Leaderboard

Tony Mitchell under an inspiring coach and quality nucleus.

Recent Past With all the excitement over Tylor Perry we quickly forgot about the best player from our recent past. The stats and awards bear it out. In my mind the answer is Javion Hamlet. No other player has accomplished what he has. https://meangreensports.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/javion-hamlet/4731 Imagine what he would have accomplished if the 2020 NCAA Tournament had not been cancelled. We won the Conference in 2020 and arguably that was the best team we have ever had.

This is 100% the best way to move this thing along. Even with all of the terrible rules in place. However, the legislators at schools that are alum of flagship universities wouldn't dare push this along in fear of their precious darling school possibly slipping into the cellar and possibly being victim to this relegation model. That's the challenge. Everyone knows relegation is the best and most purest form of parity that would create a somewhat even playing field over a long period of time. But 'they' don't want an even playing field. They want to show up to the poker take with a mountain of chips and bully the others. There is a tremendous amount of pride and ego associated with all of this.

But I don't see this a move down....more of a "not moving up" For this to take shape, you have to assume that the "highest official classification" is going to change. It's gonna be 30-40 teams. This isn't like going FCS in the '80s. It's not even close....the entire landscape has changed. NIL, transfer portal, ESPN, media.....nothing today resembles 1988. The "highest official classification" is just a label. It's unofficially the SEC/Big 10 now...even the Big 12 is not stable...P5 is going to P2. We have to stop thinking that because an Oregon State has "always been a Power conference school" that they will continue to be one. Boston College? SMU? LOL. The math has changed. Alabama, Ohio State and Texas are so far removed from the lower P5s and G5s that snow ball is moving at warp speed down the mountain. Them along with ESPN run college football now and what they want, they will get. I don't think Ohio State really cares about Washington St.... We (current G5 plus the P5 "hanger ons") aren't going to be able to keep up with this new world... I think this proposal is a new classification...not moving down to an existing one. Just my humble opinion....

word. missed that. then I hope it's Johnell Davis

Two big names set to visit North Texas this week. 1. AAC Starter 2. NCAA Tourney Starter https://www.patreon.com/posts/north-texas-mbb-102974428?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Eventually, one of those four teams will be in the top group. The other three will be down with SMU and UNT

THE SPHERE IS 30-ISH SCHOOLS!!! The debate is should we continue with this charade or be proactive and put something together that could benefit the rest of the left overs. I happen to think a regional direction for the rest of us will be good...both in eyeballs and costs. Especially compared to what we have now. For crying out loud, Cal is going to North Carolina for conference games. That's dumb.

That's right they'll shuffle them "DOWN" In this new world, who is SMU more aligned with? Rutgers, Vandy, NW and a few others? or Ohio St, Bama, Texas, USC (I didn't want to turn this into an SMU topic but you just can't seem to accept reality...)

Yes, I am aware of all that, and remember when they were very good back in the 80's or so. But, as you said, they haven't been very great lately, and had pretty much fallen off the radar until a long-past-his-prime Pitino went there.

returning (so far) 1. Rondel Walker - 6'5" 180 Sr., wing 2. Matt Stone - 6'4" 200 Sr., wing 3. Moulaye Sissoko - 6'10" 250 Sr., post 4. Terrance Dixon - 6'8" 235 Jr/Soph?, post (scholarship?) 5. Alex Cotton - 6'5" 195, Fr., wing transfers 6. Johnathan Massie (Longwood) - 6'6" 190 Sr., wing ... 11.3ppg, 5.2rpg, 35% 3pt% 7. Jasper Floyd (Fairfield) - 6'3" 195 Sr., guard ... 9.5ppg, 5.9rpg, 4.1apg, 2.4 steals/game (9th in nation) 8. Latrell Jossel (SFA) - 6'1" 185 Sr., guard ...12.9ppg, 2.3apg, 37% 3pt% 9. Brock Vice (Creighton) - 6'10" 245 Fr., post ...redshirted '23-24 season freshmen 10. Tyron Mason (Plano) - 6'6" 185 Fr., wing if we assume Dixon is on scholarship. there should be three more to play with. apparently 2 D1 transfers are on campus this week. there's not a ton of size, but a lot of length on the wings which could make up for not having a legit 4. Floyd's numbers present him as a true PG...no clue on Jossel, but looks more like a scorer...I think either way, we need bare-minimum one more ball-handler. Vice/Dixon are both pure wild-cards...I'd say at least one more 6'8"-6'10" player no matter what...if either/both can contribute next season, then my last ship goes to another scoring guard...if not, go big

Ain’t nobody leaving the Big 12 for a bizarrely configured ACC. You’ll get American squads but not Big 12 peeps. GMG

Would like to see an association with the MWC. This could give us some separation from the C-USA and MAC they can form their own group. Both could have playoffs and a championship.

Time to consider how much our piss-poor NIL and attendance issues resonate with the players.

Forget it, if NT moves down from D1. Competitive or not; being in the highest official classification has benefits. NT was in a league like this in the old 1aa days, and it was a nightmare in terms of coverage, support, and financially. I don't see any rationale why an official separation between P and G teams should happen. The P's already get most of the money and coverage. What do they have to gain?

St. John's is a top 5 Big East team (a "High Major" conference). They play big home games in MSG. It's a great landing spot for him. He'll get a ton of eyeballs on him there.

Some musings. First, G5 realignment for efficiency? HAHAHAHA yeah that's been bandied around and ain't no one ever bit on it. I'm very happy with what Sun Belt West looks like, odds are a shuffle gives me something I don't like especially since every let's draw a pretty conference on map nerd out there is convinced Arkansas State belongs in a Texas alignment when its basically same distance to Atlanta as Denton and there's a LOT of schools closer than UNT, the closest G5 in Texas. Now as to a playoff. To quote former Sun Belt commissioner Wright Waters when someone asked him if the flavor of the day G5 consortium idea would work, "You only need one network to love you." If you can get CBS, Fox, NBC, or even ABC/ESPN on board to go all-in and carry the bulk of this tournament on over-the-air TV on Saturdays, then it's going to deliver better audiences than virtually every G5 v G5 bowl game that ever existed. Bundling a 7 game or 11 game or even 15 game tournament is going to be more efficient and more marketable than TV rights to a bunch of single game bowls and same for sponsorships. Financially it is more cost effective to send Toledo to Jonesboro on Friday to play Saturday than to send A-State and Toledo both to Montgomery and make them both spend four nights there. You will sell more tickets presumably to UNT hosting Utah State in Denton than you likely sell for the same game in Tucson or Albuquerque. The finances start making sense fairly easily. Here's the critical element to me. Third Saturday in December has long been G5 Bowl-a-Palooza on TV, that's now first weekend of the CFP with one game Friday and three on Saturday. If ESPN bothers to put any bowls that day, they get swamped and they are probably on ESPN2 or ESPNU. Fourth Saturday is likely to be flooded with games like the Liberty Bowl and Alamo Bowl P4 vs P4 games. Again if G5 get that slot, it's probably ESPN2 or ESPNU. Maybe get to play bowl games the Saturday after New Years but the competition isn't just NFL, it's NFL playoff football. The likely outcome is the Texas Twister Tyler Texas Bowl pitting AAC #6 and MAC #3 is going to be played a 2pm on Tuesday before Christmas or such. G5 is likely getting shifted to more weeknight bowl games and maybe more weekday games during work hours. If that's what's coming down the pike, then fine. Find me a network that will commit to Saturday over-the-air broadcasts in addition to cable channel broadcasts during the four Saturdays that CFP isn't playing. Probably best scenario is play one week, take a week off then play the next two in consecutive weeks in a 7 game format. No rocket science involved, top team from each G5 (so four champs plus whomever from the league getting a CFP berth) and three at-large based on whatever arbitrary and senseless ranking one cooks up or if 12 then 7 at-large. Bowls pretty much fade out and coaches getting laurels for 6-6 and 7-5 not so much any more.

My initial reaction is “Please let this happen.”

Well that eliminates one game I can go to. Senior ceremony is also going to be after the second game tomorrow. Hate that weather is getting in the way of this most accomplished senior class in our softball program's history.

From the looks of things....maybe a PWO?

Tyreek Smith RS-SR6-8205 Trinity Christian School(Cedar Hill, TX) Just entered the portal today. We need a power forward. This would be his 4th school. He was a starter for Smut this season.

I'm hoping we at least reached out https://247sports.com/player/carlton-linguard-46098057/college-288895/

The Big 12 is a superior basketball conference to the ACC. I know you're hurt they don't want you back, but them's the breaks!

If you actually think that Louisville, NC State, VT, PITT, and GT are going to willingly commit financial seppuku to join an inferior Big 12 then there is no reasoning with you. The ACC isn't going anywhere b/c (thankfully) the commissioner isn't a total idiot. Sorry champ but them's the breaks.

play in MSG v. Villanova or a 1/3rd full Super Pit v. Tulsa. tough call.

Javion was my pick as well followed closely by Mitchel, just to see what he could accomplish under a good coach.

Damn, we should have a separate forum for these conference realignment discussions.

Coach Hodge, Forte and team are doing great.

I am fascinated that May will take the chance.

https://nypost.com/2024/02/22/sports/st-johns-receiving-nil-lifeline-from-billionaire-alum-mike-repole/ https://www.si.com/fannation/name-image-likeness/news/new-mens-college-basketball-event-to-offer-2-million-in-nil-deals-matt9

As noted in the quote you selected, one is an AAC Starter and the other was a starter on a NCAA Tourney team.

Fairfield was at 68.9 possessions/gm. A pretty quick clip putting them just outside of the top 1/3, ranking #143. We were at 62.8 possessions/gm. Tied for 2nd slowest pace (#360) after Virginia's mind-numbing 60.8. https://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2024/stats-adv-pace

Anyone know if the AD does exit interviews with players to understand their motivation for leaving...or maybe even an inquisitive journalist could do some digging? Are there any common themes, do they change over time or is each case unique?

This new proposed contingency ACC sure walks and quacks like a non power conference. Why would anyone allow them to stay a Power conference without the teams that make them a power conference? I have an idea: when the PAC 12 goes away, let’s change the name of the AAC to the PAC 12: Boom, now we’re in a power conference.

Jossell is only 5-11, but yes to more guard size overall. Now we need to add some 6-7 or 6-8 PF/wing types.

6'3" guard who gets you 6 boards a game, a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio, 87 steals last season (Rubin, our best on-ball defender, had 127...for his career). yes please.

I fixed it for you and added SMU when the ACC folds!

I think you are vastly underappreciating what A-Scott brought to the table

This is click bait. Congrats on it working. Got my TL talking for a bit. I am not unemployed or 22 years old anymore so I have had a hard time caring very hard.

SMU was not even the most egregious cheater in the SWC in the 80's. The governor aspect made it more salacious but as far as being "an artform" all the boosters in the SWC did the same shenanigans. They called it internally as the OPEC Conference. B/c that's where the price of players was set. Everyone knew what was going on and everyone was turning each other in for doing exactly what they were doing themselves. Truly the wild west.

Oh, listen, I cannot believe yall haven't sued the NCAA of billions of dollars. For back pay for killing your program. Yall just laid the groundwork for how painful a Death Penalty is to a program, so fine upstanding programs like Baylor, who saw players rape and kill people, as well as Penn State. who looked the other way at pedophilia in their own facilities by coaches, never got a deserved death penalty. But I will also say that nobody else had a payroll that involved the governor of a state to keep this all under wraps. Yall made it an artform...

Farrar looked good at the spring game. Trust in Cobbs.

This is like saying the quality of food at Taco Bell has increased significantly over the past four years...it's still subpar.

I may ruffle a lot of feathers here, but he and his team won tourney championships, regular season championships, CBI championship, NIT Championship, and an NCAA game, and it still didn't move the needle. Attendance was still poor, and those players deserved better support.

We get you are a closet New Mexico fan but noone l know cares that much about them. Sure they have more fans at games but there is frankly nothing else to do there. We have fielded a much more competitive program than they have recently.

After much thought, I have decided to enter the fan transfer portal. I have already been approached by universities that offered money, as well as lots of comp tickets...the one in Dallas is the chief bidder, but I have not made up my mind to commit.

Good luck to Rubin @ Michigan. Thanks for the memories. Just curious why he just didn't walk on at Michigan from Yates HS if he loved the history and family feel so much. Had a very good career at Yates but Michigan wasn't around when only UTEP, UNT and Nichols State came calling.

Yes. But not that that means anything any more.

UTSA absolutely does not have a better location. SA is not a great area for HS football talent and they do not have deep NIL pockets. They are maximizing their value and holding the programs to a high standard. Good for them. But if you poll the vast majority of G5 coaches/administrators on which program has a better foundation I'd argue most would lean towards UNT.