Buford_Julep

At times, all three were in the line-up at crunch time. Kedrick had 9 rebounds, TT had 9 points and 8 rebounds and Josh had a 3-pointer and 4-4 from the foul line down the stretch while scoring the last 7 points of the game for NT. Howerton also helped out in the final minutes.

Some, but not all of the ESPN Full Court games are also available on ESPN 360.

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ESPN 360

I exaggerated some but, SMU has a very good recruiting class and had good talent last year before players were kicked off the team, quit and transferred.

SMU has good talent. Probably the best in Texas except for the $Big XII teams. They even have a 7-1 Center from Oak Hill Academy. Matt Doherty is a great recruiter, has the reputation of having a great basketball mind and is said to be a nice man when he is not coaching a basketball team, but as long as he continues to use public humiliation to try to motivate his players his teams will continue to quit on him. All the X'es and O's in the world won't make his players give that extra effort that is so often the difference in winning and losing. Last season SMU was off to a 9-1 start with with wins over Illinois St, Dayton, TCU, McNeese St (70-54), Centenary (68-40) and a 99-66 win over La-Monroe. Then they went to Norman and lost to Oklahoma 69-42. Doherty was quoted in the DMN calling his players quitters who played without toughness and heart. He held punitive practice sessions where players practiced going after loose balls with no fouls called and ran sprints for the whole practice. One player suffered a broken nose and another had to have some stiches near his eye after these "practices." Predictably, SMU lost the next game at home to North Carolina A&T and then went 3-14 in CUSA. Coach "Doh" has already started the not tough enough, no heart talk this season. He was quoted in the DMN saying he was looking forward to Thanksgiving holiday practices when school was out and there would be no rules. "Doh" went 8-20 at North Carolina in 2001-02. Think about that for a minute. How is it possible to go 8-20 at North Carolina? He was fired after going 19-16 the next season. Two seasons later Roy Williams won a National Championship.

The NT coaches must think he can handle the high post or they would not have offered him a scholarship. Both the 4 and the 5 have to be good ball-handlers in NT's offense. Really, the 4 and 5 positions are the same. They are mirror images of one another depending on which side of the court the ball is. It is a big plus if they also are good shooters from at least 15 feet. Howerton still runs well. Sorry, but I have to cop out. He seems to have good skills and an adequate body. The question in my mind is how he will handle the more physical play in D-1. I wish I knew. I can't remember ever seeing a player taken out of the game after one foul in the first two minutes. Ben seemed calm and unconcerned while he was on the bench after being taken out.

I decided to watch Ben Knox in Wichita Falls instead of Arlington. It doesn't take as much time to get to Wichita Falls and there is about 75% less driving stress. I didn't use a pencil and paper, but these stats should be reasonably accurate: a. South Garland won the game 72-68 (OT) Ben Knox stats: a. 23 minutes played minutes b. 14 points c. 6-9 from the field d. 2-3 from free throw line e. 3 personal fouls f. 1 turnover g. 3 blocked shots Observations: a. He is not alarmingly skinny. He doesn't look like a refugee, but he looks like he could add some weight. b. He is fairly quick for his size and has excellent straight ahead speed. He beat the defense down the court several times. c. Ben picked up an away-from-the-ball foul that I did not see early in the game. He was immediately yanked out of the game and not put back in until only 2 minutes were left in the half, but he was called for 2 more fouls before the half ended. Ben played the entire second half and the overtime without committing any more fouls. d. Did not seem to be a very physical player. Of course, he might have been worried about fouling out. The defense played behind Ben all night and were not very physical with him. In general, high school ball is not anywhere near as physical as the D-1 game. e. 4 of Ben's 6 field goals were layups after post moves from in the paint. One of those was a left-handed scoop shot. His other 2 fg's were a jump shot from the foul line, and a dunk after beating the D down the court and taking a long pass. Ben can really sprint, and might have had some more dunks if his team mates had been more alert. f. He missed 2 10-foot baseline jumpers and one jumper from the free throw line. g.His team played a rotating, single-post, motion offense that often had Ben on the perimeter. He looked to be a competent ball-handler. His one turnover resulted from forgetting to catch the ball before passing to an open man. The ball went right through his hands. h. He wasn't as aggressive going after rebounds as I would have liked. Again, the 3 quick early fouls may have been a factor. i. Ben showed good shot blocking skills. South Garland had several players that appeared to be about 6-5 or 6-6. After 3 blocks and 3 forced altered shots South Garland did not challenge Ben in the fourth quarter. Ben was denied credit for one block when the frustrated SG player, knowing that his shot was going to be blocked, threw the ball out of bounds instead. One blocked shot went straight up into the air. Ben then tipped the ball to a team mate. It was, in effect, a good outlet pass.

Texas Hoops places Ben's Arlington Grace Prep at #5 in it's private school rankings.

I can forgive Mark Cuban for not knowing that a maverick is an unbranded yearling calf instead of a horse, but a Texas school shouuld know better.

Jermaine Griffin was the guy who killed us last season. Griffin is a big, quick and powerful post. He sort of reminds me of George Odufua. If Wooden has to play 36 minutes on one leg while Q and Stew pick up 9 fouls in 28 minutes and aren't available to give him a chance to rest, and if Ben Bell plays his worst game ever and looks like a juco who isn't yet acclimated to D-1 basketball----then UTA might beat us by two points again.

Thanks for posting this. I would like to add a few things. Last season Chris Davis led the Finland league in scoring. The last known BB sighting of Len Hopkins was Japan. Can someone update this? Bryan Lucas Is the leading scorer for his Ulm, Germany team. Lucas led the Austrian League in rebounding and was named a first team All-Star in both 2004-05 and 2005-06.

In 2003 people were roasting the program for wasting a scholarship on a too skinny player named Quincy Williams.

I tried to buy tickets here and pick them up at will-call in Arlington, but was told we have to buy them from UTA. UTA told me they go on sale one hour before the game at Texas Hall. first choice...the stage second choice...the balcony worst choice...floor level

8pm

It is amazing to me that New Orleans could beat #21 NC State on a night that Bo McCalebb shoots 5-19 from the field. So much for the one-man-team theory.

3-A ball ain't what it used to be. Four D-1 prospects will be on the court tonight as Argyle hosts Princeton tonight. For Argyle: Cory Dixon, 6-7...committed to Northwestern State...North Texas may have interest Cade Dickerson, 6-2...#50 Texas Hoops (2009) For Princeton: Larry Spruill, 6-6...#71 Texas Hoops (2008)...son of Larry Spruill (UNT 1978)...Leading scorer in Denton Shootout Red Championship game for Dallas Heroes James Erger, 6-4...#56 Texas Hoops (2009)

Will there be a replay of the Indiana St game and if so at what time? Is there an up to date programming schedule available on the net? The schedule I found listed The Matt Simon Show. I am not joking. Thanks, Yall do a great job.

76-59! Wow! CBS-Sportsline respects the Mean Green. Las Vegas is not convinced. The Culver-Glantz line in this morning's DMN has NT a two and one half point favorite. Don't forget that Indiana State has 4 starters back from a team that beat Purdue 89-70 last season.

No fan message board that I have seen ever gives an opponent much credit for a victory. Losses are treated as one-car accidents, caused by poor coaching and poor play. The Oklahoma State broadcasters consistently praised for the Mean Green during the Wednesday night game. The sportscasters were very well prepared and obviously knew NT well. Here are some comments from Bryndon Manzer, the OSU color commentator: 1. "Before the game we talked with Tic Price. He was very hospitable to us. He kind of tried to sandbag how good his team was, but we knew better." 2.(After a time out when NT's 9-point halftime lead was cut to 3) "We are really close to the North Texas bench and I am very impressed with Johnny Jones. There is no panic in his conversation with his players. He has a very calm demeanor that will transmit to his players." 3.(NT defense) "They will get up in you® (face) and really pressure." 4.(NT offense) "I am not saying they are poor in the half-court set, but they are tremendous in the transition game. If you keep them in the half court set, you have a better chance for stops." 5.(White) A "White is terrific at feeling his way...reading his way (through the defense)." B "White is a jet that has to be contained before he can penetrate." C"As a freshman, he has played the biggest, and he is the smallest." 6.(Wooden) A "Wooden is a strong, big body. I promise you." B (After Wooden scored while being closely guarded by Marcus Dove) "That's great defense, but Wooden is feeling it tonight." C (Comment by play-by-play man) "Akeem Olajuan, Shaq....who is going to guard him?" (followed by color man's comment) "The Cowboys have to keep him from touching it." 7. (After Stewart blocked a shot) "He (OSU player) did everything right, but Stewart came out of nowhere and pinned the ball to the boards." (It was also pointed out that Stewart led the team in rebounds in 3 of the 4 Sun Belt Tournament games) 8. (Willingham) "He is a very experienced, polished player." 9. "North Texas is emerging as as the top program in the Dallas metroplex and they are selling that to recruits." I didn't hear any criticism of NT. The closest was a comment that if North Texas has a weakness it might be half-court perimeter defense. The replay of the OSU broadcast is available on ESPN 360.

Vegas Insider This will not be an easy game. Indiana State finished last in the Missouri Valley last season, but the MVC is a tough league. The MVC had a better RPI last season than the Big XII did. Of the Sun Belt teams only Western Kentucky had a higher Sagarin rating than the Sycamores. WKU, South Alabama and North Texas were the only Belt teams with better RPI ratings. Last season Indiana State had wins over Tulane, Creighton, Wichita State, Butler and an 89-70 win over Purdue.

He wears the same number 10 and is just about the same height as Joe Hamilton. The differences are Josh probably outweighs Joe by 25 pounds, and we never saw Joe play when he was a freshman or a sophmore. These are the good old days.

I always liked "Welcome to the Pit". It is a near-forgotten tradition because it is only effective and meaningful when we have a large active crowd. It is used when the other team comes out for warmups and near the end of the game when victory is certain.

It looks like NT will start the same line-up as last time: Q, Wooden, Bell, Thompson and White. James Anderson, 6-6 wing, is the player we are most concerned with containing defesively. He can drive or shoot 3's. Coach Leonard called him "a scoring fool" and it wasn't meant as an insult. Anderson will probably be guarded by Tristan and later by McCoy and Bell. Maybe Tristan, who likes to penetrate and often draws fouls, can get Anderson into foul trouble. 6-9 Marcus Dove is OSU's best rebounder and an excellent defensive player.

Josh White makes good, accurate high percentage passes. He avoids what coach Jones has called "home run" passes. To my eyes he is a very quick true point guard who just happens to be a deadly shooter. Here is a very interesting story about the subjectivity involved in assist statistics: Link