Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday. I may post tomorrow morning with a review of today's Texas Tech vs. Indiana St. game because I can't help myself, but I'll be out of town for the rest of the weekend. Also, Texas Tech is playing in the Old Spice Classic so you can check out the bracket to keep up with things there. I'll still have some access, but I'm going to go ahead and schedule the following posts for the weekend:
Thursday, November 24, 2011 @ 10:00 am: Texas Tech vs. Indiana St. open game day thread.
Friday, November 25, 2011 @ 8:00 am: Open game day thread for men's basketball.
Saturday, November 26, 2011 @ 8:00 am: General open thread.
Saturday, November 26, 2011 @ 5:00 pm, 8:00 pm and 10:00 pm: Texas Tech vs. Baylor open game day threads.
Sunday, November 27, 2011 @ 8:00 am: General open thread and open game day thread for men's basketball.
ODDS AND ENDS
Pretty Fiji - Unlikely Words - A blog of Boston, Providence, and the world
Your moment of zen to last you the entire holiday.
Fiji Vignette 3/3 from Taj Burrow on Vimeo.
Spirited Leaders: Saddle Tramps Celebrating 75th Anniversary :: Texas Tech Today
I do appreciate what the Saddle Tramps do and congrats on your 75th Anniversary (I also appreciate how many of them show up at basketball games and is the largest student organization represented there. Kudos.).
Conference realignment and all of the more Texas Tech-centric links are after the jump.
CONFERENCE REALIGNMENT
Jon Wilner (wilnerhotline) on Twitter
Yesterday afternoon, San Josey Mercury News writer had some tweets about conference realignment and I thought that they were interesting, so I decided to compile the tweets and put them in paragraph/sentence form:
Took a break from Stanford fball beat long enough to make some realignment calls today. Word on the street (plz take for what it is): BYU fball officials (incld Holmoe) having toruble with scheduling as Indy & interested in joining BE. School brass not as interested b/c TV. I would not be shocked if BYU to BE isn't, in fact, totally dead. Also told that ADs from FBS schools believe Rutgers & UConn could head to ACC and BE would cease to exist as fball conf. BE's uncertain future has Boise State unsure of its next move. If AQs are eliminated in next BCS cycle, no reason for BSU to be in BE. Source: "The ACC will go to 16." Also wonder if P12 in danger of getting boxed out. A BCS without AQ/limits favors B1G and SEC. P12 doesn't have enough big brands ... Which is exactly why the conference should have taken Oklahoma (and there's no doubt in my mind that Larry Scott would agree). CEOs BLEW IT. BYU concern (at least one of them) is that Big East signs deal with Comcast and Cougars right back where they were with The Mtn.
If the ACC does go to 16, then I think this does end the Big East as a football conference and I'm guessing that the Big 12 has told Louisville, when (not if) the Big East implodes, we'll invite Louisville and one other school to at the very least get back to 12 teams. I also thought that Wilner's comments about how the Pac-12 has maybe boxed itself into a corner (there really aren't any viable schools out West other than the Big 12 schools (OU, OSU, UT and TTU).
TEXAS TECH VOLLEYBALL
Oklahoma Drops Texas Tech in Straight Sets - Texas Tech Red Raiders Official Athletic Site
Boo! The volleyball team has one last match against Missouri this weekend, Saturday at 7 pm.
LADY RAIDER BASKETBALL
VIDEO: Texas Tech women prepare for weekend tournament | Red Raiders
Don't forget to check here for the promos for the games at the USA this weekend as Texas Tech is hosting the World Vision Basketball Classic. If you're in Lubbock and want to see a top 25 team play in their sport, it's the Lady Raiders basketball team.
RED RAIDER BASKETBALL
Tech ready for increased competition at Old Spice Classic | Red Raiders
Already previewed below this post, but here is LAJ's Kosmider and head coach Billy Gillispie:
Tech is averaging 32.7 rebounds per game, about three more than its opponents, but Gillispie named performance on the glass as one of a myriad of areas his team needs to improve. After Stephen F. Austin grabbed 13 offensive rebounds in a losing effort on Sunday, the coach said he hopes his players understand the need to limit opponents to only one shot per possession.
"We’re still learning, but we have to be a really good defensive rebounding team," Gillispie said. "Everyone does if they’re going to be any good."
TEXAS TECH FOOTBALL
Can Baylor survive its own Oklahoma hangover? | Red Raiders
To answer the question, most likely.
Texas Tech assistant coach helps underprivileged teens with his charity | Red Raiders
If you wanted to know a bit about secondary coach Otis Mounds, this is a good place to start.
Mounds grew up in a low-income neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., off historic Sistrunk Boulevard, the primary thoroughfare through the city’s black community.
He was raised in a single-parent home by his mother, Brenda, who worked as a bus driver for Broward County Public Schools.
Mounds said he hung out with an older crowd and was exposed to things like crime and drugs at a young age. He describes life in that environment as "like what you see in movies."
LAJ's Just usually does a good job of painting a story and this is no different. I won't blockquote any more and encourage you to read the whole thing. I will say that Mounds is the one assistant that has no college coaching experience, but so was Matt Moore. It will be interesting to see if Mounds' Florida connections will actually pay off with a commit in February and I have a feeling that Texas Tech will need it.
Scout.com: Busy Times for Reda
I happened upon this story this morning and it's subscription based, but there was a quote that picked up in Google News when I searched "texas tech" (that's what I search each morning):
"Texas Tech defensive coordinator Chad Glasgow is coming to the house on Monday for an in home, on Tuesday, New Mexico State is coming for an in home and ..."
So now we have two cornerbacks and Glasgow could be going to visit a JUCO linebacker. I may be wrong, but I am again expecting more than just these three and wouldn't be surprised to see 6 or 7 JUCO's. Anyway, here is Reda's Scout, Rivals (from high school) and YouTube links and in case you don't want to go look, Reda is a 6-2/240 linebacker that currently plays Santa Ana Junior College (he was 6-2/225 in high school).