Just a reminder. I’m pretty well out for the rest of the weekend as I run the Pumpkin Holler Hunnerd on Saturday (I’m only running 50k). I’ll check back in on Monday most likely with Scattershooting. I don’t even know if I’ll have internet access, much less wifi. There will be open threads tonight and tomorrow as the games start. See you on Monday!
Basketball
Texas Tech was picked to finish 5th in the Big 12 preseason poll.
Team (First-place votes) Points
1. Baylor (5) 77
2. Kansas (4) 73
3. Texas (1) 64
4. TCU 58
T5. Oklahoma State 42
Texas Tech 42
7. Oklahoma 32
8. Iowa State 30
9. West Virginia 20
10. Kansas State 12
I mentioned yesterday that I am not close to being up to speed as to where these teams will finish and how Texas Tech stacks up with the rest of the Big 12. It seems as if the assumption is that Baylor and Kansas are the in a tier all their own and then a group of teams led by Texas after that. Maybe Oklahoma through West Virginia are in the bottom tier with Kansas State all on their own. I’d say that K-State will probably be better than expected.
This linked article mentions that Big 12 Media Days will be on October 19th in Kansas City with Fardaws Aimaq, De’Vion Harmon, and Kevin Obanor representing Texas Tech.
CBS Sports has a nice Big 12 primer and preview with their own experts picking how the Big 12 will finish with Texas Tech picked 5th:
Texas Tech had the No. 1 defense in adjusted efficiency (according to KenPom.com data) in Year One of the Mark Adams era last year. And while the Red Raiders lost their top three scorers from that unit, Adams’ system set in place is one of the most effective in the Big 12. With five really talented incoming transfers, Tech should be in the mix to finish in a similar spot defensively, though it’ll have a hard time maintaining its top-three standing in the Big 12 given how crowded and deep the league is this year.
Football
SI’s Ross Dellenger reports that the new Big 12 will be divisionless (I think that’s good) and will adopt a two-year format until UT and OU leave for the SEC:
In the targeted format, conference members will continue to play nine league games in a divisionless model with the top two teams advancing to a championship game. The two-year format is set up for each team to play all others at least once. Historic rivalries are expected to be preserved on an annual basis with teams having permanent opponents. Those matchups are not yet official, but are likely to include games such as Oklahoma-Texas, Oklahoma State-Oklahoma, Kansas-Kansas State, TCU-Baylor and West Virginia-Cincinnati, the latter a natural regional matchup.
The Big 12 will drop from 14 to 12 teams when Oklahoma and Texas leave for the SEC, a move that is scheduled for 2025. Though many believe UT and OU’s exit could happen as soon as 2024, their inclusion in the temporary two-year scheduling format suggests that the conference is moving forward with the expectation that they will stay in the league for the remainder of the grant of rights. The Big 12 Grant of Rights expires after the 2024-25 academic calendar.
I’ve got no feel if UT & OU will actually leave early and if they do, then that’s fine and if they don’t, then that’s fine too. I sort of thought they would want to leave and just pay the penalty, but the Big 12 is moving forward as if they will play for the next two years. [Ed Note] I wrote that sentence last night and CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodds is reporting that FOX is blocking Texas and Oklahoma from leaving:
Though there was a belief that Texas and Oklahoma may have been attempting to exit the Big 12 one year early in 2024, sources told Dodd that Fox would likely have demanded years of significant television inventory trades from ESPN as the marquee programs would have left its airwaves. That’s beyond what would have been a potentially massive early exit fee the programs would have needed to pay the Big 12 directly.
Fox and ESPN are currently partners in Big 12 programming, while ESPN will be the exclusive television partner of the SEC beginning in 2025 when the Longhorns and Sooners join the league.
The Big 12 is actively seeking a new media rights deal with Fox and ESPN both engaged in conversations.
That’s interesting!
Sports
Just to catch up a bit on soccer and volleyball, Texas Tech soccer is sitting at 3-1-2, having won their 3rd straight game, and have an overall record of 7-3-5, which has them 3rd in the Big 12. The scoring has improved since the last time we checked in, 1.267 goals scored, but are allowing 0.67 goals a game, which is 2nd best in the conference.
Texas Tech volleyball is sitting at 3rd in the Big 12, tied with Iowa State, and are 14-4 overall. I won’t pretend to know what statistics are important in volleyball, but will note that they are 2nd in the conference in kills, averaging 13.64 a game behind Texas, but they are also worst in the Big 12 in opponent kills.