Texas Tech basketball: Wildcards on the 2019-20 Red Raider roster

As we approach the start of the Texas Tech basketball season, let’s look at five players that could be considered wildcards on this year’s roster.

You have to belive that Chris Beard is a blast in Vegas.  That’s because he’s already proven to be a guy who is more than comfortable taking some risks.  Now, the man at the helm of the Texas Tech basketball program is taking yet another as he is set to go to battle with a roster unlike any we’ve seen in the history of this program.

With seven freshmen (five being true freshmen), and maybe as many as 11 newcomers (we will get to why we say “maybe” in a moment) this year’s team will be truly fascinating to watch.  But will it come together as well as last season’s rebuilt roster did?

This season will mark the second-straight in which Beard will be replacing six players that were in his regular rotation the previous season.  After the 2017-18 run to the Elite 8, he lost Justin Gray, Keenan Evans, Zach Smith, Tommy Hamilton, Niem Stevenson, and Zhaire Smith.   Now, he’s got to replace Jarrett Culver, Matt Mooney, Tariq Owens, Norense Odiase, Brandone Francis, and Deshawn Corprew and he’s going to back to what he knows best, re-tooling on the fly.

If it works, this will be the most impressive rebuilding job of his career.  He had a similar amount of turnover in his one season at Arkansas-Little Rock (2015-16) but that was against lesser competition, with fewer expectations, and a roster that was not as heavily reliant on freshmen.

Here’s what we think we can count on.  Junior guard Daide Moretti is going to be this team’s steadying influence as well as one of the best shooters in the nation.  He’s the player on the team with the most experience in Beard’s system and the man Tech will have to rely on for leadership, especially early in the year.

Will the naturally reserved native of Italy be ready to take on a more vocal role this year?  If Tech wants to win, we had better hope so.

Jahmi’us Ramsey will be a dynamic freshman who could be the second one-and-done player in Tech history.  The 5-star recruit was the No. 32 player in the nation as a high school senior making him the most highly-rated recruit to ever sign with Tech.  Though his game will need refinement (especially when it comes to his outside shot), he is every bit as athletic as any player in the Big 12 and has drawn comparisons to Zhaire Smith in that regard.

Earlier this summer, he went off for 45 points in an exhibition game against a professional team from Serbia.  Dominating an opponent comprised of grown men, Ramsey got to the rim at will and showed just why he has Red Raider fans so excited for his arrival.

We also can be confident that grad transfer Chris Clarke will be a vital cog in Beard’s machine.  In fact, he will likely be the best two-way player on the roster.  The former Virginia Tech star is a dynamic playmaker who loves to push the pace and distribute the ball.  He’s also a rugged defensive force who will be Beard’s top on-ball defender.

Clarke sat out last year because he was suspended by the Hokies and former head coach Buzz Williams.  But he should be ready to return to form this season and he has the type of mentality and game that fits his head coach perfectly.

After that, there seem to be few givens this year.  That’s not to suggest that this team is incapable of being as good as last year’s national runners-up.  In fact, on paper, this version of the Red Raiders is more talented on a player-by-player basis.

The problem is that this team is stunningly young and has not been through any wars together.  That’s why the Red Raiders need the following wildcards to come up aces in 2019-20.