BUNT

Two players going for a lose ball and collide. You don't make that call, especially at that point in the game. You play five more minutes. Baylor stood toe to toe with Tennessee, too bad the game had to end that way.

I don't travel to watch basketball at other SunBelt schools, and I've always wondered what the atmosphere was like. Surely, this isn't typical is it?

Some personal liability certainly seems in order for coaches. You honestly don't believe the Baylor administration condoned this behavior? This was a coach acting on his own - loose cannon style. Sure, there should have been some tighter institutional controls, and hopefully with the AD's resignation these will be implemented. I'm willing to bet if a death of this nature occurred in any program at any school, the ensuing investigations would reveal some petty violation of some sort. Clearly, the coach paying for tuition out of his pocket to cover a "scholoarship" and Bliss' subsequent attempt to shut the players up when talking to police are stupid, major infractions - how about obstruction of justice here for Bliss? Other infractions revealed in the investigation such as paying tuition for players finishing up at a JUCO is also stupid. But, I'm willing to bet there isn't a coach or AD in the country who isn't / hasn't looked back to see if a meal or two was inappropriately paid for. I'm betting Baylor has gone over this with a fine tooth comb. Much better to discover everything yourself and report it to the NCAA than for them to come by and find all kinds of stuff. Kind of like when I discipline my kids - its a little lighter if I find out they told the truth about something stupid they did rather than find out they tried to trick me.

I've had basketball season tickets for over 20 years, and for the life of me, I don't understand why more students don't attend games. You can say if UNT won more they would come, and that's no doubt true. But how many students live within a mile of the Super Pit? 10,000? Maybe more? Then you probably have another 2,000 to 5,000 within five miles? So, is winning the only thing that would get 3,000 - 4,000 students to a game every time out? The "community" fan base seems to be around 1,200 or so - which has got to get better as well. Basketball, probably as much or more than any other sport, feeds off the energy of the crowd. So, I guess it's a chicken-and-egg thing. Win, and we'll come out and yell, we come out an yell so you play hard and win. So, what is it? The right coach seems to be here. The Super Pit looks great. The team's competitive. Used to be in the Blakely years, UNT would beat the Hardin-Simmons of the world by 100+ to 60, and fans would go ape crap wild. But you have a game like a couple of years ago against Alabama and lose by 1 or 2, and fans write you off.

I was thinking the same thing last night - what happens next year? I counted six seniors in the program - but does Barnett have another year of eligibility left? It's still some concern that UNT has six seniors on a .500 team. Who comes back from injuries / redshirts?