Busting Brackets
Fansided

Texas Tech Basketball: How Chris Beard keeps his teams “old” each season

By Jacob Zinkula

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 05: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders looks on during practice prior to the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 5, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 05: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders looks on during practice prior to the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 5, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 3
Next
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 08: Tariq Owens #11 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts against the Virginia Cavaliers in the second half during the 2019 NCAA men’s Final Four National Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 08: Tariq Owens #11 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts against the Virginia Cavaliers in the second half during the 2019 NCAA men’s Final Four National Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /

Roster 4:  Texas Tech 2018-19

In 2018-19 Beard brought in four freshmen: Khavon Moore, Kyler Edwards, Avery Benson, and Josh Mballa. Moore was Beard’s first ESPN Top 100 recruit (44th). He only played two minutes all season due to injury, however, and it appears he is transferring. Edwards was a solid role player in his freshmen season, and Benson/Mballa didn’t see the court much.

Again, Beard was not shy on the transfer market, bringing in Matt Mooney from South Dakota, Tariq Owens from St. John’s, and Deshawn Corprew from a junior college. Mooney and Owens in particular played massive roles on the 2018-19 team. Again, the “formula” had major success, as the Red Raiders made a run all the way to the national title game. This was aided by Culver, a Beard recruit, taking a big leap as a sophomore.

Roster 5?:  Texas Tech 2019-20

Texas Tech will lose a lot of players from this past season, and Beard was able to snag not one, but two ESPN top 100 freshmen to help replenish the roster: Jahmius Ramsey (#28) and Terrence Shannon Jr. (#90). Two other freshmen, Kevin McCular and Russel Tchewa, will be entering the mix as well. So far, Beard has only finalized one transfer in junior college transfer Khalid Thomas (who is expected to make an impact). I’d expect Beard to continue to be very interested in bringing in transfers. But the more recruits he brings in year after year, the less room there may be on the roster to maintain the same level of transfers.

Going Forward

Overall, Beard has managed to use transfers to speed up the rebuilding processes at both Arkansas-Little Rock and Texas Tech. Rather than relying on recruiting to make a team “good” in the future, Beard has used transfers to make his teams “good” right away. At Texas Tech, he can likely turn the resulting positive vibes around the program into better recruits. The landing of two ESPN top 100 players may indicate that Beard is ready to make recruiting his number one priority of roster building (rather than transfers).

Next. Biggest ACC recruiting needs in offseason. dark

But depending on Beard’s philosophy, and how the transfer market plays out, he might not be ready to stray away from transfers just yet. Some coaches simply prefer to “stay old,” and Beard may be one of them. Finding consistent success with “transfer-heavy” teams is easier in theory than in reality, but Beard might be one of the few coaches that can pull it off if he chooses to continue with his “formula.”

Home/Texas Tech Red Raiders