Texas Tech basketball: Potential starting lineups for 2020-21

Though we won’t see Texas Tech basketball again until November at the earliest, Red Raider fans are already trying to figure out what next year’s team will look like so let’s examine some possible starting lineups.

In every aspect of life, it is always wonderful to have options.  That’s a luxury that Texas Tech basketball head coach Chris Beard will enjoy in 2020-21 more than any coach in program history.

Currently, there are 15 players in the mix for 13 scholarships (which is the maximum allowed by the NCAA).  That doesn’t include the possibility that last season’s leading scorer, Jahmi’us Ramsey, could also return after testing the NBA waters.

But what makes next year’s roster so intriguing is the fact that there appears to be no dead weight.  In other words, every player that figures to be on Beard’s team will be more than capable of playing a significant role at the Big 12 level.

Whereas in other years, the final handful of players on the roster are long-term projects or players who are only expected to help give the team enough players to form a scout team, every player fighting for a spot on the next edition of the Red Raiders was brought into the program with the thought of being a serious piece of the puzzle.

What’s more, Beard has added six players to the program this offseason despite only losing three for certain.  By signing three top-100 high school players, Nimari Burnett, Micah Peavy, and Chibuzo Agbo Jr. and three transfers, Jamarius Burton, Esahia Nywie, and Marcus Santos-Silva, Beard has loaded his program with as much firepower as we have ever seen in the 95 years of Red Raider hoops.

Now Burton, a junior point guard from Wichita State, is expected to redshirt this season, even if the NCAA does grant all players a one-time transfer exemption.  Thus, he will not figure into our starting lineup projections but he will take up one of the scholarships the program has at its disposal.

Therefore, there is going to be some shakeup towards the end of the roster.   With only one of last year’s three least used players, Russell Tchewa, already in the transfer portal, Tech still needs to open up two scholarships.

Many assume that would come from the other two least-used players, Clarence Nadolny and Andrei Savrasov, both looking elsewhere for opportunities.  However, one also has to wonder if junior Avery Benson will go back to being a walk-on player the way he was prior to being put on scholarship in January.  However, some think he might also look for more playing time and an increased role at a smaller school rather than assuming what will likely be a lesser role with the Red Raiders next year.

The impending roster shuffle will be worth watching this summer but what’s got Red Raider fans even more excited is trying to sort out who Beard will start games with next year.  So let’s look at some possible starting lineup combinations that we might see when November arrives.