The Morning Stake | 2019.04.18

Leading Off

Coming Up. The baseball and softball series starts today and the teams will have Sunday off for Easter Sunday.

Texas Tech Soccer

Texas Tech Tennis

Texas Tech Softball

Bracketology? Heck yes, bracketology. FastPitchNews predicts the NCAA Tournament Field and thinks that Texas Tech gets in with Oklahoma, Texas, and Oklahoma State will also get in and are also more highly rated than Texas Tech. FastPitchNews also predicts that Texas Tech would be in Baton Rouge with LSU, Mississippi State, and LIU Brooklyn in the LSU regional.

Texas Tech Baseball

Baylor vs. Texas Tech. Series starts today and Keith will have a podcast preview later today and I’ll have a preview go up at noon today.

Texas Tech Basketball

Culver Decision Today. Texas Tech guard Jarrett Culver will make his announcement about his basketball future today at 3:00 p.m. Good luck either way.

Season Review. Heartland College Sports’ Matthew Postins wraps up Texas Tech’s season and looks ahead to 2019.

Looking ahead to 2019-20: Going into this season I wrote that we’re going to find out if Beard was building a team or a program in Lubbock. The answer is a program. The Red Raiders are losing some key pieces this year (Culver is almost sure to leave, as the potential of being a lottery pick is too much to pass up). But the Red Raiders are prepared. Moretti grew into a player of his own standing and should be this team’s leader next season. Edwards and Corprew have room to grow, too, and both showed it during Final Four weekend. Moore can become a member of this rotation next season. Plus, Ramsey and Thomas both have potential to play right away, as does Shannon, as long as he signs. When you build a program, you have talent rolling in every year to adequately replace the talent you’re losing. Beard is doing that right now at Tech, and he’s about to enter his fourth season. He’s now poised Texas Tech to be Kansas’ most serious challenger in the Big 12 for the foreseeable future.

Beard at Rockets Game. Your head coach Chris Beard was at the Rockets’ game last night and he was sitting next to Gerald Myers and I think Dustin Womble, the guy they’re naming the new practice facility after, The Womble. If this doesn’t bode well for contract negotiations I don’t know what does.

Texas Tech Football

Channeling Chris Beard. Dallas News’ Kevin Sherrington writes about how Texas Tech head football coach is channeling it’s head basketball coach, Chris Beard:

Before he even fired Kingsbury, Kirby Hocutt was on record that he wanted more discipline, a better-balanced offense and a tougher team in general. Wells delivered that message to his players all spring. He wasn’t gentle about it.

“He coaches really hard, and he wants us to be great,” said redshirt freshman receiver Erik Ezukanma, “so he’s hard on us all the time. Any little thing that we do wrong in practice — not having the ball on the right side in our hand — he tells us.”

Anything else different?

“I think everything’s more disciplined,” Bowman said. “We worry about the little things. Everything is so structured. I think our culture and accountability within the team is huge, too.

“We’re holding each other accountable.”

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