DTN's Top Three:
- T.B. from BOTC with the Second-Annual Big 12 All-Hair Team.
- Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com with a fascinating look at the situation involving "Bullet" Bob Hayes and a woman accepting his Hall of Fame induction, may not be who she says she is.
- ESPN Big 12 Blogger Tim Griffin looks at previous recruiting hits and misses in the Big 12.
Wade to Visit Nebraska
LAJ's Don Williams reports that DT commit Myles Wade is not going to sign tomorrow, but will take a visit to Nebraska. If Wade doesn't sign today then I would guess that he's not coming to Texas Tech. If he wanted to be at Texas Tech then he'd sign tomorrow.
Leach Pleased Thus Far
DT's Adam Coleman talked with Captain Leach about what he hopes will be a nice class:
"We have a chance to have the best class we've had, so we're looking forward to it," he said. "Our staff's worked really hard, and I think our players do a good job of kind of enjoying and selling what we have on campus. I think last year helped a great deal."
Leach also said that he's not interested in predicting how a recruit will pan-out:
Leach said he has learned not to put one player above another in a recruiting class because there still is so much more that determines whether a player will work out."I quit doing that a while back," he said. "Part of it was I was wrong every time. The guys that do the best early are the ones that adjust the quickest. You never really know. I feel good about the group overall."
Meanwhile Quarter Master Ruffin McNeill (this is my new nickname for McNeill and the word's definition makes it seem very appropriate) had some interesting things to say about his philosophy in recruiting (emphasis mine):
"We try to sign a whole football team," McNeill said. "I try to sign an entire defense. That's the whole goal of recruiting I think personally. You wanna sign four D-linemen. You wanna sign three linebackers. You wanna sign four DBs. Because we play so much nickle and dime packages, you wanna sign anywhere from six or seven DBs. We'll know (today), but we've hopefully accomplished that."
It's nice to see McNeill acknowledge what needs to happen. Of course, putting those wheels in motion and pulling in quality recruits is an entirely different matter. I'll need to remember this quote next year to see if McNeill's actions dictate this philosphy.
McNeill also believes that some of the 2009 recruits may see the field very early:
"I feel good about them, but you never know until a year or so from now," McNeill said. "A lot of these kids on defense we're going to count on participating very, very, very early, but you never know the strength of the class until a couple years down. I like the makings of our class. I like the athleticism. I think a lot of these guys will do a great job here at Texas Tech."
Blake and Others to Make Decision Today
LAJ's Don Williams details Emory Blake's decision between Texas Tech, Auburn and Colorado as well as some updates on other recruits.
Rogdrick Craig, Making It Happen
LAJ's Jeff Walker profiles senior guard Rogdrick Craig, who sat out all of the 2006-2007 season, but has been a good player for the Red Raiders this season. Here's Craig on how he's trying help this team:
"I’m just trying to do as much as I can to help," Craig said. "That’s the most important thing because we’re struggling now. We’re not giving up, though. None of us. We’re trying to pick it up and improve and finish the season strong so we can have a winning season."
And Pat Knight liked the way he played against Nebraska:
"It was good for him, coming off the bench, because we had guys who started who were missing easy shots," Tech head coach Pat Knight said after the game. "… He hit a shot and that spread their defense out a little bit, so that helped us. Not only was it good for the points, but from a coaching standpoint now you’ve got a guy who was spreading out the defense for us."
Preview Oklahoma State
DT's Alex Ybarra previews Texas Tech's game with the Oklahoma State Cowboys and associate head coach Chris Beard looks at OSU:
"I think the thing with Oklahoma State is, that everyone in our league understands, especially the coaches across the conferences, this is one of the most talented teams in the league," Beard said. "Sean Sutton had this thing loaded up pretty good. They've got arguably the best starting lineup in the league maybe besides Texas coming back. So more important than the new style of play, our emphasis is just trying to understand what each guy does on their team and we respect the talent they have."
Practice Report
Good stuff again from LAJ's Brandon George with practice report #2. I'm going to suggest that you just go read the whole thing, but Watson reports that freshman shortstop Garrett Totten broke a metacarpal in his hand on Sunday and will be out 4-6 weeks. This is significant because Totten was expected to win the shortstop job, but now Joey Kenworth and Justin Berry will each get an opportunity to earn the position.
This sounds encouraging:
Other observations: This new staff WILL NOT let players get away with not doing the small things right. Freshman outfielder Kengray Fleming got chewed on — albeit somewhat jokingly — when he stole a base but was told incorrectly it was a foul ball, holding up practice while going between first and second. Also, I didn’t see who it was but Head Coach Dan Spencer jumped on somebody for being off first base when taking signs, coming out of the dugout to yell at the player at the top of his voice to take the signs on the bag. And, there was coaching of players in techniques and strategy after almost every play, at bat and out.