Texas Tech Basketball Notebook: McClung to Stay in NBA Draft; Rankings to Consider

Yesterday, Texas Tech guard Mac McClung announced that he would be staying in the NBA Draft.

McClung averaged 15.5 points last year on 42% from the field, 34% from the three-point line, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.1 assists. McClung is likely a 2nd round pick or free agent, but I’m also not a guy that evaluates NBA talent for a living. I think Mcclung improved his game and being “the guy” that had the ball in his hands at the ends of games isn’t an easy thing to do.

Texas Tech will need significant guard-play and Chandler Jacobs, Mylik Wilson and Clarence Nadolny are the only guards on the roster (excluding walk-on’s), although I absolutely understand that Davion Warren, Adonis Arms, and Sardaar Calhoun can play the shooting guard spot.

If Terrence Shannon, Jr. stays in the NBA Draft, which I expect, Texas Tech will have lost three of their top four scorers, so whatever you do, don’t downplay the talent that’s left Lubbock. It is significant and Mark Adams has his work cut out for him, which I know he’s not afraid of.

CBS Sports ranks the transfers and I’m not sure I totally agree with this list, but am obviously biased. According to this list, Nimari Burnett is the 28th best possible transfer, Micah Peavy is 40th, and Kyler Edwards is 51st. All of those players should be in reverse order in my opinion, with Kyler being the best option, then Micah, then Nimari. Putting the ball in the basket seems like something that should happen and Kyler does that better than any of those. Texas Tech only has one player,  Hampton transfer Davion Warren is 65th. Without being a jerk, Burnett was not good despite playing 15+ minutes per game and struggled to score from anywhere. I’m not sure why he transferred because it wasn’t for lack of playing time. I can’t really put any of Texas Tech’s transfers on this list because I haven’t seen the other 56 players actually play so I have no frame of reference.

College Hoops Today’s Jon Rothstein has Texas Tech 45th in his top 45 and I don’t know if I agree with his starting 5:

Projected Starting 5:
G Davion Warren
G Sardaar Calhoun
G Chibuzo Abgo
F Kevin McCullar
C Marcus Santos-Silva

I think that Texas Tech is going to need a distributor and I’m not sure if Chandler Jacobs is that guy, but his shooting is pretty spectacular. If I remember correctly Arms is a decent distributor too, so I’ll be interested to see how Adams mixes and matches these lineups.

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