Texas Tech News, Notes and Links | 10 Things

1.  Texas Tech Drops Series Finale 3-1 at No. 4 Texas - TEXAS TECH OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE and Texas holds off Texas Tech, 3-1 | Red Raiders | One minute you think the pitching starts to show up and and then the hitting disappears for pretty much the entire weekend. UT's excellent pitching staff has something to do with that, but this game was close throughout the game.  Brennan Stewart pitched a heck of a game yesterday. 

2.  Tech softball suffers sweep at Oklahoma State - The Daily Toreador: Sports and Softball falls to No. 19 Oklahoma State, 7-1 | Red Raiders | The softball team is having a tough to at it in conference play, after an excellent non-conference schedule.  This team and the baseball team really needs to win some conference games in a bad way.

3.  Seventh conference victory gives women's tennis tie for school record | Red Raiders and Tied going into final match, Tech outlasts Oklahoma, 4-3 | Red Raiders| Congrats to the tennis teams for what looks like an excellent weekend.

4.  Track foursome performs for Tech's best finish of season | Red Raiders

5.  Men's golf finishes third at Aggie Invitational | Red Raiders

6.  Kirby Hocutt talks about hiring Gillispie, first month on the job | Red Raiders | This was up over the weekend, but thought I would re-post this morning as well as re-post the Q&A with head football coach Tommy Tuberville that was posted on Friday | Q&A with Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tuberville. 

7.  Reins passed on to 50th Masked Rider - The Daily Toreador: La Vida and New students wield Raider Red’s guns - The Daily Toreador: La Vida | Congrats to the new students filling the roles of the mascots.

8.  Did Simmons feel deceived by Tar Heels? ..... Other notes | There's not a whole lot there, other than just speculation about North Carolina, but there was this bit from the writer about Texas Tech entering into Western Pennsylvania:

I don't know about you, but it is still hard for me to believe that Texas Tech landed three players from the WPIAL - Simmons, Clairton's Desimon Green and McKeesport's Branden Jackson. I've been covering recruiting in the WPIAL for close to 30 years, and I never remember one kid seriously mentioning Texas Tech. Not one.

Simmons still must raise his SAT score to be qualified. Jackson is qualified.

9.  Big 12 spring football review: Texas Tech | NewsOK.com | Not anything new for regular readers, but it's a bit of football this morning.

10.   Nurse Inks National Letter Of Intent With Texas Tech Basketball - TEXAS TECH OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE and Midland College point guard signs with Texas Tech | Red Raiders | The writing was on the wall here as head coach Billy Clyde Gillispie has signed 3 players to letters of commitments, while 5 players had signed LOI's under Pat Knight.  Just in case you're wondering, there are not 8 scholarships available right now, but I'm guessing there will be 8 scholarships by the time the season starts.  After the jump, we get quotes from Nurse, his JUCO coach and Gillispie.

More after the jump.

Texas Tech head coach Billy Gillispie: "We are very excited to have Ty (Nurse) as part of our program," remarked Gillispie. "He is a multidimensional guard that can do a lot of different things. The thing that he has done the best, in one of the toughest junior college conferences in the country, at one of the most prestigious junior college programs - is win. We love recruiting winners and he goes right to the top of that list." "He has been well coached and the chemistry was immediate with our players when he came on his visit. He is the type of player we want to help us reach the goals we have set for the program."

Midland College head coach Ross Hodge:  "Ty is a really solid point guard," noted Midland College head coach Ross Hodge. "He makes good decisions, doesn't turn the ball over and can make open shots. Point guards are a lot like quarterbacks in that they are judged on winning, and no other junior college point guard in the country has won more games than he has over the last two years. Off the court, he is a man of character and someone that I think the fans in Lubbock will really enjoy watching over the next couple of years at Texas Tech."

PG Ty Nurse: "Texas Tech was a great fit and I really enjoyed getting to know coach Gillispie," said Nurse. "I feel like this is a great opportunity and we have a good chance to win starting next year. There is a great support here in Lubbock and I am excited to be a Red Raider."

And this was a short scouting report I found on Nurse earlier in the weekend, via Rivals:

Ty Nurse, PG, Midland- One of the most highly recruited point guards in the junior college ranks, the native of Vancouver, British Columbia was solid. He doesn't wow with athleticism or flash, but he takes care of the ball, gets his team into their offense and makes some shots when needed. He's also an excellent free throw shooter which is huge during crunch time. He reported offers from Nebraska, Creighton, Santa Clara, Rhode Island and Sam Houston State.