Double-T Nation Basketball Review // Shooting Guard

Shooting Guard

Nick Okorie; 6-1/195; Senior

Positives: When Nick Okorie is completely healthy, he's incredibly good and incredibly athletic. When Okorie first started I thought that he could add a dimension that Texas Tech hasn't quite had, which is an athletic shooting guard that can play defense and make plays on his own. If Okorie can improve his shot, as detailed below, I think he has the opportunity to be named to an all-conference team. There's going to be some slack that he has to pick up with the loss of Alan Voskuil, but the talent is there.

Negatives: When Okorie wasn't healthy, he looked slow and his shot was not even close. Again, that's not healthy, but Okorie does need to continue to fine tune his shot, as he only connected on 41% of his field goals and a solid 37% of his three-point shots. Okorie isn't asked to be a distributor, but if Aaron-Mike Davis isn't ready to take over point guard duties then Okorie may have to pick up the slack. I'm not real comfortable with Okorie playing the point. From what I can remember, Voskuil would take the ball up the court if Roberson was out and Okorie strictly played off the ball.

Wally Dunn; 6-4/194; Junior

Positives: I'm not sure that I saw enough of Dunn to really give you any idea what he can and what he can't do. I think he's a pretty good shooter, but I don't think he gets much time next year.  I think Dunn could serve to stretch the court a bit and if Pat Knight decides to utilize a zone, to hide Dunn's defensive liabilities, but right now there's a lot of competition at the shooting guard and small forward positions and there could be a lot of players swing between both positions..

Negatives: Dunn is a tad slow and as a result, a bit of a defensive liability. Not awful, but he's going to struggle to keep pace with Big 12 players.

David Tairu; 6-3/177; JUCO Transfer

Positives: When you think of Tairu, think of Nick Okorie, but a little more lean and with a little more height. He's not as bulky as Okorie, but he's got some serious talent. The one thing that I noted about Okorie's game last year was that he knew how to play defense and considering both Tairu and Okorie played for South Plains College, I'm hoping he shows up at Texas Tech with the same type of defensive intensity.  I'm hoping that Tairu is a bit more of a combo-guard, with the ability to play both the shooting guard spot as well as the point.  Someone has got to take some time away from Roberson, and although there are rumblings that Pat Knight may sign a point guard with this year's class, I think a more mature player might be beneficial at this time.

Negatives: With any JUCO player, there's always the question as to whether or not the player is going to be able to adjust to playing at the Big 12 level. Luckily, there seems to be a surplus of guards and small forwards available, but Tairu has the talent to play immediately, he's just got to work.