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Texas Tech basketball: Preseason accolades for the Red Raider roster

By Matthew Conner

AMES, IA - FEBRUARY 22: Terrence Shannon Jr. #1 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders drives the ball in the first half of the play at Hilton Coliseum on February 22, 2020 in Ames, Iowa. The Texas Tech Red Raiders won 87-57 over the Iowa State Cyclones. (Photo by David K Purdy/Getty Images)
AMES, IA - FEBRUARY 22: Terrence Shannon Jr. #1 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders drives the ball in the first half of the play at Hilton Coliseum on February 22, 2020 in Ames, Iowa. The Texas Tech Red Raiders won 87-57 over the Iowa State Cyclones. (Photo by David K Purdy/Getty Images) /
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WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 14: Fox announcer interviews Mac McClung #2 of the Georgetown Hoyas after a college basketball game against the Syracuse Orange at the Capital One Arena on December 14, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 14: Fox announcer interviews Mac McClung #2 of the Georgetown Hoyas after a college basketball game against the Syracuse Orange at the Capital One Arena on December 14, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

The Texas Tech basketball season is nearly here so let’s hand out some preseason accolades for the 2020-21 roster.

Every offseason, the release of preseason all-conference awards and the preseason all-conference teams signals that the return of college basketball is near.  And that is music to the ears of Red Raider fans.

However, the love that those who bleed scarlet and black have for Chris Beard’s 2020-21 team wasn’t necessarily matched by Big 12 voters.  That’s because only one Red Raider, Marcus Santos-Silva, earned any type of preseason recognition.

The 6-foot-7 transfer from Virginia Commonwealth was named the preseason Newcomer of the Year and that’s a distinction Tech needs him to live up to.  But outside of the senior gad transfer, the only Red Raiders you will find on the preseason All-Big 12 lists are Mac McClung and Kyler Edwards, both of whom earned honorable-mention recognition.

But while the rest of the conference may have left most of the Red Raiders off of their preseason lists, we can hand out some Tech-specific preseason nods of our own to help us become more familiar with this year’s squad.  So let’s dive into our Texas Tech basketball preseason accolades.

Offensive Player of the Year: Mac McClung

The Offensive Player of the Year for this year’s Red Raiders will likely be Mac McClung.  Though I’m not predicting him to lead the team in scoring (we will get into who I believe that will be in a moment), I think that the offense will usually run through the Georgetown transfer, especially in late-game situations.

Now, it is entirely possible that McClung could be this team’s leading scorer.  After all, he led Georgetown with 15.7 points per game last year, which would have led the Red Raiders as well.

But I don’t think he’ll be asked to do as much scoring for Tech given the plethora of options Beard will have.  Remember, the head coach has repeatedly said that his goal is to have a handful of double-digit scorers on his roster thus making it tougher for teams to focus on one or two offensive weapons.

Still, McClung will be invaluable on that end of the court given his ability to create offense off the dribble.  He’s the closest this roster has to a point guard and he posses the type of lightning-quick first stop that elite ball-handlers usually have at the ready.

But though McClung is known as a shoot-first player, he can also distribute the ball effectively.  In fact, last year, his assist percentage (the percentage of teammate field goals he assisted on while on the court) was 19.4.  That would have been second on last season’s Red Raider squad behind Chris Clarke who had a ridiculous assist percentage of 35.4.

A season ago, this program was dreadful when it came to end-of-game situations because there simply wasn’t a player on the team capable of creating offense in a one-on-one situation.  This year, there will be plenty of players who should be able to beat their defenders with the dribble but the best among them might be McClung.

That’s what he was brought to Lubbock to do and if he can take care of the basketball and create opportunities for others, he will be the most important cog in the Red Raider offense.  Thus, he’s my pick for preseason Offensive POY.

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