GrandGreen

I think a lot of you are looking at his stats and comparing to US high school stats. His regular team not the international team, average age was 26 and there is no comparison even with the best US high schools. One service has his skill level rating as low but his potential high. I don't think Benford would be interested if he didn't think he had a high ceiling. A lot of people maybe are thinking Barnett, Howerton and Knox but my guess is none of them would be remotely close to playing on a Brazil national team. NT has signed a lot of 6'10 projects because the NT's of the world don't get big men that are play ready. I don't think that Coleman and Casimiro are sure things either but I believe they have much more potential than the ones named.

Have you read many translated articles?

Don't let the stats fool you, Tony Mitchell's were not a lot better in the same tournament. I do wonder were he is playing next year. If it is at NT, someone else is gone.

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/ Vito on his blog reporting new commit from 6'10 Brazilian. Sorry, already reported in Basketball recruiting section, the correct place to post.

Makes a lot of sense, trying to stage a midnight madness event at the VB or old Snake Pit would be counter productive.

Why would anyone put Midnight Madness anywhere but the Super PIt, if it is a small crowd; so what? I don't remember the date of the last one, but the crowd was small and it was held in the afternoon. One problem was that JJ never had much more than a scrimmage. Trilli's and the Slinker teams of the time use to put on a pretty good show with three point shooting and dunk contests as well as short games. This would be an excellent year to revive the game maybe even have it start at midnight, Have a band and entertainment starting around eleven and have both teams participate. Again the crowd may not be in the thousands, but I can almost guarantee you that they it will be bigger than many official games at the SP.

Not sure why all the fuss. I hope everyone contributes that can, but NT needs fans of all types. I just don't get those that bitch about people bitching. Opinions and views differ based on a lot of different factors. Some see fault in almost everything, others offer only praise for NT athletes and seem alarmed that everyone doesn't have their view. The fact is that every program has these types of fans, the problem at NT is not the type of fans it has but the number. It is great to expect everyone to donate with no expectations but to help the program and many do. However, the reality is most of those that donate thousands expect some special treatment. It is human nature, and every program caters to their big donors. The problem that NT has, is it does not have either the quantity of donors or the really big benefactors that most other programs have. I could not care less personally if practices or closed or that I have any kind of in with the athletic staff, but on the other hand if it helps raise donations than I am perfectly ok with donors getting perks based on their contributions.

Frankly, I don't think UTSA really deserves the start and breaks they have got, but now they are conference mates with NT; I hope they prosper. Trying to compare UTSA and UNT is just not going to work because there are so many differences between Denton and San Antonio. UTSA has the power of newness and a largely untapped market for college football that virtually no other school can compete with. UTSA will succeed, it is just a question of how fast and to what level. The new will erode quickly with the almost sure beatings to come and the pertinent question for the Roadrunners is how many fans will stick with the program. North Texas as a lot of current advantages over UTSA, but those could disappear relatively quickly if NT does not continue to improve. However, I am a lot more concerned about competing with USM, Tulsa and more established programs than the newbies.

Short arm players are all the rage these days.

Looks like a very good commit, 7 ft 2 inch wing span and size 18 shoes, could end up bigger than 6'8 although he is already about Mitchell's length. Good thing is he is an around the basket player, hope he doesn't fall in love with the three in his senior year.

Wonder why NT seems to be after so many point guards. With two freshmen and one sophomore on the team now, it does not appear to be a priority.

Not so sure of that, San Diego State was coming off a 9-0-1 year in 1973 when they beat NT 56-9. They finished 8-2-1 in 1974 and Arizona finished 9-2.

1974 (2-7-2) 9/14 ......L ..... SMU # ................................... 6-7 9/21 ......L ..... at Tulsa................................. 6-31 9/28 ......L .....LAMAR ............................... 7-27 10/5 ......T .... at Drake* ........................... 24-24 10/12 ...L .....LOUISVILLE* .................. 10-24 10/19 ...W ...NEW MEXICO STATE* 24-19 10/26 ...L .....MEMPHIS .......................... 0-41 11/2 ......W ...#20 SAN DIEGO STATE .. 14-9 11/9 ......T .... at Wichita State* ............... 10-10 11/16 ....L ..... at West Texas State* ......... 14-21 11/23 ...L .....LONG BEACH STATE ... 19-35 # game played at Texas Stadium (Irving, Texas A positve was that they beat a ranked team.

Another tidbit about that game, the Poly plane was late and the game was delayed and they had practically no warm up. It didn't seem to slow them down at all, as they outplayed NT in the first half.

Looks like a good pick up, but I wonder about the number of offensive linemen, 4 on offense and 0 on defense thus far. With 10 underclassmen already on the team, it makes you wonder: Y'Barbo, Lemon, Johnson, Shaw, Ellerd, Thompson, Feldt, Feldt, Renfro and Trussell. Perhaps it is a case of just going after the best athletes, but looking at the team; there appear to be a lot of bigger need areas. Dickey and Dodge both seldom substituted ol and therefore carried relatively few offensive linemen on the team, maybe McCarney wants to establish a rotation. It is clear that he wants size along the front line.

Actually Fry's plan was to play a lot of games at Texas Stadium; it was to be NT's true home field with only one or two at Fouts. If he has succeeded in the SWC bid, all the conference games would have been at Texas Stadium.

Yes, I noticed how NT completely outclassed UTA was last year. I am not sure what the debate is, if you are saying the potential of next years team is better than 1988, there is no disagreement. I have stated multiple times that next years team could be the best ever at NT. If you are stating that last year team was better than the 1988 team. No it was not. Maybe if everyone had been eligible but that didn't happen. Some fans seem to think NT was a lot better than they were the last two years. NT was far from a power house, those were middle of the Belt teams that make strong tournament runs but lost in the finals. Yes, I do remember Whittington's proposal also that he didn't get a lot of minutes but he was a bull in the china shop when he did get to play.

I said Morgan was more effective around the basket, there is no comparison in talent level. Morgan had a more developed inside offensive game and was Mitchell's equal in rebounding despite seldom getting rim level. The original question was on paper has there been a better team and the answer is several, but the 1988 team was not one of them. They were almost the opposite. A fat maybe 6'5 center in Morgan, a short point guard in Hunter, a walk on found playing recreation ball at the other guard in Robertson. Wendel Williams was a very athletic wiry 6'7 player and Worrell was a lightly recruited player from North Carolina who got better ever year. Whittington, Choplick and Duryea were your basic bit players who provided a pretty good bench. I guess if you are comparing what may be to what was, you can make up any scenario you want. There a lot of question marks on the current team. I do think they can be the best team ever at NT primarily based on MItchell but take him away from this team and I doubt they would even be predicted to be in the first half of the conference.

Another thought on teams on paper, the 2010 team would be hard to beat. Three different players on the team were picked by someone to be pre-season Belt MVP in Thompson, Odufawa and White. That team due partially to injuries and a short bench ended up being a major disappointment based on their potential but on paper they should have been great. The argument about todays athletes vs yesteryear, is a fruitless pursuit. It like saying the 2012 Astros could beat the 1927 Yankess, yes they probably could but I don't anyone would argue they are a better team on the field or on paper.

Excellent write up, and an amazing thing is that Bobby Iverson could have been on that team if he had stayed. He was a legit HS All American and may have been a bigger signing than Tony Mitchell.

Got to disagree to some extent, that team was much better than you seem to be saying. They sailed through the Southland with only two away loses. Their OC record was horrible, but JJ would have croaked at their schedule: Baylor, Missouri, Co State, S Miss, N Mex St, Long Beach St, New Mexico,. They lose to North Carolina 83-65 but their nerves got the best of them as they were the much quicker team and missed lay up after lay up and caved late. You are comparing what you expect of this year team with what actually happened. That team was not utra deep but it had great quickness and had several players other than the three you named that good play. Kelvin Gulley, Deon Hunter and Ricky Robertson were all quick guards and Wendel Williams, Ronnie Morgan and Worrell were solid in the front court. Tim Duryea and Adrian Choplick provided good depth and both became very good college coaches. Robert Greene and William Smith could also play. Dave Whittington at 6'8 far from being skinny and added muscle to the team when needed. I stated that the current team has a chance to be the best, but a lot of players are going to have to improve to be better than the 1988 team. Mitchell is the only player on the current team that is obviously better than the 1988 players. Hunter was a better point than Jones was last year, he ran the team better and was a better shooter. Morgan was actually more effective around the basket than Mitchell was. Worrell was a much better player than Niko, Holmen or J. Williams. Robertson and A. Williams are actually close, Robertson was maybe a little quicker but both shined on the defensive end. We are comparing a very young team of NT in 2012 with a much more veteran team and the current team has great potential and should get much stronger. However, sans Mitchell, the current team IMO would be a big underdog it they played the 1988 equivalent.

Agree that there about 75 to 100 football players that most have identified as major college prospects and they seldom drop to the non-power conference level. But after that there are another 75 to 100 that are borderline major prospects and this is a group that NT is not getting many from. There are another 100 to 200 that will get a fb division ships that are largely fought over by the Belt and CUSA teams. NT has got to start getting the upper level of the third group and a few from the second to move up. See a lot of references to TCU as a model, but the facts are that they have always been at the upper level of the non-major conference teams and while their recruiting on paper has not been Big 12 level; they have consistently been above the rest of the Texas teams. They are a good team for NT to emulate as stated because they have excelled at finding those second level players that can play. I don't agree with your ratings per subscriptions view. The results are the same but they rate recruits by who recruits them. The better the team's rating wise, the higher they value the players they are going after. Another factor is I beleive they tend to be more kind to recruits that sign with teams which have team sites on their networks.

Guy never got on the court for UConn, so I am not sure it makes a lot of difference. A lot of people are getting tired of the hardship waiver, and there is gathering support to change the rules to disallow it. There is no way to do it fairly, and I think the NCAA would like to get out of the business of deciding who is eligible.

Yes, and so are a lot of their write ups like the one quoted.

I can't name them because I don't think it happened. Unless they are referring to players that started on special teams, Lemmon was the only true freshman to start. Y'Barbo and Johnson were redshirt freshmen.