Briefly
The ladies tennis team will host Army in the first round on Friday at 1:00 p.m., while Princeton and Illinois will play at 11:00 a.m. as part of the NCAA Lubbock Regional (official site).
The ladies golf team is +23 after two rounds in the NCAA Austin Regional, currently sitting in 14th place and will play with Houston and Miami today official site).
Texas Tech Baseball
The baseball team droped their midweek game to Dallas Baptist, 10-4 (Recap | Box Score). John McMillon gave up 5 runs in the first inning and then soemwhat settled down for the next 3 innings, but the bullpen couldn’t hold DBU as Kurt Wilson was responsible for a run in the 7th and Dylan Dusek gave up 3 runs in the 8th. The bats only mustered 7 hits, 3 of those were from Josh Jung who went 3-5 with 4 RBI. Maybe the best thing that can happen is for these guys to have a long break for finals and figure some things out. This team is sorta limping along and I think that in order to be a top 8 seed, they need to beat Oklahoma State. They’re assuredly in the tournament, but they need to finish strong here. I’ll be very interested to see how the pitching lines up for Oklahoma State next Thursday.
Texas Tech Basketball
SB Nation has a mock draft and says that Zhaire Smith (which I think the Ringer has done as well) will go 12th overall:
This time last year, Smith was a 3-star recruit just hoping to get on the floor for Texas Tech. He ended up as one of the most valuable players in the country as a freshman, turning into a stat sheet stuffer and lockdown defender for the Red Raiders. His rapid rise into a lottery pick invokes the memory of Victor Oladipo, another 6’4, under-recruited shooting guard who blew up off the strength of his elite athleticism. Smith as the No. 12 pick in the draft might seem like a reach right now, but it’s possible we’ll view this as too low in a few years.
One of Texas Tech’s final recruiting targets, Isaac Likekeke is set to decide on Friday (Twitter). So much of what happens is dependent on South Dakota graduate transfer Matt Mooney, but at some point, these guys have to make decisions about where they want to go.
Texas Tech Football
AthlonSports ranks all of the starting quarterbacks and ranks McLane Carter 97th overall, but says that Jett Duffey has more potential:
97. McLane Carter, Texas Tech
Uncertainty surrounds Texas Tech’s quarterback situation for 2018. Carter, Jett Duffey and true freshman Alan Bowman are all in the mix to replace Nic Shimonek. While the spring didn’t provide a clear answer at quarterback, the Red Raiders have a strong track record of finding the right quarterback. Carter played in four games (with one start) and threw for 359 yards and two touchdowns. Duffey received playing time in just one contest, completing both of his passes for 16 yards. Carter is listed here, but Duffey has more upside.
I have no idea how you rank something like this, but give this a thought, Texas Tech quarterbacks have played about a half of football and are ranked 97th overall, while Tua Tagovailoa has also played a half of football and is ranked 2nd. I get that Tua’s half of football was significantly more important than any half that Texas Tech played, but still . . . small sample size.
CBSSports is ranking all of the Power Five coaches and has Kliff Kingsbury at 49, moving up 8 spots:
Kliff Kingsbury: Everyone’s favorite Gosling doppelganger climbs eight spots this year. I guess we were all impressed by that Birmingham Bowl appearance. 2017 rank: 57 (+8)