The Texas Tech football team is enjoying Saturday’s exhibition game. So now is the perfect time to spend a little mental time on the Texas Tech basketball team, whose season begins in less than a month.
This year, head coach Grant McCasland’s program hopes to build on a successful first year for McCasland. Of course, the Red Raiders went 23-11 overall and 11-7 in Big 12 play last season. After finishing fourth in the Big 12 regular season race despite a number of injuries, Tech advanced to the NCAA Tournament, but was quickly dispatched to North Carolina State, which ended up playing in the Final Four.
Expectations are even higher this year. Now that McCasland has the chance to put his fingerprints on nearly every aspect of the program, Texas Tech fans are hoping this season will be special and won’t end until late March at the earliest.
This year, there are eight newcomers on the official roster. This also includes five transfers from other Division I programs.
So who will be in the starting lineup for Coach McCasland’s team this year? Let’s take a look at the options at the head coach’s disposal.
It’s no exaggeration to say that most of the starting five have already been decided ahead of the season. This assumption is made because of the moves Tech has made this offseason.
But first, we know returning forward Darrion Williams will start. By the end of last season, he had become Tech’s best all-around player.
In his first season as a Red Raider, he averaged 11.4 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, proving he could be a great player in the Big 12. He earned third-team All-Big 12 honors and his nine double-doubles in conference play are second among Big 12 players. So he’s the obvious choice to be Tech’s starting small forward.
Three rookies should join the starting five. The first is point guard Elijah Hawkins. Last year at the University of Minnesota, he averaged 9.5 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.
But his calling card is his ability to distribute the ball. A season ago, he had 7.5 assists per game. This was the second-best result in the NCAA.
Hawkins, a senior with only one year left to play, didn’t come to Texas Tech to sit on the bench. Plus, he’s the only proven point guard on the roster, so it’s obvious he’ll be in the starting five.
At the power forward spot, the other obvious starter is New Mexico State transfer JT Toppin. In fact, many project the sophomore to be Tech’s best player this season.
Last year, he won the Mountain West Conference Rookie of the Year award. He averaged 12.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game.
Many NBA draft experts believe Toppin could be a first-round pick in next summer’s draft. In fact, he impressed this summer as he went through the draft process and attended the NBA Draft Combine.
Finally, at center, Tech will almost certainly move Federico Federico from Pitt. The 6-foot-11, 220-pounder averaged 4.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game a season ago. He also blocked 1.7 shots per game.
Those numbers aren’t great, but Federico is likely to start because he’s the only player on the roster taller than 6 feet 9 inches. Therefore, he is almost certain to be Tech’s starting center.
That leaves only the shooting guard position to be filled. And there are three players in that spot who can round out the starting five.
Two of the potential starting shooting guards, Kerwin Walton and Chance McMillian, were in the program last season, and rookie Kevin Overton could also be considered.
Walton started the most games at Tech’s shooting guard spot in 2023-24. Walton, as coach McCasland decided to go with what is essentially a three-guard lineup (along with point guard Joe Toussaint) after forward Devan Cambridge missed all but eight games of the season due to injury. was inserted into the starting lineup next to Pop Isaacs. .
The former North Carolina State transfer started 26 games and averaged 8.5 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. His biggest contribution to the team was his 3-point shooting ability, where he led the team with a 47.8% shooting percentage.
Another good shooter that McCasland could slot into his starting five is McMillian, who shot 38.7 percent from deep in his first season at Tech. But he was primarily Tech’s sixth man. In fact, he started just one game last season.
Still, his athleticism and basketball knowledge could make him a player that Coach McCasland could include in his starting five. However, leaving McMillian out of the bench rotation after averaging 10.8 points and 4.0 rebounds last year may not be the smartest move, especially considering McMillian has already proven comfortable as a super replacement. do not have.
Overton, a rookie, could also earn a starting spot. He played for Drake last season, averaging 11.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game as a true freshman. Additionally, at 6-foot-5, he would bring much-needed size to play next to the 5-foot-11 Hawkins in the backcourt.
Ultimately, Overton might make the most sense given his all-around game and size. However, his 3-point shooter performance was the lowest among the three shooting guard candidates (34.6% last season).
Could McCasland decide he needs more outside shooting from his starting five and use Walton or McMillian? Or will they lean towards the Overton player who could get a higher return given his physical talent? Either way, the fact that he has three options is a great indication that the team he’s assembled this year is much deeper than the one he had to work with in his first campaign in Lubbock. It’s a sign.
