matter where you look, Gonzaga is almost unanimously the top-ranked team heading into the 2021-22 season.

They will be heavily favored in this game, which just means the Red Raiders have nothing to lose. A win though would put the country on notice.

While players and coaches have all changed, Gonzaga will be looking for revenge after Tech knocked them out in the Elite Eight in 2019. In fact, Texas Tech is 3-0 all-time vs the Bulldogs and will look to keep that perfect record in this matchup.

You were probably already looking forward to this game, but playing in an NBA building on national TV on CBS is just the cherry on top.

Not sure if you heard, but this offseason Texas stole the man responsible for a lot of Texas Tech's success in recent years...

Yeah, John Reilly was a great strength coach but thankfully Darby Rich is also very highly thought of and has done a great job so far.

Anyways, this is probably the most anticipated regular season game in Texas Tech basketball history.

You should probably be there or watch it or something.