untgeorge

34 mins per game, 17 assists vs 6 turnovers (which is what a point is there to do), led team in scoring vs FIU, defensive whiz (for instance, the number he did on Josh in the 2nd half of our game and on his counterpart at FIU). Solid if unspectacular player. Team leader on the floor, a guy who makes plays and makes everyone on the floor better. I have no problem with his selection to the all-tourney team though I was surprised to see him as player of the year.

Another star who won't make it because he played only 10 games is Carlos Monroe, who we will see Wednesday.

Well, keep in mind that when we played them their two best players did not play. Paul Graham is one of the conferences leading scorers. Carlos Monroe is a hoss of a big inside man. Neither played in Denton in January. This will not be the same FAU team we played then and could be a very difficult game.

McCoy has improved dramatically, and now may be our best offensive player, but before the last run he was not playing well. Always our best 3-pt shooter, for the first half of the season he was our worst shooter inside the arc (both statements based on the shooting %s at the time), was ineffective in penetrating and making plays, and shoot very few foul shots, fewest on the squad per minute played. The frustration and exasperation on JJs face when he took McCoy out after just a few minutes of playing time was dramatic, as McCoy was far from our hottest player in Dec and Jan and was not providing a spark off the bench. It is a tribute to McCoy that he stayed with it and brought his game around and a tribute to JJ that he stayed with him. I have not always understood how JJ manages his players, but in this case, give credit to both. As to losing games we should have won, we have done that for years and to my eyes it has to do with defense and to a less than desirable intensity level. The level of intensity in the last six games has been amazing.

Lamar students taxed themselves (as did Texas State students), UNT students taxed a future generation.

I wish it were that simple. Sat we played with as much intensity and determination as we have the past two weeks, we shot poorly because UALR did not give us good looks with their tough aggressive perimeter defense and at the same time denied the ball to our inside people. Their taller perimeter people had their hands in the faces of our smaller guards all night, and their help defense denied us good shots when we penetrated. This should not have been a surprise, since Shields has been at UALR he is 10-2 vs UNT. As the saying goes, defense travels well, and Shields teams play tough aggressive defense. To win we have to learn to overcome defenses which play us aggressively on the perimeter, with people who are taller than our people but almost as quick.

My point is, even if we lose out and someone wins out, we have a home game. again, correct me if I am wrong.

Actually by my reckoning we are now assurred of a home game March 4. Here is my logic, someone please correct me if I am wrong. The top three teams in the conference have byes in the March 4 round. Five teams will have home games, five will have road games. To have a home game, we need to finished higher than the bottom five. We have six losses, so even if we lose out the worse we can do is have nine losses. Four teams (UNO, ArkSt, ULM and FAU) already have ten or more losses, and thus will finished below us. Two teams now have nine losses and thus if they win out and we lose out will tie us at 9-9. Those two teams are FIU and ULL and we have the head-to-head tie-breaker against both. Thus we are assured of not finishing in the bottom five, and in fact have the 7th seed cinched. So we can finished anywhere from 4th seed to 7th seed, but in any event, will be at home March 4. Like I said, correct me if I am wrong. But the real message is we should show up tonight for a tough game (Shields is 8-2 vs UNT) and to honor our seniors.

and you make a very good point. Sorry I did not get it at first since that is my argument all along.

Rankings in polls are meaningless in college basketball. More relevant "rankings" are RPI (USU is in the '30s). USU may get in by winning the WAC, but don't look for a high seed. Whoever does not win the WAC tournament may be on the bubble.

Keep in mind that in the matters that count, such as RPI and other NCAA seeding considerations, games vs non-D1 teams aren't considered. It is like the games weren't played. BY that standard, vs D1 schools, UTA is 10-10 and SHSU is 10-9.

Whether our schedule us "weaker" or "weakest" us a moot point. Reality us that if we win out and go to the NCAA tournament, we will be a 14 or 15 seed. Probably 15. Our OOC schedule us part of the reason we won't seed better, we have no wins vs the top 100 and some bad losses (UTA and UNO). We have beaten only a few teams which have a winning record. Whether "weaker" or "weakest", I dunno, but the schedule us not strong enough to help us at ye. Some if the weakness is bad luck, who knew Indiana State program was going into the tank. That looked like a challenging matchup when we signed it. Also the Belt is a little down this season. Some if it may have been by design, for instance if JJ wanted an easier schedule knowing he would be breaking several new people into the lineup. That is a common strategy, look at Butler this year. Nonetheless, if we intend for this program to be something better than a one-and-out NCAA team, we have to (among other things) beef up our OOC schedule and win some if those games. It depends on what your ambitions are for this program, if you are satisfied with the status quo, don't beef up the schedule.

We've come a long way when someone thinks 15-10 is negative.

Where is the money coming from?

What exactly is the problem with having a non-football school in the conference? Though many have said that is a problem, no one that I am aware of has explained why it is a problem. Uneven schedules are a hassle for those who make schedules. Not for the players or coaches or fans.

Yeah, I had forgotten Hudson. The 3rd one has just been there the last two games. Maybe a mid-term transfer?

There are three people in street clothes sitting at the end of the bench. One is Nikky Hughes, I am sure; who are the others?

We need both Latu and Emmons whatever Atkinson decides. We just don't have the numbers. As to Spann, you are right on.

Shoot, he's too slow to be a slot receiver, what would we want with him?

You got that right.

How do you figure we got hosed? - fouls were even - they made one ft more than we did - they shot 4 more fts than we did, which came in the last few seconds We lost, plain and simple. We were outplayed.

Speaking of Buzz (you brought this up, I didn't) he has a good chance of being coach of the year in the Big East. CBL knows of whom I speak, even if the rest of you don't.

One other note: UNT shots the most free throws of any team in the league, the most by far. About 140 more than Troy, for instance, so far. And UNT has played fewer games than Troy. This is probably the result of our perimeter people's skills at dribble driving the ball to the bucket. Dennis, White, Dominique, Tristan, are all good at creating or taking advantage of driving opportunities. Tramiel is getting free throw, also, with his work around the goal. Just a stat sidelight.

To quote CBL: "Troy really worries me. They play four athletic guards/wings around a seven footer who cleans up misses and defends the paint well (Tom Jervis - 9pts, 11rbds, 4offrbds, 5blks vs. UALR)...and while these guards do take a lot of threes (8-22 vs. UALR)...they also attack the bucket and get to the line (22 FTA)." You got that right. The other thing that worries me is that Troy is on a roll, winning 4 in a row, 3 of which were on the road. And they won a defensive battle at UALR. Winning a defensive battle is way out of character for Troy. Statistically Troy and UNT look a lot alike. We are 1-2 in the conference in scoring offense, and 12-13 in scoring defense. Most other stats are similar, Troy having a slight edge in shooting % and UNT having a slight edge in shooting % defense. The big stat difference is, as always with Troy, the number of 3s attempted. Their 543 attempts is most in the conf by a wide margin, 180 more than UNT, 7 or 8 shots a game more than UNTs. This is a long standing strategy of Troy coach Don Maestri, whose teams have NCAA records of 3s made in games. The fact that their perimeter players are attacking the goal this year is a change. As a result of this weekend's upsets, we are one game back of UALR in our division and in contention for the 3rd conf tournament bye spot. This promises to be an entertaining game and UNT could use good strong fan support. We are 1-6 against teams with a winning record, and we don't need to lose a home game.