Texas Tech women’s basketball coach Krista Gerlich is still pursuing her quest of getting her alma mater back in the NCAA tournament.
The Lady Raiders are coming off a 17-16 season in Gerlich’s third year in Lubbock. While she has certainly made the program better, an invitation to March Madness has thus far proven elusive.
The former Lady Raiders point guard, who helped lead them to their 1993 national championship, took over the program after a successful stint at UT Arlington.
Texas Tech had to turn down a postseason invitation last year, but they have played postseason basketball under Gerlich. Two years ago they reached the Super 16 of the Women’s NIT.
Gerlich’s expectations remain high. In a re-made Big 12, she’s hoping for a breakthrough. With eight holdover players from last season, along with a raft of a half-dozen transfers, she hopes she finally has the team that can help her chase down that dream in March.
Here’s a preview of the Texas Tech Lady Raiders’ upcoming season.
Odds
Vegas Insider did not give Texas Tech odds to win the national championship. The Big 12 coaches voted the Lady Raiders to finish 10th in the preseason poll.
Three Players to Watch
G Bailey Maupin: Gerlich was able to keep the West Texas product home when she was a prized recruit three years ago and Maupin has made an impact on the program. She’s coming off a season in which she averaged 14.1 points and led the team with 102 assists. She’s also one of the best 3-point shooters in the conference.
G Jasmine Shavers: Maupin was the Lady Raiders’ second-leading scorer last year. Shavers was the highest-scoring player on the team and returns after averaging 15.4 points per game. She and Maupin are the foundation of what Texas Tech hopes to do in the backcourt.
F Maya Peat: The Lady Raiders needed some length inside and were able to pull Peat out of the transfer portal from UAPB. At 6-6, she’ll be one of the tallest players in the conference and is worth her weight in rebounding, with nearly 700 for her career. But she also averaged 10.5 points last season.
Biggest Strength
Continuity. The Lady Raiders had eight players back from a year ago and a half-dozen of them made significant contributions last season. Along with Maupin and Shavers, the Lady Raiders have forward Jordyn Merritt back, who averaged 8.1 points and 5.6 rebounds. Kilah Freelon led the Lady Raiders in rebounding a year ago and she’s back, along with her eight points per game. Jada Wynn and Loghan Johnson both averaged more than four points per game. In an era where stability can be a year-to-year proposition, the Lady Raiders did a great job of protecting the vital parts of their roster to build something better for this season.
Biggest Weakness
Frontcourt chemistry. It’s not depth the Lady Raiders have to worry about here. They actually have some of the best depth in the paint in the conference. Between Merritt and Peat, Texas Tech has a solid 1-2 punch. The question is how Tech will integrate its remaining interior players like holdover Achol Magot and transfer Sarengbe Sanogo? The latter helped Odessa College win 30 games last year as she earned NJCAA all-America honorable mention honors. She’ll need time to adjust to the Division I game and the Lady Raiders probably need something out of her later in the season.
Season Prediction
It’s hard to quibble with where a team is ranked in a coaches’ poll, but I think Texas Tech may be better than where they were voted. This looks like a sneaky good team that got better defensively with Baylor transfer Denae Fritz and Iowa State transfer Jalynn Bristow. The lady Raiders have always been a great non-conference team but haven’t been able to put it together in Big 12 play. The Lady Raiders have the pieces to be a solid team and they have to put it together in January and February if they want that invitation to March Madness. We’re projecting 17 to 19 wins before the Lady Raiders get to Kansas City.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
