ODDS AND ENDS | Odds and ends will be continued after the jump at the end of this post.
TEXAS TECH SOFTBALL | Yikes! The Longhorns run ruled Texas Tech last night, 8-0 (official site). Keep your heads up ladies and get them today.
TEXAS TECH BASEBALL | This was a big deal, as the Red Raiders took down #10 Arizona St., 8-4 (official site). I thought that David Paiz was going to get the start but it ended up being Shane Broyles, who pitched 5.0 innings allowed 4 runs while Trey Masek pitched 4.0 innings, 0 walks and 6 strikeouts. Fantastic. C Bo Altobelli and DH Kevin Whitehead both had 3 hits while 1B Scott LeJeune had 3 RBI. The team overall had 15 hits so there was lots of offense. TCU is next in Ft. Worth starting Friday. [Note by Seth C, 03/07/12 7:55 AM CST ] I got this all wrong as the official site had the wrong link to the wrong box score. Here's the box score and Paiz did start. Sorry for all of the confusion.
LADY RAIDER BASKETBALL | The Lady Raiders take on the Longhorns at 5:00 pm in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament. LAJ's David Just and DT's Chois Woodman have previews of the game. F Jordan Barncastle is optimistic:
"We were hitting shots," she said. "We’ve outrebounded teams and lost. We’ve outhustled teams and lost. We’ve defended teams well and come up on the short end. It’s just all about hitting shots and being consistent and staying with it. I think that we did all of those things Saturday night and got the ball rolling. Hopefully we will just use this momentum and keep it going."
RED RAIDER BASKETBALL | The men take on Oklahoma St. at 8:30 pm and will be on the Big 12 Network. I've got a preview going up later in the morning. LAJ's Nick Kosmider previews the game as well and head coach Billy Gillispie remains optimistic as well:
"The reason they call it March Madness is because crazy things happen in March," Tech coach Billy Gillispie, who has led four teams to the NCAA tournament in his eight years as a head coach, said last month. "With this team, I've said, 'Hey, just hang in there. Let's get tougher, let's get better, let's not turn the ball over. Let's do all these kinds of things and see where we are when the conference tournament starts."
RRS.com ($) is reporting that Texas Tech has another basketball commit. I mentioned yesterday that F Aaron Ross visited Lubbock this weekend and I wouldn't be surprised if he were the commit, but I'm sure we'll find out later this morning.
Football and Odds and Ends are after the jump.
TEXAS TECH FOOTBALL | You can check out WR Derek Edwards sing at the athletics talent show.
LAJ's Don Williams profiles LT LaAdrian Waddle, who says that he's not satisfied with being good and knows he needs to be better:
"I’m pretty self-aware of what’s going on," he said. "I realize when I have a bad game, and I know I can play better. So I go out and try to work — especially now, with the younger guys, trying to be like a role model for them to show them how to work."
And head coach Tommy Tuberville says that this is a big year for Waddle:
"This is a big year for him, a money year," Tech coach Tommy Tuberville said, alluding to Waddle’s pro potential. He’s got all the height and athletic ability to do well after college, and he’s picked up his leadership role. I think Chris Thomsen, our new offensive line coach, has asked a lot more of him, which I think he’s given. ... He’s had a good spring thus far. As I told him, he’s got to take advantage of every practice to get better. He’s got to become more physical. Sometimes, (he’s) a little bit late off the ball in pass protection, and he’s worked a lot on that this spring."
LAJ's Don Williams also has a notebook and writes that LB Will Smith is now officially at middle linebacker, which sounds like the right spot for him as he should be a three-down linebacker. Williams has a thumbnail of the linebacker depth chart:
With Smith moving inside, Sam Eguavoen moved from the middle to the outside. Blake Dees and Zach Winbush patrolled the middle Tuesday in addition to Smith.
Eguavoen, Justin Cooper and Pete Robertson worked strong side, and Daniel Cobb and Chris Payne worked weak side.
There's some injuries updates as well as an update on CB Jeremy Reynolds who has been mentioned a few times recently.
DMN's Mike Graham writes about what grades Tuberville is giving the offense and defense:
"I'd say right now the defense is probably a low 'B' and the offense is probably a 'C,'" Tuberville said. "It's harder on defense (in the spring) when you're playing 40 to 45 guys when in a regular season you're going to play 20 to 25 players."
Snip.
"Our offense is behind the defense right now, but that's to be expected when you're playing so many new guys," Tuberville said. "We don't have a first team offense. We're moving guards around, we're moving tackles around. All the receivers go with the first and second group. I think the biggest thing that Doege has had to do is that he's had to figure out who all the new guys are. Tyson Williams, Javares McRoy and then the little man on the outside (Jakeem Grant). It's just hard for a quarterback to get in any kind if rhythm when you've got so many receivers that are playing right now that probably won't play a big role in the fall."
ODDS AND ENDS CONTINUED | I wanted to post this here, but I've also posted this in the comments in yesterday's post about the logo change.
1. I very much appreciate everyone’s support.
2. I know it seems strange, but when I write that this was never about asking for money for a legal defense fund or anything like that. I do not intend on retaining an attorney because, as an attorney, I know that an attorney cannot guarantee results and cannot guarantee an outcome. Not only that, there are so many charities that could use your money. I mean that. Don’t get me started about the famine from last summer that still affects Ethiopia or the genocide that’s happening in the Congo or the conditions that still exist in Haiti or helping abused and battered women and children. Trust me when I say that this cause, as much as I appreciate it, can be better spent somewhere else.
3. I’ll try to come up with some additional ideas for t-shirts.
4. When I first found out about this, so many months ago, I was angry and frustrated so I certainly understand your emotions. I’ve been dealing with this for months so I am very much past any anger issues.
5. I cannot say that I really understand this part of the law. It’s completely foreign to me and I don’t intend on trying to understand it. The things I pointed out yesterday are intended to give you some insight as to what I’m thinking. I think the reason DTN was singled-out more than anything else is because of the visibility.
6. I do have to follow the lead of SBN. As I said, I don’t own the website so if they don’t want to change the name and just keep things status quo, then that’s what happens. The only other option would to go out on my own and I really don’t want to do that. I like SB Nation, a lot, so it may just be something that I have to live with and that’s okay. Much worse things happening to other people.
7. I’m not mad at anyone in particular, not anyone in the administration, or anything like that. I’m past that. I could get mad, but I’ve got a lot of awesome things going on in my life and I try to focus on the positivity, not the negativity.
In a completely unrelated matter, I thought this was a genius commercial (hat-tip Unlikely Words) for comments like this:
Your handsome ass grandfather had one blade . . . and polio.