Miscellaneous

NCAA to Distribute $200 Million. Via the NCAA, there will be additional financial assistance given to member universities:

The NCAA Board of Governors approved a one-time supplemental distribution of $200 million to Division I schools, which must be used explicitly for programs that benefit student-athletes. Athletics departments will be permitted to use the funds to create endowments that directly support students, to launch financial literacy and mental health programs, or to expand academic advising and tutoring resources, for example. Additionally, uses can include funding for scholarships up to the full cost of attendance, four-year guaranteed scholarships and unlimited meals and snacks for athletes, all of which have been approved in Division I in the past two years.

The funds, which will be disbursed in spring 2017, will be distributed based on the number of full athletics scholarships, providing the most support to the schools that have the largest populations of student-athletes. These funds are in addition to the normal annual distributions to members.

The End of the Conference Network. Pretty interesting thoughts here from Gridiron Now’s Chad Scott about how the idea of a conference network may no longer be a viable option moving forward:

Important to keep in mind during this conversation is that while the SEC and Big Ten networks have proven fabulously successful and lucrative, the Pac-12 network continues to be plagued by problems. Jon Wilner’s Twitter feed remains the go-to destination for reading about all the money the Pac-12 network isn’t making and all the enemies it is.

Instead of trying to be the last of what was, the ACC and Big 12 should focus on being the first of what’s next, whatever that is. Patience, hard as it may be, could be the best course of action, particularly for the ACC.

“ESPN has a clause in their contract that if they do not offer a network by July 1 of 2016, they owe the ACC – reportedly I should say – a clause in the contract that requires ESPN to pay the ACC $45 million a year to be divided among its schools,” Durham told Louisville Sports Live.

Tennis

Texas Tech moves up to No. 8 in this weeks @ITATennis rankings. #WreckEm pic.twitter.com/LuARhmhria

— Texas Tech Women’s Tennis (@TexasTechWTEN) March 15, 2016

The Lady Raiders are at No. 11 in this weeks @ITATennis rankings. #WreckEm pic.twitter.com/3XwUEL6XKC

— Texas Tech Women’s Tennis (@TexasTechWTEN) March 15, 2016

Baseball

Texas Tech Takes Down UTA. Texas Tech defeated UTA, 6-4 yesterday evening at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Ty Damron did well starting and getting the win and Tyler Neslony hit a grand slam to lead the offense.

Basketball

Things to Do in Raleigh. SI’s Cherif Gueye has things to do in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Notebooky. LAJ’s Nicholas Talbot has a notebook of things:

• Texas Tech head coach Tubby Smith said that he started scouting Butler as soon as he found out that Butler would be the opponent:
  

  These days, though, it is as simple as clicking download. Within an hour of finding out his team, Texas Tech, had made the NCAA tournament, was seeded eighth in the Midwest region and would be facing Butler, Smith and his staff were already hard at work scouting and preparing for the next day’s practice. “We started scouting them (Sunday night),” Smith said. “It is not like it used to be when we would have to send tapes and stuff. In the past we would have to call and get that stuff, now it is all on the internet.”

• Smith also said that it doesn’t feel weird to be back in the NCAA Tournament, but it did feel weird not being selected previously.

Football

4.1

Learning This Spring. DMN’s Mike DuPont has five things he’s learned this spring and here’s #5:

5. Derrick Willies is a workaholic.
Former NJCAA All-Americans Derrick Willies and DeQuan Bowman haven’t needed much time to adjust to the personal aspects of playing football at a Big 12 program. Both are already projecting within the two-deep at their respective positions, much to the appreciation of offensive assistant and former Skyline coach Emmett Jones.

“You can tell [Bowman and Willies] are quite experienced,” Jones said. “Everything is serious; it’s all business-mentality. They approach the game with the attitude and mindset to get better. The maturity level is so high with those guys and they’ve done a great job as far as leading the young guys. So just they way they approach themselves towards the game, as far as getting better each day, is awesome.”