Texas Tech basketball: The Bob Knight era all-time team

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The starting five

The starting lineup that Bob Knight would be able to throw out on his all-time team would feature three of the program’s top-20 all-time leading scorers, one of the most versatile forwards of the last 20 years, and a former walk-on who ended his career as one of the best and most beloved point guards to ever don the Double-T.

Of course, the star of this team would be Andre Emmett. The 6-foot-5 Dallas native is the program’s all-time leading scorer with 2,256 points (a mark that was the most in Big 12 history at the time his career ended in 2004).

The 2017 inductee into the Texas Tech Basketball Hall of Fame and part of the inaugural class of the program’s Ring of Honor in 2019 was tragically shot and killed in September of 2019. But the legacy he left on the court was significant as he averaged 17.6 points per game for his career and was named a first-team All-American in 2004 as well as a three-time first-team All-Big 12 selection from 2002-04.

Then there is Jarrius Jackson, the program’s second-leading all-time scorer. A 6-foot-1 shooting guard, the Louisiana product played for Knight from 2003-2007 and amassed 2,221 career points. A dynamic scorer from the moment he stepped foot on the floor in Lubbock, he never averaged fewer than 11.3 points per game and put up a career-best 20.5 per game as a junior to lead the Big 12. He earned some type of all-conference recognition all four years that he was a Red Raider and he was a first-team All-Big 12 selection in both his junior and senior seasons.

The big man in Knight’s starting five would be Andy Ellis. The 6-foot-11 Lamesa native played only one season for Knight, 2001-02, the first year of the legendary head coach’s tenure.

But in that senior year of his, Ellis averaged 16.5 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. He ended his career as the No. 12 scorer in Tech history and he currently sits at No. 18 with 1,431 points.

Playing next to Ellis in the frontcourt would be Kasib Powell, a 6-foot-7 JUCO forward who was in Lubbock for the first two years of Knight’s run. Over the course of those two seasons, he averaged 15.1 points per game while pulling down 6.1 rebounds and handing out 4.1 assists. He was one of the most versatile players in program history and was a matchup nightmare on both ends of the floor because of his long wingspan and high basketball IQ.

Rounding out the starting lineup is fan-favorite Ronald Ross. The Hobbs, NM native walked on for the Red Raiders in 2001 (Knight’s first year) and finished his career by helping lead Tech to the Sweet 16 as he and Jackson formed the Big 12’s top backcourt duo. That year, he averaged 17.5 points per game while grabbing 5.5 rebounds and handing out 3 assists. No player during the Knight era improved over the course of his career more than Ross and his work ethic and leadership made him one of his head coach’s favorite players.

This group of five starters would comprise a well-balanced unit that could score with any team and would be versatile defensively. Ellis was ahead of his time as a pick-and-pop big man who was as comfortable shooting the ball from the mid-range and beyond as he was mixing it up in the paint.

However, size might be an issue for this group with Jackson being only 6-foot-1 and Ross just 6-foot-2. Also, Ellis was just 225-pound and at times he was pushed around by stronger big men. Thus, the strength of this unit would be its ability to score the basketball, especially in the mid-range as Ellis, Emmett, and Powell were all more than capable of getting their points inside of 15 feet. The key though would be for Jackson (41.9% from 3-point range) and Ross (35.5%) to prove to be deadly enough as outside shooters to be able to keep opponents from clogging the lane.

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