[All 5 CUSA Teams Still Undefeated (7-0) in Postseason Play (NCAA, NIT, CBI)]

1 minute ago, NorthTexasSportsNetwork said:

Depressing how bad that loss was. That set us back too far to recover for at large 

Yeah but it also seemed to be a soul searching loss that led to a real solid improvement in play after. We immediately smoked UAB at their place (without Jelly) and we’re 13-2 since then. Sucks that it took a loss to get there but I’m happy with the progression the team has made.

[All 5 CUSA Teams Still Undefeated (7-0) in Postseason Play (NCAA, NIT, CBI)]

11 hours ago, CMJ said:

Perfect record goes poof with Rice losing by two in the CBI. Charlotte won though!

Rice finishes with 19 wins. They are the only team to beat us this season that failed to reach 20 wins. 

[Why are we playing Wyoming?]

I am hoping to spend a few days in Denver before driving to Laramie for the game Saturday. Wife and I got married in Colorado. Looking forward to this trip.

[Alcorn State (3/15/23)]

10 hours ago, aztecskin said:

its pretty in CBB to have 6'7" dudes as your four man. It brings versatility. If you get an athlete like Scott or Thomas Bell there you can do so much. I mean, Kawhi Leonard played the four as a 6'7" guy. 

For sure. Anytime we bring in someone 6’5”-6’7” I expect them to play 4 until I see them playing primarily on the wing, which hasn’t really happened with the guys we have brought in previously. Not that we have brought in a ton of guys in that height range.

Maybe we start bringing some more size at the wing in the AAC, but it seems like Mccasland’s formula is 3 guards, a decently skilled 6’6”/6’7” guy at the 4, and then more of a traditional big man at the 5. 

[Nevada]

1 hour ago, L Ron Studdard said:

Mountain West now gonna be 0-9 in the tourney since 2019. We've won a tourney game in that span. Just sayin'

Wow. Didn’t realize it was that bad.

[Alcorn State (3/15/23)]

10 minutes ago, Censored by Laurie said:

don't get me wrong...I'd love to collect as many of those 6'5" - 6'8" 200-ish pound athletic and tough wings as possible to round out this roster. I think overall the roster is going to have to grow a bit as we step up in conference.

I think I just didn't get how adding Austin would really cut into Abou's minutes, baring a major change in style from GM (which seems unlikely). 

if the end of this discussion just has us landing on the idea that we're more efficient with all 13 scholarship spots and we utilize a few more players a few more minutes a night, then we're golden. 

Every time we’ve gotten these bigger “guard/wing” type guys, Mccasland has seemed to stick them almost exclusively at the 4. I do think we’ll see some more size at guard in the AAC, so maybe that’s what the plan is. But anytime I see Grant going after a 6’5”-6’7” dude I immediately think that’s going to be a 4. That being said, I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to having more of those type of guys on the wing. Would definitely be a direction that makes sense.

[Alcorn State (3/15/23)]

6 minutes ago, Censored by Laurie said:

maybe I'm missing the comp, but Austin is a 6'5" 200lb wing. I feel like if he comes in, he's basically just a higher ceiling Eady and wouldn't really change what we do at the 4/5. 

I've tossed out the idea of some limited minuted of Scott as a 5 with some big wings/guards around him, but I don't think it's a 25-30 minute a night line-up that we'd be able to get away with a level up in the American

Just looking at his numbers, I think Austin would be primarily a 4 here if not for Scott. Over 2 blocks a game each of the last two seasons, and was at 8 rebounds per game as a freshman.

With Scott being in the fold, maybe they envision Austin playing more 3 to have them both on the court, but to your point, I think that’s the kind of guy you would want next to Scott when you do go small. A guy who can rebound and offer some rim protection, despite giving up some height.

There was another 6’7” dude we were reported to have reached out to. Forgetting who. Either way, definitely don’t think we are looking for a primary starting 4 to push Scott to the 5, but at least the versatility to go that route when the matchup or game calls for it.

[Alcorn State (3/15/23)]

30 minutes ago, Censored by Laurie said:

all said, match-up or not, I'm surprised Abou hasn't played at all in the second half. there is likely something more here,.

I'd be curious to see how American conference teams play...I admittedly don't know much about our future rivals. Abou is a weapon in CUSA when he's on bc so few teams really have a classic back-down center. having more athletic/less-skilled big men like Sissoko is going to be valuable no matter what, though. 

Yeah it’ll be interesting to see. There have been a couple guys we have been reported to have reached out to who, while not true 5s, would probably carve into Abou’s minutes. Aaron Scott is so hard to take off the floor at the 4, so if we landed someone like Zack Austin, that would make us even less reliant on Abou.

Still expect him to start but maybe instead of keeping him on the court through these 2-10, 5-15 type performances he has had, we just utilize our other options. Sort of like tonight

 

[Alcorn State (3/15/23)]

8 minutes ago, Matt from A700 said:

Do we know who really is the #2 seed? Everything I've seen the past couple of days still says SHSU is.

We are the 2 seed. Per the official NCAA website

https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2023-03-15/2023-nit-bracket-schedule-tv-channels-mens-tournament?amp

[Alcorn State (3/15/23)]

26 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Is it 100% that Perry isn’t using his extra year and Huntsberry is done? Oh, and Abou will start. 

Perry could definitely come back but Huntsberry does appear to be done. He played in 18-19 and 19-20 at the JUCO level, then in 21-22 at U of Mary and 22-23 here. He is listed as a Senior rather than “5th” or “6th” because he didn’t actually play during the COVID year (20-21) so he’s not taking advantage of the extra year. He just played 4 regular seasons of college basketball outside the COVID season.

[Jalie Mitchell]

It sucks. Anyone else sitting at 111-127 after 8 years and I’d say get em out. Right answer is probably that the bar should be the same for her.

[Eligibility Question]

1 minute ago, greenminer said:

Any follow up thoughts on this, @BillySee58? Specifically about Kai

Kai’s situation is weird because he missed the COVID year. So while it does appear he won’t have any eligibility remaining, he isn’t listed as “5th” or “6th” because he isn’t playing in his 5th or 6th season. It’s his 4th. Played 18-19 & 19-20 seasons in JUCO, 21-22 last season at U of Mary, and 22-23 here. 

[Western Kentucky (3/4/23)]

1 hour ago, NorthTexasSportsNetwork said:

I’m doubting we see Kai in this game, but I would love to see 7-8K for sure. I think a bit over 5K breaks the season average attendance from last year.

And nothing is better than beating Slick Rick and his underperforming teams

Christian Moore 30 piece incoming.

[@ Charlotte (2/23/2023)]

13 minutes ago, Matt from A700 said:

Rubin has had at least 2 steals and a block during this run.

Rubin is playing nothing short of all-conference defense on the perimeter. Elite stuff.

[Breaking: Spring Roster Update. (Tom Trieb and Keelan Crosby retiring from Football)]

Good luck to them both. Hope Cam Robertson turns the opportunity into something special. Kadren Johnson is no slouch either

[American (AAC) Football Schedule Released Tomorrow (2/21)]

48 minutes ago, Dannymacfan said:

Can someone please explain to me why we are scheduling teams like FIU and La. Tech from our old conference?  I see no reason to do that as these games provide these schools and CUSA with a lot more than they do us.  

We had non-conference games scheduled with Memphis and SMU. Those are now conference opponents. Non-conference schedules are filled years in advance, so not like a bunch of schools just had open spots on their 2023/2024 schedules hoping we’d come calling.

[American (AAC) Football Schedule Released Tomorrow (2/21)]

6 minutes ago, SUMG said:

Not sure if this will just be conference games....or all games....but we'll know a lot at 10 am

We know all of our non-conference games and dates at this point.

Cal 9/2/23

@ FIU 9/9/23

@ La Tech 9/16/23

Abilene Christian 9/30/23

https://fbschedules.com/2023-north-texas-football-schedule/

So once these drop we should have ourselves a full schedule.

[2023 NET Rankings]

We held firm at 46. Charlotte is up to 111, which is the 4th highest NET in CUSA. A Quad 2 win would be nice here, especially if we could win by a decent margin.

[@ UTEP (2/18/2023)]

Tied last year’s mark for most regular season wins in school history with 23. Also clinched at least the two seed in Frisco tonight.

[20-Win Seasons]

31 minutes ago, GMG_Dallas said:

Why take a shot at Grant's recruiting when it's actually been great. 

To answer this question, because it’s not a shot. It’s a fact that we haven’t seen Grant get to work with an NBA player on the roster. Saying it’s easy to see how a guy who has maximized every team’s success could take an NBA talent and reach the Top 25/Sweet 16 isn’t controversial. It’s not mutually exclusive to say an NBA talent would probably would get us to that level, and that we could still get there without it. Also not mutually exclusive to say he hasn’t gotten an NBA talent and he still has recruited well. 

I think your and Emmitt’s responses seem to imply these notions are in direct opposition, but they are not.

[John Davis]

7 hours ago, Jonnyeagle said:

Sure hope so.  He has another year due to covid I believe.

This was his extra year due to COVID. He was a 6th-year Senior. The question is will the NCAA give him a 7th season on top of it.

[20-Win Seasons]

22 minutes ago, GMG_Dallas said:

You just said in a post a bit ago "What about any "system" guys that are closer to Kentucky talent than Idaho talent?" If we are signing guys that are Kentucky talent, then they aren't being "underrated/misevaluated" and it would require winning huge recruiting battles as opposed to getting under the radar guys like all of those other mid-majors did. Grant has been getting those under the radar guys which is why we're here. Now it's up to the players to execute on the court.

The funny thing is, out of the programs Billy mentioned (St John's, Butler, Creighton, WKU), St John's never made it past the 2nd round with Nelson/West, Creighton never made it past the second round with Korver, and WKU had the luxury of playing a 13 seed in the second round also coming off a first round upset. Had we played Winthrop instead of Villanova, we'd probably have made the Sweet 16. Luck of the draw, sometimes. Then there's Butler who had two incredible runs, the second which came without Hayward.

This UNT squad is good enough to make a sweet sixteen run. Just have to get out of conference. No room for error in this conference. Can't lose 3 out of our last 4 like Tennessee just did and still be a lock to make the big dance. There's also no reason we can't have a run like St Peter's did last year if we get in. Who was their star future NBA talent, by the way?

St. Joseph’s, not St. John’s. And they did make it past the 2nd round with West and Nelson. They made it to the Elite 8.

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/saint-josephs/men/2004.html

Again, we can play the outlier game and the say this team did this and that team did that, the point is “imagine what Grant could do if had even more talent to work with?” It’s really not any deeper than that. Not saying he can’t make the Sweet 16 with the talent level he has or he can’t have success in the AAC, or anything else.

[Charlotte (2/11/23)]

Love the way we’re playing our best ball heading into the final stretch. 

[20-Win Seasons]

9 hours ago, emmitt01 said:

FAU was ranked THIS year, and we were toe to toe with them in both games we played (and should have beaten them at our house if not for the worst officiating I have seen in years).  
 

You mentioned Courtney Lee at WKU.  What if I told you he was rated lower than Tylor Perry coming out of high school?   

https://247sports.com/Player/Tylor-Perry-46042160/

https://247sports.com/Player/Courtney-Lee-67740/high-school-119217/

I think we get so wrapped up in ratings and wishing for that “big splash” signing that we forget basketball is about far more than taking a talented individual and plugging them into an established system.  

I think you are getting wrapped up in thinking that we are saying it has to be a big splash at the time of signing. The point is that getting a guy that actually ends up on NBA draft boards is what It usually takes to push top Mid Majors over that edge from good Mid Major to actual ranked/Sweet 16 caliber. Regardless of where that player is out of High School. Mccasland is a great coach. Not exactly a controversial statement to think he could push us to a higher level with a higher-end talent than what he has previously worked with.

[20-Win Seasons]

38 minutes ago, GMG_Dallas said:

I think you read too much into his comment. Somebody else implied Grant needed to recruit a high(er) profile talent to elevate the program to the next level. The way I read Emmitt01's post is simply that FAU does not have any individual player that is a higher profile talent than any of our guys that all of a sudden elevated them to being top 25. They don't have it and it's not necessary. Could help but not dire.

Grant's recruiting has clearly been great for the style he likes to play. I was watching highlights from the Purdue tourney win earlier today and it's amazing how we lost 3 key players from that run to graduation or transfer (Simmons, Reese, Hamlet) before the following season, followed up the run with a 25 win season, and now have lost another 3 (McBride, Bell, Murray) and yet have another 20+ win season. Only 1 key contributor from that run 2 seasons ago remains and the program hasn't skipped a beat. Really incredible work to re-tool and keep getting results despite what the recruiting rankings say about our guys.

I gotcha. I think they have a pretty clearly better group of shot makers. They shoot about 5% better from the floor, and they have more dynamic athletes. Michael Forrest was their leading scorer last year and he is not a starter or in their closing lineup. They have a really impressive talent pool on their team, even if they don’t have individuals who stand out as potential draft picks. 

But yeah, to greenminer’s point, getting an elite talent to go along with the gritty defensive focused player would propel us from a top 50-60 team to a potential top 25 team. And that’s what we have seen over the years with a lot of the Top 25 Mid Majors over the years.

Guys like Jameer Nelson and Delonte West at St Joe’s, Hayward at Butler, Korver ant Creighton, even Courtney Lee at WKU in their Sweet 16 run in 08. That’s typically how you see good Mid Majors make that jump to national prominence.