So much to talk about. I apologize for taking most of Sunday off, but I thought that most of you were preoccupied with the last football game of this football season (a tear is slowly rolling down my cheek as I type those words). Nevertheless, we continue on and move forward. Tomorrow night there's a very important game in Lubbock, and the way the season is shaping up, the most important of the season. Tech needs this game desperately. Look for the preview to be posted later tonight.
Texas Tech Basketball:
LAJ's Jeff Walker's article discusses the need for something, anything, up front. I agree, but there doesn't seem to be any sort of consistent answer in sight. Walker goes on to detail the complete lack of any sort of inside presence and has this quote from Pat:
"He hadn't done anything up to that point," Pat Knight said. "He fouled out towards the end. It's just trying to find somebody else to put in there. We were looking down the bench to put somebody else in that probably wasn't going to do much, so, it wasn't really that big a deal.
"The bigger deal was that he wasn't very productive. He gets one rebound and it's on offense. Maybe he should have fouled out earlier, it might have helped us."
I don't think we've seen this type of dismissive attitude this year. I completely understand why, but it's interesting that Pat is saying those things now.
Aside from that, it's not as if the Knights have recruited a number of big men for next year. Other than Ricardo De'Bem, the biggest guys are 6-7 and very lean. We may get something out of Rogdrick Craig next year if his heart problem is remedied, but he's only 6-6. A couple things are going to have to happen.
- Some of the guys currently on the roster are going to have to step up their play. That includes, Mitchell, Cook, Rizvic and Suljagic. Those names aren't exactly getting me too excited.
- The Knights are going to have to start recruiting better frontcourt players. Without a doubt, Tech has one of the most un-athletic frontcourts in the Big 12. It would suit me just fine to not ever see Mitchell ever again, and I don't think that Cook has seen a minute of action this entire year. Suljagic is just a guy, there's absolutely nothing special about him, and Rizvic is so far behind in terms of understanding how to play the game and with recovering from the injury, that he's got some catching up to do.
I'm not trying to paint a bleak picture of the future, but both of these things need to happen quickly.
Check out this past Sunday's morning post on Double T Nation, I went on an early morning rant (coffee induced and I noted that I went to church angry, which I really didn't, that was just for effect) and CC Machine responded as well as a few of the DTN faithful.
Texas Tech Baseball:
The Red Raiders lost the 2nd of a two game series to SFA, 2-1, on Sunday afternoon. LAJ's George Watson does a fine job with his game story. As an aside, the official Texas Tech site doesn't always do the best job of giving the full story, but I must say that Tech's baseball coverage is really good. Here's the official game story.
Texas Tech Football:
It appears that Tech picked up another offensive line recruit, Omar Castillo. For those of you keeping score at home, 7 of the 25 commitments are offensive linemen. I wonder if any of these kids are going to be moved to the defensive side of the ball.
I didn't want to make the announcement too early but shortly after signing day, Double T Nation will have a special guest commentator on the 2007 Texas Tech recruiting class and we'll discuss not only the 2007 recruits, but also some of the position battles heading into spring practice. That's just enough to whet your appetite, right?