ODDS AND ENDS | Dont' forget that the men and women's teams will be playing Oklahoma St. tonight. The Lady Raiders are in Lubbock, while the men travel to Stillwater. I don't think there's any television for either, but if there is, please feel free to drop it in the comments.
Per the Sports Business Daily, Oklahoma has apparently sold their 3rd tier media rights to Fox Sports and next year and:
Fox has agreed to carry at least 1,000 hours a year of Oklahoma programming on its FS Southwest and FS Oklahoma regional sports networks, which go to 8.6 million homes in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas and, yes, Texas.
So I guess this is what's going to be standard for most, if not all teams, that do not have the nickname "Longhorns". UT has a network that no one can watch (not literally) and have made a lot of money. OU now has programming on a major cable television network that a lot of people will see, but probably isn't going to make a ton of money. You tell me which one is better?
LADY RAIDER BASKETBALL | LAJ's David Just writes about how Oklahoma St. has played well despite losing their coach in that plane crash late in 2011. Here's head coach Kristy Curry:
"We’ll do exactly what Kurt would want me to do: focus on getting my team ready to play and have them prepared," Curry said. "I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like for that staff and those kids. We just have so much respect and love for them. We’re going to throw it up and play for 40 minutes and compete at the level we need to, and when it’s over we’re going to hug ’em and continue to keep ’em in our prayers every day."
Just also writes that fans are excited about the team being better and fans have stuck with the team through the lean times:
"A lot of times people don’t understand it: Fans are an important part of the atmosphere and the team’s success," Wasson said. "Why play for someone when fans are booing you or the arena is empty? There’s not that draw to come in. But when they are there, like against Penn State, the crowd was behind the team and the kids knew the crowd was behind them. That carries you."
RED RAIDER BASKETBALL | LAJ's Nick Kosmider writes that this young team must be ready and head coach Billy Gillispie says that the team must have contributions from everyone:
"We have to have every single guy on our team contributing, and that’s just not happening right now," Gillispie said. "You just don’t know what you’re going to get from too many guys, and we have to have more consistent play from everyone."
And PF Robert Lewandowski says that the team is practicing hard:
"They have been better," Lewandowski said of the practices, "and we just need to keep our mindset on being better, just step by step. We want to be peaking at the right time, and we’re on an uphill slope right now. We’re not going downhill, so we’ve just got to keep going up."
TEXAS TECH FOOTBALL | LAJ's Don Williams confirms what we learned in yesterday's FanShot, which is that late yesterday afternoon, defensive coordinator candidate Art Kaufman was in Lubbock yesterday and former defensive coordinator Chad Glasgow is returning to the TCU staff. I don't have a lot of things to say about this and am just going to wait until a decision is made on the defensive coordinator, but I think its going to be Kaufman.
The US Army Bowl, which is one of the high school all-star games (the other being the Under Armor game) and DL Michael Starts is getting some nice reviews per 24/7 Sports Barton Simmons:
Fellow Texan Michael Starts is a player that also continues to see his stock rise. The Texas Tech commit has a frame that stands out on the field and he showed a nasty streak that you like to see out of your offensive tackle. Starts also has the athleticism and versatility to get some reps on the defensive side of the ball.