LAJ's Don Williams is on the case, Michael Crabtree's cousin and mentor, David Wells said that Crabtree is "50-50" on returning to Texas Tech. Here's Wells (no, not this David Wells) on Crabtree:

"He loves the college life. He loves college. He loves his teammates,’’ Wells said. "He has a hard decision to make. He loses Graham (Harrell) as his quarterback. Leach hasn’t signed his deal. (Crabtree) is wanting to see that happen. There’s a lot of things to (consider). It’s a difficult decision. It’ll probably come down to the wire.’’

There's a lot to this article, especially when it comes to Crabtree, mainly that Wells denies that Crabtree has hired Anthony "Paco" Montoya as his personal assistant, which refutes earlier reports from the Dallas Obeserver and DallasBasketball.com.

Given all of that bit of delicious news, perhaps the most interesting bit of news was a 90 minute to 2 hour meeting between Wells, Crabtree, wide receivers coach Dennis Simmons, inside receivers coach Lincoln Riley and the Captain himself, immediately after the Cotton Bowl. I'll let Williams take it from here:

Tech wide receivers coach Dennis Simmons said the contract was one of several topics covered in a 90-minute to two-hour meeting among Leach, Crabtree, Simmons and Lincoln Riley, Crabtree’s position coach last year. The meeting took place at the Cotton Bowl stadium immediately after last week’s game.

"Leach brought up the whole situation and explained to them, ‘I’m going to be here. I want to be here. If that’s one of your concerns, let me put that to rest,’ ’’ Simmons said.

Simmons said Leach also shared with Crabtree "what he’s trying to accomplish, what his vision is for this program, how glad he is and sincere he is and how happy he is to be here.

"I thought it was very big of them to sit down and address it and talk about it.’’

That sounds encouraging, but then there's this, Williams again:

Asked if Crabtree’s camp was worried about Leach leaving Tech, Wells said, "Not worried. Concerned.’’

Asked if there were concern even with Leach having two years left on his contract, Wells replied, "Yeah.’’

But Leach said that need not be an issue. Tech officials and Leach’s agents have been in discussions since Dec. 5, when Tech offered Leach a five-year, $12.1-million deal.

Is it better to be "not worried" or "concerned"?

I've got no idea what this all means, but at the very least, Leach seems like he made it a point to sit down with Crabtree and assure him that if Crabtree is going to come back to school, Leach will be there and they've already addressed the fact that there are only two years left on Leach's current deal.

I'm not sure if this is an bass-ackwards way to think about it, but it's almost as if Crabtree and his advisors called Leach out for you, the fan. Their concern is your concern.

Now I'm beginning to wonder if this deal gets done before January 15th?  You know, the day that Crabtree has to declare.

Speculate in the comments.

DTN's Top Five:

1. Corn Nation on why Thursday's night game does not determine conference heirarchy, just the national championship.
2. Uncommon Sportsman with yo-yo geniuses.
3. I've quietly been thinking that this is the guy I would want as my head coach should Leach leave. It's in a completely different direction
4. So, you cannot vote your team #1 if you're Texas or Utah.
5. Mark Cuban on buying the Cubs.

Someone was asking about the Texas Tech hockey team . . . well, they've defaulted on their first payment and will be playing in Odessa.

I thought this was pretty interesting, from TFY Draft, they projected the professional prospects that played in this year's Cotton Bowl between Ole Miss and Texas Tech. The number of first-round talent on Ole Miss' team is pretty amazing and is perhaps a better indicator of why Ole Miss won, just more talent, especially along the lines, where games are typically won or lost.

Mississippi

Texas Tech

SAEN's Mike Finger with more on conference vs. conference pride:

All of this is part of a phenomenon of communal smack-talk peculiar to college football, and maybe to rap music (unfortunately, the Big Ten has no hand gesture comparable to the West Coast "W"). For some reason, coaches, players and fans think a victory for one member of a conference is a victory for the entire league, even if the teams share nothing more in common than a schedule and a commissioner.

This shared sense of pride among rivals does not exist in many other places. When Barack Obama is sworn in as President later this month, John Cornyn will not make any grand pronouncements about how the U.S. Senate has been proven superior to governors and the House of Representatives.

If Mickey Rourke wins an Oscar for "The Wrestler," it will not automatically raise the stock of other Roman Catholic actors raised in South Florida. And if the New York Giants win another Super Bowl in February, it is unlikely that any of the fans in Tampa will be singing the praises of the NFC East (unless, perhaps, Wade Phillips is in attendance).

Ugghh.

Last night, Texas Tech lost to TCU, 85-80 (boxscore) and this was an incredibly frustrating game on so many levels. I really wanted to do a report card last night, but decided my time would be better spent sleeping.

My gripes aren't with coaching, to an extent, they're with players not moving their feet on defense and not being patient on offense. I didn't think that Junior Knight coached a bad game last night, except that he played Darko Cohadarevic for 11 minutes. I know that he was short-handed and without the services of Trevor Cook and Damir Suljagic, but Darko has a long ways to go before he's a competent Big 12 player. Although Darko only put up 3 shots, I thought his defense was awful and his shot selection was even worse. He's got to figure things out before you put him on the floor in Big 12 play.

Overall, the perimeter defense was really good at times, jumping out on passes and really defending the 3-point line, however, the entire team struggled when TCU took any Texas Tech defender off the dribble. It didn't matter if it was the on-man defender or any help-defenders, no one stepped up and as a result, allowed too many TCU layups.

Offensively, I thought was okay, but the biggest problem is that this team settles for jumpshots and 3-point shots. It's obvious that Texas Tech is more efficient when they work inside-out, and it was so evident when Texas Tech was mounting it's 2nd half comeback attempt when free throws as a result of taking the ball inside helped the team get back, not the give-up offensive sets where Roberson, Okorie or Voskuil just heave up a 3-point shot.

This team has to work inside-out and with Lewandowski manning the middle, it should be so much easier than in previous years.

LAJ's Jeff Walker writes that the team had more downs than ups and had this from Pat Knight:

"It was definitely up and down," Tech head coach Pat Knight said, looking severely worn down after the Red Raiders lost their first home game of the season in their non-conference finale. "… It was just too much up and down to think you can beat good teams playing like that. You just can’t turn it on and off whenever you feel like it."

DT's Alex Ybarra also has his game story and there's a Pat Knight comment regarding the defense:

"Especially with what we've been doing in practice, that's what people don't see in practice," he said. "I just get tired of hearing about it from so-called people that think they know what they're talking about.

"Come to practice, see what we do. See how we break down. These kids gotta get it sometime. It's not like we just roll the ball out there."

I tend to agree with Knight here, in that there's no way that he's not coaching his players to move their feet, cut off an opposing player heading into the lane, but for whatever reason, it's not happening.

I'm hopeful that this team turns the corner when conference play starts on Saturday against Baylor in Waco (tip-off 12:30 p.m., TV: Big-12?).

TCU Horned Frogs (9-5, 1-0) vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders (10-4, 0-0) January 6, 2009 7:00 p.m. CST TV: TTTN Game Cast: Fox Sports

The Numbers:

Probable Starting Lineups:

Keys to the Game:

1. Force Turnovers: I was surprised to see that TCU turns the ball over so much. It would be nice to see the Red Raiders turn the table a bit and try and continue that trend.
2. A Challenge For Roberts: Lanford looks like he's going to be an interesting matchup for D'Walyn Roberts. I want to watch if Roberts can stay out of foul trouble, which would provide a huge benefit defensively.
3. Control: Roberson was much more composed against SFA and I'd like to see him continue that trend. Less turnovers is a good thing, however, he is good in transition and I don't want to see him give up that part of his game.

GO RAIDERS . . .

*Stats can be found at Ken Pomeroy: K.P. Rank = the Ken Pomeroy Rank; Offensive Efficiency = the national rank in terms of points scored per 100 possessions; Defensive Efficiency = the national rank in terms of points allowed per 100 possession. Numbers in parentheses are national rank.

Re-design, take two.

DTN's Top Three:

1. More from NY Times' Michael Lewis on fixing the economy. Reading this makes me angry and sad all at the same time.
2. I finished Outliers a couple of weekends ago (it only took a day) and I cannot recommend this book enough. It makes you think.
3. Mack Brown will vote Texas #1 and Dr. Saturday on last night's matchup and Texas' claim that their #1:

   As for Texas, I enjoyed Mack Brown and Colt McCoy's rehearsed "We're No. 1 and we can beat anyone in the country" routine after the game, when they were 16 seconds away from blowing a late double-digit lead to a nine-point underdog. That's more than a little disingenuous -- perfectly understandable, given Kyle Whittingham's politicking following Utah's win in the Sugar Bowl and the open talk of splitting the national championship -- but not exactly sincere under the circumstances of this win.

FWST's Dwain Price is reporting that Michael Crabtree will seek out a specialist to figure out why his ankle hasn't fully healed. Michael Crabtree, Sr. had this to say about his Jr.'s ankle:

"We’re just trying to see what’s wrong with it," Michael Crabtree Sr. said. "We need to find a specialist so we can get it properly rehabbed."

The elder Crabtree said his son told him his ankle was fine against Ole Miss, but the redshirt sophomore had his worst collegiate game, catching just four passes for 30 yards and a touchdown.

"I told him, 'Well, if you’re fine, why were you hobbling?’ " Crabtree Sr. said.

And Sr. also mentioned that Team Crabtree hasn't made a decision, although, I think we can read the writing on the wall.

Hat-tip to Double Extra Point, I'm sure we've gone over this before, but thought it was worth mentioning again, The Institute for Diversity and Ethics for Sports details the academic rates for teams in college football's bowl games this year.

Attention parents of potential athletes!!

If you want your son to leave a university with a degree and you're sending him to a school in the Big 12, then send him to Texas Tech. Mike Leach and Texas Tech graduates 79% of their players and 71% of their African-American players.

Congrats to 2009 Texas Tech commit Joel Gray (Hebron) and 2010 commit Jackson Richards (Southlake Carroll) for being named to the DMN DFW All-Area Teams (Offense and Defense). A couple of things, I'm sure that this will never come back to haunt Gray, but I'm not about to be the one to give him a hard time about it (I'm 5'9" and extremely frail):

About Gray: Gray, who's orally committed to Texas Tech, led one of the area's most effective offensive lines. Known for his quick feet, Gray graded out at over 90 percent for season and started 35 games during his high school career.

Did you know? Gray writes poetry. He had a poem published in an anthology when he was in middle school.

The AAS released their Fabulous 55, which includes the following Texas Tech commits:

• Receiver Emory Blake (17),
• Offensive lineman Kyle Clark (32),
• Running back Eric Stephens (36),
• Quarterback Jacob Karam (40) and
• Receiver Aaron Fisher (49).

Congrats are also in order for 2009 commit Jacob Karam for being named to the Chron's All-Greater Houston second team. And did you know this about Karam?

In all seriousness, Gray and Karam are what what Texas Tech the best public university to play football and get your diploma and that's why having players with off the field talents is refreshing.

LAJ's Jeff Walker looks (PDF) at the Red Raiders before conference play with three things we know and three things we don't know. I agree with most everything, but couldn't agree more with Walker on the play of D'Walyn Roberts:

While the Red Raiders have had some impressive individual performances that include big numbers--John Roberson's 33 points against UTEP, Alan Voskuil's 28 points against Eastern Kentucky and New Mexico or Trevor Cook's 24 points against Pittsburgh--Roberts has been the most steady.

The 6-foot-7 forward is one of three players (Roberson, Voskuil) to start in all 14 games. He's reached double figures in scoring six times and has at least four rebounds in eight games.

Tonight's game against TCU starts at 7:00 p.m. and can be seen on TTTN. The DTN preview and open thread will go up later this afternoon.

This is the offseason.

A smattering of articles here and there, without much content. Whatever I can find, I'll post it here, one way or another. You'll also note that I'm changing up the format a bit. The problem with posting something that's ugly is that it's going to be there for an entire day, but the best way for me to know if something doesn't look right is to actually post it and then go from there. In any event, if you have any complaints, let me know in the comment section or feel free to shoot me an email (always at the very bottom of the page).

The big news from last night was the Mike Leach interview with 60 Minutes. Personally, I thought it was just about right. The mentions that Texas Tech does get the leftover recruits doesn't bother me, especially since that for a long time this was absolutely true. The tide is certainly beginning to change a bit on the recruiting front and I'm not sure that statement will be entirely true in the near future. As far as Leach is concerned, I thought he was certainly himself and we've seen most of that before. Perhaps the thing that I enjoyed the most was Michael Lewis, who wrote Moneyball, the 2005 NY Times article on Leach and a more recent look back at that Leach from this year, affirming that Leach is still one hell of a coach. It's good to be reminded by people a little bit further from the situation that Leach absolutely does more with less than any coach in the country. Yes, I absolutely believe that.

When Lewis was asked about why Leach has never won a conference championship or a national championship, this was his response:

"I’d say, first, he’s young," Lewis said. "Just wait.

"I’d say also, God help you if he gets hold of the sort of athletes they get at Texas or Oklahoma or USC. Nobody else will stand a chance."

Both ESPN's Tim Griffin and FWST's Dwain Price had articles on the 60 Minutes profile and you'll note that the entire piece is embedded below for those of you who didn't see it last night.

Watch CBS Videos Online

ESPN's Mark Schlaback gazes into the crystal ball for 2009 and has this to say about your Red Raiders:

13. Taylor Potts will throw for 4,000 yards at Texas Tech
The Red Raiders won't be national-championship contenders after losing quarterback Graham Harrell and receiver Michael Crabtree, but they'll still be a tough out in the Big 12 South. In his first year as the starter, Potts, currently a sophomore, won't miss a beat in Mike Leach's spread offense, and will throw for more than 4,000 yards. Leach will spend most of his summer trying to figure out who shot J.R.

If Potts is only throwing for 4,000 yards, hopefully that means that Baron Batch and/or Harrison Jeffers and/or Aaron Crawford are receiving a healthy dose of touches. That would be fine by me.

ESPN's Todd McShay says that Graham Harrell is the top-rated senior quarterback in April's 2009 NFL draft, but doesn't expect him to be drafted in the first three rounds:

No senior quarterback will be drafted in the first three rounds in 2009. Cullen Harper of Clemson and Curtis Painter of Purdue were the top senior signal-callers entering the season, but they bombed in 2008 and were passed on the draft board by a group of six draft-eligible underclassmen (Bradford, Stafford, Davis, Freeman, USC's Mark Sanchez and Florida's Tim Tebow. Texas Tech's Graham Harrell is the top-rated senior at this point, just ahead of Sam Houston State's Rhett Bomar, who transferred from Oklahoma before the 2006 season.

SAEN's Mike Finger writes Texas Tech's top five offseason storylines.

Yahoo! Sports' Texas Tech team report is a decent substitute for the DTN Basketball Report until I get around to it on Thursday, right before conference play starts on Saturday, in Waco, against Baylor. There is one non-conference game left, which is TCU on Tuesday night, in Lubbock, and is scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. tip on TTTN.

I haven't had time to watch the game on DVR, but have noticed in the comments of the open game day thread and other places that defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill didn't blitz enough during the game, or perhaps the defense wasn't aggressive enough against Ole Miss. If blitzing against Ole Miss means that the corners are playing on an island, then this seems like it would be an awful idea.

Sure, it has the potential to be great, but the way that Snead seemed to be completing every long pass with help would have simply carried over if McNeill had blitzed and the Ole Miss receivers would have been in single coverage. Remember too that McNeill was pretty short-handed as well, without McBath and Wall meant that he was playing guys that he probably never intended on playing.

Not to mention, if McNeill blitzes and Texas Tech continued to display the inability to stop the run, that's one less defender to save a potential McCluster touchdown run as he and Bolden seemed to regularly be in the Texas Tech defensive backfield.

Maybe I'm too conservative too, but I don't blame McNeill at all for not wanting to blitz, especially when the corners had not shown any ability to turn around and knock down a pass or two and two of four starters in his secondary were essentially out for the game.

Granted, there's the possibility that the blitz would have gotten to Snead created a little bit of pressure, but I think the game-plan starts with Leach and McNeill. As much as we like to think that Leach is very hands-off regarding the defense, I do think he has input about the overall game plan and there isn't a defense that Leach doesn't think that he eventually won't score against. I'm convinced that McNeill's job is to keep it close.

I'm not ready to give up on McNeill (I seem to be developing a pattern about giving up on coaches) as I thought the defense did make some pretty big strides defensively this year, but having the right type of players and athletes will make a coach either look like an absolute genius or completely incompetent.

As much as we might think it's about scheme, I tend to think it's about talent more than anything else. In fact, I'm inclined to believe that this is a huge reason why McNeill has made such a huge push to recruit defensive backs in this year's class that are all excellent at coverage and can play on an island. Everyone of the defensive back recruits are over 6'0" and all have better than average speed. Personally, I think McNeill wants to play a more attacking style of defense, but again, it comes down to talent and right now, it's better than most teams in the Big 12, but it's not upper tier yet either.

We'll have a lot more on the direction of the defense once we get a little further into the offseason, including progress in regards to recruits and how responsible McNeill should be for Setencich's recruits.

It's goint to be a long offseason

Double-T Nation News:

Don't forget to watch 60 Minutes tonight.

Texas Tech Football:

LAJ's Don Williams asks if the team lacked motivation playing in the Cotton Bowl and Captain Mike Leach didn't think so:

"If you asked me before the game, I would say definitely no, and I still lean toward definitely no,’’ Leach said after Tech was slapped around 47-34 by Ole Miss in the final Cotton Bowl at the historic Fair Park stadium. "But by the same token, there’s a lot of rhetoric on that, and I don’t know if somehow we were successfully brainwashed in that direction. I don’t know why you would be.’’

I've never understood how this could be a factor. At some point I'd have to think that you realize that you're playing a pretty even opponent, why would the whole non-BCS bowl game be a motivation to play poorly?

What about the distinct possibility that Ole Miss was just a better team? I know that may not be a popular sentiment, but why would we ever believe that the entire 85 men on this team are affected in a singular emotional way? That just seems laughable to think that everyone on the team felt the same way about not going to a BCS bowl game, but whatever.

And for the record, I felt the same way about the Cal vs. Texas Tech game. I don't believe for a second that Cal was not motivated to play the game on the field, but that game, Texas Tech was just a better football team.

Is that too simplistic a thought?

FWST's Dwain Price writes that the Cotton Bowl loss provides motivation for next year. Sophomore linebacker Brian Duncan thanks the seniors, but is already looking forward to next year:

"I give all credit to my seniors, because they had an awesome year," sophomore linebacker Brian Duncan said. "They absolutely got us to this point and it was an amazing season.

"But I promised to them and I promised to my team that we’re coming back next year, and this off-season we’re going to get ready. We’re going to build on this loss and come back strong."

And I thought this quote from Ruffin McNeill might be pretty telling about the running back competition next year:

"Wait until everybody sees [Jeffers]," defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill marveled. "I’m going to tell you something, he’s special — very special — and he’s going to be really good. He’s tough, he can run, he has balance, he has power, he has speed and he understands vision. He’s tough to handle in practice."

DMN's Brandon George also looks towards next year and had this on the quarterback competition:

The biggest question will be who replaces Harrell. The likely choice is Taylor Potts, this year's backup from Abilene. Potts (6-5, 215), who will be a junior, lacks Harrell's accuracy but has a stronger arm.

Expect Tech coach Mike Leach to give Potts the starter's job but not before he opens up a quarterback competition in the spring. Potts could have a short leash because Tech's coaching staff really likes talented freshman Seth Doege.

"Choosing quarterbacks is simple," Leach said. "You just play the best one."