Texas Tech has beaten TCU , meaning the No. 10 seed is done for the season — and will perhaps soon be in the market for a new coach … but I’d like to give a three-time conference coach of the year some time to recruit to a new facility — while the No. 7 seed advances to play second-seeded West Virginia in the quarterfinal.

The Red Raiders haven’t had much success against WVU. They are 0-8 in regular-season games since WVU joined the conference for the 2012-13 season but own a Big 12 tournament win in 2013. Conference coach of the year Tubby Smith has his team humming at the right time, though, with seven wins now in the past nine games for what should be a pretty calm day on Selection Sunday.

Texas Tech isn’t settling on that, though, and will be gunning for WVU, which must come to the Sprint Center prepared. In charge of those preparations? Assistant coach Ron Everhart, who is handling the Red Raiders scouting report and let us peek inside.

“They’re a team playing as well as anybody in our league right now,” Everhart said. “They got off to a little bit of a slow start, but they’ve really ramped it up. They’ve had a pretty good run. It’s a dangerous team. Their personnel is really good. When you’re bringing a kid like (Devaugntah) Williams off the bench, who’s been one of their better players the last couple years, that tells you how well Justin Gray and Toddrick Gotcher are playing.”

WVU played Texas Tech eight days ago and has noticed something late in the season: Change. In fact, what the Mountaineers saw on tape from the regular-season finale against Kansas State startled them, because it wasn’t quite what they’d seen just days earlier.

First, Friend of the Blog Norense Odiase has returned from his injury and he was a factor in his second game back against TCU. ButbBob Huggins also remarked that his team hadn’t seen Texas Tech double team ball screens before doing it again and again with success against the Wildcats — and you’ll remember WVU’s traps were shoddy early on last week before Huggins tightened them up to great results.

“They’re starting to defend a little more like we are,” Everhart said. “They pressure the ball on the inbound. They deny inbound passes. They trap ball screens. They’re one-trap-and-out on their presses. It’s maybe a little more like what Tubby did when he was at Kentucky. They’re trying to turn up the tempo a little bit and utilize their depth. They’re doing pretty well with it.”

Gotcher and Williams are seniors, and junior Aaron Ross has played a lot of basketball, but Texas Tech relies on a wealth of youth. Two sophomore start and a third comes in early off the bench. Two freshmen play notable reserve roles. All of those players have blossomed during this successful stretch at the end of the season.

“They’ve developed their depth,” Everhart said. “They’ve got young kids coming off the bench and playing with a little more confidence, which gives them a more integrated team concept. They’re playing well. We caught them last Wednesday night, and I don’t know that they shot the ball well, but we played very well.”

Texas Tech’s offense — 73 points per game, 45 percent from the floor, 35 percent from 3-point range — gave Everhart plenty to consider, too.

“I think the biggest thing is you’ve got to prevent straight-line drives to where they make us help and kick it out to their shooters who can shoot it or drive it, because all three guards can bounce it,” Everhart said. “In transition, Justin Gray is a key, because he runs so well. And of course on the boards, you’ve got to keep (Zach) Smith off the glass. He’s a very good player.”

The guards are a critical matchup for WVU, which has done well in the backcourt in both games. WVU allowed Gotcher to score 12 in the win in Lubbock, but no other guards reached double figures in either game this season. It’s not something the Mountaineers can take for granted, though.

“They’ve got very good guards,” Everhart said. “They control the ball well. I think one of the biggest keys to their turnaround and why they’re playing so well is Keenan Evans. He’s a very good straight-line driver with good vision who passes it well and is now starting to finish at the rim.

“He’s kind of turned their whole deal around offensively to where they’ve gone from a team earlier in the season that was averaging 67, 68 points a game to a team that’s averaging 75, 78 points a game. On any given night those guards can get going and start shooting, and with the way he drives it and finds guys and gets them shots, they’re pretty good.”

The frontcourt can cause problems, too, and it’s left marks in both games against WVU. Smith dunked a bunch in the first game, and last week Ross made the most of what Everhart agreed was a “weird matchup” with the Mountaineers in that he has a forward’s size and a guard’s skills.

“Smith, I think, is the most athletic guy in our league, without a doubt,” Everhart said. “He’s one of those kids who if he gets to his left shoulder and you allow him to become a right-handed player, he’s awfully good. Ross is a guy who can back out, and he shoots it well. He’s right now, I think, shooting like 42.5 percent the last five games from the 3-point line. He’s really turned it up and played extremely well.”

The Red Raiders share more in common with the Mountaineers than their occasional forays into pressure defense. As this season progressed, they not only used more of their roster, but they found additional ways to play and to new tactics to offer opponents.

“You know, (Matt) Temple is playing good,” Everhart said. “He’s been a kid who started out as a role player, but he’s a guy they’re actually throwing the ball to now and isoing him and trying to get into individual 1-on-1 matchups. I think because he’s gotten better and has a bigger role for them they can play big or they can play small. The thing is, when they play small, they’re a little like Oklahoma. When they play bigger, they’re a little bit like we are. They’ve got a good ballclub.”