In today's college basketball world, where the transfer portal dominates player movement, the new form of one-and-done player is not one who heads to the NBA after just one year on campus, but one who transfers from another university in their final season of eligibility and spends just one year with the program — a phenomenon Texas Tech fans are certainly familiar with.
After all, there have been plenty of transfers who left after just one season in Lubbock: The program's first of the modern era was forward Anthony Livingston, who followed Chris Beard to Lubbock from Arkansas-Little Rock and put up 9.9 points and 3.7 rebounds per game in 2016-17.
Big man Tommy Hamilton IV played his lone season as a Red Raiser in 2017-18, redshirting the year before after transferring from DePaul (at the time, players who transferred before graduating had to play games) and averaging 5.9 points and 2.7 rebounds as a reserve forward at Tech.
Another forward fans may remember is TJ Holyfield, who averaged 8.9 points and 4.5 rebounds per game for the Red Raiders in 2019-20 after transferring from Stephen F. Austin.
Davion Warren, a transfer from Hampton, was a solid player for Tech in 2021-22, averaging 9.4 points and 3.1 rebounds in 33 games at the guard position.
However, none of these players are on our countdown of the top five first-year transfers to have played for the Red Raiders, so let’s get into the list and look at players who brought more to the court than their stats would suggest.
5. . Adonis Arms. Adonis Arms. Players. . . 468. Texas Tech. 2021-22
Some players bring more to the court than statistics can ever measure, and former Red Raiders wing Adonis Arms is one of them. He transferred to Tech from Winthrop for the 2021-22 season and was a key part of the team that reached the Sweet 16.
Arms started 25 of 37 games that year, averaging 8.6 points and 4.4 rebounds. A versatile player, he scored in double figures in 17 games that season, including a 15-point performance against Montana State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
But the athletic wing was much more than an offensive presence — in fact, his greatest asset may have been his defense.
In his one season with the Red Razors, he recorded a defensive rating (an estimate of the points a player will concede per 100 possessions) of 90.7. Considering a rating of 100.0 is considered average, Arms' defensive rating was excellent.
Arms played just two years of Division I college basketball after beginning his career at the junior college level, and it's a shame he didn't get to spend more time at Tech, as he proved himself on and off the court in his lone season at Tech to be the type of player the Red Raiders wanted to build their program around.
