Robert Jennings took a deep breath as he considered how to respond.
How did the Texas Tech basketball team get here? Jennings and the Red Raiders had just won against then-No. 1 Jennings. A win over No. 11 Baylor in the final regular season game secured a tie for third in the Big 12 Conference standings, a year after the team and the entire program seemed to be falling apart.
Last March, the Red Raiders finished their worst season in nearly a decade. Gone are the brilliance of a 2019 Final Four appearance, a smooth transition from Chris Beard to Mark Adams as head coach, and a plethora of lottery-level NBA draft prospects from the recruiting field.
Adams resigned after being suspended late in the season. Players left and right were aiming higher, either through the transfer portal or to start their professional careers early. Jennings registered his name on the portal to see what else was out there, but he was one of the few who stayed put.
Jennings ultimately decided to stay. After meeting with newly hired head coach Grant McCasland, the DeSoto native liked what he heard, withdrew from the portal and returned.
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Jennings, one of six players returning from a disastrous 2022-23 season, wasn't sure how to sum up the last 365 days or so. A lot happened within that time frame. The meeting has expanded. A new scheme, coaching staff, and culture of old clichés were introduced.
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All of which has led Texas Tech from a ninth-place finish in a 10-team conference to being considered one of the top 25 teams in the nation, earning a No. 6 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and a potential lead to Pittsburgh. won an expedition. They will play No. 11 seed North Carolina State on Thursday.
“It feels like last year,” Jennings said. “It hurt. No one wanted to feel that feeling coming back. We didn't want to feel that feeling. We said it would come back. 'When we were going to fight,' with the team we were on.
“I think that's what we were confident about. Something like that would never happen again.”
A lot can be said about last year's team. Players stuck in a transition are either unwilling, unable, or unwilling to get into the details of the transition. Whether it was poor play on the court or despicable behavior off the court, the end result was the same either way.
A complete overhaul was needed.
“That's not going to happen this year,” Lamar Washington said. “…If you have something to say, just stand in front of each other and say it. We're going to be a family and we're going to win. We set that standard at the beginning of the year.”
Chance McMillian said the returning players gave him and other newcomers the sordid details. They vowed to rekindle the flame of Red Raider basketball that seemed extinguished.
“I just wanted to let them know that I never want to feel that unreal feeling again,” Pop Isaacs said.
As much as Isaacs and the returners wanted to do better, they also wanted to help their new teammates keep their winning pedigree alive.
All five transfers during the offseason (McMillian, Joe Toussaint, Darrion Williams, Warren Washington and Devan Cambridge) played in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. McMillian, Toussaint, and Cambridge, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in December, have appeared in March Madness multiple times in their careers (as has Kerwin Walton, another player who returned from last season). ).
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Each of these rookies said their goal is to get Texas Tech back to the NCAA Tournament and prevent a bad season from spilling over into another.
“We wanted to help them feel that NCAA Tournament feeling again,” Isaacs said. “That's what we did.”
Wearing classy white sweatsuits, the Red Raiders joined a crowd of fans Sunday at United Supermarket Arena to hear their names called on CBS. More of a formality than anything else, Texas Tech has long established itself as a March Madness-worthy team, and the shindig allowed the team to feel the exhilaration of the moment together.
“It feels great,” Isaacs said. “Last year was obviously a tough year. I decided to come back and put all my chips in this, and it worked out for me. It worked out for this team, and I decided to come back and put all my chips into this. I’m so glad I made the decision to be a part of this. ”
Like Jennings, Isaacs had a chance to escape from what appeared to be a sinking ship. McCasland put his beliefs and program in Isaacs' hands, and the honor was not lost on the Las Vegas native. Isaacs became McCasland's lead recruiter, helping recruit teammates who changed the course of the program in search of stability.
Reaching the NCAA Tournament, whether for the first time or again, meant a lot to the Red Raiders. It's not just their personal aspirations, but something bigger as well.
“The city of Lubbock deserves more,” Jennings said. “We wanted more of ourselves, but we weren't going to rest on our laurels. I feel like we've been able to maintain that standard all year, and it's helped us throughout this season.”
