GrandGreen

You are correct it was not Edwards but Adams. Jenkins and Adams were scout 4 stars, NT has never signed a rival 4 star. Edwards was a three star athlete that was at NT only a short time.

Is not Scouts the one that rated Edwards who arrived at about 150 lbs and Jenkins who arrived at over 370 lbs 4 stars? I was informed that this was wrong below. Edwards was a three star rated athlete, the four star was Adryan Adams who did play.

I think the conclusion is obvious, mainly because the ratings are a self fulfilling prophecy. The ratings are not despite what they tell you an independent analysis of individual players. The rating services don't scout every senior player and assign a rating. What they do is largely base their opinions on who is recruiting who. The best teams are going to get the best players because they have the scouting resources to identify those players and have the pull to sign them. It would be interesting to see for example if a USC or UT recruiting an average Belt class and see the ratings of those players. There is a definite bias in this analysis also as it is much more likely that a great player is going to be selected All American at a name school than from a lower tier conference. I found it interesting to note the rating inflation that is going on with .289 percent of the players 3 stars in 2005 compared to .374 in 2009. My guess is that 2010 will continue that trend.

I think both TSU and UTSA are going to find the going much tougher than they expect. Many dislike or hate the ponies for their lack of support for UNT, however I have never faulted them for their approach only their stupid responses to deny their intent. College football is a business and most business's are not going to support their competition. Unless it is in the best interest of UNT to support these schools, why should they? Yes it would be good to have more games with Texas rivals but is it worth the cost of having another competitor for recruits and sports coverage. Both of these schools have very large student bodies and have had successful elections to provide great funding for their athletic programs. Other than that, neither program has a great athletic history or has gathered a lot of support. UTSA because it is located in a huge city with no pro football competition and is twice as far from the all everything Texas Longhorns is IMO far more likely to be successful than TSU despite having no football history. TSU's main asset is a name that is some how propelled them above much more successful Southland programs such as SFA. UTSA is currently a better academic university and with the backing of the second largest city in the state seems a much better candidate for a conference than TSU. So if UNT supports either I would prefer UTSA, but I would wait until they establish themselves to be a viable fb division team before I would schedule them or lend any overt support.

Am I the only one who thinks this blame it on the offense, defense, or special teams is pointless? NT was bad in all areas. An above average offense until you consider turnovers and inability to score in the red zone. A defense who often was good early but usually failed when the game was on the line. Special teams that were improved primarily in the return games but punting and field goal attempts were dreadful plus an unreliable kick off return defense. As far as Deloach, who knows; was he successful here before because he had superior Belt players or did he recruit and develop those players? I will give him the benefit of the doubt, but another bad defensive year will tell a different story. Comparing Medoza with Deloach is IMO beyond stupid. There is no way that Medoza should have ever been hired for that position. Dodge goes into his fourth year with undoubtedly the best coaching staff and player talent he has had at NT. I hope he puts it to good use.

I don't doubt Stephens will get her full contract to turn her program around. Note, I say her program because she inherited a pretty good squad. I hope Stephens quickly succeeds for the sake of NT and there have been signs, like the tournament win in her first year and the win over USA this year, that she may be capable. I will state the reasons I have to question Stephens' hire and performance thus far. I thought there were better and certainly more experienced coaches available, and the emphasis on "94 Feet of Heat" in the hiring process was questionable. For more upsetting to me however, was her handling of her players in her first year. I read a lot of junk on this board about how she was getting rid of the malcontents and players who didn't want to work or sacrifice or players that were just not right for her system. I could only guess that most of those posters had never bothered to watch much NT girls basketball because most of those girls played hard and although many fans were dissatisfied with Slinker as a coach, I have never heard anyone complain about the overall character of her players. In year one, before the season even started one of Slinker's recruits left the school and then we saw a continuous series of suspensions of this player or another. The year ended with the suspension of what was before almost a sure NT Hall of Fame player. It is my belief that an experienced coach should have been able to work much more effectively with the players she inherited. If the players are not capable of playing one style than adapt an offense and defense that can be successful. Again this was a veteran team who was picked relatively high in pre-season conference standings. Year two begin in similar fashion. Stephen's selected MVP, only a freshman, left the team as did a number of others. Several of the recruits did not enroll and another left shortly after the beginning of the season. The end result was that NT is playing this year with 11 players or 4 under the maximum. To put that into perspective, many football fans were concerned with the APR sanctions which lowered NT's football squad by 4 to a maximum of 81 players. Play this year has been a few ups with a lot more downs. The win/loss record is disappointing; but more concerning is NT's total uncompetitiveness in a number of games. Not uncompetitiveness in the normal sense were a team is outmatched and gets beat twenty or thirty points. Way too many games have been basically decided in the first five minutes and then are completely under the opponents coach's prerogative to decide how much they want to run up the score. I think most would agree that Stephens is off to a very rocky start. Likewise, most would like to see her become a brilliant success. My personal opinion is that she was not ready and has make a lot of errors, but I like her fire and I have not given up on her ability to turn it around.

NT is about as close to winning 20 as they were the last three years at this time. Remember all those 20 games season came courtesy of tournament wins. NT actually has a relatively easy schedule the rest of the regular season.

A dissappointing but not awful loss. Tramiel apparently just ran out of gas after two great games. Mangrum getting 25 minutes was unusual. Spencer's best effort. I think NT can handle this team in a neutral site. However, with the refs in this game, it might be misleading.

Not bad with Tramiel on the bench most of the half.

I am not sure after NT suffering the worst loss in history, is the right time to be complaining about program negativity. If the last two games are not enough to question a coach, when do you?

Never happen, NT is not going to buy out a wb's coach, no matter how bad it gets. You would have thought after last year debacle, the team would have been a little better prepared. \

Any win over WKU at Bowling Green is a big win. Other than NT usual slow start, NT played very well. On the refereeing, if I was WKU and had got 30-37 free throws which kept them in the game I would not complain too much. I don't think that foul was as obvious as many seem to think, they were both going for the ball and the WKU player getting rolled over occurred after the ball was out of play. Unless some type of fragrant foul is involved you don't see many fouls called when the clock is not running. The fouling with a three point deficient is also not as great a strategy as many seem to think. Although rare, I've seen those kind of fouls called intentional and games lost. Also there is the chance of a made free throw and an intentional miss being turned into two points. Again not a high percentage play, but probably better odds then making a 40 foot off-balance shot. A foul on a three point attempt would again be a horrible conclusion to an intentional foul. Also NT would had to throw the ball in with an one point lead if the intentional foul had led to two made free throws. Fouling in NT's game end situation can be a good play but it is definitely not without risks. Back to the game, a lot of chat on the lack of production out of the bench. Obviously, they did enough and with the possible exception of one three pointer taken by Holman, they didn't take bad shots. I actually like a tighter rotation than what JJ was using for most of the year. The team overall played good defense and given the fact that Tramiel spend a lot of time on the bench and White was playing injured, I though they had definitely one of their best games of the year. Shorter is really coming on and with this development, NT really has a good starting unit. The game against the MUTS is shaping up to be the biggest of the year so far.

NT going on a 16-2 run to end the game against the very seldom played WKU reserves, keep the game out the records for worst all time loss. It ended as a 53-101 loss which is not even the worse of the year.

Following up their best game of the year, NT is behind 14-49 at the half to WKU. Total lack of effort.

If Cole is 100%, I have no doubt you are right. He was one of the most exciting offensive players I have ever seen in high school. As far as Stradford, he would have been a starter if he had been ruled eligible last year, so you may be correct. However, based on the spring game and a few pre-season practices; I question his hands. I though he missed too many balls that he should have caught. Over the years, NT has not got a lot of big name transfers, however there were a few of the bluest of blue chips comming out of high school that utimately ended up at NT. Anothey Bridges, Reggie Finch and J.C. Hollins were all highly lauded and none really turned into stars for the Green. I hope Stratford, Cole and the others really excel but it is far from a sure thing.

Good selections, I think some positions that maybe different are: WR: I don't see anyone beating Carey or Jackson out of the starting lineup. I think the competition will be between Stradford, Cole, Outlaw and Lewis for the other two positions. Cole is an extraordinary talent if he is healthy. Stradford is a great physical specimen but didn't display great hands in the spring. Lewis, I thought was not thrown to enough last year. Outlaw was inconsistent but has a good year of experience. For starting day lineup I project Carey, Jackson, Outlaw and Lewis; the same as last year, but Cole and Stradford could move up quickly. OL: The four returning last year starters Gill, Santiago, Johnson and Drake will all start. I think the other guard position will be a battle between Tomlinson and Feeley with the edge to Tomlinson. Tomlinson started several games at tackle last year and I think he could easily move inside. Although Freeley started his freshman year, he did not get much if any playing time last year. DE: Obi and Akpunka could start just because there does not seem to be any alternates. However, I am going to go with Weber over Akpunka; hoping he is quick enough to play de in this defense. I really don't like two small defensive ends against most offenses. DT: Defensive tackles could be any of Atkisson, Jackson, Cantly, Desoto, Ross or White and perhaps even Weber or Anyiam. My projected is Cantly and Atkisson. Atkisson played ok last year and hopefully can up his game this year, Cantly has the most upside of any of the tackles. LB: I completely agree only Robertson is a near sure thing. There will be dogfight between Johnson, Graham, Penson, and Phillips for the other positions. Currently only Penson of the four has middle linebacker experience but I look for either Graham or Johnson to be moved to that position and the starting lineup to be Johnson, Graham, and Robertson. S: I look for Hughes to start with Smith.

I read and check on Vito's blog often, he is the best source of a lot of news about UNT sports. I feel like he may very well be the last newspaper guy primarily assigned to NT and I do appreciate his efforts. Having say that I think that there definitely are issues that have developed between the athletic department particularly the football staff and him. I think it is beyond stupid for him to have to stand behind a fence to cover the football program and the endless references to the lack of success of Dodge's tenure in seemingly every column and blog border on fanaticism. It will be interesting to see who lasts the longest at their present position.

NT is building a new football stadium and with that has upgraded about every athletic venue and has passed a new student fee that should put them at the top of the Belt in athletic funding. Not exactly standing still while everyone else passes by as some posts would lead you to believe. As for as head football coaches' salary, surely you are not advocating a raise for Dodge. I bet when a new head coach is hired or if a miracle happens and Dodge turns the program around, you will see a significant uptick in coaches' salaries.

I have the same feel for this class at this point as I did last years. I think it was a very good job based on the state of the program but lacks when compared to the other Texas fb division schools. I do think the jucos signed this year are better than the juco class of last year. I think the linebackers could be outstanding here and Hughes is certainly an interesting prospect. Hughes in addition to playing juco ball has been signed by both Mississippi and Southern Mississippi. Both Orr and Bellazin appear to be good high school recruits. I don't think height is that important for linebackers, and I think NT really improved the position. Overall I think that NT has did about as well as could be expected and has addressed all their needs but QB and defensive ends. Defensive tackle is a position of concern but everyone is returning plus Weber and Anyiam which may have eaten themselves out the defensive end position. I don't think Deloach is a three/four defense advocate but it would seem to make a lot of sense with the team's makeup. Some must love the transfers got from other four year institutions because they count them in both last year's class and the current one.

For those star watchers, both Orr and Bellazin have been rated 3 star recruits by Rivals.

No you did not say that, I did. Neither did I say downplay the victory. It was a home game that NT should have won and they did although they had their usual slow start. Too often NT has not won the games they should have this year, so in that sense it was a good solid win over a team that has traditionally owned NT. I do agree there were definitely positive signs that the team is improving. NT was able to exploit USA's rebounding weakness, never quit, and won a game without shooting particularly well from outside. I guess I can't get the ASU losses off my mind.

I hope whoever NT signs at QB this year is a dual threat type. I don't see Dodge's logic of having designed his offense around his son's capabilities and having back ups with very limited running ability. A change of pace quarterback is good in some situations; but to have to give up a large portion of the offense because the starter is not in, does not make a lot of sense.

You may want to consider that ASU had no height, with the only guy over 6'5 in the starting lineup a 6'7 true freshman. I don't want to take anything away from the NT victory, but NT was a 7 point favorite and NT should have dominated the inside. Having say that I thought USA played pretty tough ball and was very good at driving to the basket. It was a good win for the team but I am not convinced NT has turned the corner yet.

I left it open for that, I know you appreciate a set-up to express your views.

Good win 78-66 Super game by Godbolt, James and Turro. James unofficially with 20 points, Godbolt with 19 points and 13 rebounds, Turro with 15 points shooting 4 of 4 threes. Also best game I have seen out of Hughes. SS's best victory?