How You Comment Has a Consequence: Jack Richards, father of DE Jackson Richards, started a thread at RRS.com, basically about how your comments can have an impact on commits and potential commits that are looking at Texas Tech as a place to make their home. Jack emailed me and copied what he wrote on RRS.com:
I think its fair to say that a very high percentage of us that read/post on this site are Red Raiders and want great success for our program. There are most likely several recruits (committed and not committed), their parents, coaches and friends that view RRS.
* You are an extension of Texas Tech and it's recruiting efforts.
* Before you post something about a recruit stop and think what our coaches would say.
* Coach Tuberville and his staff have worked hard to bring a high level of class and championship mindset to our program. Help promote their efforts.
* This staff has worked endlessly to build a recruiting class that may be the greatest recruiting class in Tech history. Do your part to extend the positive.
* 2/2/11 is going to be a "Great Day to be a Red Raider".
Sometimes I wonder whether or not what we say or do on blogs or message boards truly has an consequence as to whether or not a commit chooses Texas Tech, but according to Jack, it does. I'd be willing to bet that it does have an impact and just like everything in life, there are consequences to your actions or comments. Sometimes those consequences are positive and sometimes they're negative, but there are almost always consequences to just about anything we do in life.
And before anyone accuses me of telling anyone what to do . . . I'm not telling anyone what to do. I'm just asking you to consider your comments before writing them and that there are consequences to your comments.
Recruiting Stuff: RRS.com's Aaron Dickens has a free article with lots of good stuff including lots of thoughts as to who Texas Tech is still considering. As an aside, there are a handful of defenders that the staff is still trying to work. Also, of the Williams and Hyatt Show, Ryan Hyatt talked with Scout.com's Greg Powers about recruiting and some of these Florida players that the staff is still trying to work as well as the two Pennsylvania defenders that are still in play, DE Branden Jackson and DT Delvon Simmons (they're also mentioned in Dickens' article as well). ESPN's David Ubben takes a stab at guessing what each team's recruiting need is in the Big 12 South and says that receiver and secondary are Texas Tech's biggest need. I appreciate Ubben's effort, but the problem with this is that to really do this, you've got to take a critical look at the roster and if it were me, I'd say that offensive line and defensive line are the biggest areas of need.
In The House With Graham Harrell: Hat-tip to Brandon Rawe and his Twitter, but this is a look at QB Graham Harrell's home in Green Bay. No teaser, but if you don't watch the video, you'll be missing a laugh or two this morning.
Miscellaneous: Dr. Saturday's Matt Hinton continues his look at recruiting with a look at recruiting rankings on a game-by-game level and concludes with this:
It's a simple equation: The better your recruiting rankings by the gurus, the better your chances of winning games, against all classes. Emphasis on the word chances – the counterexamples are obvious and legion in both directions. But as far as forming a reasonable basis for predictions, well, it probably goes without saying that you never want to count on being one of the anomalies.
Interesting . . . Phil Steele has his 2011 returning starters and says that Texas Tech only has 5 returning starters on offense. That's just not correct. The entire offensive line, Zou and Torres makes 7 returning starters if I'm correct. Someone let Phil know that his numbers are a bit off . . . SAEN's Brent Zwerneman talked with TAMU AD Bill Byrne who has an interesting point about UT's deal with ESPN:
"I can’t speak for the NCAA, but I would imagine the governing body will look into the use of a collegiate television network airing games of prospective student-athletes. I understand networks such as FSN and ESPN airing high school sports, but whether or not employees under contract with a university that may have additional contact would seem to be an issue."
Absolutely . . . SI.com's Stewart Mandel writes that USC and Lane Kiffin are ignoring recruiting sanctions since their appeal is pending:
As of Jan. 24, USC had 26 reported commitments, with offers still out to several more players. Nine of the incoming recruits enrolled in January and thus can be counted toward last year's class, when the Trojans had just 14 fall enrollees (11 under the regular limit). But that still would only allow for 24 total commitments in the current class if USC were operating under the 15-scholarship limit.
Instead, Kiffin is taking advantage of the fact that the penalties can be stayed while the school's appeal is ongoing. USC officials appeared before the NCAA's Infractions Appeals Committee last weekend in Indianapolis to ask that the sanctions essentially be halved -- a one year bowl ban instead of two and five docked scholarships per year instead of 10.
Texas Tech Red Raiders 92, Iowa St. Cyclones 83
Boxscore | Post Game Quotes
Raider Win Second Conference Game: This is the second game I've missed and it's the second game that Texas Tech has won. I'm detecting a pattern. In perusing the boxscore, when you shoot 54% from the field, out-rebound your opponent by 9, have 17 more assists and shoot 58% from the 3-point line, while limiting your opponent to 40% from the field, you're going to win. Here's head coach Pat Knight on last night's win:
"Each of our seniors stepped up tonight and showed what they are capable of doing and what I've seen them do in practices. They played very well and set up their cuts and continued to be active at both ends of the court. We made some mistakes when ISU put pressure on us near the end of the game. We'll watch some tape on those situations and work to eliminate those errors"
And PK is right, it was the seniors that made the difference because they're the only ones that played. PF Robert Lewandowski and PF Paul Cooper sat for the entire game while Singletary, Roberson, Roberts, Tairu and Reese all played over 30 minutes.
Game Stories: LAJ's Courtney Linehan | DMN's Mike Graham | DesMoines Register's Randy Peterson | Clone Chronicle's Mark Kieffer
Watson Wants Donors to Step Up: There may not be a bigger proponent of Texas Tech baseball that the LAJ's George Watson. I know, there shouldn't be a guy working for a paper that loves Texas Tech baseball, but he does, and he wants nothing more than for Texas Tech baseball to succeed. I love reading Watson's game stories because I can tell that he has a passion for this program. Yesterday, Watson wrote the following in regards to the fact that almost every Big 12 baseball program has received funding for improvements to the facilities, but not Texas Tech:
Meanwhile, Dan Spencer languishes here in Lubbock trying to find the same kind of donors just to raise about $12 million -- half of what A&M is spending -- to get some long overdue renovations to Dan Law Field done. He's made the commitment to bring a winner to Tech as evidenced by his recent new contract. Yet, his struggle has been much worse than what other coaches have had to go through in trying to get financial commitments to a new park.
And it doesn't have to be that way. There are plenty of corporations and individuals right here in Lubbock who have plenty of money and could step up with a Blue Bell-like donation. All we hear is how many backers Tech baseball has in the community. Well, it's time to put the money where the mouth is.
If you want Texas Tech baseball to be competitive on a national stage, if you want the Red Raiders to get back to being a consistent NCAA team and competing for Big 12 championships, then these renovations have to get done. The plans are already in hand, it's the funding that's lacking. Tech already messed this thing up once hooking its wagon to a group trying to bring minor league ball to Lubbock that was way out of its league. If you want Tech to be a winner and get better players then a new ballpark is a must.
Of the major sports, the baseball program is the one program that's largely ignored. I agree that Dan Law Field needs an upgrade.