It’s funny to think some of us felt awful for Texas Tech when Tubby Smith bolted for Memphis in April 2016. Little did we know Smith’s departure would set the stage for one of the greatest nights in school history.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders are headed to the NCAA Final Four in Minneapolis. They held the most efficient offensive team in the country, Gonzaga, nearly 20 points below its 88 points per game average in Saturday’s 75-69 win.
The experts believed Gonzaga’s offense would eventually prove too much for a Texas Tech team that’s ranked No. 1 in the country in defensive efficiency. I sort of bought into that because I’d seen the Zags overwhelm a good Baylor defense with potential NBA lottery pick Brandon Clarke going for 36 points and eight rebounds. The Bears “held” Gonzaga close to its season shooting average at 54.4 percent.
I knew the Zags might not shoot 50 percent against Tech, but I didn’t see Clark and Rui Hachimura combining for nine turnovers. The Red Raiders got their hands on everything in the first half, which helped offset a slow start from Big 12 Player of the Year Jarrett Culver. Mavs play-by-play man Chuck Cooperstein, a college basketball fanatic, had tweeted at me that Culver was struggling against a Zags team that didn’t have “overwhelming size and athleticism.” I was a little surprised by this since Clarke and Hachimura are both potential first-round picks. Culver finished with a team-high 19 points on 5-of-19 shooting, but he played superb defense (three steals) and had five rebounds.
I know Tech coach Chris Beard doesn’t have the pedigree of a Tom Izzo or Coach K, but it’s difficult to imagine him being intimidated against either. He coached under Bob Knight at Texas Tech from 2001-08, and then stayed on during the regrettable Pat Knight era. After being retained by Billy Gillespie, Beard left a few months later to take over a semi-professional team called the South Carolina Warriors who played at the Carolina Forest Recreation Center in Myrtle Beach, S.C. I don’t know that any coach has taken a more circuitous route to the Final Four.
It’s interesting that a man who spent so many of his formative coaching years under Knight can seem so beloved by his players. Knight was one of the greatest coaches of all-time, but he was known for having physical altercations with players and refs, if throwing a chair in their general direction counts. Watching Beard dance with his players following big wins doesn’t seem like the Knight way. What Beard did at Texas Tech is quickly establish an identity as an elite defensive team. And when he lost key players to graduation and the NBA last season, he brought in grad transfers Tariq Owens and Matt Mooney. Owens was a big-time shot blocker from St. John’s and Mooney was a tremendous two-way player for South Dakota. Owens had nine points, seven rebounds and three blocks Saturday. Mooney had 17 points, five assists and three steals.
The good news for Texas Tech is that Beard doesn’t see Lubbock as a stepping-stone. I suppose he’d listen if his alma mater Texas came calling, but the Horns are sticking with Shaka Smart because of his $12.9 million buyout. The hope is that he’ll eventually install an offense in Austin.
Tech is hoping Beard will settle in for a long run, like what Bill Self and Scott Drew have done at their respective campuses. With apologies to the elder Knight and his longtime pal Gerald Myers, Beard is already the greatest coach in Texas Tech basketball history. We won’t move him past Marsha Sharp just yet, but he’s closing quickly. Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt should make sure Beard’s the second-highest paid coach in the Big 12, behind Self.
I was at a Baylor-Stephen F. Austin game earlier this season (don’t ask) when I noticed the Lumberjacks’ head coach Kyle Keller looked really familiar. It dawned on me that he resembled Beard both in appearance and wardrobe. I regret to say the Lumberjacks won on a buzzer-beater that evening and I wondered if perhaps this guy was the next Beard in the making. Fortunately for SFA, Keller’s 51 and may have missed his window as a hot coaching prospect. Texas Tech’s coach is now the envy of many programs across the country. Who knew the Razorbacks and Bruins would be pining for a coach like the one in Lubbock?
I know the rank-and-file Horns hoops fans like, say, Matthew McConaughey, would kill to have Beard. But he’s smart enough to know that playing second-fiddle to football 12 months a year isn’t great. And if you’re wondering what’s become of Tubby, well, he’s the head coach at his alma mater, High Point University. A man doesn’t want to go full circle when he started out at High Point.
Beard reached new heights in his career Saturday evening. Now, he’ll try to go where only the Lady Raiders have been. Someone give this man a raise.
