From 1998-2017, the Texas Tech basketball program went without seeing one of its players picked in the first round of the NBA Draft. Thus, the thought that Jahmi’us Ramsey could be the third player in the last three years to go from Texas Tech to the NBA’s first round is as great of a indication of the program’s health these days as almost any other measurement.
That’s because perhaps the most important selling point to the top high school recruits in the nation is the ability to get to the NBA from your program. That’s something that Beard didn’t have the luxury of saying he could do when he arrived.