Texas Tech basketball: Nimari Burnett’s commitment continues recruiting revolution

Since Beard arrived, each recruiting class has topped the prior class

Though we didn’t know it at the time, the best day in Texas Tech basketball history was the day in April of 2016 when former head coach Tubby Smith skipped a meeting with AD Kirby Hocutt and a group of boosters because he was in the process of forming an exit strategy to take over at Memphis.

Coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance for the first time in nine years and with a solid young roster in place, many fans were rightly frustrated and concerned when the man that had turned the program around and given new life to hoops at Texas Tech suddenly bolted for a non-major conference job.

What should have tipped us off to the danger that Smith was putting the future of the program in was the status of his recruiting at the time.  When he jumped ship, Smith had just one recruit on board, 3-star guard Keon Clergeot, who eventually followed him to Memphis.  Now a junior a UMass, he has averaged just 4.6 points per game in his college career.

With almost no time to put together a decent class, Beard signed only two players that year, Shadell Millinghaus and Niem Stevenson.  That class ranked No. 135 in the nation and last in the conference.

But Beard’s 2017 class proved to be one that changed the course of the program. Headlined by Jarrett Culver, Zhaire Smith, and Moretti, the six-player 2017 class ranked 39th nationally and 5th in the Big 12.

Of course, Beard benefitted from having Culver in his own back yard but give him credit for recognizing what the Coronado star had to offer.  After all, Tubby Smith had not even been recruiting Culver, who was the first legitimate Division I LISD basketball prospect in decades.

Beard’s first call after taking the job in Lubbock was to Culver.  Not long afterward, he and his entire coaching staff were front and center for Sunday morning services at the church where Culver’s father is the pastor and the rest is Texas Tech history.

The 2018 class was a bit better at No. 33 overall and No. 5 in the conference.  Smaller than the previous class, the four-player group included Kyler Edwards and DeShawn Corprew as well as Khavon Moore, the No. 44 player in the nation and the highest-rated player to ever play for the Red Raiders at the time.

Of course, Moore only played one game before falling out of favor with Beard and his staff.  But though he transferred after the season, the fact that he signed with Tech was important because it was the first time that we saw Beard show the ability to bring a 4-star national talent to Lubbock.

As most already know, the 2019 class was one for the ages. The No. 16 class in the nation and No. 2 in the conference, the 2019 group featured two four-star players and three top 150 players in the nation. It was the class that put Tech in rarified air on the recruiting trail and set the stage for next year’s class, which is already generating tremendous buzz both locally and around the nation.