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Call me a negative nellie, but $50,000 for basically an extra exhibition game or two? I'd rather them spend that money on private free throw lessons.

Investment in postseason experience. Hopefully the team treats it just that way.

Could someone explain why I should be excited about this? I mean, of course I want UNT to win; but I look at the other teams in that bracket and I'm like

I liked it. Reminded me of the Audacity label (can't recall the beer)....the battle flag has actually been in a battle. GMG

Ah the majestic sounds of the clink of the bat. College baseball < MLB

DRC: http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/mean-green/2018/03/11/breaking-unt-men-headed-postseason

Apparently, I'm in the minority in thinking this is money well spent. This program needs to begin to set a culture where postseason action is the expectation. The 5 win 2016 football season ended with an academic-driven HOD Bowl invite, but I think we all saw how beneficial that was for Littrell and his staff to support their culture change with the players. I see similarities with the CBI - especially if we can make a run

I dont have the link anymore, but on the local South Dakota paper's page with the story of the matchup, there was a list of teams that said no to CBI and CIT invites. SMU and ODU were both on the list.

Wonder how many schools told them NO...

South Dakota may be the best team in the tournament. They beat Southern Miss by 13 and played both TCU and UCLA very close. I have been to Vermillion South Dakota and it is in the middle of nowhere. They were 13-1 at home and 5 of their 8 losses were to NCAA Tournament teams including Duke. This will be a challenging game. Beating a 25-8 team on the road would be a quality win.

6'3" combo guard from Trinity Valley Community College. Originally signed with Baylor out of Rockdale (Texas) in 2015 when Mccasland was an assistant. Redshirted at Baylor, then played sparingly last year. This season as a redshirt sophomore he averaged 19.8/5.9/6.5, with shooting splits of 48.9%/36.5%/83.8% while making 1.8/4.9 threes per game. Ranked number one on the JUCO recruiting top 100, and holds offers from Georgetown, Cincinnati, Memphis, Oregon, and NC State among others. https://247sports.com/player/wendell-mitchell-57928

CBI First Round - no more needs to be said.

DRC: http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/mean-green/2018/03/12/five-things-know-south-dakota-unts-opponent-cbi

https://www.minerrush.com/2018/3/12/17111212/utep-officially-names-rodney-terry-mens-basketball-coach "Rodney Terry, who led Fresno State to the 2016 Mountain West Conference Tournament title and three postseason bids in the last five years, was appointed the 19th head coach in UTEP men’s basketball history on Monday" Impressed with this hire... Raised in Angleton, TX Long time assistant at Texas for Rick Barnes Mid-major success as HC Some may disagree but I think moves that raise the profile of CUSA are a good thing, in general - and poaching a coach from the MWC does just that.

I am a huge Cuse fan, but they have no right getting in this year and sorry, no way the committee can justify a 15 loss team making it in as an at-large school. And they wonder why so many are sick of the NCAA. St. Mary's and MUTS got screwed by the Committee royalty

Anderson is going to Texas more and Alabama less but our best teams, the best players were from Alabama. 2012 team was 18 from Alabama, 6 from Texas. They went 10-3 The closest G5 is Memphis and the closest P5 is Ole Miss. Sort of like the South Alabama situation where the nearest P5 is LSU.

For those wondering this game will be televised. South Dakota is working out the details.

I was very against these tournaments until I watched a four-year stretch of my other school go from CBI to CIT to NIT to NCAA. In some odd way, it seems to create an expectation of post season play, and since you're gonna play in the post season, you may as well start ramping things up for the quality of post season you play. The pay to play for the home teams is ridiculous though. I always look at the home teams in these tournaments and shake my head, thinking, "Man, you guys must be REALLY hard up for some self imposed kudos or something."

I enjoy going to the pavilion on game days now. After graduating, I did the yearly dues for a bit. Then, my membership lapsed and I didn't renew it for several years. When I got the email that lifetime membership was going up, I debated doing the lifetime membership since I’ve always wanted to do it anyway. The last night it was available for $500, I got online at about 10:30 pm and went ahead and did it. I have to have been one of the last, if not the last one, to get in at that price. I’m glad I did it and I’m excited to see the changes for next year!

I don't believe it cost visiting team any money. Host school pays. Unless it's changed visiting team actually gets most of travel paid. I wouldn't be for it most years. Only when you have a young team that could benefit from the experience. I think this is the kinda year to do it. I view this about like bowl seasons with 5 wins. If you expected to win 10 games, decline a 5 win bowl bid. But if you have a young team that could benefit from postseason experience and additional practice time, it makes sense. I'd be surprised if GMac or WB would play in it next year.

Lots of people want and need baseball at NT. It needs to happen.

Clearly this university is not taking athletics seriously.

So I'm told. The only thing slower is golf. I'm a boomer and I have an above average attention span. But most of the conversation going on is about stats. I never understood what they (the statistics geeks) were talking about. AND statistic geeks (like most men) are terrible teachers. So, it was even more boring for me. I'm going to try and attend the North Texas day Rangers game.....for the first time. But mainly to support the alumni association........and get a real cool cap.

Still... how great would it be to be watching Mean Green baseball right now. One day... one day...

The softball team appreciates your support.

The Dallas Morning News is all about SMU. No surprise to me that they did not cover the tournament. By the way, the tournament did not exist for thousands of North Texas alumni and students who did not bother to attend. They wonder why we make such slow progress in athletics, but NT turnout is a big reason.

Yes...they will be adding to the back side against the hill and will pretty much double capacity...a stage will be added for music, etc. as well...new furniture. However...this new area...to be named the Diamond Eagle Family Area (or something like that to honor the donors) will not be completely covered. It will have shade type covering if the drawings are any indication. It is great that the music will be moved to that area...providing more space on the original patio and a bit less blasting to ears enjoying that area. This is really great news...and this project was, in my opinion, by far, the best of the projects presented. It won with a pretty decent margin as I understand how it came out. FYI...the Diamond Eagle, in case you do not know, are a group of donors donating a minimum of $1000 annually to support worthy projects around the UNT campus. This was our first year. The part that "hooked me" and made me pony up, is that fact that we get to pick where our donations go on an annual basis. Areas of campus are encouraged to submit project ideas for consideration. I believe five will be presented to the Diamond Eagles for discussion, consideration and a vote. Winner take all! There were two functions this last year. The first to unveil the projects under consideration and the second to announce the winner. Really nice events. The idea was formed by Debbie Smatresk and moved along with the help of some great volunteers. It really is a diverse and interesting group. At the unveil I met and talked for a good while with Daisy Rogers (widow of the late great Bob Rogers). Daisy is now 96 years old. And I can tell you, it was fascinating talking with he for about 45 minutes. Oh, the stories she can tell. She has lived through them. So much fun. She was sitting alone, so I just walked up, introduced myself and we went from there. If anyone is interested in joining or thinking about joining the Diamond Eagles let me know. You will definitely be making a difference at UNT and you will be voting on where your donations go...exactly where they go. Fingers crossed that the new expansion will be ready for the SMU game this September 1st! You never know...could happen. I am just hoping it does not take as long as the new ticket facility being constructed at the Super Pit! Ha!

According to Vito, why make the trip?

Could you make a case for the Coyotes to be in the NCAA? I haven’t read their entire resume, but I’ve read some strong things about them.

This is more of a college basketball problem now since the NBA made the rule change this year to only allow each team to take 2 timeouts into the final 3 minutes of a game. It's greatly helped the flow of games IMO. http://www.nba.com/article/2017/07/12/nba-board-governors-timeout-rules-game-flow-trade-deadline#/

We are all biased but the muts got screwed. If this the way the NCAA is going to select for the future then the p5 just got the icing on the cake but in my opinion it will ruin the unique character of tournament.

Multiple sources state the fee is to host: Example link It's a strange instance where teams prefer to travel over playing at home.

Road trip? Anyone?

I looked at last year's AState roster and found that there were only eight from Alabama as opposed to fourteen from Texas. So it doesn't seem that distance is that large a factor. In fact, if it were, wouldn't most of your out-of-state players be from Tennessee or Missouri? I believe that there were only four from Tennessee and a couple from Missouri. As the only other FSB university in Arkansas, your core base is (and should be) Arkansas. I didn't count them but you have a lot of players from your home state. Certainly more than Alabama, Texas or any other state by far. Location is not Arkansas State's forte. The only close FBS school is Memphis. Even the University of Arkansas is across the state with a detour through Little Rock. So, whatever conference you're in, many of your nearest opponents aren't going to be. Your attendance is good; seemingly regardless of the opponent. You seem capable of going either east or west. Unless interest wanes, I think that AState should just go with the flow. Transportation costs could be a strong factor should you consider realigning or changing conferences.

Commits to Arkansas.

Updated story: http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/mean-green/2018/03/11/breaking-unt-men-headed-postseason

What really stinks is that's probably how SD is feeling about playing us.

Same here. The idea that the bigs are getting unfair breaks is hard to deny.

The 1st round North Texas men's game UNT had the most fans of any game in the tournament. I would agree that WKU had comparable women's fans at their women's game including the one with North Texas. For UNT to truly mobilize fans they needed to win the 1st men's game. Keep in mind that for every win, you pull in more fans (which happened to Marshall and WKU and to some degree MTSU).

OU at 18-13 mind you. St Mary's also snubbed at 28-5. I hope Bama and OU lose by 20+.

If the renovations taking place were Sack N Save once stood are the front porch of the university, then the giant battle flag is the welcome mat.

I could make this exact argument about football though, and don't even get me started on the last two minutes of every basketball game ever played. College baseball, like MLB, is toying with a pitch clock. Not set in stone yet, but probably imminent.

#NewWrinkledHundredDollarBill

Oh, ok. That makes sense. I like the pace. Like people say, it's a talking sport, more laid back than most sports. With the way people's attention spans are shrinking, baseball doesn't stand a chance.

Because they GET ON WITH IT! The pitcher and batter act as if they have a shot clock on them, and they don't fart around in the batters box. No scratching and spitting. Someone (I can't remember who) recently said that there was actually only 18 minutes of action in a typical baseball game. From my perspective i think they are being generous. Baseball.....slow, slow, slow. Women's softball.......(by comparison) fast, fast, fast.

Alright, I'll bite. Why?

Yep..lack of baseball leaves a huge void.

Ah dang, I really wish I still had some contacts up in Melissa, but I don't besides maybe a couple teachers outside of the athletics realm. Melissa is where I went to high school. His younger brother Brendon is the QB at Melissa and already has an offer from SMU. I think it would help a lot if we offered Brendon such that it's a little more enticing for Kennedy to pick UNT.

The set up was OK except for the scoreboards, which were high school. Great location, good parking,good dinning , and nearby hotels.My disappointment was lack of decent coverage from the DMN. It was as if the tournament didn't exist.

Okay, here are my observations. First all, Guyton (#9) and Fine were hooking up on some good plays early in the practice. The second half was completely different. Guyton would go one way and Fine's passes would go another. Very strange. #9 on defense stayed with him all day long. Rutherford caught three balls in a row at one time during the practice. Unusually consistent for him. Duhon (#89) caught a couple of good throws. Brewer (#18, transfer from Kansas) was having a great day. Several great mid-distance catches and some yards after the catches. And one TD grab of 50 yards or so when he got behind the defense and caught the ball fully stretched out almost on the tips of his fingers. This guy wants to be in the two deep.....and might make it if he keeps this up. Torry (#29) still looks very dangerous. He's is very fast and quick......and he's pretty strong. Smith (#21) looked okay. In one of the best defensive plays in the scrimmage, he got nailed in the backfield by #22 after he took a handoff and went about three steps. A couple of DB's were able to tackle Darden (#84) one-on-one on two or three occasions. That's encouraging because tackling opposing WR's in space was a problem last year. Get this, they actually wrapped him up! On one occasion, a group of five defensive players ganged up on Brewer and brought him down.....finally. And now the answer to my question regarding the presence of a power runner on the team. A week or so, I wondered if SFA transfer Easley (#23 on your program) was a speed back or a power back. Turns out he's both. Easley switched to #27 and came in and made some very impressive power runs in traffic......great moves and great power. Then he took a handoff and took it to the house for about a 50 yard TD run. I feel pretty good about our RB situation. Fine and Pearson look......okay. Martin (#17) looked.....well.....like he is fresh out of High School. I don't think Pearson is worried.