Three-Point Play: Texas Tech, NCAA's goat rodeo, Tristan Enaruna
UNDER ARMOUR ASSOCIATION: Backing up the hype and rising reps
Today in the Three-Point-Play national analyst Eric Bossi takes a look at Texas Tech’s strong commitment to making sure the train keeps rolling in men’s basketball. Also, have feelings changed on the NCAA’s changes to summer recruiting? And, the final ranking for the class of 2019 is coming next week.
RANKINGS: 2019 Rivals150 | 2019 Team rankings | 2019 Position rankings
1. TEXAS TECH MAKES A STRONG STATEMENT
Texas Tech has really arrived as a basketball school. After catching lightning in a bottle and a guy who is rapidly ascending to coaching superstardom when they swiped Chris Beard from UNLV, the Red Raiders made a strong statement Monday with a six-year contract extension that makes him one of the highest-paid coaches in the country.
After leading Texas Tech to an Elite Eight and a Final Four in the last two seasons while ending Kansas’ Big 12 title streak in 2019, Beard signed a six-year/$27 million deal that runs through the 2024-25 season and averages $4.575 million per year.
I love the message that is being sent here. The message is that we like being a school known for basketball, we want to remain as a school known for hoops and we will do whatever it takes to retain a bright coaching talent like Beard. There’s no reason to think that Beard can’t continue to build on what he’s already done in Lubbock and with a vote of confidence like his new contract in his back pocket, he’s likely to be much harder to pull away when (and eventually they will) other programs come calling.
I don’t think it was any coincidence that three-star guard Clarence Nadolny made his commitment to the Red Raiders public on Monday either. With him in the mix, Beard and his staff have put together a top-15 class as things continue to get better and better for the blossoming program.
2. LIVE PERIOD WENT WELL, SKEPTICISM REMAINS FOR THE SUMMER
As anybody who follows recruiting knows, the NCAA decided to change how summer recruiting works. A reaction and look into change after all that has been exposed during the FBI trials regarding college cheating was both warranted and understandable. The solution that was put together by a group with little familiarity with the game has been looking both laughable and nonsensical.
But, I don’t want to do a tap dance on the NCAA here and call them all bad. They were trying to improve the image of the game and I like that even if I disagree with the results. I also want to compliment the NCAA and event directors across the country for what, by all accounts, was a very successful live period over the last weekend. Lots of kids got looks and exposure they deserved and coaches got to see lots of players.
That being said, what is coming in the next few months is looking like a goat rodeo. In short, the NCAA wants power back to high school coaches and added live evaluation periods in June, cut down live events in July from three periods to one and then added a period of NCAA-run camps and USA Basketball at the end of the month. So far, that idea has been a massive flop and I don’t see it turning out very successful.
Several states have already said they want nothing to do with sanctioning June events so there will be thousands of kids left out in the dark in June. College coaches want no part of going to high school events in June either. As for July, well it’s looking potentially disastrous.
I spent all weekend asking college coaches, summer coaches, kids and parents if they have any clear view of how the NCAA camps will work and nobody has any idea. On top of that, the kids I found who are interested in competing in them and the coaches who want to try and evaluate massive numbers of kids in a camp setting (the idea is to get some 2,000 or so players evaluated in four regional camps) are few and far between. The NCAA has asked coaches to nominate players for the camps and the coaches want nothing to do with it (turns out, players can nominate themselves now https://www.ncaa.com/collegebasketballacademy/nominate). On top of that, I would look for several of the more traditional tournament type events to start popping up that will live stream the games. Many coaches told me they would take their teams to non certified events like that which would basically end up business as usual in July with coaches simply watching on their computers instead of courtside.
It’s not too late to change it (at least I don’t think so) but the time to switch things up is running short. I think it’s too late to change the calendar, but it’s not too late to scrap the regional camps and certify the types of team events we’ve always seen in the past. I would require they be round robin, limit teams to going to one place during the last period and even say no shoe company funding of the events. It would be a much better solution than what is currently in place.
3. TRISTAN ENARUNA NEARING END OF HIS RECRUITMENT
By the time you read this, undecided four-star forward Tristan Enaruna will be wrapping up his official visit to Kansas. The visit was his third and final after previous trips to Miami and Creighton.
With his visits out of the way, I would expect a decision to be coming in very soon. Kansas has gone strong on Enaruna since getting involved during the winter, got the last chance to impress him and offers the blueblood pedigree. Creighton has been recruiting him the longest, has established a deep relationship and plays a wide-open style on offense. Miami, well the Canes are known for coaching, have the great weather, are in need of a difference maker in their frontcourt.
Though Miami snuck in and surprised everybody when it landed four-star guard Harlond Beverly, I think the Hurricanes are on the outside looking in on this one -- though a few sources told me that his visit to Coral Gables was strong so I'm not completely counting them out. I see this one coming down to Creighton and Kansas and I would expect a decision to be forthcoming in the very near future. At the beginning of the late signing period I predicted Kansas and as of today I’m sticking with that prediction but it is far from the most confident pick I’ve ever made and it’s almost a 50-50 proposition between him landing in Lawrence or Omaha.
Whoever gets him is getting a heck of a pickup. Currently ranked No. 105 nationally, look for Enaruna to make a giant leap when we finalize the 2019 rankings next week. At around 6-foot-9 with athleticism and skill, he should be considered a legitimate top-50 type recruiting score for whichever program lands him.