The Morning Stake | 2020.06.18

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It’s only Thursday. Yesterday was quite the day and I still think that we’re in this weird space of student-athletes making this stand or being part of a movement, whether you like it or not, and there’s this intersection of how we consume college sports and these student-athletes and coaches that you cheer for being part of that movement.

Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams writes about how Texas Tech should, perhaps, be more open with the positive COVID-19 tests, not the particular students, but the programs who have positive tests. Personally, I’m fine without knowing particular results within a program and I’m even more fine without knowing positive results. I think Don’s point would be that if Texas Tech doesn’t release those sport-specific results then what if there is an out-break in the football team and that doesn’t get reported? I think there is going to be an out-break and I think, and this is me personally, that the only news I sort of want is if a student-athlete is seriously ill. And the only reason I’d like to know that is because I care about these people. But even then, I don’t know that this is my business either. It’s one thing for the results to be reported to the county for keeping track of results that are being reported as a whole, which I am fine with, but I don’t know how much of this is my business other than what is required by the county.

Via Inside the NCAA on Twitter, they have confirmed that for football, if the first football game is on September 5th, that access activities (not sure what that is), meetings and walk-throughs starting on July 24th, and preseason practice begins on August 7th.

Jonathan Kuminga is set to decide on June 22nd and the thought is that he will choose between Texas Tech and the G-League. As you know, Texas Tech doesn’t have an available scholarship spot, but most likely a player would announce his intent to enter into the transfer portal. Rivals’ Eric Bossi thinks that Kuminga is one of the 12 best high school players right now:

Why him? As our readers well know, thereโ€™s a pretty strong likelihood that Kuminga ends up a member of the class of 2020 in one capacity or another. But, until he says so heโ€™s still the No. 1 player in the 2021 class and one impressive talent. A big-time athlete who plays with a chip on his shoulder, Kuminga is a total bully on the floor. He works people over at the rim, has a post game, rebounds and has to be respected as a shooter. Heโ€™s also as tough as they come on the defensive end because of his size, versatility and athleticism.

I would remind you of the more extensive scouting report from Uproxx on Kuminga that indicates that Kuminga needs to work on an outside shot, that Kuminga has taken advantage of his size more than most and bullies his way to points, which might not play as well in the NBA or Big 12 where being bigger is more normalized.

RedRaiderSports’ Matt Clare spoke with new transfer running back Chadarius Townsend. One thing I didn’t know is that he will have two years of eligibility (am guessing he had a redshirt year, played as a freshman and sophomore). Here is Townsend on the transfer:

“I started hearing from the Texas Tech coaches within a few days of entering the transfer portal,” Townsend said. “To be honest, I cannot even remember which coach reached out first, but the entire coaching staff from Tech was there throughout the whole process. I felt needed and welcome right away.”

WatchStadium’s Brett McMurphy on Twitter has updated odds to win the Big 12:

Oklahoma 6/5
Texas 3/2
Oklahoma State 7/1
Iowa State 14/1
Baylor, TCU 25/1
Kansas State, Texas Tech, West Virginia 80/1
Kansas 500/1

This goes back to the 24/7 Sports post from last week that predicted that Texas Tech would finish last and Vegas thinks that Kansas State, Texas Tech, and West Virginia all finish in similar fashion. I also think that Baylor lost a ton and I wouldn’t be as high on them as Vegas is, but I’m consistently wrong about Baylor.

Here are some tweets.

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