I was asked last week about the world famous and patent pending eligibility chart for the basketball team (I can do one for the football team, but knowing who is or is not on scholarship is a bit more tricky). That link and the chart below is updated to add redshirt sophomore guard Avery Benson as the 13th scholarship player.

Eligibility Chart

13 scholarships each year | Black Box = Scholarship Year | Red Box = Redshirt Year | HS = Playing high school | JC = Playing junior college | TR = Transfer | NBA = Declared for NBA Draft | NA = No Longer Attending | *Transfer from UNLV

The kind reader that noted that I needed to update the chart correctly pointed out that Avery Benson earned a scholarship right before the spring semester was to start, so what we do know is that the spring semester had Benson with a scholarship.

As you can tell, I have question marks for 2021 and 2022 because I don’t necessarily know if head coach Chris Beard extended that scholarship for the remainder of Benson’s career or just for the semester. As the chart notes, there are only 13 scholarships available each year and before Benson was put on scholarship, Texas Tech was already at the maximum of 13, which meant there’s technically no room to add Benson.

As we all know, Beard is a master roster builder and players will leave and some will arrive and you really won’t know who will be on the roster until the roster is actually set.

In fact, it is being reported that Wichita State guard Erik Stevenson has been contacted by Texas Tech.

The Arizona Wildcats’ first reported transfer it contacted was Wichita State shooting guard Erik Stevenson, per Stockrisers.com’s Jake Weingarten. Stevenson was also contacted by Gonzaga, Xavier, Creighton, Washington, Oregon State, USC, Utah, Florida, South Carolina, Memphis and Texas Tech.

Stevenson, a 6-foot-3-inch sophomore guard from Lacey, Washington, just finished up his second season at WSU 11.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 steals in 25.9 minutes per game this season.

Why transfer after a successful season at Wichita State, a school known for its men’s basketball program?

In an interview with the Wichita Eagle, head coach Gregg Marshall “didn’t have a great relationship” with Stevenson among other players.

Stevenson is just a sophomore, so he’d have to redshirt a year, but he would then have two additional years of eligibility. If Beard is at the very least contacting Stevenson, we know that there may be a player or two that will be leaving at the end of the year because . . . as noted . . . there are technically no spots available, and as noted, that doesn’t include Benson’s potential scholarship. It was also pointed on our internal Slack channel by BoB that Pitt guard Ryan Murphy entered the transfer portal and would be a graduate transfer. Murphy played JUCO ball for Luke Adams, former Red Raider basketballer and son of Mark Adams. There will be other options. I promise.

I think that we’re all at the point with Beard as the head coach that there will be some roster crunching so just get ready for it. The obvious candidates are the players who are not utilized as much as other.