GrandGreen

Saturday Games Lakeview Centennial (29-1) 99 Sachse 49, Chris Jones with 30 Kimbell (30-1) 88 Adamson 52, Jordan Williams with 21 Aside, Don't see Kimbell and Lakeview Centennial playing any game, too much too lose for teams this high in the rankings. It would be a great game if it did happen.

If Thompson is not playing well, I would like your review of White, Oduduwa, Johnso and Shorter. Yes Thompson is forcing some shots but with this stagnant offense, someone has to score. As far as defense I haven't seem much from anybody. Thompson may not be the best defensively but that could be said for just about the whole team. Johnson and White try but their size is too much to overcome particularly when they are not any quicker than bigger players. Holman is far from a good defensive player but he does seem to have improved effort. Odufuwa generally played good defense but he is getting overwhelmed by more balanced front courts. Hogans makes some great defensive plays but is not overall that good of a defensive player. He has some great blocks but also get beat a lot. Ever Shorter which is supposed to be NT's best defensive guard is often matched against ether bigger or quicker players and is having a tough time with both.

Thursday Results South Grand Prairie beat by duncanville (24-6) 56-70, Trey Norris with 17 iKimbell (29-1) 91 Molina 47, J Williams with 14 Friday Results Cedar Hill (29-2) 53 South Grand Prairie (22-8) 47 as SGP continues play in a very tough district, Trey Norris with 16 Lakeview Centennial (28-1) 97 North Garland 53, Chris Jones with 14 Eastland 54 Anson 33, Forrest Robinson with 13

A sixth year is only granted to a player who has not voluntarily already taken a redshirt year. Therefore a player that has been redshirted because of injury or other circumstances deemed beyond his control may receive a hardship waiver for a sixth year. Players like Tune who took a voluntary redshirt are not eligible for a sixth year. For example, players who took a redshirt their freshman year to just save a year of eligibility cannot get a sixth year.

Tuesday South Grand Prairie (22-6) lost to Mansfield Legacy 47-50 with Trey Norris with 5 Lakeview Centennial (24-1) 77 Garland 64, Chris Jones with 22 Monday South Grand Prarie 70 Mansfield Timberview 40, Trey Norris with 14 Kimbell 89 Seagoville 68, Jordan Williams with 15 Stats per DMN Trey Norris 17 ppg, 1.2 rbs, 4.1 apg Jordan Williams 21 ppg, 6.3 rbs, 3.1 apg Chris Jones 15.2 ppg, 4.7 rbs, 7 apg

I doubt anyone in the administration or current coaching staff would be satisfied with a four year rebuilding project. I think Vito is over analyzing a bunch of coach speck that McCarney spewed in his recruiting press conference. I really did not like the tone of McCarney's talk but it is very typical of new coaches, bemoaning what talent is here and trying to lower expectations. All the better when the team turns it around or a build in excuse if they don't. The team with all their injuries and coaching disarray was not that far away from contending for the Belt last year. It is extremely rare that teams don't have big personnel loses every year. Gill, Robinson, Jackson, Jackson, Dodge and Atkinsson were all good players but none are not replaceable. Failure to sign a boatload of juco in my view is a good thing, not a white flag.

Lets look at the positives: No more talk of losing JJ and no more discussion of the home winning stretch. I hope this is the dark before the dawn but this is looking more and more like the most disappointing basketball season based on the expectations that I can remember.

NT fans and most other schools have this same recruiting discussion annually. The side taken is usually determined by the status of the class, lots of accolades or average or less. Someone will say stars mean nothing, by the way McCarney said he could care less about stars. Others will brag because their team got a higher class ranking than others. If a team is star deprived someone will bring up players with low ratings who turned out to be outstanding. Others will claim their players are underrated ignoring the fact that all teams have players who are underrated as well as overrated. The simple truth is that star rating are someones opinion based usually on little input particularly for players that usually fall to Belt teams. Their ratings are not highly accurate or teams like Boise and TCU would never rise to the heights they have because they sure didn't get highly decorated classes when they begin their climb. However, anyone who believes a class like SMU, La Tech, or FIU who have about three times the 3 star athletes of NT aren't likely to be better are naive. The 2001 class, that all DD success was primarily build on, had 7 state 100 players on it. I don't think it was a coincidence that group was the best in decades at NT and was primarily responsible for the 26 straight conference wins. . Someone else will bring up the very obvious that you can't really value the class until three or four years pass. True but it kind of makes most recruiting discussion moot, plus that type of analysis is seldom done. I think McCarney and staff did well based on the time they had and the woeful recent history of NT football. They didn't hit any home runs and the class will rank very low in the nation. However, I think it is better then any group of recruits since the aforementioned 2001 team. . It is a well balanced class and I believe will spawn many players that make a positive difference in the program and a few real stars. It is a good start but the fact that compared to NT's current peers it is an average at best class shows how much remains to be done at NT.

Like it or not; SMU is miles ahead of NT now. Unfortunately, so are the rest of the Texas fb schools. Several Belt teams also had outstanding recruiting years on paper in particular WKU and FIU. I think McCarney and staff did great under the circumstances but NT has a long long way to go.

Obviously, the two jucos will be the most likely to be factors next year, both could be starters. A lot of the recruits are at fairly loaded positions like db and rb. It is highly unusual for offensive line men to play much their first year. The defensive line is a need area but unlike many I don't see any new players pushing for starter minutes. Even though NT doesn't have any real standouts coming back in the defensive line, I see McCoy, Obi, Gaines and Akpunku the de rotation. At dt, Cantly, Abbe, and White should be ahead of the newcomers. Jones could challenge for QB but would be behind both Thompson and Osborn. I think all three linebackers could be in the rotation with Phillips and Orr the only sure things. DB is senior laden with McCord, Hill, Downing, Cook and Shorter and hopefully recovered junior Ford joining the mix. The best NT recruits are dbs and the freshmen may be good enough to get a lot of play time but it is not sure thing. My pick for freshman to click, Stojkovic with Swarm and Warner next.

Unfornately, I think NT is closing out with plan b's. However, you never know who will excel.

A few comments, I thought Dodge did well considering what he had to sell. He mostly missed his first year because of the late start and he relied much too much on accolades than knowledgable observations. If you look at his first class, it had more all-everything's than any I can remember in NT history, only problem most were not college ball players. Dodge's second year was the best class at NT since DD improbable and only great class of I think 2001 (Kennedy, Gardner, Spencer, Buckles, etc) Dodge's last two classes were only good when taking into consideration that Dodge had to fight his own record and had little to sell. Dodge's did scrap and find some players but relied way too much on jucos and out of state players. Overall Dodge was not a particularly good evaluator of college talent and seemed fascinated with wrs which was probably his worst recruited position. Dodge's staff did work hard and realized that recruiting was a year long struggle. Dickey other than the aforementioned miracle class was a pi$$ poor recruiter. The most telling thing I ever heard from Dickey was a comment about mid-NT career when he stated he had only had one or two players he offered not accept. Think about that one. Number one, DD seldom ever offered anyone before most of the coveted records were long committed and second he didn't go after many with any other options. DD did recruit some all time great NT players but there were too many years when the star recruit was someone like Willie Ransom. In summary, DD despite being a good college talent evaluator, had a very lazy recruiting approach and never seemed to realize bad mouthing his situation might just effect recruiting. Enter McCarney, a little known in Texas HC, but a coach with strong experience and apparently a lot of determination. Even with the late decommits, this class appears to be as strong as any Dickey and Dodge ever brought in again with the 2001 class exception. To be fair, he does have substantially more to sell than any of his predecessors, the new stadium, better funding, and the renewed hope that comes with every new coach. But he also has inherited a team that has been the bottom of the barrel in Texas and the Belt the past five years. Thus far he has done reasonably well, this class is good by NT and maybe Belt standards but it still lags most if not all the Texas schools. In summary, McCarney has assembled a strong Belt level class but more importantly has demonstrated they are willing to go after and get assess to players that Dodge or Dickey never did. I can't wait to see what this staff can do after a full recruiting year.

You can sign over 25 as some could be counted in the previous year if ships are available. By my count NT is way under the total limit, so some like Power and Stojkovik who are already in school could possibly be counted in the previous class. This year recruiting is a bumpier ride than usual with the decommits, maybe because NT actually has some commits that other fb division schools covet.

Thanks, bad news for sure. Not a good sign for the program if you can't keep your best athlete. Although, it is bad news; it is not something that could not have been revealed. It is about the equivalent to the track team as Dunbar transferring in football. I had hoped with the assistant coaches being changed last year that NT was attempting to upgrade their program. There are not many interested in track but it is my favorite so called olympic sport. It is the only sport at NT were they don't even announce their recruits. Carrying on that theme, I guess losing your star sprinter is not newsworthy. Track at NT should and could be the best in the Belt, but the school seems content to be average. It is not ever bad but seldom very good. Hopefully losing Talley is an aberration and the team has got increased funding and emphasis, but frankly with a few exceptions this year's freshmen look very average.

I have noticed that Talley is no longer listed in the roster. He holds several NT all time records and would only be a junior, so it is disappointing that he is apparently no longer on the team. News about the track team is almost non-existent and there are rules about what NT can disclose, but does anyone know why Talley is no longer on the roster? .

What team was then, with 4 starters returning and three considered mvp candidates; I can't think of team with more potential?

NT has too many turnovers and gives up way too many wide open threes.

Now, that is helpful.

Well, I didn't think it would be long before the know everything college expert would chime in. I am glad SMU is 13 deep and is not about to play a legitimate local school as long as they can continue their ridiculously weak oc schedule. I love someone from SMU talking about loopholes. There is a big difference in taking advantage of loopholes and fragrantly disregarding the rules. . As far as academics, I have attended both schools and neither is particularly stellar. I did however enjoy both and continue to be amazed by the stereotypes that fans of both throw at each other. SMU has substantially increased their selectivity over the last decade and NT has also although much slower. SMU is more selective, but NT blows SMU away on education for the dollar. Forget academics, this is an athletic forum and any discussions relative to NT and SMU basketball are now overwhelming in NT's favor. A look at the recent records and the fact that SMU will not play NT is all telling.

Jeez, more of the obvious. He is not eligible under NCAA standards and I assume is a special admit at NT. Most athletes at UT for instance are special admits as there is no way they would be admitted as regular students. I am not going to use the old Troy excuse and state that Troy should be lauded for giving these players a chance. It is obvious to me that NT would not enroll regular students under these conditions, however I think NT can take the "it looks bad academically" hit as would obviously Missouri if they could get by their conference rules.

He transferred to SMU after graduating from NT. NCAA allows players in this circumstance to transfer to schools that have programs/classes that are not available at their school. He was largely wasted through the first of the year at SMU but played a major part in their victory over Memphis and has been a big factor for them since.

A point that does not care about his scoring average can be a great asset. Just counting the guys who have signed this class is shaping up to be something very special. You never know but I can see all these high school recruits as being stars.

Surely these quotes were not made by anyone who has a college degree. I particularly like the quote that NT standards are lower than the NCAAs. I wonder how that is supposed to work, Maybe NT is going to start their own association and not be subject to NCAA standards. I love message board banner, especially about academics. Being it is fairly easy to look up a school;s basic standards, I wonder about people that make stupid statements with no effort of substantiation. SMU is the last school who should be questioning any universities' athletic standards or ethics. On one hand you have SMU; one of the most notorious rule benders and the only school in the nation to get the death penalty; on the other you have NT with no NCAA violations. Whether Mitchell makes it or not, it is obvious that there are mustang fans who are envious and maybe a little afraid. Hell, they won't play anyone in non conference now, I doubt the odds of every playing them is remote with the classes JJ is bringing in. Also interesting that some Smu fans would not want such an academically inferior school as NT in the vaulted CUSA. I wonder if they checked the standards of UTEP, USM and Houston which are similar or in the case of USM way below NT.

I hope NT builds a program were a top national rated player has to sit on the bench before he gets playing time. If everything turns real positive for NT and NT actually gets eligible Mitchell and Henry, I could see this starting lineup: Chris Jones 6/2 PG Jordan Williams 6'6 W Alzee Williams 6/4 W J. Holmen 6'8 P T. Mitchell 6'8 P Rotation F. Robinson, K. Hogans, T. Norris, J. Henry Holmen would have to really up his game to start as Robinson or Henry could quickly take his place A. Williams starts for his defense and this team really doesn't need more offense I doubt Edwards, Walton and Knox would ever see the court other then blowouts This team would probably blow past about everyone on the schedule but NT still could use a good shooting guard.

This guy is not exactly a tough grader. McCarney ratings is great but loses its ump when the other two new Belt coaches are ranked the same.