The Morning Stake | 2018.09.26

Leading Off

Thanks for the good wishes from yesterday. I’m feeling better, but slept a lot yesterday. Going back to work today, so let’s get to it.

Texas Tech Volleyball

Texas Tech Softball

Texas Tech Basketball

It was the first day of practice, so we ge a press conference from the players and from head coach Chris Beard.

A-J Media’s Carlos Silva, Jr. writes about the press conference from yesterday:

“Coach Beard has been preaching (consistency), especially for me,” said Francis, who netted 5.1 points last season. “I’ve just got to be more consistent on and off the court. As a senior, I’ve got younger guys looking up to me. I relied on Norense a lot. He’s a very disciplined older guy, and he just (taught) me the way so I can be the best for the team.”

The team-first mindset is something that stood out to Mooney, who transferred in from South Dakota. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound guard is not only coming in with strong shooting credentials — netting 76 three-pointers and averaging 18.7 points with the Coyotes — but he’s also hoping to lead the way in the effort department.

“Coach Beard has instilled an unselfish culture here,” Mooney said. “What’s a lot different about this program, is everybody works. (Brandone Francis) was just talking about consistency, just showing up everyday ready to work and get better.”

NCAA’s Joe Boozell has five all-glue guys, and one of them is Jarrett Culver:

With Zhaire Smith and Keenan Evans gone, Culver will take on a more prominent role as a sophomore. But he was an overqualified glue guy as a freshman. Culver was capable of creating offense in a pinch, but was also happy to space on the perimeter. He played bigger than his 6-5 height; his rebounding numbers are proof. Culver also averaged 1.1 steals per game and was generally a menace for a stout Texas Tech defense.

Texas Tech Football

Yesterday, head coach Kliff Kingsbury said that T.J. Vasher was working through a sprained knee and his availability for the game on Saturday said that Vasher has been limited. A-J Media’s Don Williams runs through those options, including Dalton Rigdon, Caden Leggett, and Myller Royals, or maybe switching over De’Quan Bowman or Seth Collins outside. I don’t know how this will go, but this obviously is not ideal.

Congrats to receiver Antoine Wesley who was named to the updated Biletnikoff Award Watch List!

The Ringer’s Kevin Clark writes about how the NFL offenses are essentially becoming a Texas Tech offense:

The conservative thinkers were wrong about the ability for the spread to translate. This was clear during last year’s Super Bowl, during the first few weeks of the season, or—really, if you were paying attention—at dozens of points in the past decade. “Somebody had to do it first. Somebody had to risk being laughed at, risk being the one to get fired—guys like Doug [Pederson], Chip Kelly, Josh McDaniels,” Riley said.

Chiefs general manager Brett Veach, who is a far cry from the spread panickers of years past, told me his team didn’t even consider what type of offense Mahomes was playing in at Texas Tech before they traded up to draft him with the 10th overall pick in 2017. Rather, they just evaluated the player’s skills.

Miscellaneous . . . Charleston Gazette-Mail’s Tom Bragg writes about the friendship between Kliff Kingsbury and Dana Holgorsen . . . ESPN has their updated bowl projections and one writer has Texas Tech playing South Carolina in the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl in Houston and another has the Red Raiders playing Oregon in the Valero Alamo Bowl . . . SB Nation’s Bill Connelly runs the numbers and says that there’s a 93% chance that Texas Tech goes bowling this year (and the odds for every team are there) . . . LandGrant Gauntlet’s Christopher Hall has some things he learned during the Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma State game . . . WVNews’ Kevin Kinder writes that West Virginia will finally face an offense that’s actually good (at least statistically) . . . MetroNews’ Alex Hickey writes about how both Texas Tech and West Virginia have had their fair share of penalties . . .

Back To Top