Texas Tech basketball: The top 25 Red Raiders in the Big 12 era

No. 21: Jaye Crockett

You have to admire Jaye Crockett for his willingness to do what his coaches felt was best for his team during his career.  Despite being the best player on the roster for most of his time in Lubbock, he was asked to come off the bench for three years, and that’s a role that many college basketball players wouldn’t willingly accept (we’re talking about you Joel Ntambwe).

Another player whose talents were wasted during the dark ages of the early 2010s, Crockett was an electric athlete from Clovis, New Mexico who averaged 9.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game in his career.  That included 13.9 points and 6.4 boards as a senior.

The 6-foot-7 forward would have been the perfect player in Chris Beard’s positionless system because he had the athleticism to guard any player on the court.  And often, he was tasked with checking the best player on the opposing team, regardless of what position that player played.

With 1,232 career points, Crockett ranks 21st in school history in scoring.  What’s more, his 689 career points in Big 12 games is good for 9th among all Red Raiders.

Defensively, Crocket was always a threat to shoot the passing lanes and come up with a steal.  In fact, in 2012-12, he had 26 steals in Big 12 play alone, a number that is tied for the 6th-most in program history for a single season.

Unfortunately for Crockett, he had to play for four different head coaches in his four-year career and that was a major reason that 14 wins were the most he ever experienced in one season as a Red Raider.  But though his career came during a period in program history that we would all like to forget, we should always appreciate and respect the player he was because he gave his all fo Texas Tech in an era when it would have been easy for a player of his talent to head for greener pastures.