Matt Mooney  – Shooting Guard (South Dakota Transfer)

Height	Weight
6’3″	210 lbs

Ratings (HS): NR by 247sports / 59 by ESPN / NR by Rivals/ NR by 247composite

Interest: Arizona State (Warm), Creighton (Warm), Northwestern (Warm), Texas Tech (Warm), Utah State (Warm)

We have talking about Matt Mooney as a possible addition to the 2018 class for almost a month now. The Red Raiders had two scholarships available after Khavon Moore committed. With very little high school recruits left, we assumed they would both go to junior college or graduate transfers.  The South Dakota transfer originally was at the Air Force academy before leaving for the Coyotes, and this past season, he averaged 18.7 point, 4.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. Chris Beard paid a visit to Mooney about three weeks ago, and told Evan Daniels of 247sports about the similarities between his current coach and Beard. It should be noted that his current coach in now at Utah State. Then he knocked his list down to eight schools a couple week ago, before announcing his top five last week (the schools are listed above). He told Daniels that he will visit Texas Tech after the first week of May, which is his finals, and many believe that Tech is the favorite to land Mooney.

Now let’s see what Mooney can do. The type of player that Chris Beard has tried to recruit has been a shooter, as evident as his Jordan Brangers commitment, and he may have found one in Mooney. The graduate transfer has crazy range and isn’t afraid to pull up in big moments. He can shoot off the pass or the dribble as well. However, that doesn’t mean he’s afraid to drive it. If defenders close in on him, he can take it to the rack and make a play. Perhaps the quality that Beard will like the most is his defense, how Mooney will poke the ball away from defenders. You have to be a defender to play for the Red Raiders, and he appears to do so. Mooney would bring in help right away for the Red Raiders with the loss of their seniors and allow them to find a replacement for next season.

Isaac Likekele  – Point Guard (Timberview, Mansfield, TX)

Height	Weight
6’4″	205 lbs

Ratings: 88 by 247 / NR by ESPN / 3-stars by Rivals / 92.85 by 247composite

Interest: Oklahoma State (Warm), Texas Tech (Warm), UTEP (Warm)

We said that the last two scholarships were likely going to be graduate transfers, but Zhaire Smith choose to go pro and that left another scholarship open for the Red Raiders. Luckily, they may be able to replace their young shooting guard (or forward if you want to call him that) with another young guard. Likekele is not the same size or player as Smith, but he’s a Top 150 player and is a young enough to develop but contribute right away. The reason why he became available so late was because he was signed to Fresno State, but was released, as requested, two weeks ago. He was likely able to go because their coach was recently hired as the head coach for UTEP. Speaking of the Miners, they are in the top three for Likekele along with Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. He visited El Paso this past weekend, will visit Lubbock this weekend and will visit Oklahoma State the weekend after. He talked with Jarrett Johnson of 247sports about these schools and what he likes about them.

Let’s see what Likekele can bring to the Red Raiders. He seems to me like a point guard who seems like he’s in control of the game. Likekele has a ton of moves (mostly the spin move) and finds various of ways to get to the basket. He doesn’t seem like the fastest player, but he uses his frame and strength to get to the spot he wants. Finally, he has some range to keep defenses honest. There aren’t a whole lot of defensive highlights in the first tape, but there was a block on there and he seems to have some athleticism. In the second video, you see more his defensive style. Likekele has active hands and will constantly try to get the ball from you. Zhaire and Culver did a lot of that last season, and Likekele looks like he could do the same.

Now let’s take a look at our recruiting updates:

Football 2018:

• Seth Collins, Transfer from Oregon State, committed to Texas Tech on Monday. Seth C had a story on the commitment last week, along with the Dallas Morning News.

Football 2019:

• David Gbenda, 91 rated ILB, received an offer from Texas Tech on Friday. Gbenda has a total of 22 offers as of right now.
• Kori Roberson, 88 rated DE, received an offer from the Red Raiders on Wednesday. Roberson is currently committed to the Sooners.
• Jacob Zeno, 87 rated Pro-QB, was visited by Kevin Johns at his high school at San Antonio John Jay on Wednesday. Zeno was at the spring game a couple weekends ago. Tech looks like they really want Zeno.
• Andrew Coker, 87 rated OT, received an offer from Texas Tech on Thursday. He was one of two Katy Taylor recruits to be offered by Tech that day (Ben Montgomery).
• Daimarque Foster, 86 rated RB, received an offer from the Red Raiders on Thursday. His one other offer is from SMU. Tech has offered plenty of running backs this class.
• Brandon Joseph, 84 rated S, received an offer from Texas Tech on Thursday. Joseph has offers from three Ivy League schools, which includes Cornell, Darmouth and Harvard.
• Ben Montgomery, 81 rated S, received an offer from the Red Raiders on Thursday. He also has offers from Houston, Louisiana-Monroe, Texas State and Yale.

Basketball 2018:

• Khavon Moore, 94 rated SF, officially signed with the Red Raiders on Wednesday. You can finally breathe out and relax, he’s headed to Lubbock. Here’s what 247sports wrote about his signing.
• Keonte Kennedy, 88 rated PG, has been released from his letter of intent from Xavier and has interest from Oregon, Texas Tech and Virginia Tech according to Shannon Russell. Kennedy told her he is looking for “the opportunity to play early as a freshman, build relationships and family culture”, and that Xavier is the favorite.
• Zach Johnson, FGCU Graduate Transfer, committed to Miami on Thursday. Tech had interest in Johnson at one point.
• Ehab Amin, Texas A&M-CC Graduate Transfer, will choose between Miami, Nevada and Wichita State according to Ellie Lieberman. Tech showed interest in Amin.

Basketball 2019+:

• Will Baker, 98 rated 2019 C, received a visit from Texas Tech on Saturday morning according to Corey Evans. He was also visited by Baylor, North Carolina, Texas A&M, Texas and Virginia.
• Jalen Wilson, 98 rated 2018 SF, received a visit from Texas Tech on Saturday morning according to Corey Evans. The head coaches from Michigan and North Carolina, along with Texas and Texas A&M saw him as well.
• Drew Timme, 93 rated 2019 PF, was visited by Texas Tech on Monday according to Jake Weingarten. He was also visited by Notre Dame on Monday, Kansas State on Tuesday and Texas A&M on Wednesday.
• Avery Anderson III, 89 rated 2019 PG, talked about his recruitment with Dan McDonald of Rivals. He talks about several schools, including Texas Tech and Zhaire Smith.
• Tyrell Jones, NR 2019 PG, were visited by Al Pinkins of Texas Tech and UCF on Wednesday. Jones currently has six offers, mostly from his home state of Florida.
• Micah Peavy, 96 rated 2020 SG, received an offer from Texas Tech on Saturday. The Houston product currently has two other offers from Tennessee and Texas A&M.
• Jermonte Hill, NR 2020 CG, received his first Division I offer from Texas Tech on Monday. He received an offer from Kansas State later in the week. Hill currently plays basketball in Atlanta, Georgia.