Leaderboard

Sissoko is a 6' 10," high level 3 star (0.8689), Top 500 rated player in the country in 2019 when signed to Dayton. Stats do not look great at all at Dayton, but we know that players tend to play their best within systems that compliment them. Hopefully, McCasland can develop him into a star at UNT.

Well deserved. https://meangreensports.com/news/2022/4/26/mens-basketball-hodge-named-tabc-assistant-coach-of-the-year.aspx

Best of luck to the young man in his future endeavors.

Yet we just keep signing kids out of ACU?

I really don't think this is the case. If it is, it's really stupid. The coaches could encourage 20 more kids to enter the portal to "open up some spots"... they still only have 25 scholarships per year to give to new kids, whether they come from High School, or another school. So when you have guys leaving, then you push even more out the door, but you're only backfilling with 25 per year, it's a recipe for disaster with your roster.

The football recruits are just waiting for us to start our baseball program. That's clearly the reason why UTSA had so much more success this recruiting cycle.

At the end of the day, the buck stops with us... generating donations from the fanbase is going to be where the money needs to come from... for instance, if we started a grassroots campaign here at GMG, and asked for $100 donations, i'm not sure that we would have more than 50 takers (I'm sure some would donate a lot more and some would donate less), so then we see what $5K does across multiple sports and you compare that to what, apparently, OU is doing, and it doesn't even compare

Science

Good! Real life lessons learned for some of these athletes about commitment to scholarship and contracts! Work harder if you don't like your spot on the depth chart (or join us asking for a head coaching change!!).

At least the kids we have coming from ACU have some game experience. Just because they had “P5 talent” out of high school does not make them a FBS caliber player. They could have bad attitude, work ethic, off field issues, or a multitude of other issues that may have caused them to leave the vaunted P5. I’d take good kids from ACU with game experience all day over those P5ers.

NIL Collectives - The Athletic This article is behind a paywall but it is interesting. The guys on 1310 The Ticket were talking about this. It just made me wonder if we had enough disappointed but still engaged fans/alumni to create a NIL collective of any significance? Maybe to get that one QB that wouldn't ordinarily come here but with a virtual guarante to start here as a true freshman and a NIL deal would reconsider?

Hmm, while true, the interior DL is pretty thin behind Jackson & Brown. I think I'd rather have the bodies there than nothing.

Something is telling me they are telling them to enter the portal to open up some spots. It’s crazy to think two freshman would leave this early when there is a really good chance the staff won’t even be there next year.

Paging @Brett Vito. Hopefully it's not a serious injury & we see him this season. He really came on at the end of last season. Made that spectacular grab to set up the game winner VS UTEP.

Deciding to commit to North Texas Basketball and play for Coach Grant McCasland’s program is not for the faint-hearted. You won’t be playing in an offensive-oriented, track-level paced, exciting run and gun system like you did for your AAU team. You probably won’t be playing the most aesthetically pleasing basketball and you certainly won’t be seeing your name anywhere on the list of individual scoring records. Instead, McCasland’s program predicates itself on toughness, discipline, and the desire to play intense defense for a full 40 minutes. As followers of Conference USA have learned, this unique philosophy has turned the Mean Green into an annual championship contender. In McCasland’s five years at the helm of Mean Green basketball, the 2020 C-USA Coach of the Year has developed a championship-level program in Denton by priding his team’s culture on its defensive identity. In the 2021-22 season, the Mean Green held opponents to just 55.7 PPG, which was the lowest allowed in the entire country. In 32 games last year, North Texas gave up 70+ points on just three occasions; one of them to the eventual National Champion Kansas Jayhawks, who barely passed that elusive mark in a 71-59 neutral site contest. Even more impressive; over a course of the last 68 games they have played dating back to February 1st 2020, they’ve only allowed 80 points in a game one time. So how did a team that averaged just 65.1 PPG (317th out of 358 division 1 schools) this past year win 25 games and run through C-USA to a 16-2 record and a regular-season championship? Simple, they made it a priority to bring an unmatched intensity on the defensive end, paired with a resilient attitude and togetherness stemming down from their passionate coach. read more: https://bustingbrackets.com/2022/04/08/north-texas-basketball-grant-mccaslands-mean-green-defensive-machine/

I'm going to go back to ignoring our football pages. My mental health is better without.

If often works the other way as well. We recruit the same level kids from the same areas. I don’t sweat being second, but I do complain when we are tenth after a bunch of out of state schools.

Sissoko is #14 in this 2021-22 Dayton team photo. They have already removed him from the roster bio, but his 20-21 team bio was 6-9, 250. For reference in this photo #22 is 6-9, #2 is 6-8, and #15 is 6-10.

In this 2021-22 team photo (taken pre-season?) #21 Morgan (listed 6-8) is at least an inch taller than #33 Abou (listed 6-10) and about 2 inches over #2 Scott (listed 6-7). He looks like the tallest player on the team then (if they are all standing straight). https://meangreensports.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/2021-22

For his career so far he shot 14-17 at FT line...love that.

That's wild. I was under the impression players could get into foul trouble, fatigued, or even hurt. If he can be a serviceable backup center, this team will be much improved. Scott/Morgan should be serviceable backups to Martinez. This depth will also allow us to make significant in-game adjustments such as playing small ball if needed.

I think we have our center in Abou.

From Footballscoop.com NCAA: 40 percent of scholarship FBS players do not find scholarships on the other side of the transfer portal https://footballscoop.com/news/ncaa-transfer-portal-data

Well it appears the tweet was deleted. So no we can’t be sure

Most players, more in football than basketball, are listed at taller than they actually are. I think this practice has more to do with what the AD department wants listed, not the players. I remember that when Dodge coached; the roster was changed to reflect the actual measured height. It was soon changed back to the taller numbers It didn't look good for the program when compared to the other schools; most of which also stretch the height stats. Height is a lot like 40 speed, often an exaggerated stat that keeps the fans happy; but is often far from the facts.

Greene and Ward both signed before Bowen and Mathies were fired. Perhaps Bennett and Passwaters told them they’d be a better fit in a different defense. No need to keep warm bodies around if it is to their benefit to move on.

I get that a fund we generate would only be able to NIL money whip one barely 4 star player here each recruiting class at best. So competing with the better P5 programs just isn't feasible. Target a QB every 2 years that is borderline out of league. After +40 years thinking small and mismanagement of the athletic department funds; donations to the MGSF is a very hard sell to your average alumni who wants to proudly acknowledge his/her alma mater once in a while.

6'3" 220lbs. Also holds an offer from utsa.

OU is putting a plan in place to pay each player a minimum of $40K a year

Or Abou lied about his height. He looks shorter than Wright and Scott who are listed at 6'8" and 6'7", respectively.

Ever notice that we are always late for the dance with these prospects...

Awesome!! Congrats to all!! GMG

I wish we had better facilities so recruits would want to come here. 🙄

Freshman year, living at Clark Hall was one of the best years of my life. You’re nuts if you have the opportunity to live in a dorm your Freshman year & refuse… in my opinion.

Even if he hasn't grown, 6 foot 8 is pretty tall... (I kid). Loving the size on this team. It's hard to believe this team could be better next year but we have one of the best coaches in the country (I'm not biased at all) and with the size and athleticism we have, this team can be really scary if they all buy in.

6'1" 180lbs. Also holds offers from AZ St., UNLV and WVU https://247sports.com/player/justyn-rhett-46103079/

Nah, you did fine, I only remembered that thread because I posted in it.

Thanks. I searched his name on the forum to see if it was out there but I couldn't find anything. Likely something I did wrong 😆.

And yet the portal continues to fill up with P5 talent!!!

I think we will see our guys go play down a division or juco route.

While I can't read the DRC, my short answer would be a yes. Some of the players that I believe will be solid are underrated or do not have a rating yet. That seems especially true with the defensive line and linebackers. I see a speed and quickness that has been lacking with earlier recruits. It appears that the defensive backs do not have quite as good film as the front seven but they can be coached up. Besides, Phil Bennett is more with the program, changing his yellow Baylor shorts for green (with Mean Green tops).

Do we just give up and call ACU?

I’ve had the same depression. I originally had 4 season tickets at Apogee. Over time, that number has dropped down to my single ticket. Never made the jump to zero though.

Ahh that's much better. Should translate well to the upper level

That was 2013. I was making the case that our 2014 defense was pretty darn good too until our poor quarterback play killed their motivation.

I don't know how anyone can make that claim either. Aune is much better than either of those guys. The football program as a whole is in a much better place than it was under McCarney... Now, I do think his 2013 team would beat this current team, but none of McCarney's other teams would.