GrandGreen

Good willed but stupid post. More dismissal of NT early success because hey the Belt was just so weak then. Really, it was rated the worse than and still is by most rankings. I've heard the same stuff every year of how Belt football has grown so much better and yet there have been no measurements to back that up with the exception of perhaps last year. The only year that I actually think the Belt moved significantly forward. NT's non stellar football can be easily tracked back to letting an one time successful coach run the program into the ground because he thought he was too good for the program and then making one of the worst football hc hires in NCAA history. Getting off the island will help NT but it is no excuse for anything in the Belt. Back to your less than stellar comment, I guess that is restricted to football; because it is a pretty easy case to make that MBB has been one of the two strongest programs in the Belt for the last six years and NT annual placement in the all sports competition would make your comment on a total sports basis easy to refute. Texas State will easily replace NT, right. A university that has not played a down of fb division football, is going to buoy up the old Belt. If you think NT is less than stellar, you might want to take a look at TSSM's Southland history. Also when the Belt bids that next tv contract, you can relate to them the value of that San Marcos market versus DFW. I am apparently not part of that great logical NT fan base, but I can spot a lot of bs when I see it. A win for the Belt, no one with any of that logic you covet could up with that conclusion. One little hint, when any member of the Belt would jump at a chance to be in CUSA it is very difficult to present any stats or scenarios that are going to convince many that the Belt has won anything. I have nothing but admiration for the Belt and most of the teams in it. I have stated on the Belt board that if everyone feels as you do that everyone should be happy with the changes. But that is a lot difference from I assume a fan from another Belt team coming in here and proclaiming that NT will be easily replaced and really was not stellar in the Belt. My question to you, is who in the Belt is more stellar than NT in your opinion. I can't think of any on an overall basis even with NT having a bad streak in football, please enlighten me.

I hope that the WAC is not dead, there is more to a conference than football. Denver for example is a super school that just didn't fit in the Belt. I don't think many thought that NMSU or Idaho were anything but good conference mates but, like Denver they didn't fit the foot print. You could say the same about Utah State, but they left a lot of ill feelings because the consensus was that they used the Belt with no intent of every bringing their other sports into the conference.

How about the 26 points and 10 rbs he had against NT in 2010, he was clearly the best player on the court that night. JJ didn't recruit him and give him a year of scholarship to set out because he is altruistic. I unlike, you also don't discount that he was the best player at Gambling and All SWAC performer and has three years of college basketball experience. At this point no one knows for sure who is even going to be here, and there are a lot of players that could get into the starting lineup. I don't even know if Benford is going with a two or three guard offense. A lot depends on what offense he plays and what his substitution pattern will be. As I stated before the only sure thing is Mitchell. The other four could be almost any combination of Jones, A. Williams, J. Williams, Hardwick, Patton, Holmen, Franklin Odoh and Walton. Hardwick won't start unless Jones is not here or is moved to shooting guard which is not likely. I think you could make a fairly strong case for any of the others starting.

Just curious, how did his name came up.

I hope all this merger talk ends fast, the reality is I think CUSA at 14 is on the edge of being too big. 14 teams playing for one championship and being restricted to one automatic entry to the NCAA basketball tournament is bad enough. In fact, I believe if the Western Division of CUSA was an indepent league it would be much better. Pull in a couple from NMSU, ULL, Ark State, USM or USA and you would have a much more manageable league. I really don't see any major benefites, in theory the one massive conference is a bigger player in the NCAA, very doubtful. The reality of two similar conferences with similar priorites would be a bigger factor in the NCAA of one conference of 24.

Sounds like an University with a lot of athletic potential but why the rush? I really do not understand the infatuation with all the move ups; UNCC, Ga ST, UTSA, and ODU. Where do the powers think these schools are going to go, why not wait till they develop their programs better and then go after them. If they go to the Belt or MAC, so what: CUSA should still be able to pick them off when they are wanted and if they end up in BE, ACC, or major conferences than CUSA would lose them anyway.

La Tech will travel well to Denton, I doubt anything close to 5k but there are probably more La Tech grads in a 100 mile radius from Denton than there are in the same area around Ruston. People making the trip from around Ruston/Shreveport will probably not number a 1,000 but there will be a lot of La Tech fans that live in the Metromess.

NT if all goes well, should have the best team in history. I don't think getting into the top 25 or getting a single digit seed is impossible. Based on NT history and new coaching staff changes those achievements seem remote but if everyone returns there may not be 25 better teams out there. I am not sure whether JJ was a realist or had other objectives at the forefront, but he never seemed to play for rpi's or even conference championships. It was always about peaking at the right time and winning the conference tournament. Fail or not, I hope Benford goes into the season with a different approach. Play a schedule that at least provides an opportunity to get a rpi below 50. Play every game like they mean something. Beating patsies in the Non Con, playing even ball in the Belt, and even winning the conference tournament should not be enough for next year's team if the player pieces all fall into place.

Funny, even though NT had 13 on scholarship with the coaching change and academic status of some, they are no guarantees who will be here in the Fall. Tony Mitchell IMO is the only player that will definitely start. My guess is that the starters will be if not the first game early will be: Odoh - hopefully he is the inside presence that NT needs to complete this team Mitchell Alzee Williams - best all around player on the team not named Mitchell Jones - This guy is a star and if it were not for Mitchell would be NT fans most talked about player Patton - Been out a year and is still a mystery, but I think he could be a very good inside player, better defensive and rebounding player than Franklin, Niko or Holmen Heavy minutes Jordan Williams - if he can improve his shot selection and shooting and slow down his game a little could be all conference good Walton - Shooting improved throughout last year, and he is a lot tougher than thought Holmen - Hot at end of year and if he can continue that pace, he will be a starter Hardwick - Will get a lot of point minutes Going to have to fight for minutes Norris - Will have to battle Hardwick for back up point Niko - I like his offensive game, seems to stay in Jones' dog house: maybe out of the picture, or may get a better chance with Benford Franklin - Team leader but as tweener it is going to be tough getting playing time Overlander - Handicapped by playing out of position in high school, could develop into a good wing with zone buster shooting Robinson - Sky the limit, but going to have to get a lot tougher to get minutes on this team next year

The message board banner is predictable and a lot of it is negative. Tulane who had one of the worst if not the worst football teams in the nation last year, has a lot of fans that are really upset about all the newcomers with the surprising exception of La Tech. Tulsa fans think that they will win about everything in the very weak West. The Belt message board is full of upset people proclaiming that the Belt will soon past CUSA quickly as they replaced what they lost with better teams. Outside of the Belt board, were you would think that NT never were competitive in anything from a lot of comments; NT is usually mostly ignored. A lot of gripes about UTSA and a few lauding the La Tech addition. Not many have shown any excitement about NT's entry, other than to bemoan in general the poor group of schools added. Despite, the lukewarm welcome from current CUSA members and the sour grapes coming from a lot of Belt fans; NT is in CUSA and I think will quickly surprise a lot of people. It was a long time coming, and could be the start of the emergence of NT as a sports power.

Sounds like an excellent player, but not better than Jones. I wonder were he will fit, I really don't see Jones at the 2. In summary, if he is a replacement for Jones; I think NT's talent level went down.

I think NT will be very competitive in the CUSA, but the first priority is to finish out the Belt with a bang. Redshirting players for CUSA is crazy, if you want to do better in NT's first year you get them a year of experience. I expect recruiting to get better not worse; there is no reason to give this years recruits another year when in general NT should anticipate getting more advanced recruits.

Trilli was was fired mid-March, 2001: RV was not hired till April 4, 2001 so I don't think he had anything to do with the Trilli situation. Trilli was technically fired by an interim AD, but in all reality; no place but the old NT would he be allowed to stay as long as he did. I also am getting a little fed up with the poor Trilli thing being fired after the funeral of Marcellus Wright. It was indeed a tragic situation but the saddest part of the saga was that Trilli kicked Wright off the team months prior because of his lack of effort. It was not Trilli's fault because no one knew of his condition but overall it was not NT at its best.

Jones would have been an all Belt player this year if he had stayed eligible, not first team but probably second. Jones and Mitchell can be a dynamite combination.

http://www.tcu360.co...-experience-tcu Money usually talks the loudest, but not always. Should have never doubted Harry, welcome to coach Evans.

Who knows? It could mean that the academic situation doesn't look good for some or it could be a matter of Benford like Brown cleaning out the bottom of the roster. I hope neither is true, there could be others like Robinson that are weighting their options. Whatever, it appears they expect some turnover.

I think it will help a lot, frankly NT was close to the bottom in football recruiting. The conference change puts NT even with Tulsa, Rice, and UTEP in terms of conferences. A lot of bluster coming out of the Belt about parity with CUSA which is peculiar in that everyone of them would jump in a second. NT will have a big conference advantage over ULL and ASU. The bad part is this certainly will give UTSA a big boost and La Tech who beats NT regularly in recruiting will be in the same conference. I don't think SMU will get a big boost in football but they will in basketball. TCU in the Big Twelve will be way beyond NT but they were anyway. Houston has passed us by and will be hard to compete with. Winning is still the key. If NT can win big in CUSA, a big if; they can compete with Houston, SMU and maybe Tech in recruiting; and oviously should have few problems competing with CUSA and Belt teams. Conference and winning are the big factors in recruiting. Generally, the top teams in a conference can compete effectly with the bottom teams in the next conference in the hierarchy, but not with the top teams in that league.

That is crazy logic taking teams because the Belt may get them. Not sure that has anything to do with it. CUSA went for markets and to balance out the league. Unless something very unusal happens, CUSA can probably continue to take their pick of Belt teams when they wish.

SMU is certainly not the only school to do this kind of thing. What Trilli did here for instance was worse in my mind, he was hired to late to recruit so he played all year with Jank's players while signing and commiting double digit players for next year. The team gave Trilli good effort all year even knowing that most of them would be gone after that year. He only renewed the ships of two players at the end of his first year. The only penalty for Univerities that do that kind of thing is the bad pubicilty arrising from it. It is particularly common with new coaches because they think that it will be quickly forgot and won't effect recruiting. That was a very harsh article and SMU shouldn't be happy about it; but just like June Jones in football; I doubt SMU suffers for this decision.

They are getting similar reactions to the stadium from potential neighbors that NT did.

CUSA has some traditional strong teams in UAB, UTEP, UNCC but there is no reason that NT can't prosper in this league particularly in the Western Division. Outside of UTEP and Tulsa, there are no teams with any better basketball histories. Based on recent history, NT should do well. By the way, I take back what I thought about Trilli lying to recruits about NT going to CUSA. He wasn't lying, he was just off on the dates a little.

There will be more visiting fans from regional teams, a few more will travel and they will have a lot more alumni in the area. However, it is not going to be a huge increase; my guess would be max of 1000 in the attendance average. I also don't think that the CUSA teams will excite NT fans much more than the Belt once the new wears off. There will be some increase because NT will get a lot more state wide coverage than they ever have. Good winning visiting teams will bring out more fans, but frankly I don't think playing La Tech, Tulsa, UTSA, UTEP and Tulane is going to improve attendance significanly. The students that don't get excited playing Belt teams are going to complain about not playing UT, OU and the like at Apogee and stay away. I agree with you the key is winning but I must correct one of your comments because I have seen it many times. When NT left the MVC, Louisville, Memphis, and Cincinnati were all gone. Tulsa was still a member but Fry didn't risk much leaving the MVC as it was about done as a football conference.

Comparison of predicted Belt vs CUSA basketall teams based on last year rpi Men Belt MTSU 56 UTA 110 Ga ST 138 USA 169 UALR 175 ULL 184 WKU 189 FAU 207 ASU 221 Troy 258 Tex St 288 ULM 316 CUSA USM 21 Mar 44 O. D. 103 UAB 111 Tulsa 118 UTEP 147 La Tech 159 E Car 164 NCC 167 Rice 170 NT 198 UTSA 202 Tulane 250 FIU 251 Women Belt MTSU 45 UALR 98 FAU 165 USA 178 Tx St 217 ASU 229 WKU 235 Ga ST 248 ULM 250 ULL 304 UTA 313 Troy 338 CUSA UTEP 48 Tulane 74 UAB 101 FIU 132 NCC 137 Tulsa 168 La Tech 174 Mar 176 O. D. 178 Rice 179 USM 197 NT 207 E Car 224 UTSA 301 NT obviously moving up in competition but should have the teams next year to be close to if not the top of either league.

A quick comparison of speculated CUSA versus Sun Belt football last year football teams per Massey Composite Ratings Belt: ASU 46 ULL 63 WKU 79 ULM 103 Troy 109 MTSU 115 FAU 119 USA nr Ga State nr CUSA: USM 20 Tulsa 33 La Tech 42 Marshall 68 FIU 78 E Car 85 Rice 92 UTEP 94 NT 97 UAB 108 Tulane 118 UTSA nr No CUSA is not the big step it used to be, but it is still despite many Belt fans' opinion a significantly better football league. Add to that a much more regional conference, and all is well in NT land.

Well, NT does have another year in the Belt with a big target on their backs.