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Texas Tech basketball: The all-time Dallas/Fort Worth Red Raider team

By Matthew Conner

DALLAS - MARCH 13: Andre Emmett #14 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts on the court against the Baylor Bears during the Phillips 66 Big XII Championships at American Airlines Center on March 13, 2003 in Dallas, Texas. The Red Raiders won 68-65. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
DALLAS - MARCH 13: Andre Emmett #14 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts on the court against the Baylor Bears during the Phillips 66 Big XII Championships at American Airlines Center on March 13, 2003 in Dallas, Texas. The Red Raiders won 68-65. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /
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Tony Battie (FRONT) of the Boston Celtics battles for a rebound with Todd MacCulloch of the New Jersey Nets  (Photo credit should read DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images)
Tony Battie (FRONT) of the Boston Celtics battles for a rebound with Todd MacCulloch of the New Jersey Nets  (Photo credit should read DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images) /

Center: Tony Battie

We round out our DFW team with the most dominant center in Texas Tech basketball history, Tony Battie.  The 6-foot-11 Dallas native was lightly recruited out of high school because he was just 6-foot-5 at the time he signed with Tech.  But a summer growth spurt of six inches turned him into a star big man.

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Still, it took a while for him to come to understand how to play the game as a post player.  In his first two years on campus, he averaged just 6.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.

However, when he hit his junior year, it all came together in a huge way.  That season (1996-97), he scored 18.8 points and pulled down 11.8 rebounds per game while blocking 2.5 shots on average.  But somehow, those numbers were only good enough to earn him honorable mention All-American honors.

With 162 career blocks, he is tops in Red Raider history.  What’s more, he’s one of only seven players to average a double-double for an entire season while wearing the Scarlet and Black.  And no player has managed to do that since hid did.

After that season, he became the No. 5 pick in the NBA Draft.  To this day, that remains the highest any Red Raider has ever been selected.

Related Story. The all-time West Texas Red Raider basketball team. light

Battie really only had one dominant season in Lubbock.  But it was one of the most prolific years this program has ever seen from a center.  And that one year of excellence is enough to warrant inclusion on the all-time DFW team.

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