ODDS AND ENDS | In the department of wonderful photographs, the Atlantic has photos from the 2012 Dakar Rally.
LADY RAIDER BASKETBALL | Big game tonight you guys. A couple of things to remember: 1) tip-off is at 7:00 pm; and 2) the game can be seen on Raidervision All-Access.
LAJ's David Just writes about the rivalry between these two programs:
Baylor fans lashed out at Barncastle throughout the game in Waco; Tech fans did the same toward Griner in Lubbock. Those fans rushed the court after the Lady Raiders’ historic upset of the top-ranked Lady Bears, which snapped a 21-game winning streak.
After the victory Curry tossed the game ball to Barncastle, whose only contribution was 0-for-1 shooting in just three minutes of action.
Tech junior guard Monique Smalls said the team has moved on, but she understands the fans haven’t forgotten.
"You’ve got to move on," she said. "If you don’t move on, you stay stuck. You’re hurting the team. ... For the fans, of course, everybody is gonna (remember) it. But for them at least it helps us. They yell and get in (Griner’s) head so we can come out and play the game."
I guess I forgot or don't recall the Baylor fans going after Barncastle in Waco after being the victim of Giner's punch. That's not good. I know that RndRckTTU has an excellent preview coming up later this morning.
RED RAIDER BASKETBALL | Post game thoughts on Texas Tech's 55 to 64 loss to Oklahoma coming up at 7:00 am.
TEXAS TECH BASEBALL | Some tough news as LAJ's George Watson reports that RHP and closer Brennan Stewart will miss the start of the 2012 season as he had back surgery in December. Watson notes that this is a test for the rest of the staff:
But going into the year I don't think there will be a problem with the starting pitching. Coming out of the fall, head coach Dan Spencer has plenty of solid options that I think can compete with anyone on their schedule, so much so that you could look for 1-2 starters from last year ending up in the bullpen. Tech will also be strong at the end of games.
But the group that has to step up is the spot/middle relief guys. Pitchers like Jamen Parten, Ben Flora, Jerad McCrummen, Scott Erzinger and Aaron Corwin are going to be the key to Tech's success. Tech needs them to turn the corner the way Stewart did last season. If that happens, look out.
On the Texas Tech baseball Tumblr blog, they're previewing every opponent and up first is Missouri St.
TEXAS TECH FOOTBALL | There's just a few things out there. I'll be using this for later in the year, but at Football Study Hall, Bill Connelly has the catch rates for every receiver FBS, including the catch rates for all of the Texas Tech receivers. I had no idea that IR Cornelius Douglas caught over 90% of the passes thrown his way. Pretty amazing. The Big 12 announced that the Senior Bowl selected 18 players from the Big 12 and no Texas Tech seniors made the squad. Packers.com has a nice article on former Red Raider QB Graham Harrell and his upcoming opportunity in Green Bay.
And because I haven't had time to do a recruiting update, you can check out ESPN's David Ubben and Texas Tech still sits 4th in the conference (really it's 3rd since TAMU won't be in the Big 12 next year) and has this to say:
Class notes: The Red Raiders added three commitments since our last update, bringing their total to 25. This class is loaded with junior college signees, and mature talent is needed for the Red Raiders, especially on defense. Tech signed eight junior college players and five of them were on defense.