I do not have an update about Chris Beard. I don’t know that anyone has an update either, but I don’t have any subscriptions to any websites so I’ll just be in the dark for a bit longer. I would say that depending on your outlook, no news is good news or it is bad news. Regardless, the program is still hard at work.

In the three days since he entered his name in the transfer portal, South Dakota’s @StanleyUmude_ says he has received offers from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, TCU, UNLV and USC.

— Jay Elsen (@ElsenMidcoSN) March 29, 2021

Umude is a 6’6″ and 210 pound guard from South Dakota, originally from San Antonio, averaging 21.6 points a game, 7 boards, and 3 assists, while shooting 47% from the floor and 36% from the three-point line. I would not expect that offering players should give you solace or make you nervous because you just never know.

We did find out that Texas did interview Royal Ivey on Sunday and would guess that Ivey represents a version of Juwan Howard, which is similar to what Indiana hired in Mike Woodson.

In two other bits of news, Shaka Smart said of Marquette that Marquette is a basketball-crazy place and a basketball-centric athletic department. That is definitely true of Marquette, but Smart did not have a lack of facilities or opportunities at Texas. Oklahoma State signed Mike Boynton to a new contract extension. I like Boynton, but he also had the best player in the upcoming draft on his team.

Dru Baker was named the Big 12 Player of the Week after having a pretty good week:

Baker went 10-for-14 (.714) in the three-game sweep of South Florida this weekend with a team-high five RBI. He registered at least three hits and scored in all three games, while leading the conference in on-base percentage (.929) and stolen bases (3) for the week.

The Tomball, Texas, native currently owns a 10-game hitting streak, including seven consecutive multi-hit games. Baker raised his season average to .442 over the weekend, which ranks second in the Big 12.

During his 10-game hitting streak, Baker is 25-for-41 (.610) at the plate and leads the team with a .667 on base percentage, an .805 slugging percentage, seven stolen bases and 16 runs scored. He is also tied for the team-lead with 10 RBI. He finished the month of March hitting .485 with 33 hits in 68 at bats.

D1 Baseball’s new weekly top 25 has Texas Tech moving up 2 spots to #4, with Texas at #5, and TCU at #12.

I’m excited after watching this.