Amazingly and oddly enough (considering signing day just passed on Wednesday), the biggest recruiting day of the year was on Sunday. The Texas coaches hosted their 2008 invitees for Junior Day, and extended scholarship offers to those who they most want to sign with Texas. As of late Sunday evening, the 'Horns already have nine commitments, including Dan Buckner, Brock Fitzhenry, David Snow, Jeremy Hills and D.J. Monroe. (Over in the diaries, Longhorn13 is keeping tabs on the commitments as they're announced.) The big news is an update from Orangebloods on Stephen Good, the state's top prospect, who's deciding between Texas and OU. Geoff Ketchum reports that the visit to Austin went extremely well, but a decision won't come until later this week. I say it all the time, but it's worth repeating: if you're not subscribing to Orangebloods, you're missing out.
The Longhorn baseball team dropped two out of three to Long Beach State in California over the weekend, falling 7-6 on Friday, 9-8 on Saturday, and winning 2-1 on Sunday. The series loss drops Texas to 3-4 on the season. The 'Horns retake the diamond Tuesday afternoon with a home game against UT Pan American. Corn Nation has your full Big 12 Baseball Review.
 |
Speaking of the diamond. . . BON favorite Cat Osterman has launched her own website, to our delight. A big hat tip to you know who for alerting us to Cat's new online domain. Along with Cat's career stats and game highs, fans are promised a regular Oster-blog, can peruse a gallery of Oster-pics (action and candids), a calendar of events, links, contact info, and everything else a serious Oster-fan might want. We're on record saying Cat is easily the most dominant female athlete to ever grace the 40 Acres, so we're especially excited to see her moving on successfully from her amateur career to her professional one. Congratulations, Cat. Now we just need an exclusive BON interview, and we'll be all set.
Reader 2BEarnest threw up a diary on Lamarcus Aldridge's strong performance Sunday, and reader Caradoc followed up with something even better: an update from True Hoop editor Henry Abbott. Caradoc emailed Henry asking for a detailed update on how Lamarcus was progressing so far, and got a terrific response:
Length, mobility, shooting ability, work ethic, attitude... he's got a lot going for him. I just think he's probably someone we'll hear a lot more about in a couple of years.
But I'll tell you this: he's untouchable. Teams have been asking about him, I hear, and they're hearing that the Blazers are not going to move him for anything.
This doesn't surprise me too much, though I'm thrilled to get such a positive report from someone in the know. Aldridge was still quite raw at Texas and managed to have nights that just completely wowed you. He's a special talent, and just beginning to tap into it. Like Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal, I expect he'll really start to blossom once the frame fills out.
Vince Young made his Pro Bowl debut on Saturday; fortunately, he didn't encounter anything like this (Hat Tip: Hogs Haven). Drew Brees was less fortunate, dislocating his non-throwing elbow in the first quarter.
Later today: notes from my Friday lunch meeting with Geoff Ketchum.
--PB--