If you use Twitter like I do, which is for information, then this past weekend was a frustrating weekend. I mainly use Twitter to keep track of sports, for instance the NBA free agency was big on Saturday. For me personally, Sunday was better, but I very much limited my Twitter usage. If you are intent on following news, I actually use something called Feedly, which is basically subscribing to websites. Think of Feedly as a combined Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon and websites are shows. You subscribe to websites by just plugging in the main URL and the different posts show up on your Feedly line. There’s also an app. There’s no social aspect to this, but that’s a feature, not a bug.

Also, if you continue to use Twitter, I definitely recommend lists, creating lists allows you to just read tweets from people you want, there’s no extra filler. I have a “Mavs” list and a “Texas Tech” list so I’m very much able to throttle what I read.

Last but not least, I am still going to use Twitter and I know that Bluesky is the next alternative. I don’t know if this is really going to be the alternative. I have read that Instagram is working on an alternative and that might be it because there’s probably already an infrastructure in place. I still take a “let’s see how everything shakes out” attitude, including not wasting a ton of time to build a new following on something that won’t be around.

Grant McCasland announced that he has added 6 new members to his staff:

Texas Tech head men’s basketball coach Grant McCasland has officially announced the hiring of Luke Barnwell as Assistant Coach, Clay Wilson (Director of Player Development), Jardon Powell (Director of Administration & Operations), Cooper Anderson (Assistant Coordinator of Operations), Chris Nottingham (Video Coordinator) and Christian Hosley (Assistant Strength & Conditioning).

Barnwell is the big fish here, was previously at Sunrise Christian in Kansas and went 224-39 and has ties to big name college basketball players.

You’re going to love this team. pic.twitter.com/QoaxJee4gL

— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) July 2, 2023

The recruiting started off on a bad note last week and former Texas Tech commit Ivan Carreon decommitted and then pretty much immediately committed to Oklahoma. But then things turned.

• Pearland 3-star safety Ashton Hampton (6-1/170) was the first to commit over the weekend, beating out Vanderbilt, Washington State, SMU, Tulane, Oregon State, Missouri, Houston, and Army, among other.
• El Campo3-star defensive back Oliver Miles III (6-2/170) was the second commit beating out Baylor, Houston, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Stanford, Tulane, Utah, and others.
• Plugerville 3-star safety Peyton Morgan (6-1/175) was the final commit of the day with offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, Cal, Colorado, Houston, Kansas, Kansas State, Minnesota, Ole Miss, Nebraska, TCU, and others.

Then to top things off, Baylor defensive back AJ McCarty (5-11/180) who I think will be a redshirt junior and will probably play big snaps for Texas Tech:

“Coach Blanchard has had my back since I first started college. When I first joined Baylor, now here at Tech. If it wasn’t for him I honestly have no clue where I’d be playing right now! Also, for the rest of the coaching staff, they’re a great group of coaches! As soon as I got accepted into school a good bit of the staff texted me, and they all seemed excited for me to be a part of the family! And I can’t be more excited to play behind Coach McGuire, the energy he brings to the table is unmatched! All I have felt is love from them and I’m ready to be a part of it!!”