No. 3: Brandone Francis
Brandone Francis came within 12 seconds of being an all-time Texas Tech basketball legend. If Tech had been able to close out the 2019 National Title Game, his career-high-tying 17 points would have gone down as one of the most heroic performances in Tech history.
Still, his legacy will be one of helping Tech reach unthinkable heights. It was a three-year odyssey in Lubbock that would have made Odysseus proud.
After transferring in from Florida in 2016-17, he had to sit out and during that year, he nearly left the program because he lacked the maturity required to meet Beard’s standards. In fact, he was the only player that his head coach required to live in the on-campus dorms in what was a test that Beard forced him to pass in order to remain a Red Raider.
Eventually, Francis got it. And when he did, he became a fan-favorite and a team leader.
His stats won’t tell the full story of what type of Red Raider he was. Over the course of two seasons, he averaged a modest 5.8 points and 2.2 rebounds per game.
But it was away from the floor where the once immature former 4-star recruit grew into an asset. Showing what perseverance and dedication can yield, he came to embody what was possible when a young man trusts in his head coach and gives of himself for the good of the program.
He also had some important moments on the floor, though. In 2017, his 17 points helped Tech upset No. 2 West Virginia 72-71 in the first-ever top-10 showdown in the U.S.A.
Then there were his 12 points on senior night when he was surprised by his mom prior to the game. Coming all the way from her native Dominican Republic, she had never seen her son play in person as a collegiate and the moment of their reunion was one of the most touching memories from that magical season.
We will always have to wonder just how huge the legend of Brandone Francis would have been if Tech would have been able to come up with just one stop at the end of the title game in 2019. But even though that didn’t happen, Francis will always have his place in the history book of Red Raider hoops given how important he was to that special team.