Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe | 2011-03-10

One heck of a game and one heck of a way to go out.  A highly entertaining game, PG John Roberson was terrific, actually shot above 50% from the field, which seems like that rarely happened this year, but the rest of the team was a bit off.  Nevertheless, the team still kept pace with Missouri.  And perhaps the biggest surprise was Pat Knight in a suit.  Good times. I will fully admit that I'm somewhat glad that the season is over.  I don't remember the last time that I had become disenfranchised with a Texas Tech team, but that sorta happened to me and I didn't follow the team as close as I normally would.  I think I was just tired of writing similar things after every game.  I hate that PK and his staff lost their jobs, but I am looking forward to a transition to a new basketball coach.  I'm hopeful again.

I do want to mention that if you want to continue to follow the Big 12 Tournament, check out the men's and women's tournament pages.  You can watch online!

I've written quite a bit about how Pat Knight seems to be at peace with this decision and in last night's post-game press conference (PDF), he said that his time at Texas Tech was 10 great years:

Ended on a disappointing note. But it was a great chapter in my basketball career. Ten great years: Seven as an assistant, three as a head coach. It will always be special to me. It's a little different situation than what we went through at Indiana. I love the people, the city, and I love the college. It's not like next year you're going to be sitting there rooting against them or wanting them to do bad. I wish the best for them.

I also thought it was interesting that PK said that he's talked to his dad, Bob Knight, but his dad isn't quite as understanding.  I'm sure that's an understatement.  I should also point out that LAJ's Courtney Linehan talked with PF Darko Cohadarevic (I still remembered how to spell that), who played on last year's team, and he said that it's going to take time:

"Bringing a new coach to Tech is the choice that is expected to be made by the president and athletic director at this time," Cohadarevic said. "However, I don't believe that this will solve all the problems the Tech basketball program has at the moment, regardless of who becomes a new coach. Tech is building a program and it requires some years for it to become a candidate for a powerhouse and one day become a powerhouse itself."

Darko is right, it does take time and it's entirely possible that it won't solve the problems with the program, but for me, the difference is that with PK no longer the head coach, I'm hopeful and that's more than I would have been had PK stuck around.  At the end of the day, I wish PK and all of the seniors a tremendous amount of good fortune.

GAME STORIES | Big 12 Hoops | FWST | DMN (I did want to mention that there's no link to the LAJ because LubbockOnline.com is now charging a subscription, and they do have a game-story up, but they now charge $2.95/month to view more than 25 articles a month.  Apparently I'm over the limit.  At redraiders.com, there isn't a charge (yet?) but the stories haven't made it to rr.com.

There are a couple of things.  Nebraska head coach Doc Sadler has said that he's not a candidate and Ryan Hyatt tweeted yesterday the following:

Not sure where the Doc Sadler to Texas Tech stuff got started but it is a non-starter on BOTH ends.

So there's that.  It seems unlikely that Sadler would remotely comment on another job when his team was just eliminated, but I would view Sadler as a decent hire, but not something that would give me happy pants.

I missed this yesterday, but LAJ's Don Williams had a notebook, but a large part of this was in my non-transcript from yesterday's post-practice press conference.  There are some practice notes that I wanted to make sure you checked out, including ILB Cqulin Hubert played some first team, RB Ben McRoy and LG Lonnie Edwards should be back from injury soon or after spring break, and another mention of another sack by a defensive back, this time by CB Junior Osunde.  I think we're going to see some blitzes from some different spots.

I feel like I've linked to this before, but I'll link to it anyway.  CFN via FoxSports has their top 20 new coordinators and defensive coordinator Chad Glasgow makes the list at #16:

16. Chad Glasgow, defensive coordinator, Texas Tech
Desperate for defensive help, Red Raiders head coach Tommy Tuberville went across the state and nabbed an assistant from one of America’s most successful staffs. Glasgow has been one of the quiet cogs in Fort Worth for a decade, coaching four safeties in the last four years who’ve signed NFL contracts. All-American Tejay Johnson will be his next pupil to play in the pros. While he’s never been a coordinator, the hope is that he can bring to Lubbock the physicality and swarm tackling that’s become the Horned Frogs persona ever since Gary Patterson took charge in 2001.
Last gig: TCU safeties coach
Replacing: James Willis

ESPN's David Ubben has his spring breakdown of each team and yesterday he took a look at Texas Tech.  I think that most of you probably already know most of what's in this post, but it's out there.  Also, SI.com's Stewart Mandel asks and answers questions about the Big 12:

Texas Tech: Who wins the quarterback job?
Gone are the days when whoever was anointed the next Texas Tech quarterback was assured of throwing for 5,000 yards, but second-year coach Tommy Tuberville still needs an effective passer as part of his more balanced approach. The Red Raiders, who began practice on Feb. 19, have already held two scrimmages. Rising junior Seth Doege, the veteran of the group, was 17-of-26 for 246 yards and two touchdowns in the first scrimmage, while the challenger, sophomore Jacob Karam, made a move in the more recent outing by throwing for 218 yards and four scores. "We'll see where [Karam] ends up in terms of putting pressure on Doege, but that's the best he's played since he's been here," Tuberville said afterward. Tech is also assessing several possible running threats to replace departed tailback Baron Batch.

I've done a less than stellar job of keeping up with the baseball team, especially after a series.  Now that basketball is over, I'm hoping that I'll be a bit better.  I didn't have time to do a table this morning so we'll have to rely on the official site for the games, and starting pitchers for this last non-conference homestand where the Red Raiders will host Iowa and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.  Here's your starters:

Friday, March 11 @ 5:00 p.m.
Texas Tech: Daniel Coulombe (LHP)
Iowa: Jarred Hippen (LHP)

Saturday, March 12 @ 12:00 p.m.
Texas Tech: Jamen Parten (RHP)
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi: Todd Simko (LHP)

Saturday, March 12 @ 4:00 p.m.
Texas Tech: Trey Masek (RHP)
Iowa: Nick Brown (RHP)

Sunday, March 13 @ 4:00 p.m.
Texas Tech: Robbie Kilcrease (LHP)
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi: Ian Campbell (RHP)

Tuesday, March 15 @ 1:00 p.m.
Texas Tech: TBA
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi: TBA

A couple of things.  This lineup might be a peek into what happens next week when Big 12 play starts, and if that's the case, then you've got a true freshmen, Masek, vying for a starting job.  Kilcrease I think is still an option to start, but he struggled against TCU (the whole team did).  One other thing is that redshirt freshman Duke VonSchamann will be starting in right field.  VonSchamann was injured the first part of the year with some undisclosed off-the-field injury, but apparently he's ready to go.  This is a really young team.