The Lady Raiders notched their 5th Big 12 win on Saturday with a 71-65 win over TCU, led by Jasmine Shavers with 19, Jordyn Merritt with 16 and freshman Loghan Johnson with 13. the ladies will have a week off before travelling to Cincinnati, Ohio to take on the Bearcats.
Teas Tech head basketball coach Grant McCasland was on with your favorite basketball commentators, Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman to discuss Texas Tech. This was good despite what you might think about Goodman. To hear McCasland talk about Chris Beard and Mark Adams, you know that he’s still in touch with those guys, particularly Beard, but you also get the idea that McCasland knows and likes everyone, but will rip your heart out on the court. Also, it helps me to think of Goodman as a carnival barker more than an analyst. He knows enough about basketball to cause a reaction.
The AP Top 25 will be out today and that link will update when the new poll comes out. If you nee a reminder, Seth Davis and Jon Rothstein did not rank Texas Tech last week. If you want a person that may annoy you, but at the very least he ranks teams every day and puts a ton of effort into this, CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish has Texas Tech 15th.
Ready for baseball? Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams was at the most recent presser with head coach Tim Tadlock who said that being ranked 4th in the preseason poll may be fuel for the fire for Texas Tech:
“It’s absolutely fuel for the fire,” Tadlock said. “Anytime you’re not picked first and you feel like you’ve had a really good program for a long time, yeah, it could absolutely motivate some guys.”
And Williams also wrote about moves for Kevin Bazzell and Austin Green, Bazzel moving to catcher from third base and Green to corner outfield from second.
The Red Raiders have a logjam of middle infielders with returnees Tracer Lopez and Will Burns joined by redshirt freshman Travis Sanders and freshmen T.J. Pompey from Coppell and Landon Stripling from Lawrenceville, Georgia. The Boston Red Sox chose Sanders in the 14th round of the 2022 draft. He sat out last season with a back problem.
Pompey, a 6-foot-4, 185-pound shortstop, was ranked by Perfect Game as the No. 82 prospect in the country and the No. 1 shortstop in Texas. Stripling, a 6-foot, 195-pound second baseman, was ranked by Perfect Game as the No. 76 prospect in the country.
Their presence has freed up the Red Raiders to try Green in the outfield.
“He’s made some really nice plays out there,” Tadlock said. “He’s probably got an above-average arm out there, seems like he’s playing it really good. Generally, you get a guy that’s played some middle infield and you stick them out there, it gets a little bit easier, and it seems like that’s happening.”
Taking over at third base will be Gonzaga transfer Cade McGee, who in an injury-shortened 2023 batted .293 with six home runs and 20 runs batted in in 20 games. McGee started all 20 games he played and was charged with no errors in 41 chances. The year before, he hit .298 with 10 homers and 31 RBI.