Texas Tech Thursday Morning Notes - I've Got To Be My Own Man Edition

by Seth C on Feb 7, 2008 6:34 AM CST in News Comment 3 comments

Double-T Nation News:

What a friggin action packed week. Knight resigns on Monday. Tuesday is relatively quiet except a 4 star commit, de-commits. Wednesday, is LOI day and Pat Knight's first game. Is it Friday yet?

I should also note that, perhaps lost in last night's game against Baylor, and the recruiting news for football, Pat Knight received his first commitment of the year in Nick Okorie. Nick, welcome to Texas Tech and Git Your Guns Up!.

In no particular order, DTN's Top Six:

Rocky Top Talk is a little late, but it's worth it, the 2007 season ending Animated BlogPoll.
This is just a little sad, remember the link to the kid who committed to play for Cal, but Cal had never offered? Well, the kid made up the whole story. Genius or just sad?
K-State signed 32 players to their 2008 recruiting class, including 19, yes that's right, 19 JUCO's. That's just crazy. I want to hear from Bring On The Cats.
FWST's Jimmy Burch notes that a number of Big 12 South teams had the proverbial rug pulled from under them.
Oh, dear. Card Chronicle brings you 5-Star Rob. Do not take Rob's advice.
Big Red Network has an excellent post about how they grade talent. Nebraska references (what else would you expect), but certainly a good read.

Texas Tech Basketball:

LAJ's Jeff Walker writes his game story detailing Pat Knight's time before the game. Pat had this to say about the pressure/excitement about last night's game:

"I haven't had this much fun since I played," Knight said. "As an assistant, my dad always said you can be on the side, and it's not your head on the chopping block. ... When you play, you're out there and there's pressure, so I haven't felt this much nervousness or energy since I was lacing up playing for my dad."

A poignant note from DMN's Tim MacMahon from last night's game. I'll let Tim take it from here:

Pat learned everything he knows about basketball from his dad, but that doesn't mean he'll stick to Bob's methods. For instance, the Red Raiders pressed and played zone defense at times during tonight's loss to Baylor. That's a departure from the General's commitment to man-to-man defense -- and it's something Tech fans should expect to see on a regular basis.

Pat will seek his dad's advice, but he does not need his approval. He made that clear when asked what Bob would think of the different defensive looks.

"Honestly, I don't care," Pat replied, firmly but not rudely. "I'm the head coach. I've got to be my own man now.

"It's my team now. I'm going to either win my way or lose my way, just like he did it."

I haven't even had time to think about how Pat will do, but I get the feeling that he's going to be just fine and would expect that he'll do a better job recruiting now that he's in charge.

Also from the DMN, Brian Davis files his game story and focuses on quite a bit of the game itself (thank you). For a good recap, read this.

SAEN's Mike Finger pens an article this morning about how Pat Knight will not be bound by his father's footsteps.

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Recruiting

I'll be weighing in on signing day tomorrow. Suffice it to say, 19 jucos is too many, and I really, really hate writing about recruiting.

by TB on Feb 7, 2008 8:06 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

19 jucos?

19 jucos? we signed only 16 players?

4 of those were Jucos and 2 of the Jucos are players we recruited initially out of highschool but didn't make the grade (Dixon and Routt).

I think Seth is pointing out the truth: this class is small but we didn't have much room for more scholarship players anyway.

by kayakyakr on Feb 7, 2008 8:43 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

oh god

I'm sorry. Fail at reading. Kansas signs 19 jucos.

Ya, that is a good way to build a program.

Kansas signs 32
Minnesota signs 30
Alabama signs 32.

Don't these kids realize that not only are they probably not going to get to play, bumped out by their coach's greed, but many aren't even going to have scholarships available to them?

by kayakyakr on Feb 7, 2008 8:46 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs