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The Morning Stake | 2020.05.21

The Morning Stake
Seth C

The Morning Stake | 2020.05.21

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15 years. That’s how long I’ve been married to my lovely wife as of today. I sometimes forget that I basically didn’t start blogging until my wife said noticed that I was just sort of hanging out and not being incredibly productive and she told me that I needed to get a hobby. I already had an itch to write and I started a dumb blog about Texas Tech. It was actually a Blogspot blog, which is a free Google blog, and then transitioned over to Double-T Nation because no one was really blogging about Texas Tech.

I can say that the reason I started blogging was because of my wife (you can blame and/or credit her) and I’ve been blogging about as long as I’ve been married.

That’s a really long way to say happy anniversary to my lovely wife.

Georgetown sophomore guard Mac McClung (6-2/186) announced that he was going to transfer and he announced his top 7 programs yesterday, which included Texas Tech, USC, Brigham Young, Arkansas, Wake Forest, Auburn, and Memphis. I believe that McClung will ask for a waiver, but I’m not totally sure he will be granted an immediate ability to play given that he just didn’t want to be at Georgetown any more. McClung averaged 15.7 points, 2.4 assists, and 3.1 rebounds last year, while shooting 39% from the floor and 32% from the three-point line. Not the best shooter and that’s how he’s going to have to make his bank. McClung is intent on playing one more year and then heading off to the NBA or professional waters.

ESPN’s Heather Dinich spoke with Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby about getting things rolling:

Sources have told ESPN that SEC athletic directors are meeting with health officials on Thursday and will then make a recommendation to the league’s university presidents and chancellors about whether to permit student-athletes to return to campus as soon as June 1 for voluntary workouts. SEC presidents and chancellors are expected to meet and make a decision on Friday.

Bowlsby said the Big 12 conference will have meetings next week for similar conversations, as its deadline is also May 31. He said it’s up to health experts to determine when it’s safe for the student-athletes to return.

“They have to have testing and assurances that systems are in place to deal with positive tests, treat people after a positive test, triage, hospital-level disinfectant in all of the activity spaces,” he said. “There’s just a lot of layers of systems that have to be put in place.”

When asked about the potential of a competitive advantage should the SEC allow athletes to return earlier, Bowlsby said conference commissioners are in constant communication with the hopes of similar timelines.

Now that the NCAA is permitting voluntary workouts for football and men’s and women’s basketball as of June 1st, expect the conferences and the institutions to begin to allow student-athletes back on campus on the same date. And when the term “voluntary” is utilized, it really means mandatory if you want to stay on the team.

Again, I’m guessing that these institutions have been working on processes as to how to allow these student athletes back on campus while attempting to keep the facilities sanitary.

ESPN’s Jeff Borzello has his way too early top 25 and given that there will still be some roster movement and players potentially reclassifying, this is still a fun exercise. I should mention that Jonathan Kuminga, the #1 player in the 2021 class, is now predicted to go to Texas Tech; HOWEVER, keep in mind that there’s also the chance that he doesn’t arrive for a full year or he could also take the G-League deal, which is $500,000 of straight up cash and a college education whenever he wants it. He has other options as well, including playing overseas or playing in Australia (that’s probably the same thing, but you get it).

I’m as excited as the next person about the potential of Kuminga, but there’s a lot that has to play out.

Back to Borzello, he Baylor at #3 and Kansas at #6 with Texas Tech checking in at #9:

Texas Tech really struggled down the stretch last season, but the Red Raiders have a major influx of talent coming to Lubbock — which should help offset the loss of Jahmi’us Ramsey and two seniors up front. Nimari Burnett leads a top-15 recruiting class for Chris Beard; the five-star guard was Texas Tech’s highest-ranked recruit in program history. Top-50 wing Micah Peavy stayed in-state for school, and Chibuzo Agbo fits the Texas Tech ethos. Then there are two transfers: talented former UNLV forward Joel Ntambwe and potential VCU grad transfer Marcus Santos-Silva, one of the top transfers this spring. Santos-Silva should start immediately. Starters Davide Moretti, Kyler Edwards and Terrance Shannon are all back, too. The question for Tech could be how quickly things come together on the defensive end. Beard-coached teams hang their hat on that end of the floor, but with all the new faces, it could be a work in progress early on. This season, however, there are more scoring weapons to overcome a slow start defensively.

If you enjoy the thought experiment of a starting five, stay tuned for something later this morning.

Yesterday, I mentioned that CBS Sports released their coach rankings for 65 through 26 and Texas Tech head coach Matt Wells ranked #51 overall. Today, CBS Sports released 25 through 1 and Iowa State’s Matt Campbell comes in at #25, TCU’s Gary Patterson checks in at #16, Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy is at #13, and Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley is at #3.

Here are some tweets.

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