Texas Tech Saturday Morning Notes - Zeno Expected to Start Edition

by Seth C on Dec 22, 2007 7:21 AM CST

Double-T Nation News:

Sorry for not making comments recently on DTN, it was a function of being sick and either asleep or trying to crank out previews and not fall behind.

And there's a pretty good chance that I'll be at the game this afternoon, just so long as I can find a willing partner to go with me (i.e. Dad or brother-in-law).

I'll put up the game-day thread a little later this afternoon.

Let me go ahead and say that if you are at all easily offended by harsh, and I do mean harsh, language, then do not click on this link. Hat-tip to Gordon Keith (where I heard about it on the radio on Friday morning), via The Big Lead, of a video of a very young Isiah Thomas, um roasting Coach Knight in 1982. I'll let The Big Lead take it from here. As one of the commentors said on TBL, Isiah needs to know the definition of "quit while you're ahead".

Texas Tech Basketball:

LAJ's Jeff Walker previews the Texas Tech and Stanford game set for today. Most importantly to me, here is Walker and assistant coach Chris Beard on Martin Zeno's status with the team:

Zeno played the first five minutes against the Lobos but never returned. After the game, Tech head coach Bob Knight said the Red Raiders played better without Zeno on the floor.

Zeno is expected to start against Stanford, but Beard said he won't be able to judge if the layoff was good until seeing how the team responds.

"I don't think we'll know until after the game," Beard said. "On the one hand, we've been able to practice and, hopefully, clean some things up. On the other hand, some players get a little rusty if they don't play."

I wrote this last night while writing the preview, but someone, either Knight or Zeno, needs to apologize (I think we can all guess who that someone will be) and get over this "issue".

FWST's Dwain Price features this morning freshman point guard John Roberson and head coach designate Pat Knight had some high praise for Roberson:

"He's the future of Tech basketball," said Knight, the Red Raiders' head coach designate. "He's a really good foundation to build on, and I couldn't be more pleased.

"He's a big-time talent for us, and we're going to rely on him heavily. We've thrown him into the fire pretty quick."

If there's one thing that bothers me about Roberson is the turnovers, but he's a freshman, so it's certainly understandable. It's rare that a freshman point guard won't turn the ball over, and I like the fact that Roberson is learning on the job now rather than as a sophomore or junior. He's going to be that much better.

Price does a really nice job of getting to know Roberson, go read the whole thing this morning.

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Roberson, Roberts and Singletary

Seth,

I just got around to reading your comments on Roberson. Let's think back over Knight's time here at Tech. Younger players have always played a big role on his teams. Most importantly, he has allowed them to start young and develop into our stars (i.e. Jackson, Dora, Zeno and the list goes on). (On a side note, I never thought Voskquil would be one of those stars, WOW!)

The key to this year is we have three of them at once. And maybe the three best we have ever had as far as talent and high school accolades. I hear they chose Tech for different reasons, but mostly because they knew they would play for a great coach that has a history of putting together winning teams. I also think that having Coach Knight Jr. waiting in the wings is very reassuring for recruits when making their decision to play for Tech.

So far this season, we have had some very bright spots and probably even more issues. We can all agree that it will be tough to make the field of 64 this year unless we shine in the BIG 12 Tourney, which always seems to be our back door in. But we have a very bright future! Next year's recruiting class is already looking very strong and we have most of this team returning as well. Let's hope that everyone stays healthy and attitudes are in the right place. We should be in a position to compete for the BIG 12 title for the next couple of years.

Lets give it up for the Lady Raiders as well!

Merry Christmas Raider Fans,
Mike

by williehop on Dec 23, 2007 12:17 AM CST reply actions

I hope I didn't come across

as being negative, because I love watching those freshmen play, despite the mistakes. I realize that those are a part of the learning process. In fact I fell in love with Roberson, Roberts and Singletary when I went to go see them play at the Global Games in Dallas this summer, they were a special group then and I think they will be a special group for us Red Raider fans.

Go Raiders . . .

by Seth C on Dec 23, 2007 7:16 AM CST up reply actions