Texas Tech basketball: The all-time Chris Beard era team
The Starting Five
It would be tough to construct a more complete or perfectly-fitting starting five than the one Chris Beard would likely feature on his all-time team. With a point guard that could score and create off the dribble, arguably the best shooter in program history, an All-American small forward, the toughest power forward Tech has seen in at least two decades, and a freakish center to protect the rim, Beard’s first five would be special.
Keenan Evans would run the show from the point guard spot. The 2018 second-team All-American is the best point guard in program history and was the unquestioned leader of Tech’s Elite Eight team.
One of four players in program history to amass at least 1,500 points, 350 rebounds, 325 assists and 125 steals during his career, he’s the No. 13 all-time scoring leader in Red Raider history with 1,772 points. What’s more, he’s eighth in Tech history in assists with 346 and 10th in steals with 128.
On the receiving end of many of those assists would be Davide Moretti. After averaging 13 points per game this past season, he will enter his senior season needing just 31 points to join the exclusive 1,000-point club.
It could be argued that the Italian native is the best 3-point shooter in program history. In just three seasons, he already sits 9th in Tech history with 166 career threes made and 8th in career three-point percentage at 41.1% even after a down shooting year that saw him shoot 76 points lower from deep than he did as a sophomore. Of course, he sits atop the Tech record books in free-throw percentage at 90.5%, the only Red Raider ever over 90%.
At small forward would be the 2018-19 Big 12 Player of the Year, Jarrett Culver. The Lubbock native was a second-team All-American last season as a sophomore before heading to the NBA where he was taken No. 6 overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Culver is likely to be remembered as the best player in Tech history but ironically, his name won’t be all over the program’s record books because he spent only two years in college. Still, he ranks 13th in Tech history in points scored in Big 12 games with 548 (keep in mind that all but one player ahead of him, Cory Carr, played four years at Tech).
The 704 points Culver amassed as a sophomore are the third-most in Tech history and his 17.6 p.p.g. average in Big 12 play that season was the 11th-most any player at Tech has ever averaged in one year. Additionally, he was a fantastic all-around player averaging 5.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.3 steals per game for his career.
Another all-time great that won’t be found very often in the program’s record book is Norense Odiase. But though his name isn’t going to be plastered all over the program’s various top-10 lists, it also won’t soon be forgotten by those of us that got to watch him play. He will be one of those legends that we tell future generations about as almost a mythical figure that they won’t understand the importance of because they didn’t get to see him play in person.
His career average of 5.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game don’t do justice to what he meant to this program. He was the physical and emotional leader of Tech’s National Runner-up team and he is the type of player that was willing to sacrifice personal gain for the success of the program.
Another player that we will be talking about for years, and maybe decades to come, is Tariq Owens. Playing just one year as a Red Raider, the grad transfer set the school record for blocks in a season with 92 while averaging 8.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in 2018-19.
At 6-foot-10 and with a 7-foot wingspan to go along with an ability to jump as if he were bouncing on a trampoline, he was a different breed of center than we’ve ever seen in Lubbock and one that we may not see again. He was the main reason that Tech had the nation’s best defense last season because his ability to protect the rim allowed his teammates to play even more aggressively on the ball as well as gave his team an eraser to clean up mistakes.
Simply put, this is the perfect starting lineup in the way that the pieces fit together and complement one another. But what’s more, when Beard would have to go to the bench, his team wouldn’t suffer much of a drop-off.