Texas Tech basketball: The all-time James Dickey era team

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Darvin Ham of the Milwaukee Bucks (L) is fouled by Alonzo Mourning of the Miami Heat (R) (Photo credit ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images) /

The reserve big men

Darvin Ham

Cliff Owens

Dickey’s team could also rely on a trio of very good forwards to back up Battie and Flemons. That begins with one of the more famous players to ever play for the Red Raiders.

Of course, the most glorious moment of the James Dicky era was Darvin Ham’s putback dunk that shattered the backboard in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 1996. That was the signature moment for the 6-foot-7 forward from Michigan who was a physical force in his three years at Tech averaging and 8.1 points and 5.1 assists per game.

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Another 6-foot-7 forward Dickey would have on his bench could be Mark Davis from Louisiana. Averaging 17.9 points per game from 1993-94 to 1995-96, he is No. 37 on the school’s career scoring list despite being a Red Raider for only two seasons. A career 52.7% shooter from the field, he was a force inside who also averaged 1.4 blocks per game over the course of his career.

Finally, there is Cliff Owens. The Santa Fe, Texas native was a 6-foot-8 forward and a double-digit scorer over his last three seasons (1997-98 to 2000-2001) averaging 11.1 points and 7.4 points in that span.

While he was never spectacular, Owens was a steady presence who always seemed to make the right play. Battling inside was his forte. In each of his last three years, he shot better than 50% from the field including 59.2% overall with almost all of his offense coming in the post.

James Dickey’s teams were somewhat ahead of their time in that they loved to push the tempo, were not shy about letting it fly from deep, and used their athleticism to overwhelm opponents. In an era when big men still dominated the game and old school coaches still liked to play through the post, Dickey’s collection of dynamic wings were able to take larger players out of their comfort zone and push the pace to a level where opponents often could not keep pace.

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Had it not been for the fact that Tech ran into a Georgetown team led by the legendary Allen Iverson in the 1996 Sweet 16, we may talk about that team as being as good as the last two Chris Beard NCAA Tournament teams. Certainly, the collection of talent on that team was as good as any we’ve seen in Lubbock and that’s why the James Dickey era all-time team would be legendary.

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