Housekeeping
Good morning. It’s been busy for me. Someone asked yesterday if I’m doing a new eligibility chart and Texas Tech basketball hasn’t had a new commit, so it lays dormant until that happens. I get the feeling that things will pick up here pretty soon, but stay patient.
On the Diamond
Texas Tech baseball got absolutely smoked yesterday by New Mexico at home, 17-3. This is coming off of a 3-game sweep of West Virginia. Maybe all the good pitchers were used up over this past weekend (there were 3 errors for the good guys) and are saving up the good ones for the upcoming weekend. Don’t forget that they will be in Lawrence to take on the Jayhawks this weekend.
On the Hardwood
Lady Raider Basketball has a commitment from Ivana Krajina from Odessa College who averaged 18 points, 4 boards, 4 assists and nearly 2.5 steals a game. Definitely need ladies who score points, so this is great.
On the Gridiron
Texas Tech football and head coach Joey McGuire handed out team awards yesterday and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why this tradition ever stopped (am thinking that it was Tuberville, but I will blame lots of things on him). Regardless, I am happy these awards continue. Here are your recipients and congrats to them:
Donny Anderson Sportsmanship Award: DB Dadrion Taylor-Demerson
J.T. King Award for Most Improved Offensive Player: WR Xavier White
J.T. King Award for Most Improved Defensive Player: LB Ben Roberts
Dare to be Great Award: OL Caleb Rogers
Clint Ramsey Academic Effort Award: QB Jake Strong & K Reese Burkhardt
E.J. Holub Double Tough Award: QB Behren Morton
Dell Morgan Memorial Courage Award: LB Bryce Ramirez
Pete Cawthon Memorial Team MVP: RB Tahj Brooks
It’s a tradition (again) 👏
Thrilled to honor a few of our guys this afternoon with our annual Team Awards presentation. pic.twitter.com/RnsTMGlVW7
— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) April 24, 2024
Realignment
There was a time where I was heavily invested in realignment and now, I’m just not. I probably should be, but this is one of those “I will not worry about the things I cannot control”. We talked a few weeks ago about the proposed super-league and thus far, the conferences have not bitten at all on the idea of this. It’s being proposed by Gordon Gee, President of West Virginia, and the President of Syracuse. I had failed to use a particular term, that being “private equity” at the time I wrote because I had a brain-fart and couldn’t remember the term.
I’m not a huge fan of private equity firms running college football and think that this would infinitely make college football worse, the idea that college sports is ruled by greed is fine to a point, but private equity, at least in my experience, amps that quotient up a bit. With that being said, I’m not a huge fan of the way that college football is being currently run now either so I’m between a rock and a hard place.
If you want to be a bit depressed, this Yahoo article from Ross Dellinger on how the new playoffs evolved. And The Athletic’s Chris Vannini on the Group of 5’s idea to create their own situation (for reference purposes, the Grant of 5 cconsists of the American, Sun Belt, Mountain West, MAC and Conference USA. Derek Dooley is leading the charge on this particular venture, which is weird.