Texas Tech basketball lands Va. Tech grad transfer Chris Clarke

The construction of the 2019-20 Texas Tech basketball team took a huge step towards completion on Wednesday when the Red Raiders landed Chris Clarke, a graduate transfer from Virginia Tech.

For the second time in less than a week, Texas Tech basketball coach Chris Beard has gone back to one of his favorite methods of trying to build a championship roster…the graduate transfer market.  After securing a commitment from Stephen F. Austin forward T.J. Holyfield over the weekend, Beard landed another impact grad transfer on Wednesday in Chris Clarke from Virginia Tech.

The versatile 6-foot-6, 215-pound guard/forward is one of the top available players in the NCAA grad transfer portal.  Stadium’s Jeff Goodman ranks Clarke the No. 8 grad transfer in the nation because of his “big-time motor”, “high basketball I.Q.” and his ability to “guard multiple positions”.   ESPN.com also ranks Clarke as the No. 8 grad transfer in the portal this year.

Clark’s playmaking ability would make him a logical choice to start on one wing for the Red Raiders next year opposite true freshman Jahmius Ramsey.  Davide Moretti will almost certainly start at the point guard sport while Deshawn Corprew and new grad transfer commit T.J. Holyfield are the likely starting forwards.

That lineup would be a typical Chris Beard five-some in that each player would be interchangeable on the defensive end of the court.  Of course, Tech would have less size with that group than it did with this season’s starting five meaning 7-foot-1 freshman Russell Tchewa and 6-foot-9 JUCO signee Khalid Thomas would be asked to provide critical minutes off the bench.

And though Tech had tremendous success with 6-foot-10 Tariq Owens anchoring its defense this year, there’s no guarantee that the Red Raiders won’t play more of a small-ball lineup given the tremendous talent they figure to have at the guard and wing positions next year.  That formula worked well for the 2018 national champion Villanova Wildcats, which did not have a player on the roster over 6-foot-9, and it was especially effective at times for this year’s Red Raiders.

But regardless of how Beard deploys his troops next year, Clarke figures to be a huge component of the attack.  So let’s take a closer look at the newest Red Raider commit to see just what we can expect from this veteran who has already been through the wars in the premier conference in college basketball, the ACC.