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Mean_Green09

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Everything posted by Mean_Green09

  1. No he doesnt replace Leonard's role on the Spurs. Leonard is more of a scoring threat than Tony would be, and Leonard never would fit at the 4. Tony is a tweener (3-4) who will excell in a system that pushes the tempo. Would be a great fit for the Spurs. He needs a good strong orginzation to help mold him. I could see him failling to the second round based on a lot of org scared of his work ethic and character. Hard to believe at one time he was a top 10 pick. Im going to say he goes no sooner than 20 and no later than 38.
  2. Offer scholarships to 11 DT and to only land 1 says a lot too. Its interesting to note that our head coach is really good D-Line coach and he still can't convince players to come to UNT and work under him.
  3. Harry you are spot on. In my evaluation of this roster I would say that the DT position is by far the weakest. What makes it even scarier is knowing that CUSA has much better offenses than the Sun Belt. We are going to face higher tempo teams something that I think we struggled with last year ( Partly due to miss alignments). Maybe we will see more hybrid defenses using 3 down linemen instead of 4. Use 4 on first and second, bring in an extra pass rusher on 3rd. Still it worries me how we will do against the run. I can see us having to commit more to the box leaving the DB's man-up like last year .
  4. I agree with the fact that this will be the most D1 worthy team that UNT has had in sometime. We wont look like a high school team matched against a college team. I'm not so sure that its really positive that we are going after the big time recruits. Its one thing to offer, hell Bama has a couple thousand offers out right now. So I hope they are not just throwing offers out and hoping they are sticking bc that is just a big waste of time. What I'm hoping is that the big recruits they are going after are because of relationships with that player. UNT can't waste time on big fish that they are never going to catch.
  5. We are not the best program in the country here nor are we the worst. Are we ever going to win national titles in football or basketball most likely not, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be relevant in the big picture. Everyone on this board wants UNT to succeed and we all have our different dreams and visions on what that success looks like. Some guys want championships and BCS titles others want to just win and go to bowl games. Until we win consistently we are going to get trashed by everyone else. We will always be the step child until we prove otherwise. Programs like Boise and TCU have shown that you can grow into something big, with the right coach and talent. Who knows if we have those things in place to start something good. Why should a booster from another school show respect to us when we have done nothing to earn that respect other than build a facility? Until we start hanging up some banners for conference champs and putting bowl trophies in our trophy case we will not have the respect of any other program in the country. We don’t even have the respect of our own fan and student base.
  6. I dont think he knows it will fix things NOW. I think he is hoping and taking a chance because its really his only choice.
  7. Which is all well and good to a certain extent. Recruiting is the life blood of success or failure at any school. Transfers and JUCO players are sometimes worth the risk, but are a short term fix. My take on it is that he isnt having the success with high school recruits like he thought he could. So to get those high school players to buy into UNT he is hoping that a few transfers and JUCO's will help boost the win total right now. Which in turn could spark interest. He doesnt have to pour in 3 stars to be sucessfull here. He just needs to find the talent to go along with what he is trying to do. Finding the best or highest rated recruite doesnt always translate into championships. Just ask Mack Brown and Texas. UNT needs to find the right 22 players to put on the field that gives them the best chance to win under their system.
  8. Winning will certainly help the cause. Winning games on TV will help the cause. Beating Texas teams will help the cause. Besides winning I would say exposure to your program. #1 Win. Winning brings more money into your program #2 Use extra money to go hire a respected Texas High School coach as your recruiting coordinator and give him a staff of 3 or 4 extra guys (scouting analyst) who all they do is break down film of recruits. Use your recruiting coord ( High School Coach) to reach out to a prospect coaches at a high school. He starts the communication that UNT is interested in a player. #3 Hire some new PR people for all athletics. I just don't believe we do enough to get the word out about UNT. I want to see better exposure coming from our program. Make our program more accessible. #4 Change the culture. I’m sick and tired of the complaining and negativity that sometimes surrounds this program. It seem like our fan base is stuck in the past. It’s good to remember what past players have accomplished for UNT, but please stop comparing Scott Hall to what we have at QB. No recruit is going to know who Scott Hall is. It’s time to move on and help UNT dig itself out of this rut. Like Coach Mac said “It’s time to experience a new Mean Green”. IMO he isn’t just talking about the players he is talking about the program as a whole, and as a fan base we contribute to that program.
  9. I do realize that. I know we wont be favored in the Ohio game, we know thats a fact. The Ball St game is up in the air. If we beat Ohio then yes we will be favored. If we lose and Ball St. is 2-0 which is likely then No we won't be favored. Ball St would probably be favored by 3 or 4.
  10. I can't see us losing to Idaho. They are in complete rebuild mode. When you get to looking at the schedule the games that stick out as potential turning points are the Tulane game. Its the first conference game and UNT will want to start off on a good note. Either the Ball St or Ohio game those are going to be tough games for UNT to win, but are essential to having a winning record. If UNT doesnt beat either Ohio or Ball St then I would say we are looking at a 3 or 4 win season.
  11. Wait till Rice see's us pull out the double reverse TE pass with Cooper Jones! Rice has had pretty good talent at the TE position the past few years. Would you be willing to say that we had the type of talent at TE last year? The type that could threaten defenses down the seem? I wouldnt we had more 6th offensive linemen than recieving threats. Lets hope these new guys we got can do both block and catch.
  12. I'm sorry, but there are no good reasons to run a two-quarterback system. I can guarantee you that no coach above the high school level goes into a season thinking that his two qb system is going to bring success. Sure you may have a rare athlete back there who warrants some playing time just because he can take off running and make defenses look silly, but for the most part coaches want one guy. Look at your good reasons. If you have two different styles of play then you have to chose what style fits the rest of your team the best. You can't devote practice time to different styles of play, your team will never excel at one. Your second reason: No idea how QB's will play in real games andyou need to find out before you commit to one. Tell me how does your team or QB find a rythm with this? You might not get rolling till the 4th quarter when your down by 35. I don't see that being a good reason. If you have a great QB why the hell do you take him out the game? I understand if its a blow out, but honestly you dont see Tom Brady coming out of the game to get the back up some reps. Relate it to college even still never saw RG3 coming out the game to give Nick Florence some looks. Plain and simple you dont take great ones out unless they are hurt or you are taking someone to the wood shed. Look there is no way that a 2 QB system is going to improve UNT's offensive efficiency. What is going to help is development of weapons around whoever is the starting QB. Better production on 1st down, whenever UNT didnt have a positive play on first down last year (3yrds +) they almost always punted. Better play from the QB position. I love the fact that UNT is going to spread it out a lil more and allow the QB's to run. Gives you the opportunity to pick up those extra series with a QB scramble on 3rd down.
  13. Regardless if Tony Mitchell comes back or not they need to develop a true post presence. Someone who can play with his back to the basket. Doesnt matter if that guy is a 4 or a 5. They also need a pure defender rebounder in the post. I think they have the guard play to be an average team, but with no true post presence then its a moot point. If a miracle happens and Mitchell comes back I would like to see him more as a wing, his true position. All the Tony Benford critics out there probably don't know much about the game of basketball. Trust me I'm just as mad as everyone else, but I'm not going to blame everything on him. Injuries plagued this team and disrupted rythm just as much as selfish play on the court. I dont know how many times on the court I saw countless mental errors from every player. At what point do you put some blame on the players? I can teach you everything tell you how to do it, but if you dont buy in to my program then its useless. So my guess is that Benford was much stricter than Jones and some players couldnt handle that so they just couldnt and chose not to respond. Does that make Benford a bad coach? No. It makes that player selfish, he put himself before the team. So in the end the team struggled to play as team and struggled to buy into Benford system. If players need to go to make it work then so be it. To me the only guy I believe is ireplaceable is Mitchell. You cant replace talent like his (Top Ten NBA Draft). As for the rest there is not one guy on the team who is worthy of a look. Maybe D League or overseas MAYBE. Here's to next year hoping our players can put it together.
  14. My thoughts on tomorrow nights game. http://tmgbr.com/2013/03/07/the-breakdown-8/ Projected Starters Louisiana Lafayette G Elfrid Payton 15.8 ppg 5.6 rpg 5.4 apg G Alan-Micha Thompson 8.5 ppg G Bryant Mbamalu 13.7 ppg 3.7 rpg F Shawn Long 15.8 ppg 10.3 rpg 2.0 bpg F Elridge Moore 5.0 ppg 3.8 rpg North Texas G Alzee Williams, JR 11.1 ppg 3.4 rpg F Jordan Williams, SO 14.0 ppg 3.7 rpg F Niko Stojiljkovic, SR 2.5 ppg 2.2 rpg F Roger Franklin, SR 11.6 ppg 6.0 rpg F Tony Mitchell, SO 13.1 ppg 8.4 rpg 2.7 bpg Previous Matchup’s December 1 Louisiana Lafayette 80-64 North Texas January 31 Louisiana Lafayette 105-74 North Texas Mean Green Offense vs Ragin Cajun Defense North Texas comes into this match-up averaging 67 ppg which ranks them at 201st in the nation. Add that on to their 41% fg percentage which ranks 270th in the nation. So it’s safe to say that UNT is not going to light the scoreboard up. Even in their most efficient games UNT has only put up around 75 points this year. In order for UNT to win they have to maximize their possessions and limit the turnovers. Louisiana Lafayette isn’t the stoutest of defenses out there so UNT will be able to score the ball that I’m sure of. What I’m not sure of is the Tony Mitchell factor. Lafayette has had the big man figured out for the past two seasons. This year Mitchell has average a meager 5 ppg and 4.5 rbg and 4.5 fouls per game against the Cajuns. Not the stats you would expect from a preseason All-American. Tony needs to use his athleticism in this game and attack from the outside in. I say this because you can be sure every time Mitchell gets a paint touch the Cajun are going to collapse around him. By Mitchell attacking off the dribble it sets up for his teammates like Jordan Williams and Roger Franklin to cut to the basket and get open looks. Mitchell can be effective in this game even he doesn’t put up big numbers. He can get his teammates involved early and often. Mean Green Defense vs Ragin Cajun Offense The Cajuns want to get out and push the tempo. They like to get up a lot of shots. Against UNT this year they have averaged 62 shots attempted and 20 3 points shots each game. Add those to getting at least 20 free throws each game and well you’re bound to put up some points. UNT can’t let the Cajuns get up a big volume of shots. The reason is UNT does not have the offensive efficiency to keep pace with the Cajuns. They can ill afford to let this game turn into a track meet. UNT will need to keep the Cajuns in the 60’s (points) if they want to have a chance to win. In each of their 19 losses Lafayette is averaging 65 ppg. Against UNT this year they are averaging 93 ppg so UNT must do a good job in limiting shot opportunities. Whoever is guarding Elfrid Payton will need to stay in front of the electric point guard. He is the guy with the keys to car for Lafayette. Also a big must is for Tony Mitchell to stay out of foul trouble. UNT needs his athleticism in this game big time. Often you see Tony get saddled with foul trouble early and he loses his aggressiveness. How I would attack The great thing about the motion offense is that you’re not tied to a certain position. What I mean is that just because I’m a forward doesn’t mean that every time I have to be on the block posting up. I would tell Tony Mitchell and my guys to look for a post entry off the fast break if it’s not there then we need to go to an open set. So what I would like to see is an open lane (middle of the floor). I don’t want my guys clogging it up. I know that Lafayette wants to sag in the paint and force us to beat them with jump shots. That’s all fine and well I know that I can’t win unless I can make shots anyways. What I can force them to do is defend for 30 seconds and look for my right shot. If I know they are sagging what’s the point of throwing up a 3 early in the shot clock? I know I can get that shot anytime against them. Instead I’m going move the ball quickly and look for that open short to mid range shot or use the dribble drive to create an easy shot. I would want guys like Hardwick and Jones to use the drive to draw the defense in and have one of my others guys cutting in along the baseline for an easy lob or layup. Often when you get that sag it almost turns into a zone so the goal becomes getting two guys on you. The open set allows for the open lane to drive and allows for the cut to be harder to guard. If I’m sagging I can easily lose track of my man if I’m forced to help on a dribble drive which in turns allows my guy to attack. The key is to be patient and look for a good shot. I would want my guys to remember just because your open doesn’t mean that it’s a good shot. Prediction: Lafayette and North Texas have had two very similar seasons this year. You would label both as a disappointment. North Texas has probably had the more disappointing of the two, but that can all change. What scares me the most in this game is Lafayette’s ability to score 94th overall in the country. Can North Texas keep them in check and not let the game turn into a track meet? Can Tony Mitchell start to play like the man we all know him to be? Can North Texas find its unsung hero like Jacob Holmen was last year? Can North Texas continue to get better? North Texas ended the season playing its best basketball of the season which has led me to believe that they have a fighting chance in this game. They just need to continue to get better and play Tony Benford basketball. Be aggressive and physical challenge Lafayette at every turn and grind it out. I see this game as being close all the way through. Tournament games always have that feel of added pressure. Every shot and possession becomes more important. In order to move on you need to play like every possession is your last. Hot Springs has been good to North Texas for the most part in years past except for that last hurdle. I see that same good charm continuing this year. I believe North Texas will dig deep and find a way to win. My unsung hero will be Niko Stojiljkovic. I think he is going to make a huge play down the stretch that will turn the game in UNT’s favor. North Texas 67 Louisiana Lafayette 66
  15. The blame is on both players and the coach. Beneford said that his team runs a motion offense. It's probably the hardest offense to understand and it will lose you games early in the year because you have no idea what your doing. However, later in the year it makes it hard for teams to scout you and pick out tendencies. The beauty of the motion is it has ways to beat both man and zone. What I saw last night was not the motion offense. You dont dribble to dribble, instead you use the dribble for a purpose. For example if your facing a zone you use your dribble to get two players on you and then you give it up. In a motion offense you dont just stand around the perimeter and toss it around. Any zone can adjust to passes back and forth. What you can do is use the skip pass to really get the defense moving. I'm not at practice so I dont know what message Beneford is communicating, but I do know it hasnt been recieved yet. Another thing that has really shocked me is the lack of toughess on the team. I was expecting Beneford who came from Marquette to have a team that really got after you on defense and hit the boards hard. I havent seen anything to prove this yet. I certainly hope this team will start to buy into his message.
  16. This is just sad to watch this team. There is no purpose to the offense. Any simple jack off the street can get a 3 against the zone. You have to use ball reversal, skip passes, get two people on you, second cutter, short corner. O wait our team wouldn't know about that because they only know how to run the fast break. Im just upset to see these guys go through the motions. They dont even know how to make a fundamental pass. That one handed crap is why we turn it over so many times. Will someone please teach these guys how to value the ball. Im tired of our guys playing like they think they are all-stars. Its going to be real simple to beat UNT this year all you have to do is make them shoot outside of 17ft and its over. They dont know how to rebound either, so you will be able to get over the back calls all night against our guys. There were plenty of opportunites to get the ball inside the zone in the first half, but our guys were content on just throwing the ball around the perimeter and thinking that would accomplish something. Umm timeout coach can I please listen into your huddle and what you told our guys to do at that point when UTA went to zone. Was the message to jack it up until it goes in? Do you have any zone beater plays? Do you have any offensive identity? I got it if you throw enough crap up at least one will have to stick and we will count on Tony to block shots until we start making them. Lots of changes are needed. Plenty of time to right the ship, but damn I feel like I could do a better job of teaching these guys offense and defense. I come cheap too.
  17. North Texas 20 - MTSU 13 I think UNT wears the Blue Raiders down in second half. We should be able to control their running game. Just have to watch for the play action and quick slant over the middle. That play tends to give us trouble. Their QB is good, but he throws a floater for a deep ball and its supposed to be windy. Any ways I broke down the match-ups on my blog this week. Check it out let me know what you think. http://tmgbr.com/2012/10/26/the-breakdown-7/
  18. I'm going to go with: North Texas 23 - ULL 20 I think North Texas is going to turn it into an ugly sluggish fight. I joked about on my blog, but it needs to be like a fight scene from "Rocky". I just believe that UNT is a different team at home, defensively speaking. I think there will be enough of a crowd there to keep the players excited. Plus I like to pick a team that backed into a corner, and wouldnt most UNT fans agree thats exactly where we are are. Add that to being at home, nationally televised game and all the other hoopla and it just gives me the feel that UNT is going find a way to pull this out. Plus look how UNT did last year when coming off a bye week. They won twice, granted this was a small bye week, but you give a guy like McCarney extra time to prepare and well I'm going to take it. Anyways it should be a real fun game to watch at least for old school football fans!
  19. ULL is good football team, but they are not great. Broadway is an avg QB I would say Derek Thompson is better than he is. The big key to UNT walking away with a win is stopping ULL's ability to run the football. If North Texas can force them into passing situations well then folks I feel pretty good about our chances. ULL is not Houston, they are a team that likes to attack down the field with its passing attack. Of course they may try and take advantage of our corners playing off. We cant let Broadway come away with scrambles for first down on 3rd and long situations. Our defensive line has to do a really good job of collapsing the pocket and containing him. On offense I really think we will be able to run the ball against them. They really arent a physical run stuffing defense, like the stats may suggest. I believe our O-Line will be able to get a good push. I would like to see us use the screen game to our RB's more. Especially in this game, because ULL is a very aggresive defense and they are going to blitz a lot. I broke down all aspects of this game on my blog. http://tmgbr.com/2012/10/16/the-breakdown-6/
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