Odds and Ends
Falling Behind
Last night I was supposed to work on DTN's Best of Lubbock voting page for best nightlife (this is all so ironic), but decided to have a few beers instead. As a result, I didn't get a chance to work on the post, but will probably do so in the morning. In it's place, I've got DTN's community projections for Rajon Henley Brian Duncan. Promise me you'll forgive me.
College Baseball Super Regional Previews
Although Texas Tech is out of any sort of tournament, your college athletics is running low. If you're not following college baseball, you should, it's damn fun to watch. I'd suggest that you check out The College Baseball Blog and Big 12 Hardball for previews and updates throughout the weekend.
Texas Tech Football
Doing More With Less
I don't think there's any doubt that most of us (i.e. Texas Tech fans) think that Mike Leach does more with less, but so does a roundtable with College Football News writers and Matthew Zemek and Jon Miller thinks it's Mike Leach and Texas Tech.
Perennial is a slippery word in this context, because it’s going to come down to how an individual defines it. Five years? Ten years? I will go the last five to ten years and one school jumps out at me right away; I like what Texas Tech has done in the Mike Leach era, competing for players in a state where they are at least fourth fiddle, as Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma are going to get the best of the best players year in and year out. Yet, there are a lot of football players in that state. Leach has done a fantastic job of getting to the post season, and then you had the dream regular season of 2008. They have had the 17th best winning percentage in college football since 2001, and most of the teams ranked higher than them in this category are blue bloods of the college game or teams outside of BCS leagues.
All 96 Games
NewsOK's Barry Tramel ranks all 96 Big 12 football games this year. Texas Tech checks in often, but shows up earliest at #4 with the game against Oklahoma and #10 against Texas.
Brandon Sharpe at #22
RRS.com's Aaron Dickens thinks that DE Brandon Sharpe is the 22nd most important Red Raider.
HE IS RANKED TOO HIGH BECAUSE...: Sharpe may be one of three players with game experience but he didn't see many live defensive snaps last season and only registered four tackles. And with four 2009 signees expected to start out at defensive end, defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill will have plenty of options at their disposal.
Texas Tech Basketball
Knight Camps
DT's Chris Martin writes about the youth summer basketball camps going on right now. Pat Knight talks a little about the camp and talks about what he hopes to do with the camps:
Even though the camp is a challenging week for young players, Pat Knight said it's important they enjoy themselves and learn different aspects of the game.
"I feel like we teach, where a lot of basketball camps just babysit," he said. "A lot of places take the kids to the pool or the arcade, but we wanted to make sure these kids learn the fundamentals of the game, and have a good time while doing that."
Pat Knight, along with some of his coaching staff, worked with players on fundamentals and work ethic this week. He said it was important he spends as much time with camp participants as possible.
"I don't want to be one of those guys that has my name on the camp, but you never see me," Knight said. "So I try to interact with the kids as much as I can. I get to hang out with them and teach them drills and eat lunch with them and everything."
Kasib Powell Checks In
Very nice interview/guest post over at Ridiculous Upside with former Texas Tech Red Raider Kasib Powell, who discusses his daily preparations in getting ready for an opportunity with the NBA:
Then I go home get some rest and a good meal. For me right now my diet is very important. Right now I weigh 215 pounds. In one month I want to drop to 3 percent body fat and gain 6 pounds of muscle. So that means no more fries or even fried food. Eating right is not that hard - it's just that you have to be disciplined. I am a guy who was always skinny and never really watched what I ate until I became a professional athlete. So I know what it feels like to eat a whole bunch of junk food think it was worth it. It's not!
Three percent body fat? I'll be a lot of things in life, but I'll never have just three percent body fat.
Good stuff from Kasib and we wish you luck.
Texas Tech Baseball
More on Bettis with Team USA Tryout
DT's Alex Ybarra sits down with Chad Bettis who has a chance to play for a spot on the 2009 USA National Team. An incredible honor for Bettis who sounds honored to be asked to participate:
"It's just unbelievable," said Bettis, who ranks third all-time in Tech history for saves in a single season. "I didn't think I'd be here for two years. It's a very great honor to have. I feel very privileged to play with guys that I will hopefully be playing with for a long time."
And Bettis sounds like he wants to take advantage of this situation:
"You learn everything, from who your competition is for the next year in college to who you have down the line," he said. "You can tell how they act, how you react as a player around them and show what you can do to them.
"This is gonna be a great experience to have. We get to travel a lot, and it's gonna feel like a very big major league setting, and it's gonna be fun."
Congrats again to Bettis.