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I think we have reached the point of doing Texas Tech Morning Links on a more regular basis. The Big 12 will be featuring some Texas Tech athletes (via Big12), so keep me on my toes and make sure and let me know when this stuff gets posted.
Men's Basketball
Power of Ball Movement: Pretty terrific look at how ball movement has helped Texas Tech become a better basketball team (via SB Nation).
Smart and Orr: The thing that probably drives me crazy is the attitude of certain fans that look down at Texas Tech, because I don't think I like to paint with such a broad paint brush. Like for example, I think you might recall the time that two UT players fell into the stands at Oklahoma St. and accidentally hit a pregnant woman (via YouTube). The husband of said pregnant then proceeded to attack the Texas players. It's actually quite violent. Everything ended okay in this situation and the players actually ended up taking a photo with the wife after she had her child, but sometimes fans get out of control from every school. I also don't understand how Texas Tech is painted as racist, in general, when Missouri actually coordinated a racist chant (via ColumbiaTribune). And I didn't link to this, but this look from Deadspin as tho how the racist rumor started is just unbelievable (via Deadspin).
As far as the voluntary suspension of Orr, I think that AD Kirby Hocutt told Orr that he could either voluntarily suspend himself or Texas Tech could do it. Just a hunch on my part.
Baseball
Just a Week: I think it's just a week or so left before starts and the team is getting ready for the season (via DT). George Watson is one of my favorite writers and he loves covering Texas Tech baseball. He had some previews over the weekend, including a look at the Big 12 (via LAJ). And a general look at the team overall and how head coach Tim Tadlock wants to get to the NCAA Tournament after a decade long drought (via LAJ).
Football
Spring Practice and Spring Game: ESPN has confirmation of every spring game and the date that spring practice starts and for Texas Tech, spring practice starts March 5th and the spring game is April 12th. Get out your Day Runners and get this on your calendars (via ESPN).
All Big 12 Recruit Team: S Payton Hendrix is the only Texas Tech player that made the All-Big 12 recruit team (via SB Nation).
Expert! Brian Perroni of 24/7 Sports acts as if Lubbock is in New Zealand because it's so hard to get to, being in Auckland and all, and here's his assessment of Texas Tech' class (via DMN):
Perroni’s overall assessment: "It’s somewhat hard to sell a kid on Texas Tech because Lubbock is so far out from Houston and Dallas, but I think Texas Tech is doing a good job with Kingsbury there. It’s got the cool factor for sure. Tech didn’t win some of the battles that they had in recent years, so they had to go out of the state a little bit. The one negative is that they need to start winning some battles in Dallas and Houston."
Greyshirting: I think a lot of us have questions about greyshirting and this is a pretty good look at what it means and the practice (via ESPN).
