Knight's Red Raiders try to make final push for NCAA tournament field

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Texas Tech coach Bob Knight wasn't about to guess whether his Red Raiders have already done enough to merit a spot in the NCAA tournament field.

"I'm not on the tournament committee, and I have no way of knowing," he said. "I never have gotten involved with that type of thought."

Knight's leading scorer, Jarrius Jackson, thought it best that the Red Raiders make a strong last impression at the Big 12 tournament, starting Thursday against Colorado.

"We're not for sure in the [NCAA] tournament yet, so we have to come to this tournament and try to make some noise and have a good run in this tournament to make sure that we're in," Jackson said Wednesday.

The Red Raiders (20-11, 9-7 Big 12) appeared to be in good position after consecutive wins against top-10 teams Kansas and Texas A&M back in January. But Tech followed those two impressive victories with Knight's longest losing streak in decades, and the five losses put the Red Raiders' postseason hopes firmly in jeopardy.

Heading into their opening round game against 12th-seeded Colorado (7-19, 3-13), the Red Raiders have won five of their last six games, beginning with another resume-building win at Texas A&M.

"We know that we've still got work to do," Tech guard Martin Zeno said. "We've just got to come to this tournament and just play every game better than we did earlier in the season."

Along with Texas Tech, fourth-seeded Kansas State (21-10, 10-6) enters the conference tournament uncertain of its postseason fate, while other teams are still clinging to hope.

The Wildcats won 10 games in league play -- usually a benchmark for Big 12 teams seeking a bid to the 65-team NCAA field -- but started this week with an RPI of 59. Texas Tech's RPI is 40 and Oklahoma State's is 52, even with a 6-10 Big 12 record and zero road wins.

The seventh-seeded Cowboys (20-11, 6-10) do have neutral site wins against Pittsburgh and Syracuse to their credit but can't feel confident about their chances after falling all the way from a top 10 ranking in December.

Other first-round matchups feature sixth-seeded Missouri against Baylor, eighth-seeded Iowa State against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State against No. 10 seed Nebraska -- which built a 29-point lead on its way to an 85-73 win over the Cowboys on Monday.

No. 2 Kansas, the tournament's top seed, Texas A&M, the two seed, Texas also have first-round byes.

Oklahoma (15-14, 6-10), which has lost its last six games, is looking to extend the nation's longest postseason streak to 26 years while first-year coach Mike Anderson is trying to lead Missouri (18-11, 7-9) to its 10th straight postseason appearance, following back-to-back NIT bids.

They're among the teams needing four wins in four days to earn a spot on the NCAA bracket.

"I think 12 teams showed up here and 12 teams are looking at their shot to go to the NCAAs, and the way to do that is you've got to win this tournament," Anderson said.

"We're in the hunt for something," he added. "I don't know what."