Continuing our basketball team previews, next up is the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Chris Beard is fresh off leading the school to not only back to back Elite Eight’s but its first-ever Final Four and national championship game appearance. Beard has turned the school into a top-flight program and has produced All-American guards in back to back years. The coaching job he has done so far in his short tenure at the school has been remarkable and he has quite the job on his hands this season.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders only return two of the eight prominent members of their rotation from last season. The school brought in six freshmen and two grad transfers to help fill out this year’s rotation. A recent charity scrimmage loss to UTEP has soured some previous expectations put on the team. Chris Beard has earned some benefit of the doubt and will without a doubt have his team ready to play hard and execute once the season starts.
Key Returners
- Davide Moretti
- Kyler Edwards
These are the only two returning players that played minutes for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Moretti started all 38 games last season and was the second-leading scorer for the team. It will be an interesting follow in terms of role this year as he’s been great in a secondary role. Kyler Edwards may be perfect to take over the Jarrett Culver role and allow Moretti to stay in the second option role. Edwards only played 17 minutes a game last season as a freshman but made the most of his playing time. He shot nearly 45 percent on 69 attempts from three and was a good spark plug off the bench for a Final Four team.
Key Losses
- Jarrett Culver
- Matt Mooney
- Tariq Owens
Replacing these three will be an extremely tall task for Chris Beard. Culver was an All-American and lottery pick in last summer’s draft. He developed from a solid role player as a freshman to one of the best players in all of college basketball as a sophomore. Kyler Edwards could in store for a big jump like this similar to Culver and Keenan Evans before him. Matt Mooney and Tariq Owens were key parts of Texas Tech’s elite defense last year. Owens was an outstanding shot-blocker while Mooney was great on the perimeter. Mooney had an almost supernatural ability to get deflections and was great in sharing ball-handling duties with Moretti.
Key Newcomers
- Jahmi’us Ramsey
- Chris Clarke (grad transfer)
- TJ Holyfield (grad transfer)
These three are all but locked into not only the rotation but more than likely will be starters. Ramsey is either a high four-star or low five-star according to most recruiting sites. He comes in as a combo guard and will slide in perfectly next to Moretti in Matt Mooney’s old role. Clarke and Holyfield will be counted upon to slide in seamlessly similar to Mooney and Owens did last year. Replicating last season’s defense will be tough without a shot-blocker in the middle of the defense. But these three combined with Moretti and Edwards are a solid start for Beard. He will need a few of the other freshmen to step up into important roles off the bench.
Projected Starting Lineup
- Davide Moretti
- Jahmi’us Ramsey
- Kyler Edwards
- Chris Clarke
- TJ Holyfield
Season Outlook
In the past two years, the Texas Tech Red Raiders have started quick and had impressive results in early games. With so many young players this year, it may take a while for this team to find its groove. The team is incorporating so many freshmen and a few transfers that will need time to find chemistry in actual games. This was shown in a recent scrimmage loss to UTEP in a charity scrimmage. Chris Beard has earned a ton of respect for his work in the last two years. That in and of itself is a big reason many feel he will get this team in order. But this may be a tall task for a coach who has taken teams with low expectations to back to back Elite Eights.
This team may have some bumps in the road but it’s not crazy to expect this team to really hit a groove midway through the year. Entering Big 12 play where many schools get unlimited practice time over the Christmas break will be huge for such a young team. The two grad transfers are going to be key, expecting them to jump in as smoothly as Mooney and Owens did may be expecting a bit much but they will be counted on in a big way. Chris Beard should easily have a tournament team on his hands but a third Elite Eight may be tough to achieve.
Record Prediction: 23-8 (11-7)
Unlike in past years, the Red Raiders don’t play a particularly tough out of conference schedule. Although they do draw Kentucky in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. Chris Beard has actually done a nice job of setting up the schedule to ease in a bunch of freshmen and unfamiliar faces. The conference season, on the other hand, could be a grind. With a strong middle core this year in the Big 12 and no bad teams, every game should be tough.
Finishing anywhere from second to fourth or even fifth with such a young roster would be great for Chris Beard’s squad. Many expect yet another strong season from Chris Beard as they should. Getting these freshmen up to speed quickly though will be the big goal heading into this year.
