No. 7: Chris Clarke
Chris Clarke was the strangest basketball player many of us can recall. At times more reluctant to shoot the ball than a self-conscious 8th-grader who fears he will be grounded by an overbearing father for missing a shot and at other times trying to pull off the impossible pass, he was also one of the most frustrating players of the Beard era.
There were high hopes for the Virginia Tech transfer when he committed to Tech last summer. He arrived with career averages of 10 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game during his time with the Hokies but he never came close to having the type of impact in Lubbock that we hoped he would.
In his lone season at Tech, he scored a career-low 5.6 points per game. Also, his 4.6 shot attempts per game and his 45.3% shooting percentage were also the lowest of his career.
On the other hand, he was Tech’s best rebounder and assist man. He grabbed 6.6 rebounds and handed out a career-best 4.6 assists per game.
However, he needed to be better from an all-around perspective. Perhaps the year away from the game that he endured due to a suspension in 2018-19 took a toll on his feel for the game and his confidence. Or perhaps he simply wasn’t the right fit in Beard’s system.
Whatever the reason, we should have known something was not adding up when he was not able to beat out true freshman Terrence Shannon Jr. for a starting spot to open the season. That’s not a knock on Shannon, who had an excellent first year at the college level, but Clarke was brought into the program to be a key contributor and instead, he proved to be a liability, especially on offense, and that’s why he sits at the bottom of our ranking despite having better stats than some of the other players on this list.