Texas Tech Tuesday Morning Notes - You Name It Edition

Double-T Nation News:

I was working on a number of things last night and didn't have a chance to spit out this week's "DTN's Basketball Report". I've just been a little busy, we'll get back on schedule next week, I promise.

DTN's Top Five:

1. Smart Football takes a look at Auburn's new offensive coordinator, Gus Malzahn (keep an eye on this guy).
2. Mizzou blog Atomic Teeth takes a look at Big 12 quarterbacks in the NFL.
3. Mark Cuban on why pro sports need newspapers. Interesting.
4. Dr. Saturday on Shavodrick Beaver choosing Tulsa over Michigan and more on Malzahn.
5. Red Solo Cup asks who is crazier, Leach, Nutt or . . . .

Texas Tech Football:

LAJ's Don Williams focuses on the Wild-Rebel offense and the success Ole Miss has had running that formation. Defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill talks about what you can look for:

The "Wild Hog" became the "Wild Rebel" last winter with Nutt’s move to Ole Miss. Now when Nutt’s of a mind to shift gears, McCluster jumps into the backfield, takes a single-wing-style direct snap and then runs whatever the Rebels can dream up.

"Everything," Tech defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill said. "You name it, they run it. Zones. Counters. Fly sweeps. They use him in all different forms and fashions. He’s so quick, he’s like a hiccup."

Williams has an interesting note in that freshman receivers Cornelius Douglas and Austin Zouzalik (I'd love to watch that) have played the quarterback position in that offense, while linebacker Bront Bird says that the defense must stay focused:

"The teams that have been able to handle it," Bird said, "are the ones that haven’t panicked, that reacted and lined up fast. A lot of teams that they’ve been killing with these different, crazy formations are teams who didn’t come into the game focused and weren’t able to line up. If you’re not able to do those things, they’ll kill you with it. It’s all about being disciplined, so hopefully we’ll be the more disciplined team on Friday."

In Williams' Red Raiders Football Notebook, it's announced that sophomore cornerback LaRon Moore will get the start rather than junior Brent Nickerson, defensive end Brandon Sesay is with the team and will play on Friday, as well as some notes on the Rebels.

FWST's Dwain Price writes about Texas Tech taking pride in its defense and senior safety Darcel McBath says it's about attitude:

"I think we’ve always had the athletes [on defense], but I don’t think we’ve always had the want-to or the attitude," said McBath, who tied for the conference lead with six interceptions. "You’ve got to have the attitude, and I think this year we had it.

"We had the leadership and everybody wanted to be great, and we practiced like that."

There's also some notes on Texas Tech not playing in a BCS game, but playing a SEC team, trying to win 12 games and McBath wants Jerry Jones to call him.

FWST's Trae Thompson has quite a bit of Ole Miss news.

DMN's Brandon George features the face-painted guard Brandon Carter. I thought this exchange at the end of the article was pretty funny:

Carter said his look is only for motivation. He describes himself as "just a normal guy."

Carter is well-spoken and has a good sense of humor. He came to Tech's Cotton Bowl news conference Sunday with a clean-cut appearance – no Mohawk, a red dress shirt and black slacks. The other four Tech offensive players at the event, including quarterback Graham Harrell and receiver Michael Crabtree, wore Tech gear.

"We were all in the locker room and we were like, 'What are you doing?' " Hamby said, laughing. "We told him he was trying to get some good PR."

George also files a notebook with notes on Moore starting, Sesay arriving, and McNeill on the Wild-Rebel offense.

Neglected Video: Fox34 on the Texas Tech coaching staff keeping the team focused . . . KAMC28 has Texas Tech players talk about the Ole Miss offense . . .

Texas Tech Basketball:

LAJ's Jeff Walker details a number of the problems the players had Sunday night against Stanford:

In his first year as head coach, Knight has wanted the Red Raiders to play at a faster pace.

That doesn’t include, however, shooting 2 of 11 from 3-point range as the Red Raiders did against the Cardinal.

That also doesn’t include allowing 15 offensive rebounds and getting out-rebounded — again — by 20 boards.

Knight also didn’t commit 20 turnovers.

Knight also didn’t allow the opposition to shoot 56 percent from the field — 51 percent in the first half and 61 percent after already holding a 57-34 halftime lead.

"We didn’t guard them and they got easy buckets, or we’d screw up a switch and we’d still not guard them," Knight said of the defensive problems. "Or, we get into them and defend them and don’t want to move our feet, so we just foul them."