Texas Tech sports: Bold predictions for the Red Raiders in the 2020s

Chris Beard will win a National Title at Tech

When I write the words, I think Tech will win at least thee national titles between the baseball and basketball programs in the next ten years, it feels a rather ambitious expectation given that in the nine previous decades of Tech sports, we’ve seen only one men’s program bring home a title, the 2019 outdoor track and field team.  But would it shock anyone if Beard cut down the nets on the final Monday night of a season this decade to join Tadlock in bringing a National Title to Lubbock?

After all, he was just twelve seconds from doing that in 2019.  What’s more, the level of talent that he’s recruiting to his program is such that we should expect the next few versions of Texas Tech basketball to have more talent on paper than the 2019 team did.

It’s going to be tough to get back to the title game this year given that this team has seven freshmen and 9 newcomers on the roster.  Plus, teams that lose the title game historically struggle to get back to the Final Four the next year, (as do just about any of the previous Final Four participants).

But, we won’t be counting out the 2020 Red Raiders because they’ve already proven to be capable of beating any team in the nation as evidenced by their win over No. 1 Louisville in New York.

However, think about the talent that Beard could have at his disposal next year.  What if Terence Shannon and Jahmi’us Ramsey do not go to the NBA Draft as freshmen and Davide Moretti puts off playing professionally in Europe for one more year?

That group will then join forces with the highest-rated signing class in Tech history, one which includes two top-50 signees in Micah Peavy and Nimari Burnett to give Beard the type of talent that no one ever imagined this program having on the roster at one time.  And don’t forget that next year we will see the addition of sophomore forward Joel Ntambwe, who is sitting out this season because of NCAA transfer rules.

Last season, the nation learned that Beard can keep this program among the elite in the game despite massive turnover on the roster.  We also learned that he can recruit the top players in the nation to Lubbock.

Additionally, Hocutt locked up Beard with a massive contract extension making him one of the nation’s highest-paid coaches.  Thus, the future of Tech basketball is rather secure and that’s why it isn’t crazy to think that a national title is part of that future.