foutsrouts

So if we can make it back to Lafayette, it looks like we'll likely have to get by Monroe and S. Bama to make it to the final.

I guess we potentially have one slight advantage if we can make it to Lafayette by being the team to have most recently experienced the Cajun Dome and the city's accomodations. I also guess that our major disadvantage come Wednesday is that we are going to have to beat a team that now knows us very well and will be highly motivated to win and go home to host this tourney. I suspect that coaching will be put to a major test on this one. Can you do it Johnny?

Not that I am concerned either way, but there are always transfer possibilities over the next half dozen years. Good luck to both guys regardless.

If next February Riley TRULY believes that he has a REAL chance to become a Heisman candidate type NFL quarterback prospect, then maybe he will decide that a currently more recognized program is best for him. If not, then I kind of think that NT would be a great place for him to go and develop his talent. Of course if Vizza or somebody else plays lights out, he may have to consider the prospect of a redshirt year and not having a starting opportunity until his final two years. But then again who knows? Things can change very fast and we could possibly provide him with that Heisman opportunity five or six years from now. Time will tell.

You're damn right about that. He is definitely a two guard and I just don't get Jones trying to make him the backup point guard. There would probably be an argument against it if Davis were shooting lights out this season, but Davis should be running the point when he's in there with Watson and Sturns. It might even help Davis get into the flow of the game a bit better. Unless Bell finds a way to get more productive in the off season, I'm hoping that Dennis will run the point next year. On the other hand I guess we'll have to wait and see what kind of transfers we have coming in for next season before we can try and figure all of that out.

You're damn right about that. He is definitely a two guard and I just don't get Jones trying to make him the backup point guard. There would probably be an argument against it if Davis were shooting lights out this season, but Davis should be running the point when he's in there with Watson and Sturns. It might even help Davis get into the flow of the game a bit better. Unless Bell finds a way to get more productive in the off season, I'm hoping that Dennis will run the point next year. On the other hand I guess we'll have to wait and see what kind of transfers we have coming in for next season before we can try and figure all of that out.

Pretty upsetting loss. The way our offense seems to peter out down the stretch, I think that Sturns should be getting much more than his 15 minutes tonight. He contributes in so many ways, and I don't think he is ever given much of a chance to get into any kind of an offensive rhythm. If we have other offensive options that we're not utilizing, then please someone come up with some suggestions. Nice job in the first half by Watts, but we are still way too dependent on him hitting his threes over the entire course of the game. Pretty obvious that JJ disagrees. These close losses are getting to be a little too much.

I just took a cruise around the LaLa campus on my way back from Mardi Gras. Pretty nice stadium, and I remember when they used to get some good crowds a few years back when they played as an independent. Only one amongst us that was able to avoid taking the 1aa plunge.

Don't remember Umar. Name change?

I guess that means you were not there in '88. That Simm's sackfest wasn't all that bad either a few short years ago.

Yeah Wooden has really improved in conference play and I hope that Williams' game at the line was the result of some serious practice time. We really need some overall improvement in that area to have a decent chance in the tourney. The missed one and one frontends have been driving me crazy all year and they aren't even completely reflected in the boxscore. A guard oriented team like ours should be shooting a solid 70% from the stripe.

If only our point guard could hit his one and one's down the stretch. Next time they may mean something.

It's ridiculous that we still have no direct access to the Permanent Fund proceeds. Why does the A&M System get 33.3%, the UT System get 66.7%, and we basically still have to beg for crumbs. We are all Texas public institutions of higher education that were established at roughly the same time for whatever purpose, and we should all have equal access to the public funds earmarked for higher education regardless of the source of such funds. Time for another constitutional amendment.

Absolutely. All the NCAA rushing champions in history could fit on a bus. Pretty exclusive club. I'm sure he should shoulder some of the blame for his conditioning the past two years, but there's not much doubt that injuries have played a big part in his problems. Hope this is his year of atonement.

My numbers are correct and are based on YOUR comparison between Sturns and the guy (Wooden) with the second most turnovers on the team. If you read my posts you will also see that I never said I wanted Sturns to take over the point guard position. I said that I wanted Davis to assume more point guard duties and for Sturns to get more minutes which I believe should come at the expense of Bell. This team seems too dependent on the three point shooting accuracy of Watson to win games, and I think we desperately need the additional firepower that Sturns can provide if we're going to have any reasonable chance to win the SBC tourney. Are you really satisfied with the status quo and do you honestly think this team is playing well enough right now to blow through the SBC and make the NCAA's? If you are fine. If not, what adjustments would you suggest that JJ make to give us more than a snowball's chance to put together enough road victories in a row to win the tourney? I say we need addtional offense in a big way and giving Sturns more minutes may be about our only option to make that happen. By the way, if you consider the most recent and relevant turnover statistics which are turnovers during SBC play, Sturns is number FIVE on the team in TOTAL turnovers while Bell is number FOUR in TOTAL turnovers. It's pretty obvious that Sturns has improved his ball control over the second half of the season.

Twice as much and no funny math involved? Let's see. Sturns at 478 minutes and 66 turnovers equals one turnover every 7.24 minutes. Wooden at 562 minutes and 57 turnovers equals one turnover every 9.86 minutes. Is 9.86 nearly twice as much as 7.24? Don't think so. And if you use numbers from the second half of the season they're much more favorable to Sturns. Oh and if you want to talk minutes, Bell averages .21 points per minute vs. Sturns' .69 points per minute. Looks like Sturns scores at well over three times the pace of Bell. Maybe we could use some of that in these tight games. I just knew that accounting degree would come in handy someday.

Almost twice as many turnovers as the next guy? Turnovers as of 2/10/07: Sturns 66, Wooden 57, Bell 53, Williams 52, Watson 51. Must be that funny math stuff.

I've seen eight games this season, and you're right that Sturns has improved on his turnover to steals ratio quite a bit after the first quarter of the season. A lot of times I think he looks more out of control than he really is because he's such a good athlete and that's just the way that he plays the game. I know that Sturns has his problems, I'm just saying that with all of these close games we need all of the firepower we can get and Sturns and company are probably a better option than Bell. A point guard who's "OK" defensively, has well below average offensive numbers, and who gets less than one assist for every ten minutes of playing time shouldn't be getting the minutes that he is getting. It might be different if he was a clutch player in crunch time, but I hate to even see our point guard go to the line in the last couple of minutes of the game. I know our options are limited, but I think Davis should be running the point more often with some of the other guys sharing close to half of Bell's minutes. To tell you the truth, I should be complaining about Watson's numbers and his one dimensional game also. But then again, it's not the players but our Commander in Chief who's responsible for making all of these adjustments and decisions.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Bell is getting too many minutes. He plays more minutes that anyone on the team yet has worse overall numbers than any regular on the team. Roughly 40% from the field, 65% from the line, under 30% from three point land, and 3 assists per game just doesn't cut it for a point guard who plays more than 30 minutes per game. His steal to turnover ratio isn't anything to write home about either. I think it's time to give half of those minutes to Sturns or even Mangrum. This team has proven that it can only win by outscoring the opposition, and in my humble opinion Sturns could probably make up the difference in many of these close games if he is given a chance to play a full 30 minutes on a regular basis. I think Sturns' turnover tendencies are overrated, and we're likely going to need the guy to be our number one man next year so it's time for him to get some serious minutes. I doubt it'll happen due to his doghouse status, but I'm gonna vent anyway!

I guess people are getting so used to all of the missed free throws that they hardly notice them anymore. We wouldn't have had nearly as many games go down to the wire this year if we were a decent free throw shooting team. A lot of missed 1 and 1's. Not to lay it all on Bell, but it would be nice to have a point guard in there at crunch time who possesses well rounded point guard skills. The guy may be good at getting the ball down the court, but I haven't seen a whole lot from him as far as finding the open man and free throw shooting are concerned.

That timeout was one of the dumbest calls I've ever seen. N.O. would of likely been limited to an absolute prayer shot had it not been called. We have a problem if our players are not well coached enough to know what to do defensively in that situation without calling a timeout. More upsetting to me than the UTA loss. I've been sitting patiently on the fence as far as JJ is concerned, but now I think I've fallen and I can't get up.

Bad timeout. Bury, bury, bad timeout. All I've got to say.

I think I'll celebrate by eating at Giovanni's tonight. Excellent Veal Parmigiana.

Big game tonight. If we can pull it off, all we have to do is go 4-2 the remainder of the schedule to get our 20 win season. Luckily we play our toughest opponents at home from here on out. Hope everyone shows up as this game will likely set the tone for the rest of the season and could decide whether or not we have a chance of getting back in the race.

No doubt about that brother. Many people, including some of our own, seem to be unable to recognize the fact that we have had a big-time accounting department at North Texas for decades. If the big money New York area press tells people something enough times they tend to eventually take those opinions as fact. Kind of sad for people who are old enough to remember when Texans generally figured those things out for themselves. On the other hand, I really do wish that we would work on raising the profile and quality of our MBA program. We seem to have many things already in place to become a highly recognized program, and MBA rankings seem to be the only criteria that many people use to gauge a business school these days.