Texas Tech basketball: The all-time Gerald Myers era team

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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 08: Texas Tech Red Raiders fans (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

The reserve big men

This is where the going might get tough for Myers’ all-time team. For as good as the Myers era guards would be, the same type of depth among his big men was not there.

In fact, his highest-scoring reserve big man would be a 6-foot-6 player who was listed as a center. From 1980-82, Myers played 250-pound Clarence Swannagan at center and the JUCO product from Galveston put up impressive numbers despite often given up half-a-foot to the players he battled.

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Over his two years in Lubbock, he averaged 15.2 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Similar to how Chris Beard asked 6-foot-6 grad transfer Chris Clarke to give him important minutes off the bench this year while guarding bigger post players, Myers would likely be able to find situations where he could get away with having Swannagan on the court as a backup who could provide significant scoring while holding his own defensively, especially against big men that were traditional back to the basket players.

Giving Myers some much-needed height would be 6-foot-10 Steve Miles, who was a Red Raider from 1987-91 averaging 8.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. While those numbers are decent, consider the senior season that the Dallas native had.

In 31 games, he averaged 16.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Thus, he garnered second-team All-SWC recognition despite playing on an 8-23 team.

Finally, Quentin Anderson could also play some important minutes for Myers. The Alabama product averaged 9.0 points and 4.6 rebounds per game from 1981-85.

At 6-foot-9, he helped Tech capture the conference title and return to the NCAA Tournament by averaging 13.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game as a senior. That year, he was a second-team All-SWC honoree.

It would be fun to see the Gerald Myers era players get a shot to face the Chris Beard era team (which we will get to later this week) because both eras of Tech hoops were defined by grit and a blue-collar mentality. It would be fascinating to see if Myers and his collection of players that played the game in a manner that was a direct reflection of their head coach’s personality would be able to scratch and claw their way past some of the other all-time Red Raider teams.

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The strength of this team would most certainly be in the backcourt with Jennings and Taylor, a perfect combination of outside shooting and elite athleticism, playing on either side of Gay, who would have outrageous assist numbers with this lineup. Meanwhile, Bullock was as dominant a forward as has ever played in Lubbock. However, the depth behind him in the post would make this particular all-time roster vulnerable when facing teams with more scoring and height in the paint.

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