Texas Tech University Athletics
Coach Knight Nabs Two From Area
March 21, 2002 | Men's Basketball
March 21, 2002
Lubbock, TX - The West Texas recruiting market this year is all but closed. By the end of the day Wednesday, Texas Tech head coach Bob Knight pretty much cornered it with his latest intake of two basketball walk-on players: former Seminole guard Tanner Ogden and Midland High guard LucQuente White.
White traveled to Lubbock Wednesday morning to accept the invitation, joining Ogden as the latest of four West Texas recruits to commit to Tech in the last year. The others are Monterey guard Josh Washington for the fall and Midland Lee guard Drew Coffman for 2003. Both White and Ogden will enroll at Tech this fall as freshmen.
"It was a real easy decision to make when you have a coach like coach Knight interested in you," White said. "He said he liked my whole game."
With no initial scholarships left at Tech for the coming fall, Ogden and White elected to join the team as non-scholarship players, a status that has never held any meaning for Knight in terms of potential playing time. Both of last year's walk-ons, Nathan Doudney and Ronald Ross, started for Tech at times this season.
White (6-foot, 165 pounds) averaged 19.7 points, seven rebounds and 6.5 assists per game on Midland's playoff team (24-7) as a senior. He also received recruiting interest from Southern Methodist and New Orleans.
Ogden is the younger brother of University of Texas junior forward Chris Ogden. Tanner Ogden (6-6, 190 pounds) graduated from Seminole in 2000 at 150 pounds before moving on to Fork Union Academy, a military prep school in Virginia. At Fork Union, he matured physically and become one of seven Division I prospects on his team, which finished the year 24-6. Ogden also received recruiting interest from Kansas and smaller Division I schools on the East Coast.
"He's put on about 40 or so pounds since he left here," Seminole coach Greg Clark said. "That's the big thing. When he played for us, you could tell his best basketball was way in front of him."
Having qualified academically out of high school, Ogden's biggest reason to play at Fork Union for the last two years was personal improvement as a Division I prospect. Fork Union has produced about 175 Division I players in the last 30 years, according to Fork Union coach Fletcher Arritt. Ogden graduated high school at age 17 and will still be classified as a college freshman at Tech this fall. His statistics at Fork Union were unavailable, Arritt said.
"He was a young skinny kid out of high school, but we knew he had great potential," Arritt said. "He's a 6-6 two-guard that's quick. He's a good shooter and a very talented player."
The same evaluation applies to White, who played both guard spots this season for Midland. White started his last three seasons at Midland and caught the eye of Knight over the summer at Knight's team camp at Tech.
"Coach Knight said he went to all these camps and talked to all these people and saw all these kids," Midland coach Jack Stephenson said. "When he got back to Texas, he said he still wanted LucQuente White for Texas Tech."
White's first name is pronounced Luh-quent-ee. His nickname since seventh grade has been "Q." Stephenson jokingly said "Q" might stand for quiet. He described White as quiet, unassuming and very likable.
"I think you'll like this kid," Stephenson said. "With him and Drew (Coffman), y'all are getting two great Midland kids."
In November, Tech signed three other newcomers for the fall: Washington, John Ofoegbu from San Antonio Taft and Robert Tomaszek, a junior college transfer from Eastern Wyoming College. The addition of those three, the two walk-ons and the departure of sophomore guard Marcus Shropshire brings Tech's roster next season to 14 players, including 11 scholarships.
[By BRENT SCHROTENBOER (from the Avalanche Journal, 3/21/02)] bschrotenboer@lubbockonline.com 766-8733
