The Morning Stake | 2018.03.27

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Texas Tech Softball

Texas Tech Baseball

Texas Tech Basketball

Senior Class. A-J Media’s Carlos Silva, Jr. writes about the talented senior class that was Texas Tech basketeball:

Keenan Evans, Tommy Hamilton IV, Niem Stevenson, Justin Gray and Zach Smith each answered the question a different way.

Yes, they were disappointed their season ended shorter than expected. But, they was a slight satisfaction in the quintet’s demeanor when a small fact brought up from last summer.

Back in Kansas City, Mo., which seemed like eons ago Sunday afternoon, the senior quartet all said the same thing: preseason polls don’t matter.

A-J Media’s Don Williams writes about how this 2018 team is among royalty among Texas Tech teams:

Among those 27 wins were eight against ranked teams and challenging Kansas for Big 12 supremacy. As the Red Raiders gained prominence, Tech fans and media from all over were taken with Beard’s personality, from his stumping for Whataburger, to his relationship with his three daughters, to blaring Travis Tritt after a big win, to comparing the coming end of Evans’ college career with how to finish off a fine Tex-Mex dinner: You wanted to make that last fragment of enchilada three bites instead of two so it would last longer.

Red Raider fans loved every minute, and come next season they’ll be craving more of the same. It’ll be a hard act to repeat, but don’t put it past him. No matter the level, Beard’s been winning since well before he took over at Tech. There’s the competitive fire mentioned above and the way he’s always shopping for parts. Off this year’s team, key pieces such as Brandone Francis, Tommy Hamilton and Niem Stevenson arrived as transfers — Francis from Florida, Hamilton from DePaul, Stevenson from a junior college.

Miscellaneous. UT-Arlington basketball coach Scott Cross was fired yesterday after winning 20 games in a row for 3 straight years and there’s chatter that Texas Tech assistant coaches Chris Ogden and Al Pinkins are considered to be candidates for the job. The UTA athletic director is said to have very high expectations of the UTA program and thinks it should be the next Gonzaga . . .

Texas Tech Football

Depending on Wesley. A-J Media’s Don Williams writes about how the Texas Tech offense will very much depend on Antoine Wesley, who caught 8 passes for 112 yards and a touchdown in the Midland scrimmage on Saturday:

“He’s still adjusting to the move,” Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said. “But he’s a big, rangy guy who can really be a big target for those quarterbacks.”

Wesley knows he has a lot to live up to, considering how much Coutee and Cameron Batson, also a slot receiver and a departed senior, meant to the offense.

“It was a blessing to watch him and Cam work,” Wesley said. “They’d work, and I really appreciate the older guys to show how we’re supposed to be rolling.”

As an aside, the official site released highlights from the Midland scrimmage on Twitter, but was quickly deleted when the player-arrest story broke.

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