KoldBeer

Stewart Mandel likes the hire. He lists North Texas in the best of the rest of his coaching hires grade article. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/stewart_mandel/01/19/coaching-football-grades/index.html?eref=twitter_feed

Here's a story out of the San Jose paper on MWC expansion. It says SJSU is being looked at (I'm beginning to think none of the CUSA schools will change). If none of CUSA schools go MWC (maybe UTEP would consider it) then it could likely be SJSU, Utah St, and North Texas for the final two spots. You never know what will happen but if the MWC picks SJSU and USU. UNT would be shut out of CUSA (no membership changes) and MWC (no picked for expansion). At that point, do we stay with Sun Belt or join WAC since it could be loaded with former Southland members. There is no question that the WAC would be a worse conference but at least it would Texas schools. Another thought would be just to stay in Sun Belt because eventually there will be more realignment and you can move up then. Or you stay because the Sun Belt would be the better conference (although I don't know how much better it is $$$$ wise). Without looking at numbers, my gut is that you would stay in the Sun Belt. The "new" WAC wouldn't have much travel but it is really watered down. Story on MWC looking at SJSU http://www.mercurynews.com/sjsu-spartans/ci_17131570?nclick_check=1 Story on WAC expansion http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/2011/01/18/san-jose-state-to-the-mountain-west-its-on-the-table/ Under worst case this is what WAC could look like: Idaho New Mexico St. La Tech UTSA Texas St Lamar* Sam Houston* Cal Davis* Cal Poly* Non-Football Denver Seattle* * Not currently in conference Also, Montana and Montana St. are listed as potential schools.

KU wins by 20. Baylor got it down to 12 but never closer. That first half was either best offensive half or worst defensive half. KU shot 79% from field. Scored on 26 of 34 possessions. Baylor and K-State struggling to meet preseason expectations. For UNT, next three games are key. We should be able to win them. Get all 3 and we'll be back on track.

No doubt Troy was hot from the field but in that big run Troy had most of those points came from layups. UNT is not a good defensive team. Per Kenpom our defensive rating is #277 (out of 345). Offense is #67. To win we have to have a good offensive night. Against Troy, we didn't shoot really well and White had a bad night. Right now we can't overcome a bad offensive night. Tough shooting nights are more likely to come on the road (unfamiliar shooting backgrounds, travel, tough crowds, etc.). Until our defense gets better, I think we'll continue to struggle on the road.

I'd agree with that. Usually the Valley will get some good wins but even a team like Wichita St has concerns because they don't have that signature win (almost beat UConn but that doesn't get you crap). This year, the middle Pac-10 teams dropped some games to mid major teams but there's not a lot of top 6 conferences losing to lower conference teams. I wouldn't worry about who we've beat. I'd be more worried about the losses. The Troy game was the first loss that really shocked/disappointed me. We went from being overall favorite to West Division favorite (after MTSU loss and FAU continuing to win) to one of three schools that can win the West Div (after Troy loss). I've always thought you goal should be win all of the conference games at home and play 0.500 on the road. I'm going to be a little nervous until we get that first road win.

I love ESPN3. I just got it this year and it's great for college b-ball fans.

I don't think Houston would jump until they know what Big East is doing. Even if Big East decides not to expand, I think it would be tough for any CUSA team except UTEP to switch. With TCU, Utah, etc leaving I don't see how MWC gets AQ spot plus CUSA just signed a new deal with ESPN. I think only real advantage MWC has over CUSA is that it is now about as stable as you can get (unless you are Big 10 or SEC). CUSA does have risk of losing teams if Big East/ACC/SEC expand (SEC won't take CUSA team but SEC takes somebody from ACC who steals from Big East who takes CUSA).

I don't think ESPN is carrying any major conferences because the NFL playoffs are on but right now I can watch a SWAC game, a Southland game, and an Ohio Valley game. Two of those are on ESPN networks. This is just frustrating that we'll get one ESPN game and a game on Ch. 21. Seems like the Sun Belt is never on TV. I guess that would be the one advantage if we ever went to the WAC. We could at least get a late night game on TV every now and then. If we every got MWC or CUSA then TV really isn't an issue.

Go Hilltoppers. I want UNT with best overall record in Belt. FAU needs to get a L.

Great news for WAC and I think good for college sports. With realignment talk never ending we could see schools really getting hurt by schools leaving. This also gives the WAC sometime to actually rebuild the conference. I don't think they could ever get La-La and UNT to join but we've seen stranger things.

Not really of interest to UNT fans, but what's up with teams from state of Colorado. Denver is 4-0 in Sun Belt after not doing much in non-conference and CU is 2-0 in Big 12.

I'll be interested to see what kind of ratings this gets. Ch 21 shows Big 12 basketball on Saturday afternoon. Hopefully the casual basketball fan will see the promos and stick around and what the North Texas game.

I really thought Tech would be a middle of pack team in the Big 12 (best of bad teams). They are getting drilled by UT (which may be best team in Big 12). But the game is in Lubbock and UT is up 62-31. Tech is starting off Big 12 0-2 with both games at home. They'll beat OU and I'm sure they'll still a couple at home but it looks like they are 11th place team in Big 12. I don't want to be too negative because it's still a great win for UNT. I don't think Pat Knight is the coach next year which is really too bad for UNT since he talked about scheduling UNT every year.

Number 10 in new poll. New number one overall. http://www.collegeinsider.com/mmpoll/

I know NIT isn't the NCAA tournament, but it is post season play (which is hard to achieve in basketball unlike football). We could win a game or two in the NIT and might actually get to play on ESPN.

Not true. If we win regular season Sun Belt title we will get to go to the NIT postseason tournament.

Let's go FIU and WKU so North Texas can get back on top of the West Division (I know I've been told to root for West teams for RPI but I'm more concerned with winning the division).

www.kenpom.com has North Texas winning by 3 with a 60% of winning. It is our most likely loss until we play at WKU. If Big George can't play or is limited I see this game going down to the wire.

For basketball junkies I think this is an interesting article. It ran in the K.C. paper and it talks about what coaches look for in the box score. I'd like to know what Johnny looks at. http://www.kansascity.com/2011/01/01/2555292/data-mining-how-coaches-gauge.html

Only good news is that we have time to go drag the pond to see if we can find another Juco QB. I'm surprised a little by this move. I figured he gut it out to see if he could win the North Texas starting job. It's not like he as a NFL future that he's losing if he doesn't get to play QB.

The top 5 are all getting votes in the AP and Coach's Poll. It's interesting that Cleveland St is the highest rated on the Mid-Major poll but gets the least amount of votes (among the 5 getting votes) in the AP and Coaches.

The Sun Belt had a deal with ESPN that a Jan 22 Sun Belt game would be on TV. North Texas plays Ark State that day. ESPN selected the UALR/FAU game to be on TV. Our game against WKU is on TV but we've been unlucky on getting on TV. http://www.sunbeltsports.org/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=22326&SPID=1825&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205070129&DB_OEM_ID=4100

Game over. 80-63 final score. Next game will be a tough one. At MTSU.

I guess nobody told him you need to go to class. Tough break for WKU.

This game is over. Up 66-43 at the under 8 timeout. Nice game by Mean Green.