Double-T Nation News:
Gotta move quickly this morning.
Mike Leach Watch:
We have a few things on the Mike Leach contract watch. Up first, LAJ's Don Williams reports that Texas Tech Chancellor Kent Hance visited with the agents for Mike Leach for about half an hour. Here's Hance:
"They want to work something out, and we want to work something out," Hance said. "This isn’t about Mike Leach. This is a money issue. And for me, it’s a question of what we can afford. We don’t have an unlimited budget. We like Mike and we want to keep him, but we have to use good sound judgment also in the financial stability of all our programs."
There's quite a bit more quotes and information in the article than I'm blockquoting so go read the whole thing, but I also wanted to blockquote what Captain Leach said when asked what he expects to be doing in the next few years:
"Same thing I have for nine years. I figure I’ll be here," he said. "It’s funny, because I get asked that a lot. I’ve been asked that virtually every year that I’ve been here, and I’ve been here longer than most of the people that have asked me that over the years."
Siciliano: Have you signed that contract yet, that's on the table?
Leach: No, but both sides are working. It's a work in progress and I think we're all optimistic.Siciliano: Have any other schools called anytime recently?
Leach: None that I'm aware of. Just looking forward to playing Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl.
Texas Tech Football:
LAJ's Don Williams files a Red Raiders Football Notebook with notes on a couple of players and recruits. Freshman linebacker Brandon Reid is academically ineligible for the post-season and spring semester. Reid was being redshirted this season, so nothing to see here other than a guy needing to pass his classes. Also, Williams reports that Michael Bowie has re-committed, again, to Oklahoma State. Bowie initially committed to Kansas State, switched to Texas Tech and has now switched to OSU.
Cotton Bowl:
Per DMN's Chuck Carlton, there's expected to be a record crowd for the Cotton Bowl, a capacity of 88, 175. And David Brandt of the Clarion-Ledger is reporting that juniors defensive end Greg Hardy and tackle John Jerry will ask the NFL to evaluate their NFL draft positions.
Texas Tech Basketball:
Junior Knight isn't afraid to ask for help from anyone.
"The message was that every man’s got to man up," Tech assistant coach Stew Robinson said. "He hit things right on the nose, not only collectively but individually that each individual has to take it upon himself to guard his man. That’s something we haven’t been doing, guards have been driving around us, taking shots over us, beating us one-on-one and you’ve got to take that personally."
Whatever it takes. I can appreciate PK thinking outside the box.
It sounds as if Okorie and Prince are still out, although Okorie practiced a bit on Friday and could possibly play today, and Singletary realizes how important these players are:
"Those guys are key contributors to our team," Tech forward Mike Singletary said. "Those are big-time pieces to our team. Prince is the all-around man. He does everything from rebounding to shutting down their leading scorer, to giving us a few buckets. Nick’s just an athlete. He scores and plays defense, but at the same time, we can’t sulk about it and we can’t be down about not having them. We have to have other people on the bench come in and do their roles and contribute."
I'll say it again, I think Okorie hurts worse because he was your athletic two-guard who could guard opposing athletic two-guards. It's all about matchups.
Preview will be posted later this morning.