Leach vs. Texas Tech: Fox34 noted this morning that Mike Leach's attorneys filed additional documents in order to improve Leach's claims that Texas Tech does not have the right to claim sovereign immunity as a defense. I'm not even sure that the judge is going to make a ruling on the sovereign immunity issue today, but it appears to be headed that way.
Recruiting Review: The official site has an update on the recruiting dinners that normally occur the day after (February 4th) national signing day (February 3rd). Houston will have the lunch portion and Dallas will have the dinner portion and I'm curious as to if anyone else would be interested in getting together for this even in Dallas (you Houston jerks can organize your own stuff)? The dinner starts at 6:00 p.m. and feel free to shoot me an email doubletnation AT gmail DOT com. Also, if I can help with the Houston lunch, I'd be more than happy and I can get everyone in touch with everyone else, I was just kidding about you guys and gals being jerks.
Young is Still Really Committed: Denton Record Chronicle's Matthew Muench follows up with Texas Tech commit QB Scotty Young and rest assured Red Raider fans, Young is firmly committed to Texas Tech:
"It went really well," Young said of the visit. "They reassured me that they are going to stay with the same offense they had under Leach. They are just going to change a few things." Snip.
"Nothing big jumps out," he said. "But a lot of different reasons jump out. The main thing is I felt a lot of love from all the coaches and the people at Texas Tech. It is the reason why I committed in the first place and why I am staying committed."
Game Tonight
Iowa St. Cyclones vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Lubbock, TX
Television: KLBK (Lubbock) : FSSW : ESPN 360
DTN Preview: 8:00 a.m. :: Open Game Day Thread: 5:30 p.m.
Cyclone Starter Leaves Team: SB Nation's Sean Keeley notes that Iowa St. guard Lucca Staiger last just up and left the team on Tuesday, leaving the Cyclones very short handed. Iowa St. blog, Clone Chronicles, writes that the Cyclones are only down to 7 scholarship players.
Concerned about the Bigs: LAJ's Courtney Linehan writes that despite the loss of Staiger, the Red Raiders are still concerned about the very talented big men of Iowa St., Craig Brackins and Marquis Gilstrap. PG John Roberson knows that the team will have to be physical:
"We watched a lot of tape on Duke and how they were physical with (Brackins), so we know to be physical with him, too," Tech point guard John Roberson said. "Gilstrap is just an athlete so we have to be physical with him, too."
Must Win: DT's Mike Graham writes that tonight's game represents a must-win situation for the Red Raiders, and Roberson is looking to the 2006-2007 Texas Tech basketball team that lost five games during the season, but still made the NCAA tournament:
"He said they lost five in a row in the middle of the season," Tech guard John Roberson said. Everybody thought they were down and out, and they ended up coming back and making the tournament. We’re just using that for inspiration right now."
PK Not Happy About Attendance: ESPN Dallas' Jeff Caplan writes that head coach Pat Knight is not real happy about the attendance in Lubbock:
"If you’ve got real fans they don’t pay attention to the record. If you’re a real basketball fan and really support our team you come when we’re 0-16. That’s up to them," Knight said. "We need them for a homecourt advantage, but I’m getting worn out trying to fight this fan stuff. I don’t know why I’m getting questions about that. I think these kids are proven; they’ve played some really good basketball early on. All teams are going to go in slumps, especially playing in this league. If you don’t want to come, I’m not going to worry about it. I've got to try to win some games. I wish people would quit bringing up the fan thing."
Snip.
"You show up to support your team. If you don’t want to show up that’s fine, we’re still going to try to win games with you or without you," Knight said. "But, it's pretty obvious, if you went to the game up in Lawrence (16,300 attended Texas Tech at Kansas), how much fans help you. We need our fans to show up no matter what our record is just because we have Texas Tech on our uniform. It doesn’t matter what your record is. It’s got to get to a point where people start showing up just because these kids play for Texas Tech."
I'm torn, because I'm one of those guys if I was in Lubbock that I'd go to as many games as humanly possible because I enjoy watching most things Texas Tech, but on the other hand PK seems to complain about this yearly and it's a chicken or the egg argument. If PK would win, then the fans would show up, but PK thinks that if the fans show up, the team is more likely to win. I don't know if complaining about attendance will solve anything either.
Miscellaneous Links: LAJ's Courtney Linehan sat down with former JUCO teammates, SF Brad Reese and SF Marquis Gilstrap questions about each other . . . CT's Steve Walenik with this week's Big 12 Power Poll . . . KU Sports' Jesse Newell polled a handful of players prior to the start of the season (during media days) to discuss the best and worse in the Big 12 . . .