ODDS AND ENDS | Some of you were asking as to what time the spring game starts on Saturday and the short answer is that the game starts at 1:00 pm while the official site has a full schedule of events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Hat-tip the Ubbenator, the Business of College Sports has the most profitable athletic programs and as you might expect, Texas leads the pack with $24 million, but in second place is . . . Kansas St with $23 million? Texas Tech made a profit of about $3.1 million, which is probably down from last year, but I honestly can't remember.
Yesterday, the New York Observer wrote an article on ESPN's Skip Bayless and I really didn't want to read that, but I did enjoy reading SB Nation's Spencer Hall's post about the article.
LADY RAIDER BASKETBALL | Don't forget that the Lady Raiders face San Diego tonight at 7:00 pm and the first 1,000 students get in free and additional tickets are $6 and $4. The official site has more details. LAJ's David Just and DT's Chois Woodman preview tonight's game and this is from Woodman's article:
"We’re just excited to be able to continue to play," she said. "We’ve got a chance to go to an Elite Eight. There’s another Elite Eight about to happen and when you look across this tournament, there are very worthy NCAA Tournament teams, so, again, it’s just trying to turn it into the most positive experience we can. That’s what life’s about."
The game will be the second time the two teams have met this season, as then-ranked No. 13 Tech narrowly escaped with a 58-57 victory against the tournament host of the Surf N’ Slam Classic in San Diego.
TEXAS TECH BASEBALL | In a game that seemed to last for a long time, the good guys bat Florida Gulf Coast 14-8 (official site). Brannon Easterling got the start, but didn't last past the 3rd inning, while Shane Broyles managed only one out, but allowed 3 runs in his 0.1 innings. Rusty Shellhorn got the win and settled things down, however the fact that Shellhorn and Broyles both pitched maybe means that they're no longer the weekend starters and if that's the case, I don't know who will start against Oklahoma this weekend. The offense was fantastic, again, and had 16 hits led by RF Jordan Lopez and DH Jamodrick McGruder with three hits each.
LAJ's George Watson and DT's Brett Winegarner recap the game and this bit is from Watson's story:
"I felt a lot better about tonight’s game just as far as the energy and what we had to overcome early," Spencer said, "and the fact that (Bixler) is a kid with a good arm. We swung the bat pretty good against him. The offensive guys ran the bases well and I thought we were a lot crisper."
Jordan Lopez had his first career multiple-hit game, going 3 for 4 with an RBI, and the Red Raiders ripped six doubles, two by Redman and four during a decisive four-run fourth inning in which Tech regained the lead and never let it go.
LAJ's George Watson was also on with the Williams and Hyatt Show and he also takes a look at the Oklahoma series starting tomorrow and the Sooners have dramatically changed their starting pitchers after being swept by Texas last weekend.
TEXAS TECH FOOTBALL | The official site has their Coaching File on defensive line coach Fred Tate (beware of the auto-play video . . . sigh). I think the video is the same video that we saw a few weeks ago.
RRS.com's Mike Graham writes that Tavares Garner, Jordan Sterns, Will Barrow and Devin Lauderdale will attend the spring game as will 14 additional uncommitted prospects and writes this:
In addition to the four early commits, Tech is currently scheduled to host 14 uncommitted prospects in the Class of 2013. It's an opportunity for the players to form relationships and get to thinking about playing Tech football together.
We're expecting a flurry of commitments shortly after the spring game and in the past a few players who attend the spring game commit further down the road either at a camp or during their senior football season.
Dave Campbell's Texas Football's Greg Tepper asks his five questions about Texas Tech (he's doing this for every college team in the state of Texas) and definitely worth your time. Good stuff.
The Williams and Hyatt Show continues their look at the ultimate two-deep for Texas Tech and up next are receivers.