There were a couple of Rice-related questions on
Baseball America's Aaron Fitt's Monday chat today:
Steve (Austin): What team from Texas do you see having the best resume come tourney time? Texas? A&M? Rice?
Aaron Fitt: I'm still sticking with the order we have them lined up in our rankings and going with Rice.
. . . .
Vance (Houston): I am looking forward to seeing Wayne Graham hopefully get his 1000th win tomorrow. Who do you see competing with rice for the C-USA crown.
Aaron Fitt: Florida Atlantic and East Carolina look like the two biggest threats to me. I don't think Rice is a lock in C-USA by any means; the other Owls are legit and could really make a run at that league crown. But it's hard to bet against a Wayne Graham team winning a conference title...
... and a couple related to other Texas teams:
Matt W. (Leesburg, VA): I am a diehard Gamecock fan and am very impressed with our youth after the first weekend!! Having said that, what did you think about Texas Tech's domination of Indiana? Texas Tech looked outstanding (more so than Indiana looked bad). I am having trouble determining if Indiana might be a let down or if Texas Tech is going to be a hidden beast this season. Thanks for you comments!
Aaron Fitt: I feel very confident that Indiana will not be a letdown -- I'm not putting too much stock in their quiet weekend. But Texas Tech did make a statement. I didn't think that would be a regional team heading into the season, but Tim Tadlock is a very good coach, and he's quietly done a nice job boosting the talent level there. I'll have more about the Red Raiders later this week or next week.
. . .
Patrick Mckinley (Slidell, LA): Where do you Rank the three starters for FSU in College Baseball and are they enough to maybe help Martin out of the slump in Omaha?
Aaron Fitt: The best rotations in college baseball, in no particular order: Fullerton, Florida State, Texas, Miami, Oregon State (if Wetzler's eligible), and then a handful of teams that have huge upside if talented but less proven arms are as good as they appear -- NC State, TCU, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Oregon, Arizona State, UCLA.
. . .
Marc (Tallahassee): What did you think about Texas this weekend? It sounded like the offense started slow but began to pick up some steam in the second 2 games of the 4 game set. Pitching seemed solid as always.
Aaron Fitt: Yep, sounds about right. There will be some growing pains with all those freshmen in the lineup, but there is also a lot of ability. I think Texas will be a much better offensive team at the end of the season than it is now, and I think its pitching will be elite from start to finish.
