ADLER

One of the most pleasant surprises during this year's playoffs is the great play from Spruce. They keep rolling through opponents thanks to the sharp shooting of their leader, senior guard Kevin Busby-Hayden. He dropped 27 points on Kimball, making him this week's MVP. Watch The Video

Here's a little more on Joseph Fulce from Rivals.com Rivals.com Joseph Fulce page

January 8, 2007 NCAA on Override NCAA News, Michelle Brutlag ORLANDO, Florida — Division I institutions again exercised their right to vote on legislation at the Convention, overturning a rule during a January 7 business session that would allow graduate student-athletes who want to transfer to a new institution to compete immediately, and upholding a Board of Directors defeat of a proposal that would have added a 12th game in the Football Championship Subdivision. The two override votes at the 2007 Convention were the division’s second and third “one school, one vote” decisions since restructuring. The entire Division I membership also had the opportunity to vote at the 2006 Convention on a proposal expanding scholarships in several women’s sports. The first vote on the transfer legislation was definitive, with 70 percent supporting the override, despite strong support for the legislation from the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.spoke to the assembly, quoting NCAA research showing that of 4,830 student-athletes who graduated with eligibility remaining, only 112 graduates transferred, and some of them were eligible for the one-time transfer rule. “Please give student-athletes the privilege of making this important decision for themselves,” Street said. “The (competitive) impact is minimal when compared to what student-athletes gain from continuing their education. It would be a shame to take away this opportunity from student-athletes.” Many coaches saw the rule differently, though, believing it could eventually create another recruiting period for graduates with eligibility remaining. Jim Haney, executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, painted a bleak picture of a world of “advisors” who would encourage student-athletes to transfer to more high-profile institutions for more exposure. “I am worried about the integrity of the game,” Haney said. “I see unintended consequences. … (An override) is in the best interests of the game.” While not many student-athletes took advantage of the legislation in the first year, he said, eventually more people would have become aware of the opportunity, and recruiting of those student-athletes would proliferate. Proponents of the override noted that student-athletes who truly wanted to transfer for academic reasons — to pursue a graduate degree not offered at their current institution — could still avail themselves of a waiver process. Carol Iwaoka, associate commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, said the waiver process would assure transfers were truly for academic reasons. “Our conference supports the override because we support the academic pursuits of the student-athletes,” she said. “We want transfers through a waiver process that offers quality control.” Most of the institutions voting, 196, agreed with Iwaoka. Coincidentally, Division II delegates overwhelmingly approved similar legislation at their business session the following day. The second override vote at the Division I business session, which upheld a Board decision to defeat a 12th game in the FCS, was not nearly as decisive. Of those voting, only 48 percent wanted to override the decision. Again, SAAC members saw their position defeated. Jarrell Johnson of Western Illinois University said the 12th game would give student-athletes an extra opportunity to make the playoffs and another chance to gain exposure. “It would be more than thrilling for us to play another game in front of a crowd,” he said. “Having that opportunity to compete keeps up the morale of the team and rewards the loyalty of our fans.” No one spoke against the override.

Football: Texas State starts spring practice without Wasson Web Posted: 03/20/2007 02:09 AM CDT Jerry Briggs Express-News Chase Wasson's future in college football remained in limbo Monday as Texas State opened spring drills without him. Wasson, a quarterback-receiver who accounted for 12 touchdowns last season, has been on a leave of absence from the Bobcats for the past month. It's possible that he has played his last game for Texas State. In a telephone interview, Wasson said he hopes to graduate from Texas State with a degree in communication studies after this semester and then possibly attend graduate school and play at another institution in the fall. Declining to name the school, he confirmed it is a Division I-A program and that he would need NCAA clearance to play. "Right now I'm just exploring what I want to do," said Wasson, who has played three seasons in four years with the I-AA Bobcats. "I'm exploring graduate school options." Wasson said he approached first-year coach Brad Wright with the request for a release last month. On Feb. 22, Wright announced that he had given Wasson a leave of absence. Wright declined comment Monday except to say that he had given Wasson permission to speak with one other school. The coach said he's eager to work with 43 returning lettermen, including 14 starters, in drills that run through April 14. "It's here, and we're excited about it," Wright said. "We're putting in some new wrinkles on offense and defense, and we're ready to become a better football team." Texas State punter Chris MacDonald said he thinks Texas State can fill the void created by the potential loss of Wasson. "I really do think we have the talent on this team to do that," MacDonald said. Sophomore Bradley George enters the spring as the starting quarterback. By most accounts, he is expected to have the job when the season opens. Wasson went to Texas State as a quarterback but has been a receiver most of his two seasons. He enjoyed a productive season in 2006 — passing, receiving and rushing. He passed for 442 yards and four touchdowns. He caught 27 passes for 380 yards and three TDs, and he had five TDs and 358 yards rushing. San Antonio - Express New

It seems that we sure have been following Marquez Haynes for a while. gmg.com July 2004 If you put his name in the Search on gomeangreen.com you'll find several articles about his high school and AAU performances. Marquez may not be ideal for every team's system, but Johnny seems confident that he could be an outstanding player at North Texas.

MSN shows a Tony and Renee Worrell living in Tremonton, Utah. Was the interview possibly during the USU football game in Logan?

CLICK HERE TO SEE POLL "Which once again proves my theory: North Texas is SMU's SUPERBOWL." "And that's the way it is."

We need players at every position. Wooden and Williams are both gone after next season, as is the always injured Jackson, leaving us with a developing Howerton as our only big man.

You're probably right, but I think we should extend the same offer to UTA once they get a new arena built. The travel toll on the student athletes has got to be considered. Conferences now stretch thousands of miles, and excessive travel does mean missed classes. It would be incredibly beneficial to the students to aleiviate some of that burden during the non-conference season.

I'm sure he's aware of that but maybe doesn't want to admit it. With the same schedule as Tech we would easily beat them in attendance for most game, the UT, OU, OSU, KSU, and A&M games for sure. Their remote location makes them inaccessible, or at least horribly inconvenient for visiting fans.

There's a poll on another school's site which inquires which game they are most looking forward to. Just look where North Texas is listed. Site with game poll CLICK HERE.

North Texas should all play home AND away against TCU, SMU, and UTA every season just like UTEP, NMSU and New Mexico do. There is no rule that you have to be in the same conference to be able to play twice. Look what that scheduling does for those three desert schools which love to beat each other. Those rivalries are those school's biggest draws. The D/FW schools haven't matched their attendance despite having almost every advantage. The rivalry would not only increase attendance for those games, but would cause the general public to take more interest in the local teams. Tobacco Road didn't become Tobacco Road by teams refusing to play each other. They created intense rivalries that escalated all three programs.

On the other extreme are the Ohio State uniforms. They look too cheap to be used in an intramural league. It's sad, Ohio State has so much talent, is currently ranked #1, but will be doomed to lose because of their hideous unifoms.

And you may ask why this story is relevant on our board. Well, North Texas is currently doing a feasibility study for building a new stadium of our own. Do we currently need an 80,000 seat stadium? No. 80,000 seat stadium? No. 70,000 seat stadium? No. 60,000 seat stadium? No. 50,000 seat stadium? Again, No. But we do need to realize that the current standard for Division 1 football stadiums, especially those at larger state schools, excedes 70,000 seating capacity. Should we build a 70,000 seat stadium? Once again no, but it would be practically criminal not to build something not intended to be expanded to that capacity in phases over time. It would be best if North Texas designed a 35,000 or 40,000 seat phase 1 of a MUCH larger stadium. This plan would instill our future in Division 1 football. Failing to plan is planning .......

LUBBOCK, Texas -- A master plan for improving Texas Tech's football stadium includes the addition of 30,000 seats over the next 20 years and a five-story building for club, retail and suite space. Athletic director Gerald Myers presented the plan Tuesday to the facilities committee of the Texas Tech University system board of regents. Improvements to Jones AT&T Stadium would cost an estimated $40 million. Myers also presented plans for $14 million to $21 million in upgrades for baseball and softball facilities on campus. The plan presented to the committee had few details on funding. "The funding for all of this is not complete at this point, but we are working diligently to do all of these things," Myers said in a story for Wednesday's Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Planners want to start adding 10,000 seats straddling the north end zone by next spring. The athletic offices, suites and retail facilities would be built on the east side of the stadium. Proposals for softball improvements include a new fieldhouse, stands and practice facilities. For baseball, improvements would include upgrades to artificial turf, concession additions, and a new press box and eight luxury suites. "I'm glad to see they're doing a master plan," committee chairman Bob Black said. "I think it's been long in coming, but very, very encouraging to see it coming out of the athletics department."

Well, I was right in the middle of of the middle-aged, overweight, beef BBQ eating North Texas fans. I had a pretty accurate crowd assessment even though it was complicated by all three of the other teams having fans wearing blue. Memphis had more fans there than anybody. The Memphis allotment sections were filled with their fans and there were lots of Memphis fans mixed into the general seating areas. They have a strong following and will absolutely dominate the crowd for Sunday's game. North Texas had the second largest crowd. Our allotment sections were full and there were pockets of Mean Green fans scattered throughout the arena. Not bad, but not overly impressive considering that we're a 33,000 student school only 8 hours away. Nevada was third. They sold their allotment but not much else. Creighton appeared to have sold it's ticket allotment.

Shouldn't this post be on the GMG Domesticated Animals page?

Good, because I would be pretty disappointed if they went down there and focused on sightseeing.

Welcome to the North Texas Exes. Hey, at least sending out this list gives an impression that they may actually be doing something.

USA 39, Syracuse 38, at the half

I love the City of Memphis as a tourist destination, and I doubt we could find too many people that would say the same about Denton. I went there several years back and had a wonderful time; stayed at the Peabody, toured Graceland and the Elvis museums, visited the Memphis Belle, bar-hopped on Beal Street, and was at the Lorraine Hotel to comemerate the 30th anniversary th MLK Jr assassination. Thanks for the picture of the parade Jeb.

There’s a difference between the two. At LSU there were hundreds of out-of-control idiots running around the place. At NMSU, the out-of-control idiots were running the place.

Here's my story about the Memphis fans that made quite an impression on me. I went to the New Orleans Bowl with my bride and our 17 month old daughter. It was a pretty warm day when we left for the pregame luncheon so we were dressed accordingly, and my daughter was wearing her little cheerleader outfit. We left the Hilton Hotel and headed to the nearby Superdome. We stayed after the game to watch the trophy presentationto the Tigers, and when we left it was cold, windy, and it was sprinkling. We couldn't get a taxi at the dome so we walked back to the Hilton. My daughter was freezing and shivering a I tried to do my best to warm her. When we got to the Hilton there were already dozens, if not over a hundred, Memphis fans already waiting for taxis. Everone was very anxious to get back to their hotels and to the Bourbon Street post-game revelry. I got in the line outside and had my wife take the baby inside the hotel to wait, but they kept having to come outside to see how close to the front of the line I was. Most of the taxis that were coming into the Hilton circle were getting commandeered by Bourbon Street anxious students from both schools before they could even get to the line. Finally, after a very long while I was up toward the front of the line, but the taxis kept being taken by the kids. I was gritting my teeth trying to stay shut up when several of the Memphis fans in line behind me walked out to the street to get the next taxi before it could enter the Hilton area. I stayed quiet but was close to having a turrets moment on these damn Memphis fans. Suddenly, the taxi that they had grabbed turned into the Hilton circle and stopped at the front of the line. A 50ish year old Memphis fan with a grey beard got out of the taxi and said "I know you've been out in this cold for a long time, and you've got to get your baby somewhere warm before she gets sick. I wanted to make sure you got a taxi before the students grabbed it." The few Memphis fans that were in front of me that had been waiting even longer than me insisted I take the cab, saying that they would wait for the next one. The Memphis fans that were there that night proved themselves to be class acts and have formed an opinion for me of what great fans are like. Whatever happens in the game Friday, I'll be cheering for the winner throughout the tournament.

Does this school history seem vaguely familiar? And apparently Memphis endures some of the same insults that we do from our common competition: Click this LINK The thread linked above was after Memphis had soundly beaten somebody in basketball. Doesn't it seem almost exactly like the reaction that the same school had after we beat them in football? I think Memphis fans would have an even better understanding of our position if they had to share a metropolitan area with certain people.

Did you get my PM? I would like to reserve 2 rooms if possible.