Texas Tech Basketball: 6 Players to Watch

As Billy Gillispie enters his first season as head basketball coach for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, there are a lot of new faces. 

After years of waiting for guys like PG John Roberson and F Mike Singletary to break through and make damage in the Big 12, the 2010-2011 team never lived up to its expectations. 

Instead, the same problems haunted them—the same problems that haunted them since they were freshmen. 

Thus, head coach Pat Knight was let go and is now at Lamar University. 

Now, Tech is going to look very different with many new faces and only one senior, starting C Robert Lewandowski. 

Let us take a look at six key players ready to make an impact in Lubbock. 

C/PF Robert Lewandowski is going to have to step it up and be a real leader of the team as the lone senior. 

The 6'10", 256-pound Lewandowski averaged 8.5 points per game and 4.8 rebounds last year. 

He has never been asked to be the go-to guy before, and with young, inconsistent guard play, Billy Gillispie will have to call on the senior to step up. 

He is averaging 17 points per game in the three games Texas Tech has played prior to Wednesday's matchup against the University of North Texas Mean Green (two of those were exhibition games). 

Lewandowski has good hands for a guy his size, so he will get a lot of his points with his off-the-ball movement and playing off of the guards by setting picks to get open.

However, he must polish up his mid-range game to reach his full potential, and he needs to get better at finishing in one-on-one situations in the post. 

Too often he has looked uncomfortable trying to create some offense with his back to the basket. The Tech offense must get an inside-out game going on the offensive end if they want any chance of success this season. 

Defensively, Lewandowski must use his size. He is 256 pounds, but plays too soft at times. If he can effectively use his size to his advantage, then he can really do some damage. 

G "Bean" Willis is one of three returning Red Raiders. 

However, he played limited minutes last year, with senior PG John Roberson playing the point. 

Willis can be a high-volume scorer at times. He can hit the three better than his career 31 percent indicates.

He also can get to the basket with his plus speed and good ball-handling skills. He is also tough and likes to create contact.

As with every other player you will see on this list, expect some growing pains. 

There will be times when you will see what Willis can do. He can be an explosive offensive player. Other times he will turn the ball over and take questionable shots. 

On defense, Willis is actually pretty solid. He plays tough man-to-man defense and can cause problems for opposing offenses. 

This is a big plus for a player under Billy Gillispie. He plays good, old-fashioned man defense.

F Jaye Crockett is an exceptional talent. 

He has above average length and decent height at 6'7". He can use that to his advantage with the man defense that Billy Gillispie runs.

He is also very athletic and can finish above the basket. The sophomore also shows off exceptional court vision as an above average passer. 

Unfortunately, it is unknown when Tech fans will get to see Crockett play this season. He has been hurt for both exhibition games and the season-opening win against the Troy Trojans. 

When healthy, he can really make an impact. 

Kevin Wagner is a Lubbock native, and is a heck of a talent. 

He is quick and athletic with superior jumping ability. 

Even at 5'8", he can still finish above the rim. That is something former starting PG John Roberson lacked. Roberson lacked the athletic ability to really get up and finish around the rim. 

Wagner is very good at shooting off the dribble and making passes off of penetration. He could work on his range to hit shots beyond the arc though. Wagner, at well below six feet tall, will face a good amount of adversity and growing pains.  

Defensively, he uses his quickness to disrupt passing lanes and stay in front of ball handlers. 

Like Jaye Crockett, Wagner is also injured, but hopes to make his college basketball debut very soon. 

Freshman power forward Jordan Tolbert is just 6'7", but has very good athletic ability and is very lanky. So what he loses in height he makes up for in length. 

Tolbert can use his jumping ability to get up and block shots and snatch rebounds in the post. To go along with his athletic ability, Tolbert is also very strong around the basket and can knock bodies around.

This is something past lanky Texas Tech power forwards have lacked. I am looking at you, Dwayln Roberts and Brad Reese. 

From the little I have seen from him this season, Tolbert is just getting his feet wet in college basketball. When he is aggressive and plays with a purpose, he can be very effective. However, he has looked timid at times, and really has not looked entirely comfortable. 

The same could probably be said about the entire team trying to learn Billy Gillispie's complex system. 

After averaging over 18 points per contest as a senior at the Atlantic Christian School in New Jersey, Minnis was recruited by basketball powerhouses like West Virginia, St. John's and Marquette. 

However, Billy Gillispie was able to get the recruit to commit to Texas Tech. 

Minnis has shown very good toughness so far, and finishes really well around the basket. 

Just like I've said already about the past Tech basketball players under Pat Knight, Minnis is different because of his toughness. 

He likes to create contact, draw fouls and take it to the defense. 

On defense, he averaged over three steals per game his senior season. He is good at shutting down the passing lanes and plays solid defense. 

He is just an athletic beast at 6'3", and can really light up the stat sheet.