NCAA Basketball: 8 teams that should target Texas Tech transfer Nimari Burnett

Former five-star prospect Nimari Burnett has left Texas Tech. Which NCAA Basketball programs could be a good fit for the guard?

In the past few years, the Texas Tech Red Raiders had become one of the top programs on the NCAA Basketball recruiting trail. They land top-30 guard and last year’s leading scorer Jahmi’us Ramsey, who went on to get drafted in the NBA. His replacement, five-star combo guard recruit Nimari Burnett, was ranked even higher than Ramsey and was the highest-ever rated prospect out of high school to join Texas Tech.

With Davide Moretti off to Italy, it was supposed to be Burnett that had a major impact as a freshman. However, Coach Chris Beard wanted to bolster the roster more, adding a pair of transfer guards in Mac McClung and Jamarius Burton. With junior Kyler Edwards also in the mix, it was going to be interesting to see how the rotation would look.

And 12 games in, we got our answer. McClung and Edwards were the key guards in the offense, with Burnett coming off the bench. He started out getting around 18 mpg to start the season and even had a pair of double-digit scoring efforts.

But as conference play got underway, the former five-star recruit was starting to get behind, with his playing time decreasing. Things must have come to ahead in the last game, as Burnett played just six total minutes in the team’s win over Kansas State.

That was the last straw for the freshman, opting to enter the NCAA Basketball transfer portal. Even with the struggles early on, there’s no question that many power conference programs will have interest in the guard, particularly with the NCAA giving out blanket waivers starting next season that’ll allow him to play for the 2021-22 campaign.

Here’s a look at eight programs that would be a legit match for Burnett.