The question as to whether or not Captain Mike Leach has significant improved the talent level at Texas Tech has been posed, but I'm not sure that I've sufficiently taken a look at the numbers to make sure what I thought was happening, that Leach and his staff was improving the talent, or if the program was treading water.  My theory has typically been that Leach is slowly but surely improving the program, no major leaps forward, but no real steps back either.  After crunching the numbers (this is the one thing that I'm concerned about . . . whether or not I've accurately added, multiplied and divided correctly) I think that theory is still true.

Offense

2009

We won't get too wrapped up in recruiting until signing day, but the thing that jumped out at me, is that right now, Texas Tech has 0 2-star athletes. Again, I'm crossing fingers and holding my breath, for an entire month, but I consider that to be a pretty significant improvement. Not to mention, there's three 4-star players committed right now.

2008

This was a relatively small class and there are two 2-star players in this group, in part because Carona was a 2-star and you never expect your kicker to be a real highly rated player and the second 2-star player is Austin Zouzalik and was offered a scholarship late after a player decommitted (I think). Again, this was a very small class because there were few players that graduated, but I can see the improvement. Harrison Jeffers was the lone 4-star recruit.

2007

There were four 2-star recruits on the offensive side of the ball and none of them have contributed yet, although I think that it's safe to say that there was an expectation that these guys were going to sit for a while and develop (Stefan Loucks, Omar Castillo, Dominique Delpheche and Justin Keown). Lonnie Edwards was the lone 4-star recruit in this class and he should be a star next year along the line. This class was also very receiver heavy (Jacoby Franks, Rashad Hawk, Tramain Swindall and Detron Lewis). That's a pretty impressive group of athletes for Potts to throw at next year. There were a couple of position changes here as running back Jared Flannel switched to the defensive side of the ball and Matt Moore gained an offensive lineman in David Neill, formerly a DE.

2006

Much like the defense, one of the two 4-star recruits was Ofa Mohetau and he never quite panned out like we thought. Lots of players here that never actually stuck around and by my count, there's 6 players of 15 that didn't work out, not including Steven Harris who may, or may not be back on the team in 2009, but is on the defensive side of the ball now. Oh yeah, a Michael Crabtree was an athlete in this class and the other 4-star recruit.

Parting Thoughts

It seems to me that there's a high-risk and high-reward to previous classes and it's pretty amazing to see how the 2-star player has almost entirely been eliminated. That's progress. It's slow and steady progress, but it's progress nonetheless. Not to mention, the three 4-star players is what truly pushes this class over the top.  Nevertheless, Leach has been pretty consistent on the offense.

Defense

2009

James Scott, right now, is the only 2-star commit, however, I wouldn't be surprised to see his stock rise a bit so long as he qualifies. There is a ton of talent in this class in the defensive backfield and DT Romario Cathey was recently upgraded to a 3-star, perhaps the toughest position to recruit. No elite players (i.e. 4-star), but some really good players here.

2008

The big players in this class was McKinner Dixon and Brandon Sesay. Dixon is a difference-maker and Sesay seems to be still getting his bearings, on and off the field. Broderick Marshall didn't qualify, Joey Fowler is off the team and Brandon Reid is having grade issues. Cody Davis should see lots of time next year and it would be really nice to see Jarell Routt step-up a bit, although I'm not counting on that in the least.  I think it should also be mentioned that Ruffin McNeill was named as defensive coordinator during 2008 and there just might be a correlation with the higher level of recruits.

2007

A very large class and there's a lot of talent here, that's still with the team and contributing in a big way. Agoucha was a casualty and I think that Daniel Howard has been better than a 2-star recruit, he's exceeded my expectations. Where this class will shake out is if and when we get to see Sam Fehoko and Tyrone Sonier hit the field, while Bront Bird is already playing quite a bit. Again, this was a really solid class.

2006

This was a huge class and honestly, I can't remember some of the players that committed, but never made it. However, the two 4-star players, Leonard Hewitt and Daniel Johnson, never made it to Texas Tech and 2-star LB Trevor Reilly is actually a 3-star DE commitment this year as he was on a church mission. The absolute star of this class is DE Brandon Williams who was rated as a 2-star DE, but has turned into a tremendous player.

Parting Thoughts

Much like the offense, there was a reliance on the 2-star recruit in 2006 and 2007, but the tide turned a bit in 2008 and 2009 and I think the quality of player has certainly improved. Keep in mind that the two 4-star recruits that made the numbers look so good in 2006 didn't play a down for Texas Tech while the two 4-star recruits in 2008 factored heavily in an improved defense. It would be nice to have some 4-star recruits in 2009's class, but I'm not complaining and the staff isn't settling for 2-star guys.

DTN Appointments:

I'm posting some information on football recruiting at noon, which means that if you're here before noon, you'll have to make it a point to check in again.

DTN's Top Four:

1. Smart Football with a preview of tonight's national championship.
2. PB from BON and his annual playoff post. Logic is refreshing, but reality is incredibly frustrating.
3. From ESPN's Matt Mosley, Ravens safety Ed Reed said the Cowboys had a simple game plan.

   "That was a real simple game plan that they attacked us with," said Reed of the Cowboys' offense. "I thought it would be more complicated, but it was a real simple game plan that they attacked us with. I mean we knew it. Looking at these coaches' openings and talking about a certain someone from Dallas, I'm like, 'Hold on now.'

4. A lengthy but well written piece by Rocky Top Talk's Hooper on what exactly is a national champion.

Today there's going to be a rally for Lubbock radio station KTXT-FM from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. between the Student Union Building and the University Library.

No football news out there to today, other than my last night's ramblings on Crabtree and Leach, really interesting stuff by LAJ's Don Williams.

LAJ's Jeff Walker writes that Pat Knight is searching for answers as to the team's deficiencies. Here's Junior Knight on part of the problem:

"If one guy breaks down, the whole team breaks down, that’s what they don’t understand," Knight said. "They kind of have the attitude, Well, if I break down, somebody’s going to make up for it.’ You can’t do that. Players are too good."

PK is not quitting and is doggedly working at improving:

"We just have to stay after it," Knight said. "We’ll complain about it (Tuesday) and then come back and practice (Wednesday) and get ready for Baylor and start getting ready for the Big 12.

"You kind of take it out on yourself and the staff will watch the tape, but then we’ve got to keep getting them going, go back to working on the fundamentals of defense and offense. We’ve got a couple days to get ready for Baylor and the start of the Big 12."

DT's Alex Ybarra also writes that Texas Tech is struggling as the Big 12 is about to begin. Sophomore forward Mike Singletary has some lofty expectations:

"Our goal is we wanna be a better (conference) team than last year," said Singletary, who scored 22 points against TCU. "We felt like there were a lot of games in there last year that we should've won. We just didn't have the leadership or anything to win those games. We feel like we have that this year.

"We really think we should be in the upper half of the Big 12 this year. We know that if we don't figure out these problems it's gonna be a tough run."

And apparently Trevor Cook and Damir Suljagic are having some back issues which are keeping them out of play recently:

"They're never gonna be 100 percent until after the season," Knight said of his injured players. "To be 100 percent you gotta take off a couple months and they just can't afford to do that. We're a little banged up and so is everybody else. If you look around the country everyone has got injuries, but it's basketball."

NewsOK with a five-minute guide to Big 12 men's hoops.

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.