JT Toppin’s season came to an end with the torn right ACL he suffered this week, and oddsmakers believe Texas Tech’s national title hopes might have evaporated with the loss of the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year.
The 13th-ranked Red Raiders (19-7, 9-4 Big 12) served notice that they were a serious contender with their upset victory over then-No. 1 Arizona last week. After the win, Texas Tech was offered at +2500 by BetMGM to capture the national title.
However, after Toppin went down in the Red Raiders’ 72-67 loss to Arizona State on Tuesday, their title odds lengthened to +5000. DraftKings told Field Level Media that their oddsmakers moved Texas Tech’s odds to win the NCAA Tournament from +2200 to +11000 following Toppin’s injury.
The Red Raiders are now +30000 longshots to win the Big 12 title at DraftKings. That’s well behind Houston (-105), Arizona (+175), Iowa State (+600) and Kansas (+1100).
An MRI confirmed the severity of the injury for Toppin, who was hurt while driving to the basket with 6:03 remaining on Tuesday. He was assisted to the locker room a few minutes later and did not return.
The junior leads Texas Tech in scoring (21.8), rebounding (10.8) and blocked shots (1.7) per game. The team’s next-leading scorer is Christian Anderson at 19.0 points per game and while the Red Raiders have two more double-digit scorers, Toppin’s defensive presence will be difficult to replace.
No one else on the team is averaging more than LeJuan Watts’ 6.1 rebounds per game, with the dropoff to the third-leading rebounder being Jaylen Petty at 3.6. Luke Bamgboye is also averaging 1.7 blocks per game, but after that no one on the roster is averaging more than 0.3 per game.
–Field Level Media
