Matt York/Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — The Circle 6 Ranch sits halfway between Stanton and Lenorah, just off a stretch of Highway 137 in West Texas where the tumbleweeds have free rein. Parker Hicks, a sophomore on the Texas Tech basketball team, had another description for its location: “It’s in the middle of nowhere.”
The final chapter of the Texas Tech basketball team’s season will be written on Monday night, when the Red Raiders play Virginia in the N.C.A.A. men’s national championship game. But the opening one was set at the Circle 6, a broad spread on a dusty plain, over a long weekend in early September.