The Morning Stake: October 12th

Memorial for Floyd East Jr.

  If you would like to give to the family of fallen officer Floyd East, Jr., Texas Tech has set up a fund for the family’s benefit.

Texas Tech Soccer

Texas Tech Volleyball

Texas Tech Golf

Texas Tech Basketball

 I had forgotten to post this last week, but FanRagSports Jon Rothstein has the 15 least appreciated players in college basketball and Keenan Evans makes the list:

Keenan Evans, Texas Tech: Only the real hoops junkies know the types of strides this guard has made over the past two seasons at Texas Tech. After making only 34 3-point shots combined in his first two years with the Red Raiders, Evans nailed 51 from long distance last season while shooting 43.2 percent from 3-point range. The 6-3 guard was a major piece in Tubby Smith’s rotation in 2016 when Texas Tech reached the NCAA Tournament. He should have a major chance to replicate history next spring under Chris Beard. This is the best guard on a team that has a legitimate chance to finish in the top half of the Big 12 standings.

 NewsOK has the latest on how a New York grand jury is asking for a boatload of documents and communications in regards to the investigation into assistant coach Lamont Evans receiving compensation as a result of steering players to programs and eventually financial advisors:

The subpoena is far-reaching in the types of records being demanded, requesting emails, text messages, cellular phone records, social media messages, computer records and a host of other documents and electronic records covering the time period from Jan. 1, 2014, to the present.

Even handwritten notes in the possession of OSU regents and employees are being demanded.

Texas Tech Football

 WV Gazette Mail’s Mitch Vingle writes about the Spavital family fued for this game, between Jake and Zac:

Spavital’s father Steve used to coach Oklahoma power Broken Arrow High School. Jake was a quarterback at Tulsa Union and Missouri State before embarking on his successful coaching career.

And Zac Spavital, his brother, works with Tech defensive coordinator David Gibbs. It’s his third season with the Red Raiders as the linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator.

“We talk a lot,” Jake Spavital said. “Zac is my best friend. He’s the guy I grew up with. He’s the guy that used to beat me up all the time. Then he’d also have my back for me.”

 A-J Media’s Don Williams has a football notebook with notes on Kolin Hill becoming a playmaker on the defense, Justus Parker and his transfer to Texas Tech and McLane Carter’s limited playing time. Here’s Hill on defensive line coach Terrance Jamison:

“He’s brought a lot,” Hill said. “He’ll coach you up to your best ability. He doens’t (curse) you all the time. He’s just a really good person to be around and want to play for.”

 A-J Media’s Carlos Silva, Jr. writes about West Virginia’s Al-Rasheed Benton:

Soon enough, around the age of seven, he played and then started at cornerback before he moved to safety until he settled in at linebacker at Shabazz High School in Newark, N.J. Four years later, he signed to play with West Virginia University.

“I actually got into football because of my older brothers,” said Benton, a redshirt senior with the Mountaineers (3-2 overall 1-1, Big 12). “My dad played basketball, and I played basketball until I was about five or six. And then started getting into football when I was seven because they played. Ended up falling in love with, and look where it got me now.”

 BlueGoldNews.com’s Matt Keller writes about how WVU offensive coordinator Jake Spavital says that the Texas Tech defense is very different in comparison to last year:

“It’s a completely different team than what you saw last year,” West Virginia offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said. “I wouldn’t even compare last year’s tape to this year’s tape. I glanced through all of last year’s tape and I moved on from that completely after how they played Oklahoma State, Arizona State and Houston this year.”

 Miscellaneous . . . ESPN’s Sam Khan, Jr. has the most important player on each team in the top 25 and he picks Keke Coutee for Texas Tech . . .

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