ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Texas Tech's Ronald Ross earned Bob Knight's respect with the way he plays.

"He is as hard-working a kid as I've ever had," Knight said Wednesday. "I think that he would be my all-time favorite example of a kid with no complaints, a tremendous desire to simply be the best that he could be and get the most out of what he had."

Ross said Knight, seeking his 855th career win tonight in the Red Raiders' Albuquerque Regional semifinal game against West Virginia, can turn role players into winners.

"Coach Knight recruits players that can do certain kinds of things," Ross said. "Everybody on our team is good at certain tasks."

Not so fast, Knight said.

"That may be, but I'd rather recruit five Michael Jordans - see if I could get five Michael Jordans and let them define their own roles," Knight said.

The meeting between the Red Raiders (22-10) and Mountaineers (23-10) features two teams that started the NCAA tournament with modest expectations, but are now two wins away from the Final Four.

The winner will play either Washington or Louisville on Saturday, and there is the tantalizing possibility of a matchup between slick and stylish Rick Pitino and Knight, a coaching icon of a whole different sort.

Knight is in the regional semifinals for the first time since 1994 and is trying to get Texas Tech to the round of eight for the first time.

"Nobody picked this team higher than seventh in the Big 12 and no one picked them to go to the NCAA tournament," Knight said. "Getting into this tournament is the culmination of a lot of work. Anything you can do from that point on just adds to it."

Texas Tech beat UCLA 78-66 and Gonzaga 71-69 to reach the round of 16. Ross led the way against the Zags, scoring 24 points and hitting a 3-pointer with 1:06 left that put Tech in front for good.

West Virginia is in the round of 16 for the first time since 1998 and a win over the Red Raiders would give the Mountaineers their deepest run into the tournament since Jerry West led the school to a runner-up finish behind California in 1959.

Unlike Knight, West Virginia coach John Beilein is not a postseason regular - this is just his third trip. Beilein also isn't anywhere near the celebrity the guy he'll face tonight is. The West Virginia coach's news conference was about half as full as Knight's.

"We are fortunate to be here," said Beilein, whose team beat Creighton by two in the first round, then needed double overtime to defeat Wake Forest in the second. "A bounce of a ball or an official's call could have changed the outcome of the game."

The Mountaineers opened the season with 10 straight wins, then hit a slump in the Big East season. It got so bad, Beilein considered going with younger players and looking to next season.

"Nobody believed in each other, but all we needed was a win," Beilein said.

That win came at Providence (82-78) in late January, and the Mountaineers are 11-4 since.