The Texas Women's basketball team lost to OU 74-62.
The men lost to Kansas on Saturday, but the players are confident about their ability to beat anyone.
Texas players firmly believe they can beat anyone anytime, that 9-7 Big 12 record and fifth seed in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Basketball Championship notwithstanding.
Perhaps the faith isn't misplaced – not if the Longhorns play as well for 40 minutes in the postseason as they did in the first 18-plus minutes against Kansas.
Your Monday fix. Texas safety Blake Gideon chases down Baylor's Robert Griffin.
Quarterback turned receiver... and now kick returner? John Chiles will get a chance to return kicks this season.
Longhorns headed to the NFL. The Cleveland Browns will be visiting Austin this month to privately work out Brian Orakpo. The Houston Texans really like Ryan Palmer.
Former Texas safety Bill Bradley and fullback Steve Worster were inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. The SI Vault has a story about Worster from 1970.
Three Texas players get a homecoming in the game against Stanford. Junior shortstop David Hernandez, senior captain Michael Torres and sophomore outfielder Ben Kaplan are from California.
Travis Tucker was injured during Friday's game with Standford and unfortunately, Texas lost their first game on Saturday.
Jeff Capel, AP Photo.
The Sooners could be without their coach next season. Georgia offered to double Jeff Capel's salary?
It was a big weekend in Big 12 basketball. Kansas won the conference title, OU beat Oklahoma State in another Bedlam showdown and the Aggies beat No. 15 Missouri.
I Am the 12th Man was wrong. The 6 game winning streak came as quite a shock.
The Big 12 tournament bracket is up at Crimson and Cream Machine.
The economy stinks, so what the heck, right? In case you don't have anything else to do at work this month, The March To Madness has set up a March Madness Pool on Facebook.
Pete Flutak previews the Big 12 2009 spring practice and asks the age-old question. Sports writers can't come up with a new question?
Omaha World News looks at Nebraska's running backs.
Know your enemy. Bob Stoops was asked what new players have been the most impressive during winter practice.
Stoops listed defensive end David King, offensive linemen Stephen Good and Ben Habern and quarterback Landry Jones.
Stoops said the young wide receivers, such as rising sophomores Dejuan Miller and Jameel Owens, also did well.
"A lot of the young receivers have made good improvement," Stoops said. "I think overall, that group being a big question mark coming into the winter, it was really pleasing to see them really have a good winter. That was exciting."
OU's defensive tackle Gerald McCoy looks for a very strong season next year.
McCoy is excited about the challenge as he returns for his junior season after earning consensus All-Big 12 honors last season. His athleticism enabled him to develop a knack for big plays with 10 of his 26 tackles resulting in lost yardage, including 6.5 sacks.
The Sooners return nine defensive starters from last season's team, losing only safeties Nic Harris and Lendy Holmes. And injuries that dogged the team last season actually could help the team as a variety of players were forced into starting positions.
The defense struggled at times last season with all of the new personnel working for injured teammates. But the unit jelled as the season progressed, producing its best efforts in the final two games of the season when it limited Missouri and Florida each to their season-low totals in scoring.
They haven't even put up their spring practice dates on the athletic department's web site. There is good news: According to AD Bill Byrne, Verizon has improved their cell service on the Texas A&M campus. It seems dropped cell calls were a big deal during last season.
Next time you are on campus, you should experience improved cellular service. As a long time Verizon Wireless customer, I was pleased to learn Verizon has been investing extensively in the wireless infrastructure here at Texas A&M. One of the issues we all face on football game day is the number of dropped cell calls. Now, with Verizon's investment, we expect to have fewer issues with cell service at Kyle Field. We will have the first test of the infrastructure during our Maroon and White Spring Football Game on April 18. Call your friends!
When you are getting beat by 30 or 40 points, who would you want to call?
The 1968 Harvard-Yale game may have one of the most infamous finishes in college football history. Now there's a documentary about it.
How does the spread offense translate to the NFL? According to Sporting News' Dennis Dillon, not very well.
Spread quarterbacks — Texas Tech's Graham Harrell and Missouri's Chase Daniel are two in this year's draft — spend the majority of their college careers in shotgun formation. They throw a lot of passes to pre-determined areas. They don't spend much time reading defenses.
"On top of that, they won't make a lot of NFL throws," said a director of college scouting for another AFC team. "If a guy throws the ball 40 to 50 times in a game, you may see only five throws where you say, 'That's an NFL type throw,' where the coverage is tight and he has to hit a receiver in stride."
It's not just the quarterbacks. NFL scouts also have to project how running backs, wide receivers and tight ends will fit in. Even the linemen play funky in a spread offense.
A look at each position shows why the spread can spread an NFL scout's patience thin.
Just a case of monumental bad timing... The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the new luxury stadiums being built.
With just weeks before their new $1.1 billion stadium opens, the Cowboys still have 2,000 premium seats and about 50 of their 300 luxury suites left to sell. The Yankees have hired Mr. Sroka to drum up buyers for the hundreds of premium seats still in their inventory. The Mets, who once had deals for all 49 of their luxury suites, say they've had to go back to the market after one customer, whom they declined to name, backed out.
There's a new SBN blog, Blogging the Bracket. The site offers bracket projections and college basketball analysis.
The life of a basketball referee. John Feinstein looks at referee compensation.
David Hall is one of a growing number of college referees who are giving up their "real" jobs in large part because the money for officiating has gotten so much better. Referees working in the six power conferences generally make $2,000 and up per game, plus first-class airfare and expenses. That means the top officials are making well into six figures during the five-month season.
When bad things happen to old coaches. Florida State has been penalized for one of the largest academic fraud cases in recent NCAA history and lack of institutional control. Joe Paterno's team has had 46 players charged with 163 criminal counts between 2002-08. Why has this happened?
M. Scott Templeton Award watch. Thayer Evans wrote a piece for the NY Times about Jamarkus McFarland meeting Tim Tebow. Now that is exciting journalism.
And finally...
This does not have anything to do with sports, but with the discussion about the 10% rule a few days ago, you might be interested. Seven schools want to be Texas and Texas A&M.
The seven schools are diverse in location, size and strengths: the University of North Texas in Denton, UT-Arlington, UT-Dallas, UT-El Paso, UT-San Antonio, the University of Houston and Texas Tech in Lubbock.
Lifting just one of them to national stature will take years, even decades, of financial and political will. Advocates say the effort is worth it for all of the intellectual and economic benefits such institutions would provide for Texas.
State lawmakers vow to get the ball rolling this legislative session.
Texas has just three schools of national stature, forming a tight triangle: UT in Austin, Texas A&M in College Station, and the private Rice University in Houston.
0 recs | 48 comments
Huge blow if Capel leaves
Both the Griffin boys and Austin Johnson are already going to leave because they’re either seniors or NBA bound. If Capel leaves, that may lead to Warren going pro.
goingforthecorner - March 8, 2009
video
so keenan robinson doesn’t quite catch griffin in that video but he’s still moving pretty darn well for a LB – he’s probably the player who hasn’t really gotten an opportunity yet that I am most excited about for ’09
andmyster - March 8, 2009
He'll be in at linebacker when Kindle plays d-end
I’m excited about him as well.
Wescott Eberts (GoBR) - March 8, 2009
I'm pretty sure he is going to tear someone in half next year
He makes my football pants go crazy
run Bevo run - March 8, 2009
Good to hear run bevo, I didn't know if it was the pleats.....or just keenan robinson...
or if you were going to take them back to the pants store.
SneezyBeltran - March 9, 2009
Sorry, I should keep my Ticket references to myself
run Bevo run - March 9, 2009
Also
There’s also this.
run Bevo run - March 9, 2009
Lobbing up a softball…
burntorangehorn - March 8, 2009
Poll on 7 Schools
Okay, which of the schools above:
a) is closest to achieving national status today?
b) is most worthy of achieving national status tomorrow?
RMHorn - March 8, 2009
It should be one of the big city schools, in DFW or Houston
For all the obvious reasons — population density, infrastructure, existing business/science/arts communities — all of which a tier 1 university can build on and contribute to. UT-D began as an “upper-level university,” i.e., the junior/senior counterpart to a community college. They have come a long way in a short time, but my guess is UNT and UTA are the more comprehensive universities. I like UH because it is a truly urban school, but UTA would benefit not just from the increased state support but from its share of the UT System endowment and cred, not to mention its location, right between the D and FW. I would vote for either UH or UTA.
NYCHorn - March 9, 2009
My thoughts
I wanted to read other opinions before posting mine.
a) Texas Tech
b) Houston
I know the egg-head academicians wish it weren’t the case, but big-time, big-conference sports brings a school a higher profile and with it an accompanying (though maybe unearned) academic prestige. With that recognition comes the money that egg-head academicians need to learn more and more about less and less and thus become worthy of other egg-head academician’s esteem. Texas Tech is there today.
But Houston also has potential. And UH has far better academics than TTU, imho. So, if UH were to kick up their sports profile they can be that school in the future.
Third most likely and worthy I’d say is UTEP. Only the fact that Juarez is right across the border and in such turmoil keeps UTEP from jumping into a higher tier. While UTEP is strategically positioned to be an internationally recognized school, few parents of highly gifted students feel comfortable enough sending their 18 year old a few miles from a drug and crime filled border town for four years. If Mexico were able to clean that up then UTEP could rise.
My thoughts, good discussion.
RMHorn - March 9, 2009
El Paso
You may be right, but if so, that’s ignorant paranoia on their part. Year after year, El Paso is consistently rated the safest large city (i.e. lowest violent crime rate) in the USA. The violence in Mexico is terrible, but it has not spilled over the border one iota, and is very unlikely to do so.
JudenSmithFan - March 9, 2009
Pheonix's skyrocketing kidnapping rate
would beg to differ.
Wells - March 9, 2009
Sorry to be an egg head
but this is simply not true:
I guess it was the ivy league sports prestige that made it what it is today. What about Rice? Or most of the UC schools which the linked article discusses, like Cal Tech, UCSB, or UCSD don’t have great athletics.
Wells - March 9, 2009
The ivy league schools used to dominate football
For what it’s worth
Texas Wahoo - March 10, 2009
I knew someone would bring that up nt whills
Wells - March 10, 2009
a) Texas Tech
b) Texas Tech, with a small argument made for Houston
i can’t see people really arguing the answers to this question.
Displaced Longhorn - March 9, 2009
Why Texas Tech over UH?
Other than the fact that they have a more prominent sports program over the last 10 years (with UH dominating sports the 20 years before Tech was fortunate enough to tagged along with Texas and A&M to the Big 12)?
If you’re going to choose one school to boost up to a level approaching UT and A&M, why not choose the one in a city with an infrastructure and an economy that can support such a school? We already have one prominent middle of nowhere hick school in Texas. Do we really want another to be our “national representative”? And while Austin is most definitely urban, it is not an international center for business like Houston and Dallas are. And if your goal is to expand the reach of Texas’ public universities nationally and internationally, one would think you would want a university that was incredibly diverse, home to a high percentage of international students, and had more students (3rd biggest in Texas— Tech is #7 and falling…) and a bigger endowment.
Tech is probably a little bit better of an undergraduate school, but UH is a better research institution with a much better law school. It’s pretty hard to make an undergraduate program better overnight, but what makes them better is getting better students and what really accomplishes that is prestige. Prestige comes from alumni and professors and the better a university is in their graduate research programs, the more popular the school becomes in those areas and the more prestigious it becomes to attend the undergrad institution. And UH has a jump on that.
This isn’t to say that it’s an open and shut case. Tech has plenty of things going for it as well. But you seemed uncertain as to how anyone would possibly be able to make a cogent argument for anything other than Tech. So here you go.
[full disclosure: my dad is a professor at UH and holds a fairly high ranking position in the administration]
billyzane - March 9, 2009
Business and Hotel Management
Are those schools still nationally competitive? I remember some years ago when UH was known for both. Didn’t Hilton give an endowment to the Hotel Management program?
dimecoverage - March 9, 2009
As far as I know...
The undergraduate business program is still good at UH (though of course not on par with UT) and Hotel Management has always been about #2 in the country after Cornell.
billyzane - March 9, 2009
The stigma with UH was always that it was a commuter school. I never understood why that would make it any less of a an outstanding academic institution.
dimecoverage - March 9, 2009
I agree with everything you said
But I think the fact that Tech is in the Big XII cannot be downplayed (even if it happened because of a political coincidence). Tech gets a lot more publicity then UH because it plays in a big time conference and thus might have an easier time getting prestige more quickly.
As for the hicktown comments – a large percentage of large state schools are in small towns. Florida’s best public schools are in Gainsville and Talahasee. Illinois’ best public school is in Champaign-Urbana. That’s obviously not true of most schools on the west coast, but Universities don’t have to be in large cities, the University can build cities around them because of the graduates and industries that move into the area (see Austin, Ann Arbor, Columbus, Ralaigh-Durham, etc.).
Texas Wahoo - March 9, 2009
The schools you're referencing built their reputations over decades or centuries
If you’re looking for a quick fix, and the Texas legislature is unaware that there is another kind, a preexisting city presents a more viable option, with an immediate student and financial base.
Also you may be surprised how little national exposure playing in the Big 12 gets you in many parts of the country, particularly if ESPN doesn’t decide to make you famous.
learned hand - March 9, 2009
Living on the east coast for the last four years...
many more people have heard of Texas Tech than any of those other schools even before their run this year. That certainly doesn’t translate to a more prestigious school, but it helps.
This might be mitigated somewhat by the fact that even if people have never heard of UH, they have certainly heard of Houston.
Personally I am surprised to see that UH is rated as a Tier 4 university by USNews.
Texas Wahoo - March 9, 2009
I’m surprised, too. I would have assumed UH would be ranked higher.
Is Tech still a Tier 3? How do the others rank?
dimecoverage - March 9, 2009
Texas Tech and UT-D are both Tier 3
UH, UNT, UT-A, UTEP, A&M – Commerce, A&M – Kingsville, and Texas Woman’s University are all Tier 4
Texas Wahoo - March 9, 2009
Interesting,
My experience in the deep south is that Tech was an unknown until recent success, aside from a high profile trivia like hiring/firing Bob Knight – but not the kind of thing that equates to anyone encouraging their kid to go to school there.
learned hand - March 9, 2009
I've lived in NYC for going on 5 years...
And I’d say that about the same amount of people knew about Tech as UH (and both certainly more than the other UT system schools).
The thing is, the only reason anyone up here has ever heard about Texas Tech is because of Bobby Knight and Mike Leach. That’s it. No one knows where it is, what kind of university it is, how it compares to any other university, etc. UH at least has a well-respected law school and some name recognition (for science, business, hospitality services, etc.) outside of sports. I can’t think of anything specific that Tech does particularly well. And up until maybe 7-10 years ago, UH’s profile in sports was better too.
I don’t know. Tech has a lot going for it too, but it’s an awful lot like A&M and Texas. It seems like you might want a super-urban university in an international business center such as Houston to give some diversity to the state’s top-tier universities other than geographic diversity (i.e. Tech’s advantage lies in being nowhere near any of the other major universities geographically, whereas UH is relatively close by but offers a completely different alternative in terms of style of school and lifestyle of the students).
billyzane - March 9, 2009
The metropolitan aspect is key
The odds of the legislature screwing this up horribly are frightening, but to be a “nationally” renowned school, one must create an institution that people from other states would like to attend. That takes more than academic programs, that also requires enough environmental familiarity that students from non-native environs are comfortable.
The geographic obstacles facing Tech are stark, and would require a similar national campaign to renovate the national image of Lubbock alongside the campaign for the university.
Tech has accomplished i’s mission, it is a high quality school out in the plains, and provides a academic center for that area of the state. Expanding that mission will never succeed like its proponents envision. They’ll have better luck getting the Ags to drop their traditions and stop scaring the outsiders. I’d pick UTA, UTD, UH or even UTSA first, particularly if there’s the political will to buy some professional schools.
learned hand - March 9, 2009
To pile on
Corporate connections and the availability of internships and jobs in the surrounding area is huge for engineering, science and business schools, which seems to be the focus of this proposal. Tech does not have any of that going for it.
Wells - March 9, 2009
Re:
What if Texas Tech had a higher ranked business/engineering schools? Would that sway you to the dark side?
Skin Patrol - March 9, 2009
I'm a fan of Tech, recently crushed MNC dreams notwithstanding
But there are fewer more isolated places on the planet than Lubbock. The ease of getting local corporations to donate time, labor, skills (including adjunct profs) as well as provide job/internship opportunities is something that Lubbock can’t compete with compared to Houston and the Metroplex.
I think Tech does have higher ranked business and engineering schools, doesn’t it? You just have to travel 7 hours to interview for a job.
learned hand - March 9, 2009
Re:
What I’m getting at is if we’re trying to find out what “is huge for engineering… and business schools” maybe one place we should start is who has the better regarded business/engineering school.
I acknowledge the distance but do not think that alone is enough to force the issue to a Houston or DFW located school, especially considering the advantages that Tech has over the public universities in those areas.
Skin Patrol - March 9, 2009
7 hours???
They don’t have airports in Lubbock?
Texas Wahoo - March 10, 2009
I am thinking more along the lines of potential nt whills
Wells - March 10, 2009
I vote for Texas Tech.
Just repeating what Hance told the legislature:
1) Three Phi Beta Kappa schools in Texas: UT, A&M, Texas Tech
2) So far as I can tell, only school in Texas with Law School, Med School, and undergrad.
3) Largest endowment of the 7 schools. (What is your source on Houston having the larger endowment? Mine says Tech is higher.)
Etc., I think it’s a very strong case. The research gap is not very large at all between Texas Tech and Houston. I think the school has an impressive regional diversity with a large percentage of the student body made up of people from Houston and DFW.
Politically I think it’s got a great shot because there happen to be a good amount of legislators who went to Texas Tech.
Full disclosure: Is my alma mater.
Skin Patrol - March 9, 2009
US News College Rankings was my source.
Tech: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/items/3644
UH: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/items/3652
The numbers aren’t even close so they must be measuring different things.
billyzane - March 9, 2009
Only thing I can think of...
maybe that’s only the undergraduate endowment?
Don’t really know, but in trying to figure that answer out, I did come across this. I feel good about it as a source; it is the National Association of Colleges and University Business Officers endowment study of 2008. What it shows is that Tech’s endowment exceeded Houston’s by over 100M, and that Tech had around the 5th largest % increase in endowment from 2007 to 2008, increasing by 23.6% (behind Oklahoma State, Ohio University, Lesley College, University of Southern Alabama, etc.) Houston increased 3.2% from 2007-2008.
I do not know how either my numbers or your numbers are generated, but I think it at least casts doubt on the claim that Houston has a larger endowment. Hance felt comfortable claiming in front of the Texas Leg that Tech had the higher endowment.
I think Houston’s main appeal is the city.
Skin Patrol - March 9, 2009
They're equal when it comes to stench.
But I digress.
run Bevo run - March 9, 2009
Agree with BZ
Tech does not make sense, the school should be in Dallas or Houston or the surrounding areas.
Wells - March 9, 2009
Some of those schools are recognized nationally for niche programs. I may be wrong, but isn’t UT-D a big science school?
TXinDC - March 9, 2009
Steve Worster
Nice article from Kirk Bohls. When I saw Worster’s name, my first thought was, “when was the last time we had a bruiser of a running back like him?” Oh yeah .. back when fullbacks were important. I miss those days. Fans used to complain that Texas teams were boring with the emphasis on the run — now the Texas Techs of the world are testing our patience with their love of the pass. Glad to hear Mack is looking to power up in the backfield again.
NYCHorn - March 9, 2009
Worster
What I remember about him is that he played the Cottonbowl on LSD (or so the story goes).
Caradoc - March 9, 2009
Running game...
I’m old enough to remember when teams would actually have talented backs and run the ball. There are few things quite as beautiful as a skilled back busting through tackles and breaking away.
dimecoverage - March 9, 2009
Like this?
He was good
run Bevo run - March 9, 2009
I always wanted him to get into the passing game more.
Can you imagine a bigger mismatch than the speed of Charles against an OLB?
It looks like this – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5RbNgzrW-E&feature=related
BoddickerIsClutch - March 9, 2009
This is one of my favorite plays
He out ran three guys with an angle.
JC never believed in geometry
run Bevo run - March 9, 2009
Yes.
dimecoverage - March 9, 2009
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