NICK THOMSON (12/17/2020) If you are around Red Raider nation enough, you know that leading up to a new season, we tend to get overly optimistic about our sports teams. That’s not to say that a little optimism ever hurt anybody, but let’s be honest here. I know that on the Ramblin’ Raiders Podcast, we have the tendency to talk ourselves up into believing we’re a win or two better than we actually are in football. The same went for basketball last year after our 18-19 championship run. But as Texas Tech Hoops gets ready to lace ’em up and head into Big XII play today against Kansas, I’m here to ask y’all to be patient with our basketball team as we will possibly go through some minor growing pains.
Before I dive into why, I have to say this. I agree with Chris Beard when he said (largely paraphrasing) that good programs don’t rebuild, they re-tool. Good programs don’t have a season like the 18-19 championship run, and then have to go into re-building mode right after. They simply have the next guy step up. Although last year felt somewhat like a rebuilding year after finishing with a record of 18-13, this year’s team is not that. We have the talent, we have the coaching, we just need a little time.
To start, we have a lot of new guys on the roster that haven’t played much together. It’s a good mix of young incoming freshman phenoms, and transfers that were granted waivers. The only returners who saw significant minutes last year are Kyler Edwards, TJ Shannon, and Kevin McCullar. Although talented, there are a lot of new faces in the locker room and with that, time is needed to build chemistry. The thing is, time hasn’t been in our favor thus far. To start the season we didn’t get the number of exhibitions or non-conference scheduled games that we are used to. Last season we had 12 games before conference play began. This year, due to the covid-19 scheduling, we’ve had 7 games and Big XII play will start in December for the first time in I don’t know how long. Those lost minutes learning to play together in this Chris Beard offense are certainly going to be missed. In addition, last season we began the schedule with playing competitive teams like Iowa, DePaul, Creighton, and Louisville (huge win). In this year’s 20-21 season, who have we really played so far? The University of Houston. That’s it. And that certainly was a tough loss to witness.
Let’s look at this year’s roster. This might be the most talented group of guys Chris Beard has put together during his tenure at Texas Tech, but boy are we small. We will be rolling out 4-5 guards on the floor a whole lot this season, and need to use ball movement and shooting a high field goal % to win ball games. Our big man is a 6’7″ forward in senior transfer Marcus Santos-Silva (MSS), and although I already like his presence down low more than TJ Holyfield, it’s going to be a battle for the glass in Big XII play against the taller rosters of UT, Baylor, and WVU. With the departure of Joel Ntambwe earlier this season, Tyreek Smith (also 6’7″) will be coming off the bench to relieve MSS. With a smaller rotation, Chris Beard and company will need to rely on guards to turn on their motors and crash the glass to make up for our lack of size. Someone who did this brilliantly last year was Kevin McCullar. In limited minutes, he finished the year with 30 offensive boards. He has shown that he plays with a high intensity and does the little things right. He became a starter late into the season last year, and is highly anticipated to make his season debut. Rumor has it he could suit up against Kansas tonight, but I think Beard will be cautious not to rush him back. Even when he does finally come back, it will take some time for him to get caught up and into the flow of our team.
This program can find ways to win. We’ve seen it over the past few years with Chris Beard leading the charge. They pay attention to the details of winners, protect home court, and play very sound defense. However, there are a few things we need to clean up before we can become the elite team that we’re hoping for. Turnovers have been a thorn in our side so far in 20-21. We simply need to protect the ball better. In the matchup against our lone ranked opponent this year, Houston, we allowed for 18 turnovers and had only 7 assists. In his past few press conferences, Chris Beard has made note of our turnover to assist ratio being too high, and that we need to correct it. In addition to that, ball movement has been a little stagnant at times. Again, we can chalk that up to the lack of momentum we’ve been allowed to build over a shorter non-conference schedule and all of the new faces in the system. It simply takes time to build that chemistry.
These are definitely roadblocks that can be fixed and no doubt will be fixed by the Red Raiders. I just ask us fans to be patient and to give the boys time as they work through them. In the meantime, if we drop a few games early on in Big XII play, do not panic and please don’t call for people’s heads. This team won’t be defined for how we start, but for how we finish. If you’re a fan of the NCAA tourney, you know that the hot team can make a run. We just have to peak at the right time this season, and I like our chances to do just that. We need a scoring leader to step up, players to learn their roles, and early season mistakes and jitters to be corrected. As fans, we can do our best to support and encourage this year’s squad. Tune into the Ramblin’ Raiders Podcast each week to hear more basketball talk as the season progresses and support for our Red Raiders!
WRECK ‘EM!
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