Five Things is a handful (i.e., five) of thoughts about a single topic. Hopefully, discussion ensues.
Scoring Options
Typically, Knight coached teams have had a player that is the bonafide team leader, especially in terms of scoring. This exercise is to take a look at those scoring options and whether or not I think there's a legitimate number one threat or if this season is more likely to be by committee.
1: John Roberson
To me, John Roberson is the obvious first choice because he lead the team in scoring last year at 13.9 points a game, which was 0.1 more than Alan Voskuil. The thing about Roberson is that he lead the team in scoring, while shooting 38% from the field. That's not what you need from your leading scorer, and I tend to think that Pat Knight and Texas Tech would be better served if the leading scorer, whoever that is, is able to shoot closer to 50% from the field rather than 38%. I know, this is a relatively easy statement to make, but a high-volume shooter like Roberson, who can get hot, isn't ideal in my opinion. Not to mention, Roberson, in two years at running the point, has not been able to figure out how to score while getting to the rim. Addinig this to his game, would obviously be a great benefit to that scoring percentage, but he's just never been able to get off his shot around the rim.
2: Mike Singletary
I really like Mike Singletary's potential. When I watched him with D'Walyn Roberts and John Roberson in the Global Games, I thought he would be a tremendous addition to Texas Tech because he seemed to be that fiery player that could play inside and out. Thus far, of the available options, Singletary has been the most consistent and although he hasn't been perfect. To his credit, Singletary shoots 49% from the field and last year averaged 12.2 points a game. The biggest problem with Singletary is that he tends to disappear in games, to the extent that he's not a factor in the least. There were eight games where he scored 6 points or less, and this is coming from your second leading scorer. Sometimes this is a matchup problem with Singletary as he can be really good inside, but if the matchup isn't right, then he's not as effective. Another gripe of Singletary is his propensity to turn the ball over in bunches. Eight games last year, Singletary turned the ball over 4 times or more and for a guy that's not handling the ball all that often, that's too many. Granted, Singletary was better much later in the season, but over two turnovers a game is too much.
3: Nick Okorie
When I first saw Nick Okorie, I could not have been more impressed with what he did in his first few games as a Red Raider. In only 19 minutes, Okorie put up 16 points in only 19 minutes against St. Francis (PA), 18 points against Sam Houston and 15 points against E. Central OK. Not the best competition, but still, a really nice opening set of games. Okorie struggled a bit after that, but he also hurt his ankle and this seemed to take a good portion of the season for Okorie. But then Okorie got healthy. In a string of eight games during the end of the season, Okorie average 18 points a game on 49% from the field and this was against some fairly major opponents (@ K-State; @ OU; OSU; TAMU; @ Texas; OU; Kansas and @ ISU). To add to that, Okorie was also getting to the charity stripe during this stretch over 5 times a game. If Okorie could be this type of player, and I think he can, then I think as good as shot as anyone else.
4: Robert Lewandowski
As a true freshman center last year, Robert Lewandowski finished the year averaging 6.6 points a game and shot 58% from the field. There was a streak of games during the middle of the season where he scored in double figures five straight games (@ Missouri; @ TAMU; Nebraska; and @ Oklahoma State) but faded into inconsistency after that. Lew would finish the year having trouble with fouls and being a consistent threat on the floor. Of course, what I like about Lew is that he's really young and I think he's very much capable of being a real scoring threat next season. Of course, much of that depends on how much Lew has worked over the summer. Another advantage that Lew has is that college basketball is not necessarily littered with big men who are highly skilled. Lew isn't perfect by any means, but he certainly displayed enough ability to me to be a guy that has a few post moves and can score on a consistent basis. I'm not sure if he's ready to lead this team in scoring next year, but by his junior year, he's my bet to be the guy on the floor.
5: Brad Reese and Theron Jenkins
It's difficult to put a ton of stock into JUCO guys, but of the three JUCO players that Texas Tech signed, the other being David Tairu, I think Brad Reese and Theron Jenkins have the best opportunity to lead this team in scoring. Reese averaged 16.4 points a game on 46% from the field. Reese was an all-around scorer as he took over 5 free throws a game and made a little under two three-pointers a game. Reese didn't lead his JUCO team in scoring so that may indicate that he may be a guy that is better suited to be a secondary scorer than a true leading scorer for this team. Jenkins averaged 13.25 points game for Itawamba CC 43% from the field and 30% from beyond the arc, averaging one per game and only averaged two free throws a game. Probably not ideal for leading the 2009-10 version of Texas Tech in scoring.