The Morning Stake | 2019.07.23

Leading Off

Campus Photos Updates. Totally Texas Tech has taken a handful of new photographs and click on the photo below to get to the photos where you’ll see an under construction Frazier Alumni Pavilion and the area where the Coliseum used to be (pour one out), and much more.

Texas Tech Volleyball

Texas Tech Track and Field

Texas Tech Golf

Texas Tech Tennis

Texas Tech Softball

Lady Raider Basketball

Texas Tech Basketball

Culver to Possibly Play Point Guard for Timberwolves. Via CanisHoopus’ Jakeapaynting, some quotes from the head coach and general manager lead one to wonder if the Timberwolves think that former Texas Tech basketballer Jarrett Culver could also play point guard:

Throughout his two-year career at Texas Tech, Culver developed his passing, ball handling abilities, and game management skills astronomically. By the end of his sophomore year, the 19-year-old held a gargantuan 32.2 percent usage rate, and also increased his assist per game numbers from 1.8 in his freshman season to 3.7 in his second year. All while being the first, second, and third scoring option for a Red Raiders team that made it all the way to the championship game.

One of the most essential skills that the front man of an NBA offense needs is the ability to score and make smart reads out of the pick-and-roll. It is even more vital when the offense is built around a high-scoring big man and elite rim runner like Karl-Anthony Towns. Culver ticks both of those boxes.

He is already adept at slithering his way to the rim and putting pressure on bigs. Whether it is contorting his body to avoid traffic or using his long arms and broad shoulders to fight through contact, Culver has the makings of a special finisher going downhill.

The answer will be yes, yes, he can and probably will play point guard.

Big 12 Recruiting. BustingBrackets’ Tristan Freeman has five takeaways from the 2019 recruiting classes, including Oklahoma State putting together a nice couple of classes, Kansas continuing to recruit like a top 5 team, how many newcomers will stay at TCU (lolz), the impact of De’Vion Harmon at OU, and Texas Tech becoming a national recruiting power:

Combo guard Jahmius Ramsey is the highest-rated prospect ever to commit to Texas Tech, ranked No. 31 overall. He was a pretty early commit, allowing the team to add several other key prospects. That includes four-star forward Terrence Shannon and power forward Tyreek Smith, who came in just this offseason. Clarence Nadolny and Russek Tchewa are only three-star recruits but so were Zhaire Smith and Jarrett Culver, who eventually developed into first round NBA Draft picks.

The recruiting ability for the Red Raiders extends not only with high school players but also on the transfer market. TJ Holyfield and Chris Clarke shore up the frontcourt this season, while Joel Ntambwe of UNLV has tremendous potential as a sit-out transfer. Texas Tech may never be at the level to be consistently going after five-star prospects like Kansas but grabbing quality transfers can be just as good.

Texas Tech Football

Brooks Named to Butkus Award Watch List.

Building Programs. BlueGoldNews’ Kevin Kinder looked at the approach of the four new Big 12 head coaches and how they intend on building a program. A lot of it is coach-speak, but still a good idea for an article and worth a read. Here’s a bit about new West Virginia head coach Neal Brown:

Brown has drawn something from each of his coaching stops, but credits a piece of advice he got when he took his first head coaching job at Troy with shaping his first days on the job there and at WVU.

“You learn a little bit as you go. Each situation is different, but a lot of challenges are the same. Without a doubt, I’ve grown at each stage and each opportunity. The hardest thing in a new situation is that males tend to be ‘doers.’ I had one of my mentors say to me that you have to fight every urge in your being and not be a ‘doer’, but be a ‘listener’ early. I thought that was huge in how we were able to get Troy turned around on a quick basis. We’ve followed that same approach and tried to ask better questions at West Virginia.”

Can Allen Be a Starter? TurfShowTimes’ TG25 wonders if former Texas Tech footballer could be a starter:

With LB Cory Littleton cemented as a starter with LB Clay Matthews and LB Micah Kiser likely filling up the other inside linebacking spot, Allen will have to prove his worth in two ways — as a viable backup or as a capable starter that can take the field in certain situations. It shouldn’t be difficult for Allen, who is a strong, athletic and versatile linebacker. In my opinion, he is capable of overtaking Bryce Hager’s spot.

IMO, Dakota Allen > Bryce Hager, all day long.

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