DTN Daily Diatribe | Texas Tech News, Notes and Links | 2012-01-25

ODDS AND ENDS | I'll be doing a football recruiting update later this morning, scheduled to post at 7:00 am, and I've also got a preview of tonight's game with Kansas St. (I'm not real excited about playing K-State and their defense.)

I won't link to any more articles on Joe Paterno's death, but SI's Joe Posnanski is one of my favorite writers and he was writing a biography on Paterno and was with Paterno in his last days. I thought this summed my my thoughts:

I asked Paterno at one point in that last month if he hoped that people would come to see and measure his full life rather than a single, hazy event involving an alleged child molester. "It doesn't matter what people think of me," he said. "I've lived my life. I just hope the truth comes out. And I hope the victims find peace."

LADY RAIDER BASKETBALL | Don't forget that the Lady Raiders travel to Kansas tonight and tip-off is at 7:00 pm. LAJ's David Just writes that G Christine Hyde is proving to be a versatile scorer for Texas Tech:

"Basketball is all about improvising," Hyde said, "and if something doesn’t work you have to improvise. I feel like I can do that very well."

Hyde has demonstrated the power to put the Texas Tech women’s basketball team on her shoulders. She can take over a game with her strength and rattle off a string of baskets to turn the tide.

I keep forgetting that the DT is back and Chois Woodman writes that the Lady Raiders are hoping to snap their 4 game losing streak. Here's head coach Kristy Curry:

"It’s a brand new day we’re blessed with," Curry said, "and we’ve got to wake up today and do our best. And if you do your best, at the end of the day we can live with the results."

RED RAIDER SOFTBALL | DT's Matthew Villanueva previews the softball team. Shannon Hays can coach.

RED RAIDER BASKETBALL | Again, game tonight that starts at 8:00 pm on ESPNU in Lubbock. LAJ's Nick Kosmider writes that the Red Raiders are hoping to emulate the Kansas St., here's head coach Billy Gillispie:

"The thing I respect most about any player or any team is how hard they play, and they do a great job," Gillispie said. "They are a team that just grinds it out, and those are the teams I appreciate the most."

Gillispie said K-State provides a model of consistency in terms of toughness. The Wildcats lead the Big 12 at more than 40 rebounds per game (Tech is last at 32), and though Gillispie said Martin and his staff "do a real good job of teaching rebounding," their success on the glass is also the result of relentless effort and attention to detail.

"They play for 40 minutes," Gillispie said. "That’s the thing that we haven’t done. We haven’t played a complete game yet. ... That’s the type of team we’ll become, hopefully sooner rather than later, but it’s something that Kansas State has definitely already mastered."