For three seasons, 2019-22, Kevin McCullar Jr. was arguably the face of the Texas Tech basketball program. That's why it was so tough to watch him transfer to Big 12 rival Kansas to years ago.
It isn't enough that Kansas gets its pick of whichever high school recruits it wants. Now, they get to start picking off transfers from Big 12 rivals as the rich get richer.
What's more, when McCullar went to KU, he took his game to a level we didn't see at Tech. How much of that is due to his own development and how much is due to the coaching he got in Lawrence is unknown but it was still hard to watch him become an All-American caliber player for a conference rival.
This past season, he put up 18.3 points per game to go along with 6.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists. He likely would have been on one of the All-American teams were it not for a knee injury that ended his season early.
The only solace for Tech is that McCullar never really went off against his former school. He faced Tech only twice once going for 14 points and once going for just seven.
It would have been fitting for a player from a Texas Tech family to be a career Red Raider but that didn't happen and it wasn't fun to see him go. It was even less fun to watch him become a star at Kansas of all places.