Green Lantern

Johnny Quinn. Without a doubt. Amazing player and great ambassador for the Athletics program and NT in general. Of course I've only been following NT for a little over a decade, so I don't have the historical knowledge that some on the board do. In the last decade, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a NT fan that would pick anyone besides JQ.

This is the same issue that I have with all this. I seem to recall reading posts from Plumm on opponents message boards (i.e. La Tech, MTSU, SMU among others) as well as diatribe after diatribe here on GMG about the win streak, the NO Bowl appearances w/1 win, the new AC, and the new Daktronics scoreboard. It just seems a bit hypocritical to come back now after a couple of tough years and bash eveyone who had anything to do with these successes/improvements (ie.DD, Bobby Ray, BOR, and everyone in the AD besides RV). For the record, I was never a huge DD fan/supporter but I can't deny that the successes that we had under his regime. The wheels were set in motion during those years to move this athletic department forward and there is no sane NT fan that would say that we haven't made SIGNIFICANT improvements since the late 90's.

I prefer scoreboarding em' on the field.

That's a lot of Mean Green football there! I'm impressed.

Anyone who watched willing to give a synopsis? Forgot to set my DVR for this.

I think the mentality will be "We're ready to go to war". From a guy like TD, I wouldn't expect anything less from him or his players.

Been going to games since 98'. I've probably been to somewhere between 48-52 games total. Away trips to OU, UT, ULL, Arkansas, Baylor, TCU, and all the Bowl games in NO.

Hard to say that Troy isn't the odds on favorite. They were playing really well towards the end of last season. I'm also with CBL in that FAU is a team to watch this year. They seemed to be putting it all together in the 2nd half of last year. I still like NT's chances to make some noise in the Belt this year...don't know if I think SBC championship is realistic or not yet.

Underrated observation.

I think that it only helps lend legitimacy to what we are trying to do at NT. The old way of recruiting was a "defeatist" attitude imo. Like we couldn't go toe to toe with other good programs for top area recruits. I think that TD and staff are only showing what we knew all along...That NT can be a viable option for highly regarded area talent. I'd rather have the possibility of a big time BCS school coming in and stealing away a top recruit of ours on occassion (happens to everyone btw) than continue to play second fiddle to EVERY team in the state when it comes to recruiting. I love the new positive attitude and these early committments are only going to act as a positive signal towards other area recruits that are currently considering signing with the Mean Green.

True enough...but we are sure quick to flaunt our recent football and basketball successes in these arguments as well. My point being, all of us are trying to position our programs in the most favorable light. MT does have some very positive things going on right now (as does NT), I don't see any reason to get into a pissing match over who's program is truly better. In all honesty, we all (Sunbelt) need to improve dramatically in the coming years. None of our programs are currently at the TCU/Boisie level...which is the next level that we should be aspiring to.

Just a question. Why do we get so up in arms when we hear about a conference mate of ours wanting to improve their current situation (i.e move to CUSA)? We always have these broad over reactions like it's a joke that they would even be considering trying to improve their porgram. It just seems a bit hypocritical of us to do this since we have about 100 off season threads every year regarding the same subject matter. Not trying to start a flame war...I'm honestly curious at what makes NT fans so pissed that members of our conference have the same/similar ambitions as we do. To me, this is a good thing. I want MT, Troy, ULL, ASU, and especially NT to be making strides every year to improve their programs in hopes of moving up. If we are all doing this as a conference, we are bound to drastically improve our perception nationally in the coming years. FWIW, I'm with Stebo on this whole thing. None of the Belt teams are going anywhere in the near future.

Agreed. I think that NMSU was the closest thing we had to a real rivalry (around 2001-2005). Since they left the conference, we should be hoping that a rivalry with Troy can be developed. They seem to be capitalizing on their recent bowl appearances and are looked upon as favorably as a Sunbelt team can be in the media. The SMU thing needs to be put to a rest. We are not their rival. The whole metroplex situation as far as D1 universities is ridiculous. TCU doesnt think they're rivals with SMU. SMU thinks their too good for NT. NT thinks UTA isn't a rival. All the schools would benefit from playing each other every year in the sports that they compete in. Won't happen though bexause of the politics involved. We need to focus on creating/fostering conference rivalries because we are assured of playing these teams every year. Same can't be said for any of the local D1 universities during any particular year.

Geez...A bit of an overreaction don't you think? The whole thing was prefaced as being just pure speculation and fear of what COULD happen. It's not like this program is that far removed from acting as a developmental area for UT talent. This kind of thing happens from time to time. CBL was just offering a pessimistic view (ie worst case scenario) on what I'm sure he considers a major coup for NT.

ULL's Cajun field by far. Great tailgate atmosphere w/friendly people and great food. Their stadium is well set up. I haven't been to Movie Gallery in Troy yet...but I've heard several people mention that it is a great facility/atmosphere since it's renovation a few years back.

I agree. He along with Vizza are the two incoming freshman that I'm most excited to see. Roberson has all the physical tools that you could ask for in a receiver. Hopefully his speed is as advertised. It will be interesting to see how he performs against a physical D1 defense when he gets here.

How to get the Denton community more involved/excited about NT athletics. How the NT athletics marketing department never does anything right. Concessions woes inside Fouts. Parking/Tailgating changes...specifically how they suck/will never work/we will all never be the same again 1a) How to get tailgaters into the games/those that don't come in are horrible people and shouldn't be allowed on campus MG club problems. Specifically billing issues.

Here' a rundown of a great interview with Todd Dodge. He talked about how he was really excited and thought that the defense was going to be a strength (sounded pleasantly surprised). -Said that the defensive line and linebackers were a strength...talked about quality depth along the defensive line and experience with the returning linebackers Said that he was still staying involved in the day to day teaching on the offensive side of the ball...specifically the quarterbacks and receivers. He also stated that he was staying heavily involved in the playcalling. When asked to pin down one outstanding player on offense/defense through the spring Offense: Casey Fitzgerald Defense: Eddrick Gilmore (sounded really excited about the prospect of both of these guys) Doosey asked what the Ultmate Goal is here at NT: TD said it's to win championships, go to bowls, and to increase the consistency of winning here at NT. He made refrence to the last time he coached here and said we would win a few games in a row and then lose to someone that we shouldn't have. He intends to correct this type of thing. He stressed that if we are winning consistently, he feels that the fans will come out in numbers...but they will be coming out to see the Mean Green play and not be quite so caught up in who our opponents are. They then really plugged the Game Day atmosphere for this Sunday's spring game and TD encouraged lots of people to come check it out and have a good time. If I missed anything, feel free to add other tidbits.

He's coming on at 9:00...confirmed as of 8:53.

I think we need to try to make this an ugly game. Don't let them wear us out with their transition game. We need to take care of the ball, rebound well, and limit Memphis' number of possessions. Hopefully Watson and KD will both come out hot and stay that way the entire game. I really worry about not being able to keep up with Memphis if we try to run with them. They have been steamrolling teams in the "mid majors" that fail to take them out of their up and down the floor tempo.

My biggest fear in playing Memphis is what Georgio stated. I just hope we can weather the storm and not get run out of the gym in the first half. What makes me nervous is that we really excell at playing "up tempo" but in doing so, we would be playing right into Memphis' hands. In this situaion, I feel like we'd be better off trying to "ugly up" the game and not let Memphis get into any kind of rhythm with their transition game. That's where they've been killing their opponents all year.

I was in the UNT bookstore earlier today and they had championship t-shirts right when I walked in.

They did have a nice turnout. Several hundred students, faculty, and staff were there along with the pep band, cheerleaders and dancers. I was actually impressed with the turnout given the short notice and general lack of awareness amoung many on campus about events that are happening. There was quite a bit of media there filming and taking pictures of the crowd and the players and staff. Keith pretty much covered the on goings of the event. The players and coaches seemd to really appreciate the fact that people came out to show their support. Pretty cool actually...people were very pumped and there was tons of specualtion amoungst the fans in attendance about who we were gonna draw in the first round.

Watched the game at Tavern last night. It was a great atmosphere. 1st half, there were about 15-25 people watching, but after the 1st half (probably after night classes let out) there were tons of people in there. They had the NT game on almost all the TV's (others on the MAvs) and the place went nuts when we won the game.

I'll add my .02 as far as eating some crow. I've had some fundamental issues with some in game decisions and so on but the size and athleticism that JJ has recruited here was able to make up for some of the teams flaws. I give JJ and staff credit for bringing in these players and cant wait to see who we draw in the 1st round. Congrats to the players and coaches. It a great day to be a Mean Green fan!