Texas Tech basketball: NCAA Tournament experience key to Grant McCasland's transfer targets

There was one important aspect to the transfers new head coach Grant McCasland brought to the Texas Tech basketball team this offseason.

After the dust settled with the transfer portal, Kerwin Walton was the lone Red Raider with NCAA Tournament experience, having competed in two while a member of the North Carolina Tar Heels. That had to change.

To fill the gaps with the graduations and departures, McCasland sought out guys who have felt March Madness themselves. He achieved that by bringing in five players, three of them senior transfers, that were in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

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"I felt like we needed experience," McCasland told the Avalanche-Journal in July, "especially experience that's played in the NCAA Tournament. That was a priority because if you can come in to a program with an expectation already of understanding what it takes to get in the tournament, that's the goal is to get the team so you can win the national championship."

McCasland reiterated this focus last week in his first press conference since he was introduced in April.

The five new players for Tech include Darrion Williams (Nevada), Chance McMillian (Grand Canyon), Joe Toussaint (West Virginia) and the duo of Warren Washington and Devan Cambridge, both coming from Arizona State.

The latter three are all using their final year of eligibility with the Red Raiders. Toussaint knows Lubbock quite well, having played in United Supermarkets Arena with the Mountaineers last season.

Toussaint's experience in WVU's 76-61 loss played a role in decided to join the fold. The Brooklyn native had a game-high 22 points, six rebounds and three steals in the Jan. 25 encounter.

"That's a credit to all of Lubbock and Red Raider Nation, honestly," McCasland said Sept. 6 of Toussaint's transfer to Tech. "Just all the love that people have for it because Joe played here, had a pretty good game, and he just remembers the atmosphere and energy in the building. I think there was a lot of people talking crazy to him, which he learned to appreciate."

Pop Isaacs recruited his friend Williams to join him. The pair came up in the Las Vegas basketball scene together, spending time as AAU teammates. Washington committed to Tech first and helped land Cambridge for the package deal. McMillian is rejoining Achoki Mokobu, one of the assistants that came with McCasland from North Texas.

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Moikobu was the recruiting coordinator in McMillian's first year at Grand Canyon. They were part of the Antelopes' first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021.

All five of the transfers competed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Williams' Nevada squad even squared off against Washington, Cambridge and Arizona State in the First Four at Dayton. McMillian and the Antelopes fell to Gonzaga, while Toussaint and the Mountaineers lost to Maryland in the first round.

Now that those five have joined the returners like Walton and Isaacs, the work is about to begin in putting those pieces together.

"One thing I think the returners are clear on," McCasland said, "is they want to play in the NCAA Tournament. They were really involved in the recruiting process and there were a lot of conversations like who do we want to add, how do we want this to look."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: NCAA Tournament experience key to Grant McCasland's transfer targets