I know that seems silly on the face of it because I think we are all pretty fired up about his game, but I couldn't sleep last night thinking about this post from @TTUHoopsFans.
I woke up at 2:30 this morning and the thought going through my head was how good is Ramsey going to be? Look at that thread above again, Ramsey is ten points better than the next freshman. And no one on the Tech team is Top 15 in minutes played. Ramsey dropping 19.0 a game in 26 minutes. He and Edwards lead the team in minutes per game.
De’Vion Harmon is getting 30 minutes a game to score 10 fewer points.
Oscar Tshiebwe 22 minutes per game. Oh this guy is a hoss, so keep him on your radar for the future.
Our own Terrance Shannon is getting 20 minutes per game.
PJ Fuller 22 minutes per game.
Tristan Enaruna 16 minutes to get 7 points.
I'll add this about Ramsey, I know Shannon gets all the accolades for furious rim attacking, as he should, but man Ramsey has an extra booster when it comes to getting up, staying up, and doing something. It's crazy.
I will say this and I may not say it again, we'll see, but if the guys Tech has now are the kinds of guys Kansas always has, were I a Kansas fan I would be mad at Bill Self for wasting all that good play. Beard won't waste anything. Raiders really do have the best coach. The best.
Also, I know it's early - we are three non-conference games into the season but I'm continually marveled at how this team looks compared to the last two teams. It's mind bottling. This team roars up and down the court, and still plays respectable defense that looks like it is improving. I'm reminded of Tulane or Cleveland State, except those teams sent waves of players that were 6 feet tall. Red Raiders are sending 4 and 5 star guys that are 6'4 - 6'8 and coming at you relentlessly.
I'll be watching Thursday night to see if Tech is more successfully able to force the other team to the sides. Players have been getting to the middle pretty regularly if not under duress so I think that is going to need to change for Tech to have their best chance of success. Part of the current ease is the graduation of Owens. Vastly underrated what he did for Tech. Those kinds of players are not common so no surprise not to have one this season. Raiders have to play with who they have so I am watching to see how often and easy it is for the other team to split the floor.
I'm pretty much an unabashed Bob Knight fan and I spent a lot of years watching other teams play basketball and I would always find guys on other teams and think to myself, "Man, Bob Knight would have made this guy All Conference" or All American or whatever. I can't count how many really good basketball players there are in the country at any given time that would have been great under Knight and just weren't as good on their current teams - mostly due to coaching. Chris Beard is that guy. He makes players better. I look at guys from other teams and think they are wasting their college careers playing for some honk. Just look around the Big 12. I think Chris Beard could have taken Iowa State to the title game. Kansas. Baylor. Texas. West Virginia. TCU would have been an easy NCAA team. Desmond Bane on Texas Tech would score at least another 5 or 6 points a game and he'd be an All American candidate. How about those would-be stud guards for Okie Light? If they were Red Raiders they'd win 30 games and be all over ESPN every week. The Big 12 is completely stacked with great players that are pissing away their careers playing for poor coaches. How many points and rebounds and wins would Culver for WVU have if he played for Tech? He would never come off the floor. He would be the best player in the country. Ok that's not much of a stretch, he's a really, really good player.
I love that Tech plays a game in Midland, I hope they do something like that every year. The state of Texas is ripe with players and other than Tech there is no go-to state basketball school. Why not Tech? Play a game in Midland. How about an open, televised practice in Dallas? Not sure what's NCAA legal and what's not. There's probably some rule against it. How about Tech vs....Western Carolina next November in Dallas? Raiders will pack in a lot more fans for that neutral site than TCU will at home for any November game.
Ah well. Big game tomorrow night! Only what...four games left on the Fox directional network? Man that era can't end soon enough. Someone probably understands why the dunderheads at Fox make everything regional and ESPN shows the same/similar content nationally, but I sure don't get it. I know I'll be happy not to have to spoof some content provider so I can get the 8 or 10 directional games at my house in Indiana. And that spoofing seems to depend on the provider. Fubo.tv doesn't seem to care where I live, so that's handy.
Let's go Raiders!
I woke up at 2:30 this morning and the thought going through my head was how good is Ramsey going to be? Look at that thread above again, Ramsey is ten points better than the next freshman. And no one on the Tech team is Top 15 in minutes played. Ramsey dropping 19.0 a game in 26 minutes. He and Edwards lead the team in minutes per game.
De’Vion Harmon is getting 30 minutes a game to score 10 fewer points.
Oscar Tshiebwe 22 minutes per game. Oh this guy is a hoss, so keep him on your radar for the future.
Our own Terrance Shannon is getting 20 minutes per game.
PJ Fuller 22 minutes per game.
Tristan Enaruna 16 minutes to get 7 points.
I'll add this about Ramsey, I know Shannon gets all the accolades for furious rim attacking, as he should, but man Ramsey has an extra booster when it comes to getting up, staying up, and doing something. It's crazy.
I will say this and I may not say it again, we'll see, but if the guys Tech has now are the kinds of guys Kansas always has, were I a Kansas fan I would be mad at Bill Self for wasting all that good play. Beard won't waste anything. Raiders really do have the best coach. The best.
Also, I know it's early - we are three non-conference games into the season but I'm continually marveled at how this team looks compared to the last two teams. It's mind bottling. This team roars up and down the court, and still plays respectable defense that looks like it is improving. I'm reminded of Tulane or Cleveland State, except those teams sent waves of players that were 6 feet tall. Red Raiders are sending 4 and 5 star guys that are 6'4 - 6'8 and coming at you relentlessly.
I'll be watching Thursday night to see if Tech is more successfully able to force the other team to the sides. Players have been getting to the middle pretty regularly if not under duress so I think that is going to need to change for Tech to have their best chance of success. Part of the current ease is the graduation of Owens. Vastly underrated what he did for Tech. Those kinds of players are not common so no surprise not to have one this season. Raiders have to play with who they have so I am watching to see how often and easy it is for the other team to split the floor.
I'm pretty much an unabashed Bob Knight fan and I spent a lot of years watching other teams play basketball and I would always find guys on other teams and think to myself, "Man, Bob Knight would have made this guy All Conference" or All American or whatever. I can't count how many really good basketball players there are in the country at any given time that would have been great under Knight and just weren't as good on their current teams - mostly due to coaching. Chris Beard is that guy. He makes players better. I look at guys from other teams and think they are wasting their college careers playing for some honk. Just look around the Big 12. I think Chris Beard could have taken Iowa State to the title game. Kansas. Baylor. Texas. West Virginia. TCU would have been an easy NCAA team. Desmond Bane on Texas Tech would score at least another 5 or 6 points a game and he'd be an All American candidate. How about those would-be stud guards for Okie Light? If they were Red Raiders they'd win 30 games and be all over ESPN every week. The Big 12 is completely stacked with great players that are pissing away their careers playing for poor coaches. How many points and rebounds and wins would Culver for WVU have if he played for Tech? He would never come off the floor. He would be the best player in the country. Ok that's not much of a stretch, he's a really, really good player.
I love that Tech plays a game in Midland, I hope they do something like that every year. The state of Texas is ripe with players and other than Tech there is no go-to state basketball school. Why not Tech? Play a game in Midland. How about an open, televised practice in Dallas? Not sure what's NCAA legal and what's not. There's probably some rule against it. How about Tech vs....Western Carolina next November in Dallas? Raiders will pack in a lot more fans for that neutral site than TCU will at home for any November game.
Ah well. Big game tomorrow night! Only what...four games left on the Fox directional network? Man that era can't end soon enough. Someone probably understands why the dunderheads at Fox make everything regional and ESPN shows the same/similar content nationally, but I sure don't get it. I know I'll be happy not to have to spoof some content provider so I can get the 8 or 10 directional games at my house in Indiana. And that spoofing seems to depend on the provider. Fubo.tv doesn't seem to care where I live, so that's handy.
Let's go Raiders!
