The Tubby Smith era of Texas Tech basketball is a tough one to label because of how it ended. It was as if the legendary head coach erased all the good he had done over the previous three seasons when he took the job at Memphis without giving Kirby Hocutt a chance to entice him to stay.
That was truly disappointing given that Smith had just taken the program to its first NCAA Tournament in nine years and had most of his key players set to return. That group included Keenan Evans, Zach Smith, Norense Odiase, and Justin Gray, the foursome that would form the foundation of Tech’s Elite Eight run two seasons later.