Morning Coffee
by Peter Bean on May 7, 2007 9:43 AM CDT
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For the first time this season, Texas lost a Big 12 baseball series after they dropped two of three against Missouri this weekend. After a disappointing game one loss on Friday night, Texas rebounded behind a masterful Adrian Alaniz performance on Saturday to win game two 5-1. Texas stumbled again on Sunday, however, losing 5-4, with Joseph Krebs once again struggling in relief.
Of greater concern are injuries to two of Texas' outfielders - Jordan Danks and Kyle Russell. Neither appears to be serious, and Texas will have an extra week of rest before concluding the season against Texas A&M, but it's definitely something to keep an eye on. Russell's injury, in particular, is worrisome, as wrist injuries are notorious for sapping power from hitters. Hopefully he'll recover quickly in time for postseason play.
Cat Osterman's fans will finally get to see the first of the fruits of the deal she signed with Under Armour in January, 2007. Osterman and Under Armour have produced a television commercial which will be running from now through June on ESPN, as well as the next week on MTV.
Cat also returned to the announcer's booth this weekend, calling two softball games for ESPN - perhaps in preparation for the College World Series. For more Osternews, keep an eye on Cat's website.
CFR has an interesting note on the decline of the 25-carry tailback in college football. As worried as Texas fans seem to be that Jamaal Charles may not be a 25-carry-per-game tailback, it turns out there simply aren't many of those types of backs these days, period.
I suppose watching Ricky Williams and Cedric Benson take the ball through the middle 25+ times a game from 1995-2004 skewed our perception of what a typical tailback looks like.
Orangeblood's Gerry Hamilton provides a Greg Monroe update, noting that the nation's #1 2008 hoops prospect is still strongly considering Texas. Rick Barnes' squad is in his top ten, and Monroe was impressed with the way Barnes featured Durant throughout the 2006-07 season. According to Hamilton, Monroe won't make any decisions for several months yet, but it's exciting that Texas is in the mix.
A couple weeks ago I griped about a lousy Stewart Mandel column that ranked NCAA basketball coaches and managed to place Thad Matta ahead of Jim Boeheim. I noted that such columns generally turned out poorly, frequently lacking measurable criteria for the rankings.
Now Sporting News columnist Tom Dienhart takes a stab at ranking the BCS Conference's best football coaches. I didn't go to bat for Rick Barnes in the aforementioned Mandel column, but I'll pipe up for Mack Brown this time around.
Dienhart ranks Brown 10th, which isn't exactly offensive, but is head-scratching when you consider Brown sits behind West Virginia's Rich Rodriguez, Wake Forest's Jim Grobe, and Arizona State's Dennis Erickson.
I disliked the criteria that Stewart Mandel decided to (mis-)apply to ranking college basketball coaches, but at least he provided some. Dienhart just throws out the list. Worthless.
--PB--
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I hope Mack wins another MNC
just so these sorts of debates can be put to rest.
It would be nice if he can cement himself in to the elite category, just to avoid comparisons with flash in the pan coaches.
I'm guessing Texas will at least play for another MNC during Mack's time.
Bizarre
Dienhart's list reads more like a personal poplularity contest than anything else. I don't find his Big 12 rankings offensive, if you look at it from a "who did the best (with the least) last season" perspective. I'll give the Rodriguez and Grobe picks a pass for that reason as well. But Dennis Erickson? He puts Saban and Spurrier above Meyer in the SEC? He says "there's a buzz" at UCLA about Dorrell. Correct me if I'm wrong, as I don't follow the Bruins too closely, but isn't it more likely that the buzz is the sound of the torch-and-pitchfork crowd upgrading to rotary saws? Oh, and Kirk Ferentz? Better than Lloyd Carr.
Oh well. I'm glad there's no accountability for stuff like this, or Dienhart's family would be starving...
What.......
You question Erickson's position? Maybe it has something to do with his Championships.
Coach....Seasons..Conf.Championships..Nat'l Championships
Erickson...18............5.................2
M.Brown....23............1.................1
In other Cat news...
She lost her NCAA All-division career strikeout record on saturday when Monica Abbott of Tennessee passed her up. I can't remember the numbers, but it is very impressive.
Cat was there as an analyst for ESPN.
Click Clack Cat
by kicker @ Burnt Orange Nation on May 7, 2007 2:27 PM CDT reply actions
Baseball polls
... most have Texas only falling 2 spots to either #6 or #7, which is better than I'd hoped given the fact we lost a series at home. However, I'm still waiting for the new RPI rankings to come out, to make sure we're still in the all-important Top 8 (we were #4 before). Not that there's not enough pressure just cuz it's the Aggies, and the last series of the season, but if we're hovering at #8 or #9 on the RPI's going into the weekend, we just gotta hope for a sweep.
And please god you're right it's not serious with Russell. Look who is sitting on top of a number of key categories on this stats ranking.
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