The Morning Stake | 2019.12.20

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Glad to Be Back. Every morning that I don’t do a Morning Stake I feel a bit guilty, which is silly, but it is what it is. With National Signing Day arriving this week, it snuck up on me a bit, I wasn’t quite ready and actually was intending to write a good bit of what I needed to do when Texas Tech hosted Southern Miss, but then that turned into an actual game and my plans crashed a bit. In any event, that’s why there are ridiculously early mornings and I got to work on Wednesday morning before my run and got it all done in time.

Yesterday’s recap actually took much longer than expected, as I kept hoping that the official site would have used ASAP Sports to transcribe the Matt Wells press conference, but that never materialized so I’m trying to transcribe 30 minutes of a press conference. And as a family, we also went to the Polar Express in Palestine/Rusk on Wednesday night, that’s an hour and a half drive for us from where we stay, so it was a long day and night. As an aside, my kids absolutely loved it. I’m afraid they are getting to the age where they may “age out” of stuff like that, especially my 4th grader, but it’s not just a train ride, it’s actors, dancing, and music and a bunch of other stuff, including the hot chocolate. The kids had a great time, but it was a lot crammed into one day.

TLDR – it’s good to be back doing the Morning Stake.

Texas Tech Wins Stock Horse of Texas Collegiate World Championship Via Texas Tech Today, the Red Raiders win yet another Collegiate World Championship:

The Texas Tech Ranch Horse Team won both the Stock Horse of Texas (SHTX) Collegiate World Championship and the SHTX Collegiate Reserve Championship at the 2019 Stock Horse of Texas Collegiate World Championships on Nov. 12 in Abilene. Texas Tech will be one of three teams representing the SHTX at the inaugural Collegiate Challenge at the Road to the Horse this February.

The Texas Tech red team outplaced North Central Texas College by 40 points, 257-217, and Texas A&M by 89.5 points, 257-167.5. The Texas Tech black team outplaced North Texas Central College by 4.5 points, 221.5-214, and Texas A&M by 54 points, 221.5-167.5.

“I am so proud of these students. They put their whole hearts into what they do,” said Justin Stanton, ranch horse team coach. “The work they put into this event is truly admirable. I am so proud to not only bring home the championship, but the reserve title as well. To have enough talent to pull that off gets me excited for the future. Winning these titles is so important, not only for representing the university well, but also for setting the standard for up-and-coming team members. I have no questions as to whether this team will continue to conquer bigger and better things.”

Texas Tech Soccer

Texas Tech Track and Field

Oduduru Does Not Win the Bowerman. Kind of a bummer that Divine Oduduru did not win the Bowerman, but absolutely deserved to be on that stage. What a career for Texas Tech.

Texas Tech Golf

Lady Raider Basketball

Texas Tech Baseball

Texas Tech Basketball

Fireside Chat with Santa and Justin Gray. Always entertaining and greally great that Santa took time out of his busy schedule for the Fireside Chat and great to see Justin Gray back.

NEW TRADITION — RISE UP! Head coach Chris Beard is trying to start a new tradition, the “Rise Up” tradition, which is where the fans stand until the team scores their first basket in both the first and second half. Apparently you can send all angry emails and/or voicemails to Mark Adams if you don’t want to participate.

Only For the Children.

Injury Updates. You can check out Carlos Silva, Jr.’s Twitter feed for the actual tweets (and photos of tacos), but here are the updates on Jahmi’us Ramsey and Tyreek Smith:

  • Jahmi’us Ramsey: Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said he’s hopeful Jahmi’us Ramsey can play Saturday versus UTRGV.
    “Once we’re told that he’s 100 percent, in terms of his recovery, he’s back out there. Might not be 100 percent in terms of ready to play because he hasn’t played in awhile.”
  • Tyreek Smith: Other injury update: Texas Tech freshman forward Tyreek Smith has upgraded from crutches to a walking boot, which allows him to do more conditioning and form shooting.
    “Sometime around the New Year, in January, is when that boot might come off. And then, we’ll see.”

Top 13 of the Past Decade. Via NBC Sports, considering that Beard hasn’t been coaching major college basketball for a decade, it’s incredible that he’s on this list, but he’s that good. Hands-down, an absolute tactician.

Beard’s accomplishment is not quite as impressive, but it is up there. In his second season at Texas Tech, he had the best team in the conference (I’ll go to my grave saying they would have won the Big 12 that year if Keenan Evans doesn’t break his toe) and got the Red Raiders to their first ever Elite Eight. The following season, after losing six of his top nine players, including a one-and-done freshman no one thought was a one-and-done, he not only ended the Kansas’ 14-year reign atop the conference, but he led Texas Tech to their second Elite Eight, their first Final Four and to within one De’Andre Hunter three of a national title.

All this came after he spent one season at Little Rock winning 30 games, something that program has never done before and hasn’t come close to doing since.

Texas Tech Football

Another All-American Honor.

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