MeanGreenZen

Maybe it was a reference to our NIL offer? Maybe we were offering a certain % of donations and he wanted a firm dollar amount? The NIL negotiations going on right now are bananas: it is a new thing, the market is hidden, rumors, unregulated, lots of shady middle men, people who have never negotiated anything in their life… Probably lots of lessons being learned on all sides.

For a post about transparency, that is pretty vague. Next…

The Reece Mooney era was a beautiful three snap sequence on a spring Tuesday afternoon in shorts. I will always think fondly upon it.

You win on price, you will lose on price. Bet he averages about 12 points a game in the SEC.

What? You think we should be pulling Vlad Goldin out of the transfer portal? Last I heard he is leaning towards UCONN.

Noland wore out his welcome at OU. He found an important role in a good program at North Texas. He really could have been featured next season and made his mark here but chose to leave. Just another hired gun who won’t be remembered anywhere he has been. Can’t imagine he is making much more NIL at New Mexico.

Jason Edwards’ agent is running his recruitment. And agents don’t make commission on the value of your college degree…

Rauben Jones is a great player. If he isn’t getting NIL $ from Michigan then he is an idiot. And I don’t think he is an idiot. And I would guess that the reason he is at Michigan and not Texas Tech is because Michigan had the most NIL $ to offer him.

This is an interesting pickup for us. This guy doesn’t conform to the typical transfer profile that we should be focusing on: highly productive player at a low-major/D2 or a formerly productive player at high-major/mid-major who needs a change of scenery. Brock Vice has played ZERO real college basketball. But finding a player who can be productive for us at the center position is going to take some creativity. Need to replace Tylor Perry or Jason Edwards? Not fun, but there are LOTS of fast young men 5’9 or taller who can dribble and shoot that the marketplace has undervalued. Ross Hodge can take his pick. There just aren’t very many 18-24 year-old humans who are 6’9 or taller. And the marketplace places a very high price on those who are that tall AND possess any degree of athleticism or basketball skill. Which brings us back to Brock Vice, who redshirted on a VERY good Creighton team that finished 25-10 last season (second-place in the Big East). The starting center on that team was Ryan Kalkbrenner, a 7’1 monster who averaged 17 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots a game. His backup also put up good numbers in very limited minutes. So Vice hasn’t been a productive college player yet, but atleast he has a good excuse. With both players in front of him on the depth chart eligible to come back to Creighton next season, Vice needs a change of scenery to get his oversized sneakers on the court. He’s 6-10. Can rebound AND shoot. Was an outstanding high school and AAU basketball player. And has enough meat on his bones and athleticism to have been a standout high school football player. This is exactly the kind of kid that Ross should be landing. We did not have a player like this guy on our team last season and it hurt us all year. Welcome to Denton!

Why would a big brand like this invest so heavily in one school? College sports are so tribal and FedEx wants to serve everyone. Now I am LESS likely to use FedEx.

Why would he announce at 5:30 pm on a Friday? That is when you bury news not make your big announcement. Guess that Michigan business school isn’t that good…

He chose Nicholls State. lol. I’m going to keep trusting in Ross until I have a reason not to.

Remember Sonny Dykes? I bet you do. He said about transfers, “If they weren’t playing where they were, they probably won’t play for you.” I believe there are exceptions to that. But overall, the best transfers to UNT have been proven guys that we got from lower levels. Not the guys who were highly-rated out of high school, signed with a P4 and then never saw the field there. From the P4, I would be on the lookout for a guy like Marcus Trice. He demonstrated that he could be productive at a high level, but fell down the depth chart on a very talented roster. Grab those guys and give them an opportunity.

This guy was on our coaching staff the last few years and is now TE coach at Abilene Christian. This X post is a little strange but the message seems to be come to ACU and he will help them make big NIL somewhere else. If that is his message at ACU, it was probably his message here.

Interesting results from an anonymous survey of DFW high school football head coaches in The Athletic. One of the questions was to name the best college assistant coaches at recruiting. Patrick Cobbs was our only coach mentioned. And he was mentioned multiple times. Here is another quote from a DFW high school head coach that I found interesting and true unfortunately: “The Group of 5s are now junior colleges. If your kid is all-conference, he ain’t coming back. He’s gone, and you know he’s gone. They have to change their thinking for how they build their programs. They have to tell kids, “Come here, play a couple years and you’ll be gone.” They have to just be good with that. They’re not going to stay around.” Link to article: https://theathletic.com/5422366/2024/04/18/dallas-texas-high-school-recruiting-confidential/?source=user_shared_article

How did they do last season?

We got Tylor Perry from a junior college. That is a lower level. Did his college basketball career even continue when he left here?

Heard a quote from Sonny Dykes about transfers and I thought it was genius (it is about football but I think it applies to basketball too). He said that if they weren’t playing where ever they came from, they probably won’t play for you either. Obviously there are some exceptions to that. But on the macro scale, I have found it to be true. Your transfer classes should be loaded with guys who were productive at lower levels (Tylor Perry, Jason Edwards) or guys who were productive at higher levels (Robert Allen, CJ Noland) but who fell out of favor at their previous school for decent reasons.

Aaron averaged 4 points and 4 rebounds a game as a freshman. Rubin averaged 6 points and 1 assist. Fine contributions, but not significant. And at the time it made sense to invest in young players like this. It doesn’t anymore. Unless they are immediate roster upgrades, make those young players prove it in D2 or low majors and THEN pick them up in the portal.

No, I hate the system all the way around.

I don’t think any of us care about being respectful to Longwood. Many of us just cheer for players who go to North Texas and when players leave North Texas, we no longer cheer for them.

Who is the last true freshman to make a significant impact on this program?

I don’t think it matters at this point. This is a full rebuild and none of the remaining parts are key pieces of a championship team.

Unfortunately, people will have to make their own mistakes.

This defection is just another effect of the NIL era. Hodge is likely to go very heavy on established low-major transfers who have been productive. Or formerly productive high-major transfers who fell out of favor at their previous program. Why would Layne Taylor come to UNT to sit on the bench? Is it to develop and earn a spot 2-3 years down the road? No, because 2-3 years down the road Hodge is still going to be filling up his roster with those same transfers who have already been productive at some level of college basketball. The move for Layne Taylor is to go somewhere he can PLAY now and be productive. Worst-case he could land at a school like North Texas later as a transfer. Best-case he can springboard straight to a high major and make big $$$.