I wasn’t really planning on having a post this early, but a handful of things have come down the pipe recently and I figured it was worth passing along. Plus, reading about something other than the football team is probably a welcome distraction right about now.
The Maui Invitational field is set, even though it’s not in Maui at all. Asheville, North Carolina is nice and all - you can watch a 10 minute video described as ‘5 things to do in Asheville’, 60% of which is devoted to one hike - but it has very few beaches or oceans or oceanfront property available to rent. Texas will start their season against Davidson on November 30th, and if there’s a better barometer of Longhorns fan interest than a Monday morning 11am CT tip I cannot think of it. On the plus side, it’s impossible to lose to Chaminade this time!
Daimion Collins released his top 5 and Texas was in the list. There was a point in which Texas was a significant favorite; that point was approximately 1 minute before Jai Lucas left for Kentucky. (You will be stunned to hear Kentucky has since emerged for his top 5.) I haven’t heard much as of late and as usual I’m only peripherally involved in recruiting news, but the last I heard Texas was probably running behind Oklahoma and Kentucky for his services.
Several of the injured players from last year are coming along; Jericho Sims and Gerald Liddell are going full speed, and Andrew Jones is fully recovered from his off-season surgery. Donovan Williams and Jase Febres are not medically cleared yet, and it sounds like Stretch is closer than Febres. Whether they get cleared before the season is TBD, but it seems like at least one if not both will be ready to go. Texas has the kind of depth this year that they can afford to be careful with both those guys.
The title of this post sucks. I thought about using ‘Odds & Ends’ until I realized that was the name of a 1980s Readers Digest column informing grandmothers of upcoming guest stars on ‘Murder, She Wrote’ episodes. ‘Burnt Ends’ sounded good, which is why it was already taken by another Texas sports-affiliated site. If anybody has a better idea for a name, I’m all ears.
On a completely unrelated note, I’ve started watching Schitt’s Creek. It takes a few episodes to find its feet, but if you stick it out through the first 3-4 episodes it starts getting a lot better. If you need a break from the world and to just laugh at something ridiculous, you could do a lot worse.