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Texas Tech basketball: How notable coaches other than Beard did in their fourth year

By Matthew Conner

DALLAS - MARCH 15: Head coach Bob Knight of Texas Tech listens to the referee during the Big 12 Championships against Oklahoma at the American Airlines Center March 15, 2003, in Dallas, Texas. Oklahoma defeated Texas Tech 67-60 in overtime. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
DALLAS - MARCH 15: Head coach Bob Knight of Texas Tech listens to the referee during the Big 12 Championships against Oklahoma at the American Airlines Center March 15, 2003, in Dallas, Texas. Oklahoma defeated Texas Tech 67-60 in overtime. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /
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Texas Tech head coach James Dickey Mandatory Credit: Doug Pensinger/
Texas Tech head coach James Dickey Mandatory Credit: Doug Pensinger/ /

James Dickey missed the NCAA Tournament by one game

Like Beard and Myers, former head coach James Dickey was able to put together four-straight winning seasons to begin his Red Raider career.  He had an overall record of 70-47 (0.598) during that span. And in the fourth year, he missed out on his second NCAA Tournament by just one game.

In 1994-95, the Red Raiders went 20-10 and reached the finals of the SWC Tournament.  But a 107-104 OT loss to Texas kept Tech out of the Big Dance.  Instead, Dickey’s team went to Washington State for the first round of the NIT, a game they would lose 94-82.

It’s hard to believe that a team features five future NBA players couldn’t manage to get into the NCAA Tournament but that’s what happened.  Tech had Jason Sasser, Cory Carr, Tony Battie, Mark Davis, and Darvin Ham on that team, all of whom had at least a cup of coffee in the Association.

What’s more, Red Raider fan favorite Lance Hughes was also on that team and he was one of three players with scoring averages over 17 points per game (17.7 to be exact).  The other two were Sasser (20.1) and Davis (17.3).

That year, Tech was 0-3 against ranked teams with losses to No. 13 Wisconsin, No. 10 Arizona, and No. 6 Kentucky and that likely kept them out of the NCAA Tournament.  But a nine-game winning streak prior to a loss in the regular-season finale helped set the Raiders up well going into the postseason.

Unfortunately, Tech fell just one game…one possession in fact, short of reaching the Tournament.  But, a year later, Dickey’s team would go 30-2 and reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since the field expanded to 64 teams.  One has to wonder if the 1994-95 team would have been able to make some noise as well if it had been able to find a way to get that last victory in the SWC Tournament.

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