Texas Tech Basketball: Why Red Raiders will finish in top half of Big 12

By Carmine Carcieri | Oct 23, 2016

Mar 13, 2016; New Orleans, LA, USA; Arkansas Little Rock Trojans head coach Chris Beard celebrates by cutting down the net following a win against the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks in the Sun Belt Conference tournament championship game at the Lakefront Arena. Arkansas Little Rock defeated Louisiana Monroe 70-50. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /

Texas Tech basketball has the personnel to finish in the upper half of the Big 12 standings.

Tubby Smith’s Texas Tech Red Raiders had a surprise 2015-16 season, as they finished with a 19-13 overall record and a .500 record in Big 12 conference play. They earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, locking up an 8-seed and a match-up against the Butler Bulldogs.

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Smith was unable to lead the Red Raiders to a victory on the big stage, but getting the program to their first Big Dance since 2007 was progress in and of itself.

Now with Smith in Memphis and former Arkansas-Little Rock head coach Chris Beard in Lubbock, the Red Raiders are ready to continue to capitalize on their momentum.

However, the Big 12 coaches do not agree, as they selected Texas Tech to finish tied for 7th place in the conference standings with Oklahoma State.

Sure, it may take time for the Red Raiders to adjust to their new head coach, but that certainly doesn’t mean that they don’t have the personnel to finish in the top half of the standings. As a matter of fact, I believe Texas Tech is being significantly underrated on the national scale.

Why?

First, the Red Raiders have one of the most experienced rosters in college basketball. They have six seniors and six juniors, while only possessing a total of three underclassmen. Toddrick Gotcher and Devaugntah Williams are off to greener pastures, but the team still brings back six of their top eight scorers, including two double-figure scorers in Aaron Ross and Zach Smith.

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Texas Tech is flat out “old” and that’s a good thing in the world of college basketball. Freshman have a significant impact on teams, specifically the one-and-done talents on Duke, Kentucky and Kansas, but the best squads in March normally have some semblance of experience.

Secondly, the Red Raiders have excellent depth. They have 11 players that could legitimately play quality minutes for Beard and company. They have four newcomers (Anthony Livingston, Giovanni McLean, Shadell Millinghaus and Niem Stevenson), but all four have proven themselves at their respective levels of basketball.

Livingston and Stevenson, in particular, could be forces to be reckoned with. The Arkansas State graduate transfer will help anchor the Red Raiders in the painted area, while the JUCO prospect could be one of the team’s top scorers.

Finally, the Big 12 won’t be nearly as strong as last season. Nearly every team in the league lost at least one key piece to the puzzle besides Texas Tech.

Kansas saw Perry Ellis and Wayne Selden Jr. depart. Iowa State lost Georges Niang and Jameel McKay. Rico Gathers, Taurean Prince and Lester Medford are gone from Baylor. Devin Williams left West Virginia for the NBA. Texas departs over 60 percent of their scoring. And of course, Oklahoma won’t have the best scorer in the nation, Buddy Hield, anymore.

The Jayhawks are far and away the best team in the conference, but after that, things are wide open.

Next: Johnny Jones on LSU's 2015-16 season

Even though Texas Tech may not have the brand names that Kansas, Iowa State, Baylor, West Virginia, Texas and Oklahoma still possess, they have a team that should be ultra competitive. Whether it’s because of their experience, their depth and the lacking strength of the Big 12, the Red Raiders will be sitting in the top-five of the league standings come March.

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