Double-T Nation News:

Since some of you guys are new, especially since basketball season from last year, I typically put up a preview and open game day thread all at the same time. Believe it or not, the basketball season starts Friday, so late Friday afternoon, an open thread will go up and feel free to comment as you're watching the game. Tip-off is at 8:00 p.m. and I won't be around for the thread, I will watch the game on Saturday morning.

Texas Tech Football:

The only article from LAJ's Don Williams this morning is on the new football commit, Michael Bowie. You can find links to Bowie's profile here and, as always, along the left sidebar.

Lots of interesting tidbits from FWST's Jimmy Burch, lots of Texas Tech related notes, including the storyline-which-must-not-be-named. There was also this bit that I was not aware of:

South Division voting controversy. By now, most fans are aware that the BCS standings on Nov. 30 would be the tiebreaker used to decide which South Division team plays in the Big 12 Championship Game if Tech, Texas and OU all finish with 11-1 records and are 1-1 in round-robin play. But here’s the potential sticking point: Texas coach Mack Brown and Tech coach Mike Leach have votes in the coaches’ poll, which is part of the BCS formula; Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops does not.

Even better, coaches’ votes for the Nov. 30 BCS standings are not made public. Only the votes from the Dec. 7 standings that set the bowl matchups. In other words, expect lots of howling from OU fans about possible voting improprieties if the Sooners finish behind Tech or Texas in the Nov. 30 tiebreaker.

Nice roundup of items from the Chron's Joe Duarte's Big 12 Notebook as well as the Sporting News' Dave Curtis.

The AAS's Cedric Golden has got it all wrong when he says that Graham Harrell is not a system quarterback:

So instead of placing them in a box, it's time to give Harrell, Texas Tech and Leach full credit for what they have accomplished through 10 games. We can no longer group Harrell with Kliff Kingsbury, Sonny Cumbie and B.J. Symons: good Tech quarterbacks whose skills did not translate into NFL success. Harrell is the best of the bunch and will play on the next level. If you saw San Francisco's Shaun Hill on Monday night, it shouldn't take you long to realize that Harrell has a puncher's, or thrower's, chance of making it in the NFL.

Mr. Golden, you have it all wrong. Graham Harrell is most definitely a system quarterback, and proudly so. At Texas Tech, we do not believe that the moniker "system quarterback" is a bad thing, in fact we revel in the fact that our quarterback, despite typically not having much experience, is always better than ______'s (insert college here) quarterback.

The Sporting News' Spencer Hall (Orson from EDSBS) with more on the storyline-which-must-not-be-named.

Arizona offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes says that he would certainly listen if Texas Tech came calling where there was total failure in regards to the storyline-which-must-not-be-named.

Texas Tech Basketball:

DT's Alex Ybarra previews this team and writes that senior guard Alan Voskuil will be a leader on this team:

"I think mainly what I'm gonna have to do is lead by example," said Voskuil, who finished second behind Zeno in scoring last season. "Vocal leaders are always gonna be nice out there. We pretty much have three vocal leaders, and we have all our seniors out there to help me so it's not just a one-man leadership role."

And here's Junior Knight on sophomore forward Mike Singletary:

"He's one of our main guys," Knight said of the 6-foot-6, 230-pound forward. "He has that type of personality, kind of a warrior-type of personality because he's an undersized player. To be good as an undersized player you have to have that mentality, that's what he brings."

LAJ's Jeff Walker clarifies the early signing situation, as Brad Reese and Jaye Crockett signed letters of intent yesterday, while Theron Jenkins and Mike Davis were expected to sign letters of intent and Texas Tech received a verbal commitment from David Tairu. Again, you can check out the profiles of each of these recruits in the basketball recruiting sidebar to your left.

KAMC with a short video preview of the basketball team.