Odds and Ends
Please make sure and check out the FanPosts. Some of these folks are vying to be the next front page writer(s). They are working their tails off to get on the front page, so go give them a look. If you read something and you enjoyed it, give it a rec. That way I know that you enjoyed it. Don't be stingy.
Golf
The men's golf team is currently in 22nd place in the NCAA Championships after the first round, but just three shots out of 12th place. Make a move today and go wreck'em.
Tennis
Current men's head coach Tim Siegel was set to retire at the end of the year, but now things have changed as he has decided to stay. I really like Siegel. He's a good guy from what I can tell, very likable and he always seemed way too young to retire. Maybe that's his youthful appearance. In any event, I think this is a good thing. The LAJ has some additional quotes from Siegel.
Baseball
The LAJ has a really good, position-by-position recap of the team and where they will be next year. I mentioned that there are 19 signees, but only a handful of seniors and MLB Draft hopefuls. Of course, some of those 19 signees are also MLB Draft hopefuls so maybe the numbers will all work out. Still, some players aren't going to be asked back. I think the MLB Draft (and I know it is not technically called this) is next week. This is the type of article I want to write after the dust settles with the MLB Draft.
Congrats to former Red Raider P Nathan Karns for making his MLB debut last night for the Washington Nationals. Further congrats goes to P Trey Masek for being named to the Gregg Olson Breakout Player of the Year list and Golden Spikes Award list.
Men's Basketball
Per Scout, it appears that former Red Raider signee Wannah Bail will visit UCLA ($), but the headline says it all. Bail was apparently close to former head coach, Chris Walker, actually showed up on campus and then left once he got a taste of Billy Gillispie. If you want to get mad at someone for not getting Bail, don't blame new coach Tubby Smith, but feel free to make Gillispie the scapegoat.
Football
Hat-tip to Chris 768, Forbes has a bit on how Rivals wants to be the dominant college football recruiting site. I think that the Rivals sites are the dominant sites with some colleges, here in Lubbock is a good example, but I do think that their foothold is slipping a bit. The article highlights a super special Rivals camp where they just invite 5-star players and only Rivals reporters are permitted to report what happens. I suppose that is one way to create content that is wholly beneficial to the Rival readers. I do think that 24/7 Sports is making headway in a lot of markets and I think that Twitter has become a great equalizer for some high school players. They get to control the message if they want, which I think is a good thing.
Speaking of Rivals, they finally updated a large portion of their rankings, and now every player has a rating. When these players first committed, there was no rating for any of these players: L.J. Collier, Jakari Dillard, Demarcus Felton, Derrick Neal, Justin Stockton. Now, most of those guys are rated with 3-stars if that makes you feel any better.
24/7 Sports has their weekly Big 12 roundup and they write that summer camps for each individual college will play big roles for every player. This is true as most players need to get noticed. Personally, I think that the ratings will be mostly set after the summer and then players have the opportunity to improve their stock during their senior years. I think it is that way every year, so we have some time before things are really set.
SoonerScoop has all of the details about the Sooners being in trouble with the NCAA and secondary violations. Nothing huge.
CBS Sports Bruce Feldman has an extensive sit-down with Longhorn coach Mack Brown.
Football Study Hall has all of the information you would ever want on 3rd downs.