Grant McCasland thinks this Texas Tech player will be "the surprise of the Big 12"

College basketball has undergone an interesting change in the past decade as the transfer portal has now made the recruitment of current college players more important than adding high school talent to the roster. However, one Texas Tech true freshman is turning some heads ahead of the 2024-25 season. In fact, at Big 12 Media Days on Wednesday in Kansas City, Missouri, Red Raider head coach Grant McCasland pointed to Christian Anderson as a player that he thinks will be a surprise factor in the Big 12 this year.

"We've got an underrated freshman in Christian Anderson that I think will be the surprise of the Big 12," McCasland said. "I love him and he's a remarkable player. He can do just about everything. He won gold this summer with the [under]-18 Germany team. I really have high expectations for him."

With the focus of most college basketball fans turning to the transfer portal as programs look to find immediate difference makers via that avenue of talent acquisition, some (especially those who follow programs like Texas Tech that don't major in recruiting five-star high school talent) might not be as familiar with the high school players set to arrive on campus this fall.

This year, the Red Raiders added two high school players to the program, Anderson and 3-star forward Leon Horner from Dallas, Texas. While Horner is more of a developmental piece, Anderson will see the floor immediately as the backup point guard behind new starter Elijah Hawkins, a senior transfer from Minnesota.

Originally from Germany but playing his high school basketball in Atlanta, Georgia, Anderson was a 4-star prospect who signed with Tech after originally being committed to Michigan. 247Sports.com's composite rankings listed him as the No. 122 overall player and No. 10 point guard in America for his class.

The 6-foot-2, 165-pounder played for Germany in the 2024 FIBA U18 Eurobasket championship where he averaged 20.3 points and 5.0 assists per game on the way to earning a gold medal. Now, he's apparently earned a role for the Red Raiders as a true freshman, and he'll battle in the best conference in America right off the bat.

Only time will tell if Anderson will live up to McCasland's billing and be the surprise of the conference this year. However, there is no doubt that the people inside the Texas Tech basketball program are excited about him and he'll be a player to watch when the Red Raiders hit the court on November 5th against Bethune-Cookman.