Virginia Tech transfer Landers Nolley II
Another undergrad in the portal is Landers Nolley II who led Virginia Tech in scoring as a freshman this past year at 15.5 points per game, half a point more than Ramsey scored to lead Texas Tech. The 6-foot-7, 230-pounder isn’t a point guard but a player of his caliber would be welcome in Lubbock for certain.
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On April 2, Nolley included Tech in his list of 11 potential destinations. Since then, all has been quiet on the western front.
Averaging 5.8 rebounds as a freshman, he could be part of helping Tech replace its two top rebounders, T.J. Holyfield and Chris Clarke. He also averaged 2.4 assists per game.
The question is whether another 6-foot-7 wing would make Tech appreciably better. Already set to play a similar role as Nolley would are Terrence Shannon Jr., Kevin McCullar, Tyreek Smith, Joel Ntambwe, Micah Peavy, and Chibuzo Agbo Jr.
With three years left to play, Nolley would be a long-term answer for Tech (provided that he doesn’t head to the NBA early) but he might also push some other players down a peg or two in the pecking order. However, that’s where Tech is these days as the program that used to struggle to field a roster that could simply compete in the Big 12 is now trying to figure out how to find adequate roles for a collection of talent that would be the envy of all but a handful of teams around the nation.
Right now, Tech already has four players set to arrive this summer (or whenever allowed) with only two players having officially left the program (Holyfield and Clarke). While we wait to find out what Ramsey will do concerning the NBA, we know that there will be some shuffling at the end of the bench with Andrei Savrasov and Clarence Nadolny being the most likely candidates to seek other options. But no matter how it happens, it seems likely that Beard is going to add another guard to his team as he tries to put the finishing touches on a roster that most expect to be capable of winning a National Title next season.