Houston Blogs: Houston Sports Blog

How good are the Longhorns?

For the past month we've been asking ourselves that question.  And for the past three weeks the Horns have answered in a different way.  An impressive win over OU.. a knockout of Missouri.. and a slugfest win over OSU.   Now comes the biggie in Lubbock,Saturday night in Jones stadium against Tech.  Just the next test of a team that is rolling.   I was in Austin for the win over Oklahoma State, I notice a swagger with this team.  The same one they had in 2005, but its a little different.  In 2005 the Horns had Vince, in 2008 there's no superstar player, UT is more of a well rounded team, one that can beat you in all phazes of the game.  Colt McCoy is a confident leader who has come into his own, but he's a leader who knows he has the talent around him that he doesn't have to do it alone.   The Horns "D" can come up with the big plays when they need them..  they'll need them in Lubbock Saturday night.  A couple of well time stops will be the difference in this game.

Bob Slovak

College game changes

The Houston Cougars football game with Air Force has been moved to the SMU campus with a 2:30pm kickoff Saturday.

The Texas Longhorns football game against Arkansas has been rescheduled for September 27.

The Sam Houston State vs. Prairie View A&M game that was scheduled Saturday has been canceled.

SFA, TSU and HBU have canceled all weekend athletic activities.

The Baylor vs Washington State game has been rescheduled to Friday at 7:30pm.

NCAA Brackets in PDF and GIF formats

We have your 2008 NCAA brackets in PDF and gif formats right here.  Click and print my friends, click and print.

http://a.abclocal.go.com/static/pdf/sports/NCAA_Brackets_ktrk.pdf

http://a.abclocal.go.com/static/art/global/NCAA_Brackets_ktrk.gif

Bob Allen reflects on Bobby Knight

I'm going to miss Bobby Knight. He could always fill time on my sportscast with his outrageous and entertaining antics. He did it his way and didn't care what anyone thought.

The one time I got into a personal conversation with him we got into an argument. But that was him. Sure he was boorish, rude, and profane, but he was a great basketball coach. He leaves the game as the winningest coach in men's Division one basketball. His methods never changed. He was a strict disciplinarian, who never played favorites. The rules were the same for everyone.

And most of the time they worked, yet some of the time his actions and his words hurt people who didn't deserve to get in his sights. Forty-two years and 3 National Championships is a good run. But it's time.

Bob Allen
Sports Director
KTRK-TV

Sellouts few and far between for Coogs hoops

The Houston Cougars lost to Memphis last night. No surprise there. Where the Coogs go from here is the issue. Sellouts at Hofheinz have been few and far between, in part because they have not been that good. But as this season has shown, bring in quality opponents and the crowds will be there. Kentucky, Arizona and Memphis get people excited. Tulane, Marshall, and Tulsa do not. But the latter group helps comprise C-USA and that's where the Coogs call home.

When the Coogs were part of the old SWC, the opponents sold themselves. Host the Aggies, Horns, Frogs or Ponies and you had yourself an audience. Add to that the incredible talent Guy V. put on the floor, and Hofheinz was the place to be.

So for now, the only way to get consistent crowds is to put a consistently outstanding product on the floor. Head coach Tom Penders has done a good job putting a good team together. They can be fun to watch because Penders loves to get up and down the floor, shoot the 3 and apply pressure on defense. But against Memphis, we again saw the difference between fun basketball and winning basketball. The Tigers can shoot the 3 … they love to run … but there were 2 basic differences. Memphis shot 58 percent and the Coogs shot 35 percent. The Coogs grabbed 29 rebounds, the Tigers' Joey Dorsey grabbed 22 by himself. Houston has little inside presence when they meet the big boys.

Penders has gotten pretty good play from Tafari Toney, but he has to get more help inside. Texas is struggling this year because they have little inside presence. You lose a lot of easy baskets, and that places more pressure on the outside shot. Will Penders be able to change his guard-oriented approach? Should he? Where do you see the Coogs going?

Tim Melton

Baylor assistant resigns after citation for urinating on bar

The Baylor assistant coach cited for public urination resigned on Thursday. Offensive line coach Eric Schnupp had been suspended indefinitely by the university this week after being cited for urinating on the bar at a local tavern. His resignation was effective immediately.

   Schnupp was in his first season at Baylor, the world's largest Baptist university. He spent the previous three seasons coaching the offensive line at West Texas A&M.

   Head coach Guy Morriss and offensive coordinator Lee Hays will oversee the offensive line. Morriss had doubled as offensive line coach before hiring Schnupp during the offseason.

   Schnupp was not arrested but issued a citation early Sunday for disorderly conduct-reckless exposure at Scruffy Murphy's, police said. The citation is a Class C misdemeanor carrying a $258 fine, according to Waco Municipal Court.

   Bartender Danny Severe said an employee saw Schnupp urinating on the bar, and a manager told police officers who were there on an unrelated matter, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported Tuesday.

   The incident occurred several hours after the team had returned from Lawrence, Kan., where the Bears lost to Kansas 58-10 Saturday.

   Baylor plays No. 19 Texas at home Saturday.

   (Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

Rice swimmers go on Olympic qualifying mission

Two Rice swimmers will get the chance to qualify for the Beijing Olympics on Saturday in Florida. The United States Women's Open Water 10K World Championship Trials will be held on Saturday at the Miromar Lakes Beach and Golf Club in Fort Myers, Fla. The top two finishers at the trials will represent the U.S. at the World Open Water Swimming Championships on May 3, 2008 in Seville, Spain.

The World Championships is a qualifying event for the 2008 Olympic Games. The Beijing Olympics marks the first time open water swim events will have official medal status.

Massengale, a senior from Alma, Ark., has been a part of USA Swimming's open water program for more than a year. Last August, she represented the U.S. at the 2006 World Open Water Swimming Championships in Naples, Italy. Massengale finished 12th in the world in the 10,000-meter event.

Warner was one of the top distance swimmers in Conference USA as a sophomore last season. The Clearwater, Fla., native is in the U.S. Open Water Trials for the first time. Warner will be competing in her home state for a chance to make the United States national team.

Baylor assistant football coach gets citation for urinating on bar

Here is a story that people have emailed me multiple times all day and I am getting sick of it.  I went to Baylor so everyone thinks I should see this I guess:

Baylor athletic department officials said they are considering disciplinary action against an assistant football coach cited for urinating on the bar at a watering hole.   Eric Schnupp, Baylor's offensive line/tight ends coach, was not arrested but was issued a citation at 2:20 a.m. Sunday for disorderly conduct-reckless exposure at Scruffy Murphy's, Waco police spokesman Steve Anderson said. 

   The citation is a Class C misdemeanor carrying a $258 fine, according to Waco Municipal Court. 

   Bartender Danny Severe said in Tuesday's editions of the Waco Tribune-Herald that the incident happened around closing time and that Schnupp apparently thought no one was watching him as employees were moving patrons out of the building. 

   Severe said an employee witnessed Schnupp urinating on the bar, and a manager told police officers who were there for an unrelated matter. 

   Severe said Schnupp had taken several shots of hard liquor, most bought for him by other people. 

   Schnupp had traveled with the team to Lawrence, Kan., where the Bears lost to Kansas 58-10 Saturday afternoon. The team was back in Waco by 9 p.m. 

   Baylor associate athletic director Nick Joos did not immediately return calls Tuesday to The Associated Press. But Joos told the Tribune-Herald that discipline would be handled internally.    "I can tell you that coach (Guy) Morriss is taking this issue very seriously," Joos said, declining to say what disciplinary measures are being considered. 

   Schnupp, in his first year as a coach at the world's largest Baptist university, played football for the University of Miami from 1995-2000 and previously coached at West Texas A&M.

Coogs' Avery honored by Conference USA

Congratulations to University of Houston wide receiver Donnie Avery, who on Monday was named the Conference USA offensive player of the week. On Saturday Avery set school and Conference USA records with 346 receiving yards and 427 all-purpose yards in the Cougars 56-48 win over Rice. Avery caught 13 passes and scored two touchdowns. The scores were 77 and 67 yards. Get a complete wrap-up of the University of Houston's wild win over the Owls Saturday.

UH tops UTEP for 3rd straight win in volleyball

The University of Houston volleyball team defeated UTEP on Sunday for the Cougars' third straight win and their seventh straight on their home court. The Cougars won with scores of 32-30, 30-27, 24-30, 22-30 and 16-14 at the Athletics/Alumni Center.

Houston is now 4-1 this season in five-game matches.

Leading the way for Houston (11-8, 6-2 C-USA) was junior Justine Farmer. Farmer notched 31 kills and 15 digs for her 12th double-double this season. Freshman Hannah Sullivan added 17 kills and 13 digs for her fourth double-double this year.

Farmer's 31 kills were her third highest total this season trailing only her 34 against UT-San Antonio and her 36 against Southern Miss.

"We blocked well in the games we won. In the games we lost, we served badly and we hit badly. Sometimes when you play this way in the whole match you don't notice the good things," Coogs head coach Bill Walton said.

"Kinsey Cave did good again today. I could have made a couple adjustments to get Kinsey out there more but the problem was she was hitting good but not blocking good. Ashley (Calhoun) was blocking good but not hitting good. We needed to find someone that was hitting and blocking good in that position and we would have been all right," Walton added.

Despite the win, head coach Bill Walton said the Cougars lacked focus in the match. "I told the staff the last time we were at home and we got a good win on Friday night the girls just celebrate Friday night and with football on Saturday and they come in here on Sunday just jacking around. Out of the 12 healthy players on the team, one came prepared to play and that was Justine," Walton said.

"She came prepared to play because she is from El Paso and this is the hometown team and she wants to make sure she has a good showing. But nobody else came prepared to play with the same attitude, the same intensity and the same enthusiasm that they came with on Friday night."

UTEP was led by Amy Sanders and Elsa Reyes who had 20 kills and 25 digs, respectively.

Prior to Sunday's match, about 50 girls took part in a free clinic put on by the Houston volleyball team. The girls received tickets to the match for their participation in the clinic.

The Cougars will be on the road next weekend for two matches against UAB on Oct. 19 and Memphis on Oct. 21.