NCAA Basketball: Ranking the 7 finalists for SMU transfer Kendric Davis

2. Texas Tech Red Raiders

Texas Tech had a strong first season under new head coach Mark Adams, winning 27 games and making the Sweet 16. They did it with a balanced offense, including point guard by committee, led by Kevin McCullar and Adonis Arms. But to make it even further in March, they’ll have to upgrade at the point guard position and have a proven scorer at a high level.

Davis would be a massive pickup for them and assuming he can assimilate into the Red Raiders’ defensive system, this could be the move in the backcourt to have the roster be at the level of Kansas and Baylor. Not everyone in the rotation has to be a 6’6 player and the 5’11 Davis isn’t the worst defender and even so, Texas Tech can sacrifice a little defense to become better on offense and raise its collective ceiling.

1. Memphis Tigers

Another AAC team and coaching staff that got to see Davis up close, Memphis has been missing a true and effective point guard for a while. No offense to Alex Lomax and Boogie Ellis but adding the Conference Player of the Year would be a massive boost in the backcourt that just lost Earl Timberlake, Tyler Harris, and Landers Nolley to the portal. They added Georgia Southern transfer, Elijah McCadden, on the perimeter but he’s not a ball-handler and they’re in need of an instant impact guard.

Without Emoni Bates and Jalen Duren around, Memphis doesn’t have the high-end talent from high school and needs to hit big in the portal. They offer Davis the keys to the offense and to be the lead guard for the Tigers next season. Without having to “share” the backcourt and having a familiarity with another AAC program, the star guard wouldn’t have to make many changes.

And if he leads the team to the NCAA Tournament and makes a potential run, that could propel Davis to the NBA Draft as a future pick.