Smith to Speak at Pentagon: This is pretty cool as Texas Tech head coach Tubby Smith will speak at the Pentagon (via Texas Tech):
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The open panel discussion will focus on challenges facing championship-level teams and the U.S. military. Among the topics will be how to motivate and inspire people towards pursuit of a common goal, how to mentor young adults for a lifetime of positive contributions, how to recruit and retain the best talent, and how to better integrate a diverse group of people.
The strategy seminar with Gen. Dempsey and the coaches provides a venue for the USA Basketball coaches and military leadership to talk about shared values, common themes, and applicable lessons learned over long and successful professional careers.
More on Stidham at Elite 11: Texas Tech commit QB Jarrett Stidham continues to earn rave reviews from his performance this past weekend at the Elite 11 regional in Dallas, earning the MVP and an invite to the national event this summer, and Stidham said that he's happy to be included (via Scout):
"It's huge," Stidham said with a smile and a sigh of relief. "I think it was just last week that I was looking at the Elite 11 and all the finalists from last year. I am glad to be a part of the fraternity."
And some are predicting that he'll be a star (via Texas Football):
- The MVP award went to Stephenville’s Jarrett Stidham, and he definitely deserved it. Stidham built on a phenomenal performance at the Nike Training Camp, and made all the throws on Sunday. Stidham puts a lot zip on his balls and his release is second to none. This isn’t exactly a bold prediction, but there is no way Stidham isn’t going to be a star at Texas Tech.
ESPN vs. SEC: This is pretty good and I won't try to quote much of this, but want to give you the gist of this and then hear your thoughts, which is that what if ESPN and the lack of a 9th conference game could make force the SEC to play that 9th conference game, especially if the strength of schedule isn't up to what every other conference is playing (via Blatant Homerism). The idea that the talking heads at ESPN could certainly make a case that a SEC team that only plays 12 games, 8 conference games and two weak conference opponents and four easy non-conference games . . . well, you get the idea. That's not all that impressive.
Waddle Adjusts to the NFL: Former Red Raider LaAdrian Waddle talks about how the right fit was important to him after not being drafted, but then starting 8 games for the Detroit Lions (via LAJ). Waddle also talked about how a NFL player has to take to coaching:
"Whatever coaching points you get, you have to take them and go with them fast," Waddle said. "If you mess up, you have to learn from it right then and there. You can’t dwell on your mistakes. You have to keep pushing forward, knowing that you have to keep improving every day."
Critical Juncture for Texas Tech Baseball: If you want to know what happened this weekend with the baseball team (I haven't had time to update the weekend baseball post, but will soon) the this is a good place to start (via LAJ):
But the Red Raiders are going to have to hunker down for these last four games, especially the final weekend of the regular season against West Virginia (May 14-16). A lot of baseball will be played around the Red Raiders between now and then, and Tech could rise or fall in the standings depending on what happens, especially as the Mountaineers visit the Jayhawks this weekend.
Then again, this break may come at just the right time. Of the four games remaining, Dallas Baptist has an RPI of 35, while West Virginia is at 24 after their series win over Texas. So none of the four remaining games will hurt Tech’s RPI.
Tech should still be a solid No. 2 seed in the NCAA as it’s RPI won’t fall below No. 32 the rest of the way. If the slide continues, however, the view the NCAA committee has of Tech will diminish, and then that’s a bubble the Red Raiders don’t want to be on.
LINKS:
* This is an article about how college recruiters and coaches tweet things to recruits, but not actually at recruits, ya know, wink wink, nod nod (via FWST). #boom #yesssir #havegoodandgetgive
* Congrats to former Red Raider Kim Kaufman finished 4th at the LPGA event in Dallas over the weekend, North Texas LPGA Shootout (via Argus Leader)!