Grant McCasland is trying to steer Texas Tech to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in the past seven NCAA Tournaments and the first time in his two seasons at the school.Standing in his way is his best friend, Drake coach Ben McCollum.Rest assured that the friendship will be on pause for a few hours Saturday when the third-seeded Red Raiders battle the 11th-seeded Bulldogs in a West Region second-round game at Wichita, Kan.Texas Tech (26-8) beat No. 14 UNC Wilmington 82-72 in its first-round matchup, while Drake (31-3) upset No. 6 Missouri 67-57.Those results created the March Madness matchup between McCasland and McCollum, who met in the early 2000s while they were assistant coaches at the junior-college level and trying to move up the ranks.Current Texas Tech assistant Jeff Linder — who was head coach at Wyoming from 2020-24 — also was part of the mix. The trio engaged in nearly non-stop basketball chatter while envisioning running their own programs.The three went on a trout fishing trip in Wyoming during Linder’s stint.But the big catch on Saturday is winning a basketball game and reaching the Sweet 16.”He’s going to try to beat us. We will try to beat him,” the 43-year-old McCollum said. “It’s all love. It’s just like playing pick-up with your teammates. When you are playing pick-up, sometimes you kind of get after each other a little bit, but afterwards it’s all love.”McCasland, 48, expressed similar thoughts.”I love him, but you know, when you play him, it’s different,” McCasland said. “So we’ll look forward to the opportunity to compete. We’ll always be friends, but Saturday, I guess, it will be on.”McCasland got his opportunity at Texas Tech after six seasons at North Texas. He won NIT and CBI titles with the Mean Green and he also engineered a first-round NCAA Tournament upset of Purdue in the 2021 tourney.McCollum won four NCAA Division II national championships at Northwest Missouri State. Drake offered him a job after last season and has been rewarded with a school record for victories.