LADY RAIDER VOLLEYBALL
Texas Tech Boasts Seven on Academic All-Big 12 Team - Texas Tech Red Raiders Official Athletic Site
Congrats to the seven ladies!
Amanda Dowdy and Karlyn Meyers led the group as the two seniors were honored for the third-consecutive season. They were joined by juniors Tory Vaughan and Miara Cave, who were both selected for the second time in their career.
Sophomores Sheridan Burgess, Dravon Rangel, and Hannah Salyer were also honored on the first team as well, marking their first career selection.
LADY RAIDER BASKETBALL
Deep bench paying off for Lady Raiders | Red Raiders
The Lady Raiders play Houston tonight at 7:00 p.m. (no TV). Here's a bit from the article:
While there were plenty of positives to come out of Tech’s blowout win against New Mexico on Friday, perhaps the most encouraging development was the number of Lady Raiders who played a significant role in the 69-43 victory.
All 12 players saw time in the opener. Ten of those players played at least 11 minutes, and 10 different players scored, examples of Curry’s continued effort to cultivate depth on her bench.
"This league that we play in is very physical, and you’ve got to be able to have stamina down the stretch come January and February," Curry said. "I have a lot of people say, ‘Are you going to continue to play 12 (players).’ It depends on the situation, but I don’t hesitate one bit putting any of the 12 in."
No. 25 Lady Raiders head to Houston to take on Cougars - The Daily Toreador: Sports
Head coach Kristy Curry on going to Houston on the road to play:
"This game counts, and we have to learn how to handle a road environment," she said. "We’re taking Monique Smalls back home, so obviously that’s going to be special for her. We have a good fan base in that area. With us losing Texas A&M, I think it’s very vital that we get back to that area and continue to play."
TEXAS TECH BASKETBALL
Nurse making big plays, important plays | Red Raiders
The men take on the North Texas Mean Green tonight in the United Spirit Arena, will be on ESPN3, FoxSports, etc. and the game tips at 7:00 p.m. Check your local listings. I'll have a preview up later this morning.
Newcomer JUCO PG Ty Nurse was huge in Texas Tech's first win against Troy, 29 points, but don't expect that every game. Nurse averaged about 8 PPG in JUCO, so he's been more of a distributor in his career. Here's head coach Billy Gillispie:
"A lot of people want to be winners, but they don’t always want to prepare to win," Gillispie said. "You have to prepare to be a winner every single day, and you have to understand the severity. At this level you have to have a great deal of passion, but you also have to understand the intensity it takes to practice every single play, every single day.
"When you have new guys, they don’t understand that very much. It’s no disrespect to where they’ve been. Ty has won a lot of games, and he’s had a lot of great players around him. He’s starting to practice better and understand how we’re trying to get him to play. He’s still got a long way to go."
I love everything that Gillispie says.
Texas Shootout - The Daily Toreador: Sports
Gillispie wants fans to fill up the stands:
"We want to fill this thing up on a constant basis," he said. "The other night it made a real big difference for us, and I would hope as we move forward, as our team continues to improve — I don’t want to have an empty seat in here, and that’s my goal. I’m not afraid to believe that can happen."
I heart Gillispie.
LAKERS: Getting to Know: Darvin Ham
Really good stuff on former Red Raider Darvin Ham as he was recently hired as an assistant coach by the LA Lakers. Talks about getting shot when he was 14 years old to his time at Texas Tech:
Ham: I was an undersized power forward who could handle the ball and defend, and I was a crazy athlete. When I left Saganaw to go to Texas Tech in 1993, my oldest son was just a one-year-old. I was playing and trying to succeed for a whole different reason than most. I had to feed my kid. I wasn’t worry about the spoils of basketball, just a way to take care of my style. Playing basketball afforded me a scholarship, which afforded me the chance to get educated and the chance to eventually get to play in the NBA. I didn’t grow up like these little kids now playing AAU all the way up. Lots of that time, I was just running right around the streets. The game introduced itself to me late, but I think that gave me a greater appreciation for it.
I had no idea he had a kid when he was at Texas Tech. The entire interview is worth your time.
Big 12 Basketball Power Rankings - Week 1 - Big 12 Hoops
We're at #10 and that's okay.
Football and football recruiting links are after the jump.
TEXAS TECH FOOTBALL RECRUITING
Rivals.com Football Recruiting - Wheeler makes his hometown proud
I posted this yesterday in a FanShot, but figured I'd post it again. If you need to be reminded about WR/QB Dominque Wheeler, here's his DTN profile.
Scout.com: Starts Joins Select Group
DT Michael Starts is the second Army All-American that is committed to Texas Tech. Here is his DTN profile and here is a bit on Starts:
Scout Eval: An amazing physical specimen in addition to being a player with feet and explosion good enough to play on the offensive or defensive line in college. He plays offensive tackle, but could easily slide in to play guard. He pulls well and is able to get down field to block on the second level. He is good in pass protection and super strong when making first contact. He has a wide base and will only be better as he adds weight with maturity.
Mansfield a football boomtown with three teams in playoffs | Football | DFWVarsity.com
Little bit of an update on Texas Tech commit, LB Michael Awe, who has these numbers: 111 tackles (12 for loss), 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles.
TEXAS TECH FOOTBALL
FB Notebook: Tuberville talks defense, Mizzou running game - The Daily Toreador: Sports and Red Raiders football notebook: Replacing Langley | Red Raiders
Notebooks! DT Delvon Simmons and DT Chris Perry will replace the injured DT Donald Langley. Also, Tuberville said that he's not considering a change at quarterback and will stick with QB Seth Doege rather than give the reins to QB Jacob Karam (I agree with this and would rather see if Doege can pull himself out of this funk, and recognize that it might be beneficial to see if Karam can do anything, but I think that Doege has the ability):
"The worst thing you can do is give up on a guy that has played well to this point in the season," Tuberville said. "He’s lacking confidence. There’s no doubt about that. ... Three weeks ago he was one of the top quarterbacks in the country, and nothing has changed except for the fact that we haven’t executed."
I agree with that statement.
Walk-on experience good for Guerra | Red Raiders
Very much enjoyed this story on backup OL Jonathan Guerra and would suggest you read the whole thing.
Study Hall: Oklahoma State 66, Texas Tech 6 - Football Study Hall and Best of Times, Worst of Times: Everything’s coming up Dabo - Dr. Saturday - NCAAF Blog - Yahoo! Sports
Two links, the first from SBN's Bill Connelly who wrote that it could have been worse had OSU been able to run the ball effectively, and sad-puppy from Hinton as he recounts the last three losses, but notably the score of Beelzebub.
Letter: It's a big difference in one point or 50 | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and Letter: Tech fans can keep voting with feet | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
If it makes you feel better, there were apparently two letters published in the LAJ (I don't get a hard-copy of the paper, I just found them on the internets) about their displeasure with the football program.