Texas Tech Basketball:Joel Ntambwe’s waiver denied, what that means for Red Raiders
Thursday, we learned from the Texas Tech basketball program that the waiver filed on behalf of sophomore transfer Joel Ntambwe requesting immediate eligibility had been denied. So let’s take a look at how that impacts this year’s team.
Just hours before the Texas Tech basketball team’s 72-57 win over Tennessee State on Thursday night, we finally received closure on an issue that had been unresolved for months. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the news that we were hoping for.
Sophomore forward Joel Ntambwe, a transfer from UNLV, had filed a waiver with the NCAA requesting immediate eligibility for this season. His request was primarily centered around the fact that following last season, UNLV fired its head coach Marvin Menzies.
People inside the Tech program were confident that Ntambwe would be cleared to play this year, and they had great reason to, given that the NCAA has been handing out eligibility waivers these days like elves hand out presents. For example, a trio of players that transferred from Tech last year, Malik Ondigo, Josh Mballa, and Khavon Moore were all granted immediate eligibility this year.
What’s more, four other players that left UNLV were all granted eligibility this year. However, Ntambwe was not. The reason? Pettiness on the part of UNLV.
Still upset about the fact that Chris Beard left Vegas after just two weeks on the job in 2016 before coming home to Lubbock, the people in the UNLV athletic department did everything they could to hinder the process and ensure that they took their anger out on Beard and Texas Tech by doing punishing student-athlete who was in high school when Beard decided to jump ship to a better program with more resources and in a better league.
"“I’m really disappointed for Joel. It’s not my place to put the case out into the public light, but I would tell you that he had a more than legitimate case on why he transferred from his first institution, which was out of his control,” Beard said Thursday."
Make no mistake, this is a significant blow to the Red Raiders. Ntambwe is a talented player who could have filled a role on this year’s team.
The 6-foot-9, 210-pounder started last year for the Running Rebels at both the small and power forward positions. He averaged 11.8 point points and 5.6 rebounds per game, numbers that were similar to what former Tech stars Zhaire Smith and Jarrett Culver put up in their true freshman seasons.
Also a strong defender, the native of The Congo had 11 blocks and 16 steals last season. His ability to guard multiple positions on the floor, especially in the post, would have been a huge plus for this team, which has only two players on the roster over 6-foot-8.
"“Nobody’s respected the NCAA more than me through my whole career,” Beard said. “I respect that everybody has a job to do, but this was just puzzling because it’s so inconsistent. To me, it effects our team because some teams will be better and possibly make the tournament because a certain player is allowed to play. There’s some teams that will miss out on that opportunity because a player was not allowed to play. “I think there just needs to be a more clear process. In just my opinion, I’m not speaking for Kirby or President Schovanec, but just in my opinion I fell terrible for Joel and I don’t understand why he wasn’t given the opportunity to play college basketball this year. But, hard times pass, tough people last, and we’re going to get in the gym with him and here in about three hundred and forty-something days, hopefully we will have him on opening night in the double-t playing great next year.”"
It is easy to hear the disappointment and frustration in Beard’s remarks. He was counting on Ntambwe to be a critical component of this year’s team. But since we finally know that’s not going to happen, let’s take a look at possible ramifications for the 2019-20 Red Raiders.