Was it a mistake to for Texas Tech to let Kevin Overton to sign with contender?

This week, as the college basketball transfer portal frenzy continues to reshape the landscape of the sport, former Texas Tech guard Kevin Overton found a new home with the Auburn Tigers. Now that he has landed with a program that has National Championship aspirations, some Red Raiders are wondering if it was wise to let Overton walk out the door.

On the surface, the soon-to-be redshirt junior doesn't look like he will become a game-changer. This past season, his first with a power-conference team, he was solid but unspectacular as a backup for the Red Raiders.

After transferring in from Drake (the program that Texas Tech knocked off in the second round of the NCAA Tournament), Overton put up 7.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 0.9 assists. In addition, he was a willing and capable defensive option on the perimeter.

In 36 games played, he scored in double figures 11 times. That included 20-point games against Northern Colorado in December and Arizona in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals.

However, there were many times when Overton didn't make much of an impact at all. There were 12 games in which he scored three or fewer points, meaning he was more likely to be an offensive no-show than to make a major contribution in that aspect of the game.

Thus, when Overton decided to enter the transfer portal, many Red Raider fans assumed that me might find his way back to the mid-major level of the sport, where he would likely be able to vie for a bigger role with a team. In fact, even ESPN lead Big 12 analyst Fran Fraschilla posted on X that Overton was likely a better fit as a "go-to scorer" at a mid-major program (or as a power-conference role player).

That's why it was surprising to see that he found a spot at Auburn, a program that was the No. 1 overall seed in this year's NCAA Tournament and is coming off a Final Four appearance.

Now, it is fair to wonder if Overton's path might resemble that of another former Red Raider who became a key cog on a National Championship contender after being deemed not good enough to play in Lubbock.

Has Texas Tech repeated a mistake by letting a useful guard leave for another national power?

While Overton isn't likely to be a star at Auburn, it is important to remember that no team, at any level of basketball, is comprised only of star players. Rather, every team needs quality glue guys to supplement the work of the team's leaders.

When viewed in that regard, Overton becomes more valuable. He is long (6-foot-5) and athletic, and he has shown a willingness to come off the bench for a winning program. Though players like that are often underappreciated by fans, they are needed over the course of a season.

For instance, don't you think that the Texas Tech basketball program still wishes that Mylik Wilson had remained a Red Raider? The super-athletic 6-foot-3 guard spent 2021-22 at Tech after two years at Louisiana in the Sun Belt Conference.

That season, while playing for then-head coach Mark Adams, Wilson averaged just 2.5 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game as a reserve. Following that season, he was told by Adams and his staff that he wasn't good enough to play at Tech, so he went looking for a new home.

Eventually, he landed at Houston where he would play the final two seasons of his career. Though he never became a star for the Cougars (he averaged 5.0 points and 3.8 rebounds in 76 games), he did carve out a nice role for head coach Kelvin Sampson as a defensive stopper who could come off the bench and check opposing guards while giving the starting backcourt a breather. What's more, he became part of the culture that helped the Cougars win the Big 12 regular-season title in each of the past two years.

If a coach as good as Sampson can make Wilson a useful component of a Final Four team, then it isn't crazy to believe that Auburn's excellent head coach, Bruce Pearl, will be able to do the same with Overton. Thus, one must wonder if there was any way for Tech to hang on to Overton and mine the most it could out of him instead of allowing him to play for another big-time program that considers itself to be on the cusp of winning it all.

Sure, some may say that Tech could fill Overton's scholarship with a more impactful player. However, we already know that the Red Raiders aren't going to have a team comprised only of all-conference performers next season. The program has already been linked to a number of transfers who would be considered role players at best in 2025-26.

That's what Overton was, and he could have filled that role admirably for Tech for the next two seasons. Now that he is at Auburn, we can assume that he is content in being a solid bench contributor for a national contender, and if Auburn sees a way that he can help their program, then he probably could have helped the Red Raiders as well.

Tech fans wish Overton well, especially since he isn't heading to a Big 12 rival. Still, it will sting a little bit if he becomes a nice part of a title team with the Tigers instead of the Red Raiders.