GrandGreen

As you would suppose based on the record, NT is dominating Belt basketball stats. NT leading in scoring at 79 a game more than 7 above second place. NT leader in scoring margin at +8.1 ahead of ASU at 6.7 buoyed by their 81 point embarrassing win over a bad non-div 1 team NT leads in free throw percentage at .757 NT is third in three point percentage at .374 NT is an disappointing 4 in rebound margin but leads in defensive rebounds; obviously having the best shooting percentage hampers offensive rebounding NT is second in assists NT is tied for last in steals, I mention this because NT always is in or around the bottom in this stat; Any thoughts as to why? It has to be tied to the type of defense JJ uses, but it is strange. Thompson is the Belts leading scorer at 17.5 and White is eighth at 14.6. Odufuwa is second in rebounds at 9.9, 1 behind Rubit of USA but first in defensive rebounds Hogans is leading field goal percentage at .598 with Odufuwa second at .570 and Johnson eleventh at .481, very good for a parameter player Johnson is second in three point percentage at .472 Johnson is fifth in assists at 3.6 Free throw percentage is led by Johnson at .89, White is second at .88 and Thompson sixth at .83: very impressive

I would sign at least three QB's that have at least a chance of competing for the number one spot. Two jucos at this point wouldn't be bad.

Actually there was a time when those games were viewed as an opportunity. Fry was actually elated that UT agreed to play NT. Funny prior to Dickey, the UT games were hard fought and often close. Unfortunately the vast majority of NT recruits in the past come to NT because it is their only or best offer. So oc games are immaterial in that regard, but players want to occasionally play the best. The options for oc scheduling are basically find a like school and play home and away such as SMU, Tulsa, Rice, etc, be the guarantor and bring in a fc college, play a big money guarantee game, or play a 1 home to 2 or more away games series. Making that choice is not only financially based but a descent home schedule needs to be maintained and a slate obtained that offers a reasonable likelihood of success. Unfortunately, the economics are not significantly effected by the new stadium. The capacity will at most be the same, and all though revenue streams for club seating, suites and improved sponsorship should help, there is still a massive debt service obligation to be met. The new stadium will be a definite plus for scheduling but not to the extent many think. I think one guarantee game against a power is good for the program. It gives a sometimes as we know brutal assessment of where NT's program really is. Outside of excellent money it also provides exposure for the program. It may be negative if the slaughters continue but exposure in the region does the program much more good than the Northeast or West coast. Many of us are still regaling the victory over Tennessee and the theft of a win by UT although both were decades ago. I don't like playing one home for multiple away games, it makes oc schedule difficult and decimates a home schedule if done often. Yes, I would take a 1 to 2 with UT, OU type teams but that is unlikely. Yes Boise was successful playing a weak oc schedule, but NT is not Boise. Boise is in a region with little sports competition with only one other relatively weak fb division team as a rival for support. NT has advantages but is just the opposite of Boise in sports competition and local support. You may have noticed that while NT ruled the Belt, the attendance was not any better than now. Not being able to accommodate a fan base as little to do with scheduling, it is all about the Benjamin's. With the "bigs" able to generate over $4,000,000 just in ticket revenues alone for a home game with no return required, paying a million to buy a game is great economics. Not to mention, the odds are prohibitive that they are going to win at home against a guarantee opponent while away games are much more challenging. Yes, these schools infrequently play at small venues primarily to prepare for away conference games. Scheduling is complicated for sure and there is no right solution. As someone mentioned, playing UT this year might have been a good thing, of course when UNT plays them next, they will be back at the top of the chart.

Well as someone who has lost half of his lot to eminent domain to widen a creek to stop flooding down stream and who has a massive toll road build behind the ditch that is now beyond my back yard, I have some sympathy but not much. I bought the property next to a creek and knew at some point the highway would be build although it was held off for decades by lawsuits. In short, I made the decision to live here and can't really blame anybody else. In retrospect, I still have more land than I want to mow and the toll road thus far is not near as bad as believed, in fact it is very handy. I hope most Denia folk also come to the conclusion their perceived plight is not near as bad as they feared. I am beginning to believe the Denia leaders may be more enraptured with the publicity than really concerned about the stadium. As an aside, universities are much desired by most municipalities and have immense positive financial impact. Yes, universities are exempt from property taxes but that is a small price for a City to pay for an entity who employs thousands and brings a very large student population to the city. Add to that the cheap labor students provide and the cultural and entertainment a large university brings to a community and it is easy to see why cities like Denton are really fortunate.

I guess I missed something, why do many think that Dodge could not play QB at NT next year? Based on last year I would have thought he would be the best bet for starter.

Another head scratcher by a NT QB. First, just like Vizza no one can question Dodge's play and effort on the field. I guess playing for a school that fired your dad is too tough. I would have though staying with your teammates and finishing at NT would be preferable to a fc division program for Dodge. However, I have appreciated Riley for the past three years and have been in awe of his competitiveness, best luck to him wherever he ends up. .

Heard on bb broadcast that Spencer is out for the year. So this team will play all year with a max of 9 scholarship players. I doubt NT will want to give Spencer a sixth year, they have already given him three years to play one. He would be an asset this year but I don't see him playing much next year with Holmen, Edwards, Knox, Hogans and Robinson already on board. Plus with the way the next class has developed wouldn't a freshman, a very good juco, or a transfer who must set out a year make a lot more sense. Of course, you never know, I still can't understand why they left two ships open this year,

Interesting many want to play SMU but few TCU. Leaving out the UT, OU, and like of the world, who in reality are not likely to ever play an away game against NT; I would go with local teams. TCU, SMU, Baylor, and Tech: all those would have relatively good fan support in Denton but hopefully they would have to scramble for tickets because of NT support will quickly outgrow the stadium capacity. Although it will never make financial sense for the big time programs to come to Denton, many teams do want to play in the metroplex for better access to the nations best recruiting area so there is a possibility for some good visiting teams.

Big talk from FIU AD who funds his program almost completely on student fees and state funds, I think RV intent of only scheduling one guarantee game is sound. Yes, it might be nice to not play a top three team every year, but recruits and players want at least a taste of the big time.

FYI, Knox won the tip

For those of you who think that a "free" education is adequate compensation for what college football players go through, I would guess you never played. The point is however that most would play for nothing but I think the NCAA and universities are threading on shaky ground with the huge coaching salaries that are being paid now. You can half way justify the revenues generated because of the non profit status of college sports. Theoretically all surpluses are plowed back into athletics or education but with four million compensation levels for hc's, it is difficult to justify not paying the players who work very hard and take all the risks. If this is ever taken to court, college athletes as we know it could be a thing of the past.

Yes, but you could make a even stronger correlation using the conference status. The stronger the conference, the more money and increased likelihood of success. It is very difficult to really isolate and therefore evaluate factors necessary for winning. In the long haul though money is critical because it influences coaching, recruiting and ultimately conference affiliation.

Lakeview Centiennial 61 Tulsa Union 50, Chris Jones with 11

See Cooley's post on Coke Cola Tournament for scores and some comments on second round games Kimbell goes into finals of CC tournament with a Kimball 75 Richardson Berkner 64 victory with Jordan Williams with 17 Lakeview Centennial (16-1) 82 Arkansas Conway 56, Chris Jones had 16 at Har Ber Tournament, I would guess that the Arkansas schools wish they had make it an all Arkansas affair.

Horrible game but glad it was against a bad team. NT went on a 22-6 run at end of game to make the score repectable. A division 2 team with 2 wins without it's best player and having not played in nearly 2 weeks or practiced in days, give NT all they could stand. I doubt NT could have beat anyone else playing this bad. Thompson at least got interested and essentially sealed the win. I hope that NT got a bad bad game out of their system and will be ready for two a lot tougher conference games this week. Overall 11-2 oc is great so I guess I should look at the positives.

NT better get with it, they look as bad in this game as they did good against LSU.

Jeez never thought of that, schedule winnable guarantee games. Unfortunately, the guarantee amounts go up with the size of the stadium and attendance which is usually associated with a powerhouse program. It is funny how the amount of the guarantee is correlated to number of teams that want to play an opponent. North Texas is not much a draw anywhere but I am sure West Virginia, Michigan State and Washington would rather play NT than more local teams. Again one guarantee game a year is great, it raises money and most if not all football players want to occasionally play the best. I doubt if any NT players grew up wanted to play the teams you mentioned.

I thought the answer was both NT and UCLA beat LSU by 20 in Baton Rouge

Lots of holiday tournament action Lakeview Centennial 83 Searcy 43 in Har Ber tournament in Arkansas, Chris Jones with 8 as 11 players score more than 4 for LC in laugher. Coca Cola Dallas Tournament South Grand Prairie (14-3) beats Lancaster 61-58 led by Trey Norris with 15 SGP then wins over Carter 65-48 again led by Trey Norris with 17 Kimball (12-1) with two easy wins over Wylie 86-59 and Roosevelt 82-54 with Jordan Williams leading scorer in both games with 22 and 21 points. This recruiting class continues to shine.

I disagree with Vito, Dodge was not the starter at the beginning of last year because a decision was made that his injuries were too severe not that he was not the best QB on the team. After Riley's performance last year he is the leading QB going into spring training without a doubt. After all the QB injuries last year including Dodge, it is obvious that NT needs multiple QB options. Riley is injury prone no question, Thompson is a big question mark so obviously a more experienced QB was wanted in the mix and yes a juco QB could be signed to be insurance.

I hope NT is in jeopardy of losing all their coaches because that means they have done something positive here. Yes JJ deserves more but the facts are he and the team has done their part, but as a whole the NT bb program does not come remotely close to breaking even. With the type and quality of the program, JJ has developed; the attendance and support at NT is pitiful. Most schools in Texas are in the same situation, and the support for NT has and is improving but it has far to go. Now that NT is in conference play hopefully NT can average at least 4,000 for the rest of the home games and take at least double the crowd they had last year for the conference tournament.

NT beat much better teams including ranked teams in the old MVC days. The win over LSU would not rank in the top 20 wins of NT, however it is very significant for this years team. Relative to NT merchandise availability, it seems every AD including RV has pronounced that the problem would be solved but it never is. It is not available in the majority of metroplex sports apparel retailers and it isn't because it is sold out.

Never-mind that one guarantee game may make more money then NT's whole home schedule. I think NT is in an excellent position only playing one guarantee game a season, look at the other Belt teams' schedules. I had much rather play UT than the other usual suspects LSU, OU and Alabama. Facts are that you are not going to get home games from the elite programs unless you are willing to do 2 or more away for 1 home game deals. These multiple away for one home game can really destroy your home schedules on a long term basis.

No, NT should not boycott anyone, but I don't think NT should go out of their way to help them either. IMO, there are already too many fb schools in Texas and any new schools just dilute the resource pool. Nothing particular against either UTSA or TSSM, my feelings would be the same if the schools were Lamar and SFA for example. I do not particularly like many of their fans' view that assumes that they are on NT's level without playing one game as a fb division team. They are in the wild enthusiasm phase which I am sure will be tempered when the blow out loses begin to occur. They ares both going to have a rough awakening soon, and I think the fact that they so close to one another will both help and hurt them. UTSA being in a giant ciy may be able to pull it off. TSSM will have a tougher time being in the shadow of UT and having little to offer other than a huge school and a pleasant campus setting. Both benefit from the maximum in student fees but gaining support in a very competitive Texas environment will prove very difficult. Dreaming of success is easy, achieving it is very difficult.

Tuesday Games South Grand Prairie (12-3) over Midlothian 65-49 led by Trey Norris with 20 Kimbell (10-1) beat Carter 83-61 with high scorer Jordan Williams with 22