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Texas Tech basketball: Ramifications of Deshawn Corprew’s departure

By Matthew Conner

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 27: Deshawn Corprew #3 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders shoots the ball during a practice session ahead of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament West Regional at Honda Center on March 27, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 27: Deshawn Corprew #3 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders shoots the ball during a practice session ahead of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament West Regional at Honda Center on March 27, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images)
(Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images) /

Tech will have only two returning players from last year’s rotation

One of the factors many experts consider when determining how good a team will be each year is the number of key returners still on the roster.  Fortunately, Beard has proven that he may be the best coach in the nation at rebuilding his program on the fly.

This season, the only members of the 2018-19 rotation that will be back are junior Davide Moretti and sophomore Kyler Edwards.  That means 75% of last year’s contributors are no longer with the program.

Of course, sophomore Jarrett Culver was taken No. 6 overall in this year’s NBA Draft, the second-straight year Tech has had an early entrant taken in the first round.  And seniors Matt Mooney, Tariq Owens, Norense Odiase, and Brandone Francis all leave a huge void.

Taking it a step further, Tech also saw Khavon Moore, Josh Mballa, and Malik Ondigo enter the transfer portal.  So of the 13 scholarship players on this season’s roster, 11 will be playing their first basketball for the Red Raiders.

Two of those players, redshirt freshmen Kevin McCullar and Andrei Savrasov, were with the program for the second half of the season and should be accustomed to the coaching staff’s expectations but they will be far from the type of players that will be asked to provide leadership.  Unlike Corprew, they have no fungus on their shower shoes yet and will have to contribute in meaningful games before being ready to be leaders.

But Tech fans are confident in Beard’s ability to help a vastly overhauled roster mesh quickly.  After all, that’s exactly what he did last year when he had to replace six of his top eight scorers from the 2018 Elite 8 team.

Additionally, he took Arkansas-Little Rock to the second round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament in his first and only year as head coach.  That year, he improved the team’s win total by 15 wins over the previous season thanks in large part to a roster rebuild similar in scope to what he’s undertaking this year at Tech.

Corprew would have been as valuable next year for his leadership, experience, and toughness as he would have been for his scoring or rebounding.  Thankfully, Chris Beard is no stranger to rebuilding teams on an annual basis.

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