After 12 Years Between Big Mondays, Texas Tech Will Host Two in a Row
After being absent from hosting duties on Big Monday since Bob Knight was roaming the sidelines, Coach Chris Beard has locked Texas Tech into back-to-back weeks in primetime.
This might not seem like a huge thing, all the games are on TV right? But, to be on a Monday broadcast on ESPN is special. It's a showcase for a National brand. Chris Beard is putting Texas Tech back on the map as a Nationally relevant program. The warm up act for Texas Tech last Monday? Duke. The game before Texas Tech this next Monday, just seven days later, Louisville and Virginia Tech.
There is power in the schedule, and the Red Raiders are the most prominent name in basketball on Monday nights. At least for this seven-day stretch.
The Big Monday news gets even better when you realize the Texas Tech student section, affectionately known as 'Raider Riot' during the basketball season, is dressing as disco dancers for the West Virginia game on ESPN this Monday.
Why is that important? It was West Virginia's coach Bob Huggins that called Texas Tech's postgame dance celebration bad for the game and classless when the Red Raiders won in Morgantown earlier this season.
Chris Beard has already responded to the harsh words from Huggins, but I bet the student section can more eloquently describe the Texas Tech animosity for Huggy Bear and his program.
This is also the first time West Virginia will return to Texas Tech since the Red Raider faithful rushed the court last season and a WVU player, who's still on the team, was involved in an altercation with a fan who had matriculated his way onto the court.
All of these things, the fact that it's Big Monday, the fact that it's West Virginia, the fact that Huggy bear is Huggy bear all makes for an incredible recipe for the game to be absolutely huge.
It might be the best Texas Tech atmosphere there ever was, and it will surely involve dancing.