Texas Tech basketball: Who should be first inductees in Ring of Honor?
![DALLAS - MARCH 13: Andre Emmett #14 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts on the court against the Baylor Bears during the Phillips 66 Big XII Championships at American Airlines Center on March 13, 2003 in Dallas, Texas. The Red Raiders won 68-65. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) DALLAS - MARCH 13: Andre Emmett #14 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts on the court against the Baylor Bears during the Phillips 66 Big XII Championships at American Airlines Center on March 13, 2003 in Dallas, Texas. The Red Raiders won 68-65. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/8a9b2fcdfe36868724e71640d9f4c059e858e78d2be79acc199c33c86d3ffbdf.jpg)
The Texas Tech basketball has plans to create a ring of honor at United Supermarkets Arena to honor both the men’s and women’s basketball programs. But while the first group of inductees for the Lady Raiders is easy to predict, that is not the case for the Red Raiders.
On this week’s episode of The Kirby Hocutt Show on Double-T 97.3 FM in Lubbock, Double-T Varsity Club Director Rodney Allison revealed that a ring of honor will be created at United Supermarkets Arena to honor greats from both the Texas Tech basketball and the Lady Raider basketball programs.
Allison said that the initial class will include four representatives of the men’s program and three representatives of the women’s program. The initial inductees will be revealed on March 4th when the Red Raiders host Texas for the home finale.
When trying to predict who the Lady Raider honorees will be, three obvious names come to mind. The first is Sheryl Swoopes, who led the Lady Raiders to the 1993 National Title. She is one of the greatest female players of all time winning three Olympic Gold Medals and four WNBA titles on her way to being enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
The next obvious choice is legendary head coach Marsha Sharp. In 24 seasons at Tech, the Tulia, Texas native amassed a 571-189 record while leading her teams to eight conference titles and the 1993 National Title.
The third logical choice would be Carolyn Thompson. The Hobbs, NM native has he number retired by the Lady Raiders (along with Swoopes) and was a 2014 inductee into the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame. At the time she left Lubbock, she owned 18 school records.
But let’s focus on the potential men’s honorees. It will be far more difficult to pick just four players from the history of the Texas Tech basketball program, which dates back to the 1925 season.
Allison did not provide any insight about what criteria will be used to evaluate the candidates leaving Red Raider fans with plenty of material for debates on the subject. So let’s take a look at some of the most likely candidates to be among the first four members of the Texas Tech basketball hall of fame.