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Texas Tech Sunday Morning Notes - Pulling For One Another Edition

By Seth C

Double-T Nation News:

Happy Easter! I hope you enjoy your day with family, friends and a television to continue watching the NCAA Tournament. I'll watch the Mavs lose yet another game in the 4th quarter. Good times.

Texas Tech Football:

LAJ's Don Williams writes about the high hopes of this Red Raider squad this morning. Coach Leach correctly points out that the key is having the "right guys":

"The one thing (that matters) is if you have the right guys,'' Leach said. "I've been in different situations where you have some people back and maybe you don't have examples of leadership you'd like, but I feel like this group really has done a pretty good job of pulling for one another and leading each other in the right direction. I feel like it's a pretty committed group.''

Williams does a nice job of running down each position and I've been working on my top ___ questions heading into the spring that I hope to post on Monday or Tuesday.

Texas Tech Basketball:

Congrats to South Plains College and Texas Tech signee, Nick Okorie, for winning the NJCAA Men's National Basektball Championship by beating the Salt Lake CC Bruins 67-56 (boxscore). Nick Okorie was a beast against the Bruins, making 12 of 22 shots (4-11 from beyond the 3-point line) for 29 points, 4 boards, 1 assist and 2 TO's.

Darko Cohadarevic's Seward County squad beat the Three Rivers CC Raiders 81-63 (boxscore) in the consolation game. Cohadarevic had 19 points, 11 of which came from the charity stripe, and 8 boards.

Nick Okorie and Darko Cohadarevic were both named to the 2008 All-Tournament Team, while Okorie's teammate Jonathan Hall was named the Tournament MVP.

LAJ's Jeff Walker writes about how Pat Knight hopes that Voskuil will be the leader for next year's squad. Here's what PK says he wants to work on in the spring:

"We're going to work on speed, playing at a quicker pace and we're going to do a lot of 1-on-1 drills," said Knight, who compiled a 4-7 record down the stretch. "We're going to mix in some new things, but these guys have got to learn how to score on their own. I want them to be able to score off the dribble, so we'll work a lot of 1-on-1 in the spring and summer instead of 5-on-5."

PK also comments on the JUCO guys mentioned above:

"We expect the JUCO kids to bring a lot. I mean, we don't recruit them to sit and watch," Knight said. "The freshmen we brought in this year were good, and the class we have coming in could be just as good. We've got to get about three or four of these in a row to build the kind of program that we want."

Walker hints to the fact that there may be another player or two sign with PK, which means that with any addition, a player currently on the roster will be cut or no longer be on scharlship.

It also bothers me that high school senior Tyree Graham hasn't qualified yet and will have to pass his SAT. This program really needs Graham to be involved next year. I am certain of that. Everyone, send good mojo Tyree's way.

Texas Tech Baseball:

Date Texas Tech Texas Result
Thursday 03/20/08 @ 6:05 p.m. 6 (L: Nate Karns, 1-3) 22 (W: Brandon Workman, 3-1) Boxscore
Friday 03/21/08 @ 6:05 p.m. 7 (W: James Leverton, 1-2) 5 (L: Ruffin, 1-2) Boxscore
Saturday 03/22/08 @ 12:00 p.m. 3 (L: Chad Bettis, 3-1) 4 (W: Riley Boening, 1-0) Boxscore

Well, damn't. UT scored all 4 of their runs in the 1st inning, but the Red Raiders still loses to the Longhorns 4-3. Bettis allowed 2, 2-run home runs in the 1st inning and settled down after that, as did the rest of the pitching staff. Bettis was good enough to win, but the Horns were just a little better. Bettis pitched 6.2 innings, giving up 5 hits, 4 earned runs, walking 5, and striking out 2. The bullpen pitched 2.1 innings of 2 hit ball, striking out 3 and walking NONE. Baby steps.

The offense only mustered 9 hits and here's one thing that bothers me. When Kieschnick is mashing the ball, he is mashing the ball, but this series, he's been awful. The leader of this offense went 0-11 for the series and he's got to be better than that in order for this team to succeed. Taylor Ashby went 1-3 with 2 RBI and Willie Rueda also went 1-3 with an RBI. Jason Seefeld and Kenworthy, both hitting in front of Kieschnick, both went 2-5.

LAJ's George Watson recaps yesterday's loss. Here's Bettis:

"After that first inning, I had to re-settle myself down and come out and try to give our team the best chance possible to win," said Bettis, who allowed four runs on five hits and five walks with two strikeouts in 62/3 innings. "I wasn't nervous at all, to tell you the truth. I came out and a couple pitches got away from me and they made me pay for it. That's what good teams do."

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