GrandGreen

Well being McCarney had the offer before the game, I bet you are right.

How about neither one. Most people don't hop on a job offer even if it is their dream job. I don't have any idea what a "Hitler Video" is, but it seems like an over the top remark.

RV stated a long time ago, the decision would be made by the KSU game. When was the decision made, who knows, but it was obvious that the KSU game would not play into the decision. I'm not sure if Canales was ever a strong consideration which in my opinion was a big mistake. You can fault RV with a lot of things, but I don't think he led Canales on, in fact he seems to go out of his way to indicate the opposite.

Guys, no coach in his right mind would want Canales on his staff. Talk about building in a problem. New NT coach takes over with a very popular assistant on staff to divide player and fan loyalty and furnish plenty of opportunities for second guessing. Not to mention that Canales would never accept.

Why not lets give the new coach a chance? Obviously the decision was made days if not weeks ago; so what positive can be achieved by protesting or advocating someone else after the fact?

Only at NT, NT finally bits the bullet and ups hc compensation substantially and offers an experienced semi-name coach and a good segment of the fans are up in arms. Canales has really put the administration in a precarious situation. On the bright side, if McCarney declines NT offer, it won't be a disappointment to many. The negative is if he accepts he is gong to be compared to a very popular Canales for a long time It appears that RV made a very wise decision to not visit that locker room. Can you imagine how much worse this hc decision would be if NT had actually won this game?

Didn't watch game, only listened to parts at Fouts. A very scary game that much better three shooting and free throws pulled it out for NT. Good teams find ways to win but this game illustrates NT's depth problem. NT bench accounted for 38 minutes total with 6 points and 10 rebounds with Edwards with 4 points and 3 rebounds. Holmen had another questionable game only playing 7 minutes. NT is not going far unless they get a lot more bench help. It was amplified this game because Johnson started, but someone has to step forward.

Saturday Tournament Games Unbeaten Lincoln behind LaBryan Nash's 29 points beat Kimball 81-65, Jordan Williams had 16 South Grand Prairie won a couple, 88-58 over Fort Worth Dunbar, Trey Norris with 10 South Grand Prairie over Arlington Lamar 73-54 with Trey Norris scoring 19

Kimball came back from a 22-43 deficit at half to edge Little Rock Hall 66-63. Jordan Williams had 20 but Kimball was led by Jarion Henry's 31. Aside in response to McGhee question above: It just never seems to work out. McGhee so far as apparently has not shown a lot at Paris. I can only remember one placed basketball player every signing with NT. It seems that either the player is not as good as wanted, and the school loses interest; or the player is real good and decides to go elsewhere. It could work out but odds are not good.

I was here for Tyler and Tyler's team was much more competitive than any of Dodge's till the fourth year. Off the field was a different story, however; Dodge also had a lot of off the field issues. No fan of Tyler; he was a sleaze; but fail to see how he was hired as being any kind of factor.

Is there anything else negative that we can conjour up to worry about?

Have you watched Edwards play? Not trying to be smart, but this guy has trouble moving as well as no outside shot at this point.

Well, I wonder how anyone would know that being that the new WAC is at least a year down the road. I doubt that anyone that even casually follows college football is going to have that view. This is a popular point by the grasping for straws leftover WAC members, but I suspect it will be far from the truth. It is like their oft quoted point of the new WAC members having better rankings than the current Belt, totally downplaying the fallacy of comparing fc members to fb division members and the sad truth that the ratings of SJSU, La Tech. Idaho, NMSU and USU will tumble as their strength of schedule plummets with the departure of the other teams. The fact is that NT as looked pretty darn smart for shunning the WAC years ago and the Belt with all it's flaws is in much better position than the WAC currently is.

I will give you what little I could find. This is becoming more and more difficult as a lot of the on-line newspapers are going to only pay for view. South Grand Prairie beat Arlington Sequin 64 - 62 with Trey Norris scoring 15. Lakeview Centennial beat Hebron 76-49 with Chris Jones scoring 13 Eastland beat Dublin 56-45 Intro to article credited Forrest Robinson with big defensive night limiting two star Dublin posts to 15 points total, could not get to stats. Casper CC won two close games 72-69 over Northeastern JC, and 82-78 over Colby CC; no stats available While I have no interest following McGhee because most placed players never resurface at NT, a couple of notes on a couple of other could have beens: Charles Carmouche is starting for Memphis averaging 7.6 vpts and 22 minutes a game. Chip Armelin is averaging 12 minutes a game for Minnesota with a 4.8 ppg and 1.8 rbs.

If Williams is indeed out for the season, that leaves NT with only 4 ship guards to play 3 positions. Also NT has demonstrated little depth behind Hogans and Odufuwa in the front court. To me, this makes Jacob Holmen of prime importance to the team. He is the only player of the bigs that can possibility play the 3 and has the most potential of the backup front court players to be in the 5 and 4 rotation. Frankly, he has shown little more than potential and bad outside shooting thus far. However, if he could play close to his potential; he could be a 30 minute guy on this team playing both the 4 and 3. NT can probably play a lot of games using only 4 guards but odds are that injuries or fouls are going to make that impossible at some point plus the fatigue factor for Thompson, Shorter, Johnson and White. Holmen has shown flashes of being the answer, but other times; he deserves the bench time that he has been getting. I have no idea, if the light switch will go off and Holmen will be the hustling good player that NT desperately needs, but he certainly has a golden opportunity. Without improvement in Holmen, it is hard to see how NT is going to reach this year's lofty goals with basically a 6 man rotation. Edwards and/or Knox may give some good minutes at the posts, but thus far that looks much more unlikely than Holmen. Spencer could be an answer but I have no idea when he will be available and how long it will take him to get back into basketball shape. Non-scholarship guards may have to be used but I don't see much upside there. This team need Holmen to perform.

Yes he logged quite a few minutes at the wing in the Henderson or Tech game. Not a good idea in my mind, but if Williams is indeed out for an extended period, they are going to have to do more of this type of thing. I still don't know why JJ went into this season without signing another guard. Just about anybody would help them now, and if there is another guard injury, NT will be in real trouble. The last few years with great depth, has got me spoiled; this team scares me.

If I were JJ, I would bench Holmen ever time he ventured over 10 feet from the basket to take a shoot and the same goes for Edwards. Not that they can't make some of those shots, it is just not what NT needs. NT needs an around the bucket presence not another wing player firing up threes. Odufufa did the same thing his sophomore year and he seldom takes those shoots anymore. Once you establish an inside game it is probably a good thing to move outside occasionally, but nether of these guys has shown he has any business shooting outside. NT although you can't tell it from the last two games, has some very good outside shooters. It needs front court players who can post up and play defense.

NT was far from impressive tonight other than they found a way to win at the end. This team unlike any recent NT team has no depth at all. It has to improve, the second line of bigs was close to terrible. Holmen, Edwards and Knox were varying degrees of bad. I took up for Knox against KU, but he looked more like a scared hs player tonight than a third year college player. Holmen continues to run around outside and miss shots and play matador defense. Holmen has all the physical tools, why can't he play? He could be the savior of this year team because he has the talent but so far has shown little other than bad shoot selection. Edwards, frankly looks like he has some health issues, he tries but looks totally uncoordinated at times. Very good not great games by Thompson and Odufuwa. Was I the only one that feared NT season was all but over when Odufuwa went down in the first half. As bad as NT played, they found enough to win at the end. Shorter came through with the free throws as NT basically won the game at the free throw line. Hogans had another great hustle game but missed a lot of easy shoots, but he too came through at crunch time with some offense. Johnson and White both had off games, they were much faster than anything Rice had, but just never really clicked. White is hard to figure this year, one all world game and three were he just hasn't been a big factor. NT seems to always start slow and build under JJ and I hope that trend continues. This team is really only 6 players deep right now and that it is going to hard to overcome unless someone else starts to contribute more. Williams can play if he can get healthy, Spencer is no star but compared to what is coming off the bench right now; he could be a big help.

Lets beat this dead horse to death, I'm trying to throw in a trite cliche with every post. I'm getting a lot of arguments in my view that miss the point. I totally agree that the better the conference is, the more likely you are to get a better seed and conversely a better chance of winning in the tournament. The opposite and just as true concept is the better the conference, at least in a non-power conference is, the more difficult it is going to be to earn a spot in the NCAA's. I don't comprehend how anyone could argue with either statement. If you want to contend that a better conference greatly multiples your chance for multiple bids, there is no disagreement at all. The truth is however that the Belt has been an one bid conference for 9 of the ten years that NT has been involved. We can analyze forever whether WKU and USA relatively high seeds were do more to their impressive oc wins or the improvement in the conference during those years and not come up with a conclusive answer. The important point, again is that NT will play and hopefully beat teams they play against and has next to nothing to do with other teams' recruiting. I just find this debate, a little perplexing. I can't imagine for example many wanting NT's Belt foes on the football field to have better recruiting years were it would be much more difficult for NT to win, but maybe that would change if NT had four nine game winning seasons in a row.

Yes, you can argue ether way; a higher tide raises all boats, etc. The facts are NT has virtually nothing to do with how the other Belt schools recruit and if you want to fantasize that the Belt becomes a premier conference and sends multiple teams to the dance all with favorable seedings, have fun. You can speculate all you want about why NT has been a 15 seed, but that is all your doing. The facts are that NT has beat up a generally very poor oc schedule and as the case last year lost to some weak teams such as FIU and Boise . When it comes to tournament selection for a "mid major" is it better to have a higher rpi or a better record? Not as clear as you make it sound, because there are examples that support both. There is one thing for sure, don't lose and you are going to the NCAA tournament. There are many cases where high rpi teams are left at home as well as teams with sparkling win-loss records. I like the Belt, it has been a good home for NT but I do believe that there are big limitations on how high and fast the conference can progress. It is never going to be in the upper echelon of conferences and in the near future; the only way to guarantee a birth in the NCAA tourney is to win the conference tournament. Once, you are in the tourney than the seeding is going to be based on how good your team is perceived. Is that perception better if you win 30 games against a bunch of patsies or struggle to be over .500 against an outstanding schedule? I guess it is a definitely sign of progress that some are concerned more about the level of competition than the win column. I am really not concerned with who WKU or ULL recruits because it is beyond NT's control. I just think it is a little naive to believe that NT chances at post season success is enhanced by better conference competition. Because that is only true if NT gets into the NCAA tournament and better competition is definitely not going to improve those odds. As far as bringing policies into a sports discussion, excuse me. It was an analogy there is no way that was a political statement.

Maybe I missed something, but has NT got an invitation to the MWC? No disrespect, but do you think that NT is in the Belt for any other reason than it is the best option they currently have? NT and every other university that are not in one of the AQ conferences want to improve their conference affiliation. The sad fact is that you cannot go somewhere you are not invited. NT must make itself more attractive, the first and most important thing it can do is win. Winning attracts support and the more support you have the more attractive NT is to potential conferences. UTEP didn't beat out NT for a CUSA bid because they had a better football program but they have much greater local support. It is a classic chicken and the egg scenario. NT is not supported enough because they are in the Belt, but because they don't get that support; they can't move up. I see a lot of a familiar mantra on the board, why doesn't NT: have a better oc schedule, a better conference, hire and pay better coaches, have more donations, etc. The problem is that resources are limited and there must be a process to achieve all these objectives. It is never going to be fast enough for some, but a couple of pieces have been addressed; better facilities and a significant increase in funds through student fees and additional revenue streams provided by the new stadium. Unfortunately a large portion of those revenues are going to be used for construction costs but there is definite progress. Wishing and pontificating on a message board are poor substitutes for actual improvement although it can be very therapeutic. I particularly like those who take a more rational view, being branded as complacence and thrilled with mediocrity. I doubt there is any true fan that doesn't wish that NT was the dominate team in the nation and made UT look like TWU in comparison. Most of us though are going to be happy with forward progress because we understand how difficult it has been and will be to achieve. And spare me the "shoot for the stars" analogy, I want NT to have high goals but it is much more important to accomplish most of your objectives and consistently move forward.

Good, I don't want WKU or anyone else to get better recruits than NT. Yes, the better conference you are in the better your rpi is and hopefully NCAA pay outs. But sports is basically a zero sum activity, the name of the game is winning. You win by being better than your rivals. I could definitely stand for NT to be the Memphis equivalent in the Belt. Sure it would be nice for the Belt to have multiple teams get to the tournament, but most likely the Belt will remain a one ticket league. The only sure entry into the Tournament is by winning the Belt tourney. Being altruistic is nice, but NT chances are better the weaker the rest of the league is. Funny, I don't hear the Democrats hoping the Republicans will get a better candidate because the level of political discourse would be elevated.

I thought when Hawaii deserted the WAC, that all the NT to WAC talk would cease. Now that NT has officially turned them down can we stop this speculation. If NT turned down the WAC when it had Boise, Fresno and Hawaii all as members, why would they even contemplate joining now or last week?

You don't follow college football very closely, do you? I am not sure how you compare the WAC hanging on a thread with the best at the moment non-AQ conference. No one knows what is going to happen down the road, but no sane AD with any other options is going to the WAC. It makes some sense for move ups from the FC division, but none for anybody else. You are right from a geographical standpoint neither conference is idea, but the MWC is a giant move up from the Belt while the WAC if it survives at all will be weaker than the Belt.

Well considering they couldn't hit free throws or threes and were outrebounded, the score was close at 53-62.