Who the Heck Will Be on the Texas Tech Basketball Team Next Year?
The Texas Tech men's basketball team lost to Duke Thursday night in an entertaining Sweet 16 game that unfortunately ended poorly for the Red Raiders.
Twenty years ago, if Texas Tech had lost the same game with the same starters you would probably be revving up to run it back with Terrence Shannon Jr., Kevin McCullar, Kevin Obanor and anyone else with eligibility remaining. That's just not how college athletics works anymore.
Every member on every roster in America is getting recruited right now and Texas Tech has a lot of coveted pieces to a number of puzzles where they might be better fits. More on that in a minute.
Before we get into who might be back, let's focus for a minute on who won't be.
Bryson Williams, my Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, has exhausted his eligibility at the collegiate level and did everything and more that was expected of him this season.
Adonis Arms and Davion Warren also played their only season as the Red Raiders leaving it all on the court in both instances. Arms helped his professional career immensely by coming to Texas Tech.
Marcus Santos-Silva will also be gone and what an impact he made on the program and community. Santos-Silva transferred to Texas Tech last season and remained through a coaching change, personal tragedy and moving from a starting role to a bench one, all while playing his ass off for Mark Adams.
Commendable on all fronts.
Now let's move on to who will for sure be back. To me, it's just one name.
Mark Adams. That's the one steady constant.
The assistant coaches will have opportunities to mull over after putting together an incredible roster of virtual no-namers in a short offseason and making it to the Sweet 16.
Sean Sutton is about as close to a lock as can be. Baret Peery has already been mentioned in some coaching searches, and Talvin Hester and Corey Williams are both great recruiters with solid resumes. Darby Rich and the strength program had commentators guffawing about the difference in body type between Texas Tech and their opponents all season.
In a perfect world, the staff is intact through the offseason and continuity builds from the top for the first time in the last several seasons.
Let's get to the players.