Culver is Texas Tech’s home star
Sophomore guard earned the Big 12 Conference’s player of the year honors
TULSA, Okla. – The revelation might have come last Saturday, when the family went bowling, something they’ve done regularly through the years. The three Culver brothers were as competitive as ever. They all had as much fun as usual. But throughout the outing, they noticed people watching, and they heard people whispering: “There’s Jarrett. It’s Jarrett!” Afterward, their departure was delayed so Jarrett Culver could pose for photos and sign autographs.
Such is the sudden reality for Texas Tech’s homegrown star.
Culver is the Red Raiders’ best player and the newly minted Big 12 player of the year. The 6-5 sophomore guard is the undisputed catalyst for a Red Raiders team that won a share of the Big 12’s regular-season championship and has designs on a deep run in the NCAA tournament bracket. Whenever that ends, Culver is projected as a lottery pick in the NBA draft.
And he’s Lubbock’s own.
“He’s gonna be bigger than Buddy Holly,” says Seth Parr, Coronado High’s football coach and athletic coordinator, referring to the rock-and-roller who hailed from Lubbock (and has a statue near downtown).
If that’s debatable, this might not be: Culver’s trajectory suggests he might be the region’s best basketball player since former NBA player Craig Ehlo, who graduated from Monterey High more than 40 years ago. One important difference that might make Culver bigger than Ehlo, at least: Ehlo left the region and played at Washington State.
In the last two seasons, as Chris Beard’s rapid rebuild of Texas Tech’s basketball program has taken hold, the Red Raiders have regularly played to near-capacity crowds at United Supermarkets Arena. The region has embraced coach Beard’s gritty, defensefirst philosophy — in part, they say, because it fits the region.
“It’s not a glitz-and-glamour type of place,” says former Coronado High basketball coach Randy Dean, who coached Culver. “It’s a real solid type of place and people with a tough edge who work hard. They’ve gone hand in hand. The style coach Beard plays is one this area really embraces: the tough basketball mind; the tough style of play. Then having a local guy stirs up a sense of pride from the area, as well. All of it has really just worked together and elevated things.”
Culver is the youngest of three very athletic brothers — his oldest brother Trey was a two-time NCAA champion in the high jump at Texas Tech, and middle brother J.J. is a junior basketball player at Wayland Baptist in nearby Plainview, Texas — who grew up competing with and against each other in a variety of sports. He loves gospel music, which comes from his heritage; his father, Hiawatha Culver, is a pastor and the Texas Tech basketball team’s chaplain.
But Jarrett Culver was lightly recruited out of Coronado, and that includes the university in town. With Tubby Smith as coach, Texas Tech didn’t seem very interested and had not offered a scholarship (although Culver’s father, Hiawatha Culver, says Smith offered a scholarship after taking the job at Memphis). When Beard arrived, he immediately changed that, saying, according to Culver, that he would have pursued him “no matter whether I was in Lubbock or New York or where I was.” And although Culver considered Texas, he ultimately chose to stay home.
“I saw myself playing here,” he says, “and I felt it would be the best opportunity for me.”
The best fit, maybe. After playing an integral support role as a freshman during the Red Raiders’ run to the Elite Eight, Culver blossomed into a star this season. He averages 18.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists while shooting 48.5 percent and is now a staple on those early draft projections.
“The secret is out,” Beard says. “For the longest time we were kind of under the radar. But simply stated, I think Jarrett is one of the best players in college basketball.”
But it’s more than statistics. Culver has bought into Beard’s philosophy, perhaps because it was already his philosophy. He’s an excellent defender who epitomizes the Red Raiders’ “hustle plays,” an amorphous stat category that’s unofficial but highly prized by coaches.
“The piece people miss unless you’re a coach,” says Northern Kentucky coach John Brannen, whose 14th-seeded Norse face No. 3 Texas Tech in a firstround matchup Friday, “(is) the fact that he does it within their system, defends at a high level and does all the other little things at a high level, not just scores like the top 10 draft pick he is. That’s impressive.”
Here’s Beard’s preview for a March Madness audience that might get its first exposure to Culver: “The whole world sees his talent (Friday) night. You’ll see his length and athleticism and ability to play on both ends. What the world doesn’t know is the work ethic, the character, great teammate.”
Culver and his parents say they’re aware of the swirling talk about the NBA, including from Beard, but they’re deflecting it.
“I’m just focused on this team and what we’ve got to accomplish,” Culver says. “We’re not done yet. When it is done, I’ll start worrying about that stuff.”
And if he is still not quite a household name, that unique combination of talent and geography has turned Culver into something of a phenomenon in Lubbock, where the favorite son is the city’s favorite player, and it’s still surreal to his parents.
“I guess being a local kid helps,” says Hiawatha Culver, Jarrett’s father. “There’s a certain sense of pride you have: ‘This is our boy, it’s Jarrett.’ The community really embraces him.”
Thursday afternoon, sitting in Row J of the BOK Center watching Texas Tech’s practice, his mother marveled at all of the attention.
“To us, he’s just Jarrett. To Jarrett, he’s just Jarrett,” Regina Culver says. “To everyone else, it’s, ‘Can I have your autograph or a picture?’ ”
For his part, Jarrett Culver just chuckles.
“It’s just all love in Lubbock,” he says. “It’s a great opportunity, just coming out of Lubbock and claiming Lubbock. It’s just a blessing. All the support I have, it’s just great.”