Greendylan

The one I am the most confused about is Larry Wise. The guy had an impressive offer list, and McCasland really seemed excited about him not only as the crown jewel of the recruiting class but as a player we would all be thrilled with this season. This is a point that McCasland repeatedly made across various conversations in the off-season. Then Wise quickly got announced as a likely redshirt--something that isn't all that common in college basketball these days (outside of walk-ons)--after some vague talk of an injury that maybe kept him out a couple weeks. It does not appear now that his redshirting has anything directly to do with that injury. It's frustrating, though, because this is a 6'5, 3-guard type of player with a lot of scoring potential--in other words, someone we desperately need right about now. I just wonder what he would be capable of at this point in the season if he had been developing all year long. I'm not second-guessing McCasland. He's established enough credibility for me to blindly trust him here and there. I'm sure he has his reasons for not playing him, but I wonder what those reasons really are.

It's really hard to imagine beating FIU on the road right now--or anyone else with a pulse, for that matter. Looks like we're destined for the middle tier of the conference. Unless we quickly get healthy and/or some of our players can up their shooting percentage from abysmal to just normal bad, we may limp into the CUSA tournament with quite a losing streak.

This really makes the 5 spot look desirable. One could make a case that if you aren't going to snag the top slot, then 5 is the next best option.

Exactly. I know a lot of people might have looked at Charlotte's record and assumed we would blow them out, but they have mostly been tough at home in CUSA games. Regarding next week's games, a split followed by another split against the F_Us on the road would probably sneak us into pod play at the bottom end of the top group. But, if we have any designs of finishing in the first or second spot, then I think we have to sweep the Marshall/WKU home games. That won't be easy, but I'm not sure the Florida road games will be any easier.

The offense may be phenomenal, as in averaging 40+ points a game. It may end up being one of if not the best in North Texas history. And, we could still end up winning fewer games than in 2018. I fear that some of us are really underestimating how the defensive losses will factor into all this--not to mention the coaching shakeups.

Also, we have won more than our share of close games, which is a credit to our players and coaches, but let's keep this is perspective: we still have not yet beaten a team with a winning record in conference play. While we are likely headed for a good final record, we are probably also facing several losses that some will find surprising.

Even in games we have won, the offense has looked anemic for quite some time now.

Unfortunately, after some ugly wins in conference and now two losses to bad teams, we might have to admit that we aren't nearly as good as we thought we were based on the early season results.

We all knew we were going to lose some conference games, but that UTSA team is going to finish in the middle of CUSA at best. If we really are a good team, then we must not drop a second conference game to a bad team.

It just doesn't feel like we're going to get into a rhythm this time.

He seems more confident this season taking the open perimeter shots when defenders are daring him to do so, which makes me think he worked on those in the off-season. So, the inconsistent free throws has to be psychological, right? I guess some players need the pacing and speed of the game to get comfortable (Bruce Bowen comes to mind).

Good write up overall, but I'm confused by this point: "UNT will head out on the road for its first games away from the Super Pit in C-USA play." What about Rice?

It's hard to disagree with any of this assessment. I think we need to give a lot of credit to Louisiana Tech. With a shallow bench, they identified a couple matchup advantages and exploited them repeatedly until they were back in the game. They looked to me like the better team for large stretches of the second half. Still, if we have the kind of team that can close out tough games against the other CUSA contenders, then we are in good shape. 14-1 is a hell of an accomplishment. Going from where we were a couple years ago to the best start in school history is almost unfathomable.

Free throws . . . damn

Oh he absolutely is. I just mean that Louisiana Tech's inside defense has given us fits at times and redirected a number of shots.