What’s ahead for Texas Tech, Virginia
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What’s in store for Virginia, Texas Tech
MINNEAPOLIS – Chris Beard and Texas Tech appear headed for another rebuilding job on the surface.
But if this season has proved anything, the challenge won’t faze Beard.
Consider the job he’s done this season in Lubbock, guiding Texas Tech to its first Final Four, one that earned him The Associated Press men’s basketball coach of the year honor.
Plus, Texas Tech has broken ground on the Dustin R. Womble Basketball Center, a $30 million, 58,000-squarefoot state-of-the-art practice facility, expected to be completed in 2020.
The pieces are in place for Beard to succeed for the future regardless of the players, but will Beard be in Lubbock to see the ribbon cutting?
Already floated for the UCLA and Arkansas jobs, Beard is the hottest coaching name that will be attached to any opening.
Texas Tech athletics director Kirby Hocutt gave the Red Raiders’ head man a six-year contract worth more than $19 million after last year’s Elite Eight run and has said the school is in position to keep Beard, who had also accrued $650,000 in bonuses according to USA TODAY.
Beard might not pounce at the next big job just because he can after he gave an insight into why he is such a good fit in Lubbock. “I’ll be a guy that will wake up tomorrow just to try to put ourselves in a position to win, and I’m sure when we wake up Tuesday it will be about recruiting and trying to get back,” Beard said Sunday. “I don’t ever want to change who I am and why.”
In reloading the Red Raiders, chosen to finish seventh in the Big 12, Beard dipped into his junior college and lower division experience reshuffling a college roster. Texas Tech lost five of its top six scorers and Zhaire Smith after one season to the NBA and Beard turned inward, working to develop those already on campus and picking up two key graduate transfers.
The Red Raiders squeezed the most they could out of grad transfers Matt Mooney (South Dakota) and Tariq Owens (St. John’s), and the coaching staff helped turn Jarrett Culver, the team’s leading scorer, rebounder and assist man into a likely NBA lottery pick.
Those losses are impactful, but Texas Tech will also lose Norense Odiase and Brandone Francis, veteran leaders who bought into Beard’s process and helped make this one of the best college defensive teams in a generation.
While Culver is almost certain to head to professional basketball, fellow sophomore Davide Moretti, a Bologna, Italy, native, will have the option to play professionally overseas but is likely back for at least one more season. Moretti will be a building block for the Red Raiders, coming off the two best seasons in program history. The Italian improved his scoring average (11.2 points) by more than eight points per game while also improving defensively.
DeShawn Corprew and Kyler Edwards are also holdovers, joining midyear signees Andrei Savrasov and Kevin McCullar.
The budding reputation as a program that can develop NBA prospects has helped Beard secure four-star prospects Jahmius Ramsey and Terrence Shannon Jr. Beard also has commitments from 7-foot Russel Tchewa and junior college prospect Khalid Thomas (6-9) from the College of Southern Idaho.
The Red Raiders will lose more than two-thirds of their scoring and four of five starters, but don’t expect Texas Tech or Beard to lower expectations.
There might be a challenge ahead in Lubbock, but as long as Beard is at the helm, the Red Raiders will go back to work.