On the Pitch

Texas Tech soccer will host St. Bonaventure tonight, details below:

MATCHUP: Texas Tech (1-1) vs. St. Bonaventure (0-2)
DATE: Thursday, Aug. 22
TIME: 7 p.m.
LOCATION: Lubbock, Texas (John Walker Soccer Complex)
STREAMING: ESPN+

On the Court

CBS Sports surveyed 100 men’s basketball coaches and asked which programs they believe have the best NIL program and Texas Tech received 9.5% of the votes, good for 11th overall and tied with Louisville. The interesting thing here is the question, which is what other coaches believe to be happening and so this isn’t detail of actual money, but what coaches perceive.

You get to hear from TJ Toppin, which is great, and then I went to to check T-Rank for funs and the model only shows him averaging 6.6 points and 5.7 rebounds. I think he for sure averages double-figures in scoring and it’s just a projection, but if he’s better than that, then Texas Tech is probably better than the 19th best team in the nation (which is where T-Rank currently has Texas Tech projected).

Meet JT Toppin.

Tough. Relentless. Dog. #DefineYourself | @j1izzle pic.twitter.com/qEqmvCadxq

— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) August 20, 2024

On the Gridiron

24/7 Sports with their preseason true freshman All-American team and Micah Hudson makes the list:

Micah Hudson, Texas Tech WR
Top247 rank: No. 25 overall, No. 5 WR

You could go in a number of directions for the final receiver slot. The 2024 class features an outrageously deep group of wideouts who will play as true freshmen. But let’s highlight Micah Hudson, who is the top-ranked recruit in Texas Tech history. Hudson has impressed since he stepped on campus and multiple sources have pointed to him as a Day 1 contributor in what should be a high-flying offense.

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams goes through the schedule and I wonder if I am counting it correctly, but has Texas Tech winning 8 games.

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams also digs into the current agreement with Texas Tech and adidas, which has not been finalized and signed:

“Getting very close,” Tech athletics director Kirby Hocutt said Friday. “There’s going to be a number of adidas representatives on campus (this) week for the (Red Raider Club) kickoff luncheon, as well as our celebration and gratitude event bringing closure to the Campaign for Fearless Champions.

“We’ve got time scheduled to sit down and hopefully get the last few remaining items finalized and get signatures on the contract, so not yet (completed). No issues. Just again, combing through some fine language on the long-form agreement and anticipate getting done hopefully (this) week when there’s a large contingent of adidas leadership on campus.”

For your consideration.

Big 12 projected regular season win totals pic.twitter.com/3pzOBvTp9s

— Kelley Ford (@KFordRatings) August 22, 2024