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Texas Tech basketball: Why Chris Beard was no-brainer Coach of the Year

By Matthew Conner

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 04: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders poses with Barry Bedlan, Deputy Director of AP Sports Products at The Associated Press, after Beard was named the AP Men's Basketball Coach of the Year ahead of the Men's Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 04, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Maxx Wolfson/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 04: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders poses with Barry Bedlan, Deputy Director of AP Sports Products at The Associated Press, after Beard was named the AP Men's Basketball Coach of the Year ahead of the Men's Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 04, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Maxx Wolfson/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Maxx Wolfson/Getty Images)
(Photo by Maxx Wolfson/Getty Images) /

Beard has landed one of the best 2019 recruiting classes in the nation

Though the coach of the year award is generally awarded for what happens on the court, it would be short-sighted to not acknowledge what Chris Beard did on the recruiting trail this year.  After all, the recruiting process is one of the most important aspects of building a program.

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And no coach in the Big 12, and few in the nation, have done a better job on the recruiting trail in the 2019 cycle.  Tech currently has the No. 14 class in the nation and the No. 2 class in the Big 12 according to 247Sports.com.

The class features two top-100 players in the nation in Jahmius Ramsey (No. 30) and Terrence Shannon Jr. (No. 84).  But while other programs have more highly-regarded classes, consider how tough it has been historically for Texas Tech basketball to compete with the blue-bloods when it comes to recruiting.

The five previous Texas Tech classes have been ranked on average No. 71 overall and No. 7 in the Big 12.  That includes two classes (2015 and 2016) that were both rated the worst in the conference.

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But now, Beard has landed a better recruiting class than such power programs as Michigan State, Syracuse, Tennessee, Virginia, Michigan and North Carolina.  The list of programs whose 2019 classes are ahead of Texas Tech’s read like a who’s who of college basketball: Arizona, Kentucky, Villanova, Gonzaga, Florida, Louisville, Memphis and Duke among others.  But none of those programs face the type of challenges that Texas Tech does nor are they coming from a position of irrelevance anywhere near where the Red Raiders were when Beard arrived three seasons ago.

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