Matt Mooney has played at three schools – he started his college career at Air Force – the only school willing to give him a scholarship.  That season ended with an off-court injury, and he decided to sit out a season and transfer to South Dakota.  There, he led South Dakota in scoring for two seasons, but watched as South Dakota State would knock them out in the conference tournament.  Then, his coach decided to leave to take the job at Utah State, and so he decided to transfer as well to give him self one last chance to play in the tournament.  As a graduate transfer, he could play immediately – and he chose to come to Texas Tech.  And in the second half of the game against Michigan State, the graduate transfer hit multiple three-pointers on his way to 22 points and to stretch the Red Raiders lead to 48-35.

Jarrett Culver was a three-star recruit out of high school – he had multiple schools recruiting him but nothing like the attention that the one-and-done stars get.  In his sophomore year, he is now getting attention from NBA scouts as he was the Big 12 Player of the Year.  But in this game, Michigan State had shut him down.  With only 3 minutes left in the game, Culver only had 3 points.  And at this point, Aaron Henry from the Spartans drove into the lane strong and hit a layup to cut the Texas Tech lead to 52-51.

But star players want the ball – and Culver is a star.  First, Culver drove to the basket with a floater to extend the Red Raiders lead to 3.  Then, with 1 1/2 minutes left, Culver drove to the basket and was fouled – hitting one of the two free throws to extend the lead to 4.  And finally, with one minute left in the game, Culver got the ball at the top of the key, let the shot clock come down, and then made a quick move towards the basket, stepped back and drilled a dagger three-pointer that extended the lead to 7 points.

Meanwhile, Texas Tech’s amazing defense continued to baffle Michigan State – they would not score in those final 3 minutes after Henry had cut the lead to 1 and Culver had extended the lead back to 7.  The Red Raiders would hit a few more free throws and won the game 61-51.

This whole tournament, Texas Tech has played with a chip on their shoulder – as they mentioned that no one would believe that they would do well in this tournament.  Even in the Lunatic pool, despite being a 3 seed and being the Big 12 champion, only 5 entries picked the Red Raiders to get to the championship game, and none of them picked the Red Raiders to win.  Let that sink in – a Big 12 champion who was the 3 seed in the West and the 10th overall seed in the tournament – was chosen by no one to win the pool – not even as a crazy upset.  While people felt Gonzaga might be a 1 seed that could be upset – many were looking for Michigan or Florida State to pull that upset – not Texas Tech.  But it is the Red Raiders who are still playing.

So, in their first ever Final 4, the Big 12 champion Texas Tech Red Raiders will play the ACC champion VIrginia for the National Championship.  Either way, on Monday, one of these two schools will win their first National Championship in school history.  And with both teams being tough, physical, defensive-minded teams, it should be a close exciting game.  Can’t wait for Monday night!!!!!