MrAlien

UNT and UAB are really close, I gave UAB the slight edge because they are returning more key players as well as their coach. UNT has the potential to win this conference, but no one has seen this team play together under our new coach, its hard to speculate compared to programs that have been very successful under their current coaches.

I have seen a lot of polls, I really dont think the people who put these lists together really follow AAC basketball. I dont know how anyone does not put FAU at the top of their ranking, Final 4 team and everyone s coming back. Memphis was a tournament team last season, they lost some players, but Hardaway did very well recruiting in the portal, so a solid #2. Tulane will have basically the same team as last season, blown out by Memphis in the conference tournament and no post season invites. Wichita did land a couple decent players, but they dont seem to have the depth on their roster. UNT probably had one of their best recruiting years ever, on paper this could be their best team, but with a new coach, even one familiar with the program, a lot remains to be seen. UAB pick up a couple of interesting transfers, returning coach, I dont see them being any worse then last year. 1. FAU 2. Memphis 3. UAB 4. UNT 5. Wichita 6. East Carolina 7. Tulane 8. USF 9. SMU 10. Tulsa 11. Temple 12. Rice 13. Charlotte 14. UTSA

These are student athletes, there is not a lot of time in between the end of the football season and the start of the spring semester.

I think the heat was a factor in the Cal game, 100+ degrees 3PM start, no thank you

Its hard for me to give him a grade at this point, the defense is terrible, the offense seems to be OK but other then Cal they havent really played a good defense. This is a rebuilding year, so recruiting is going to be a big factor for him.

Navy plays with a slow pace and can run the ball, they will likely score on every drive against our defense and eat up a lot of clock in the process. Navy 35 - 17 UNT

Sam Houston finished 69th in NET and was an NIT team in 2023 (loosing to UNT, 55-75). They have a decent program that is on the way up, and this is kind of a rematch for them (though its a preseason game). I think this is a good match up for UNT, and will let us know how the team stands compared to last season.

Plano was absolutely the "white flight" district of choice... Growing up in Dallas in the early 1980s half the students in my class moved out there at the time, those of us that stayed in Dallas ended up in private schools because the two nearest public elementary closed.

I am impressed that UNT was able to put something like this together

The preseason projections for UNT have not been great the last few seasons, I think every year the majority of projections has us outside the top 100. However those same seasons UNT proved to be a Q1 bubble team when March rolled around. So I am sure a lot of other bubble teams wish they had game against UNT those seasons.

I think the way UNT plays time of possession and team defense worries a lot of teams with regards to how that will effect their NET ranking. UNT is going to eat a lot of clock up, meaning opposing teams will have fewer possessions.

I think FAU and Memphis are probably the top 2 teams, I have seen UNT projected as high as 3rd and as low as 8th. There are lots of variables coming into this season, however UNT has a coach that has been around this program and knows how to implement a defense. UNT has also recruited well and picked up some good transfers. Realistically I think 4th or 5th would be a reasonable projection, based on all the adjustment.

The NIL money is coming in from so many different entities, even players on the same team are getting money from different places. Some of the money is donated other come from endorsement deals, a union would have very little commonality for those involved. The people handing out the money do not want to deal with a union, and will stop handing out money.

I wasn't expecting a win, but I was hoping I would see something positive, and I did. The offense is starting to have more consistency, and the kicking game looks very solid. On defense side of the ball that tackling looked slightly better, but overall the defense still looked bad especially late. La Tech did not look very prepared for this game in the 1st quarter, did sort of feel like a trap game, but I think Morris used that and went after them early.

you mean that tool shed looking thing we have next to the stadium??? It would be nice to have a real pavilion, with lots of TVs, food, drinks, and restrooms (something like a sports bar vibe). Something nice enough that they could use for other alumni events as well, perhaps coaches shows or away watching parties. Most of my UNT friends would rather watch games at sports bars then the stadium, something like this might get a few more alumni to games.

A win would mean that the team has found something, and would certainly take some stress off. However there is no indication that will happen, I dont expect UNT to win this game. If its a blow out loss then I think Morris will loose the players confidence in him.

Even when teams had 0-2 starts there were signs of possibilities, a good recruiting class, or young players starting to impress. So far there has been none of that. Where are people expecting the improvements to come from?

Does he deserve more time, how much more time? The original poster seems to suggest giving him a full season and off season, thats giving him a whole year from now. If he was a more experienced head coach, with some recruiting leads, I would probably agree. However all I have seen is this team steps backwards in every aspect of the program. If it was up to me, I would give him 2 more weeks to show some sign that this program is heading in the right direction. Waiting until the end of the season is to late to make a decision, I think its best to have a coach in place in early November to take full advantage of recruiting and assistant coaching hires.

The MWC has sent 4 teams to The Tournament the last couple years as a "mid major" conference. If not for Memphis upsetting Houston in the conference final, the AAC probably would have been a 1 bid conference last year.

Couple of thing: I am not sure it was Wern's call, why would any AD want to see his program go into november and december with out the following seasons coaches in place for transfers and recruiting? They handled Littrell situation poorly, they wanted to keep him for a post season run in 22, then they should kept him for the following season in 23. Letting him go after the bowl game was to late to hire a new coach and build a team for 23. Morris was a panic hire, recruiting left with Littrell, players were jumping into the transfer portal, coaching staff was in limbo, and the transfer window was closing. Not ideal timing for a head new coach, I think Morris was the only one willing to take the job.

I agree, that they fired Seth at the wrong time... If a program does not have a coach and staff in place prior to the transfer window opening up then they are throwing away the following season, this is exactly what UNT did.

at think at this level UNT should be targeting as many as possible. The day the transfer window opens should be one of the most important days of the year for this program, though they totally screwed that up last season

This all goes back to last season and waiting to long to fire the coach. With out having a coach in place when the transfer window opened they missed out on many potential transfers.

The tackling was horrible, they out muscled our line on both sides of the ball, and the coaches were unable to figure out an adjustment.

What does the ACC gain by adding SMU? What does Florida State, boston college, or duke by playing in the same conference as SMU? SMU has a small media footprint, those big ACC schools have nothing to gain, in fact it might actually cost them more money to add them.