Smith at Coaches Meetings: The video interview from Texas Tech head basketball coach Tubby Smith who discusses that the rebuilding job at Texas Tech is the toughest of his career and opening next season against his son G.G. Smith at Loyola University in Maryland, in Lubbock. Smith said that the transition to Texas Tech was tough, but the group of kids was tough and had a tough schedule, but the transition was good in trying to establish a new winning culture. Smith also briefly discusses the trip to the Pentagon at the end, which he did earlier this week.
Pentagon Trip: I was hoping that there would be other or additional information about this, but I am actually linking to the Department of Defense site on VTM, which is something that I thought I'd never do. Smith was part of a contingent of coaches that helped kick off the Commitment to Service campaign to discuss leadership (via Department of Defense). The various coaches, talked about what leadership meant to them, and here's Smith:
Texas Tech University men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith said he learned if "you take care of business, it’s like a team. We’re all on this team," he said. "Everybody has a role to play."
SEC/Big 12 Challenge: The various teams between the SEC and the Big 12 were paired yesterday and the Texas Tech Red Raiders will host the Auburn Tigers on Wednesday, December 3rd (via Big 12 Sports). Pretty neat to think that Texas Tech will get to see what Bruce Pearl is going to be able to do at Auburn and how he'll turn the Tigers around in his first year.
Because everyone loves to rank things, ESPN ranked the games between the SEC and Big 12 teams and this match-up came in 9th (via ESPN):
This game won’t feature the most talent from either league. But this will be Bruce Pearl’s first season at Auburn, where he’s blessed with great facilities and an administration that seems determined to make a stand in the SEC. Tubby Smith didn’t turn the Red Raiders into world beaters during his first season in Lubbock, but a few surprises -- upsets over Baylor, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Texas -- were promising. Three of Smith’s top four scorers from last season are back too. Nothing wrong with a matchup between a couple of veteran coaches who are trying to rebuild in unique locations.
The problem of course is that the last sentence is about as incorrect as you can get because I think the writer is just looking at graduating players and not keeping track of players that transferred. As a result, Texas Tech only returns 1 of the top 4 scorers from last year, Robert Turner. Jaye Crockett graduated, while Jordan Tolbert and Dusty Hannahs transferred.