[Grant Newell............Transfer From Cal]

2 hours ago, aztecskin said:

Aaron was great when he was in a defined role: attack close-outs, catch-and-shoot, and backdoor cuts to go with his hustle points. When we asked him to go one-on-one and expand his game, he struggled. Scott was a winner though, and made some huge plays in huge moments (thinking about Vegas) and if Newell can live up to that, we can have that discussion. 

In the limited looks we have of Newell, we see he is a little more smooth with the ball. I imagine we will ask him to do the defined-role type stuff but if he looks like he can create his own looks then why not? All that will be evident in summer and fall though. 

AScott was great for us defensively, I’m not denying that. However, my issue with him was offensively. We needed him to really step up, but that just wasn’t in his bag. I also thought he went up soft down low. Just my 2 cents

[Grant Newell............Transfer From Cal]

1 hour ago, aztecskin said:

Wrote about it a little on the site -- I like his versatility. He can step out and shoot it, he can drive, etc. Reminds me of some of what A Scott did for NT in his 2022 season. GN is not a supreme athlete -- not going to sky over dudes -- but he can run the floor and finish at the rim. There's a ton to like. 

Sounds like he’s already better than AScott. I thought AScott underperformed from all the hype he got. Soft when finishing. 

[New commit Creighton transfer post Brock Vice]

1 hour ago, MeanGreen22 said:

Skilled bigs are hard to find in college basketball. This could be fun. 

This is an important take. There are plenty of guards/wings out there compared to bigs…let alone skilled bigs. Definitely much harder to fill than guards/wings. 1st box…✅

[New commit Creighton transfer post Brock Vice]

1 hour ago, Matt from A700 said:

Yes!! Let's stop thinking about who's going to hurt us in the portal next season and try to get excited for 2024-25.

I'm intrigued to find out if this guy is going to compete for Moulaye's spot in the starting lineup. I'm assuming Sissoko is coming back for his grad year until news comes out otherwise. The thing that might make Vice our 6th man instead is his young age. But he's an inch taller and just 5 lbs. lighter than Moulaye. In limited time he had better stats, including rebounding, than Moulaye last year.

He's also got a cool name. I wish it rolled off the tongue better.

Just let this kid play 30mins a game. I’m certain he’d have better numbers than Moulaye

[Noland To The Portal]

I really can’t say I’m even disappointed anymore. The NCAA has cut the balls off of schools outside the P5. We just can’t compete against this goliath whose foot is at our necks . Only the G5 schools with considerable history of basketball success might be able to stay afloat…but for how long. This isn’t even ridiculous anymore…this is just tedious. 

[Ousmane]

 

apparently he’s transferring out of Xavier

[Spring Football]

On 3/23/2024 at 8:12 AM, Jonnyeagle said:

How can you say that when we lost our best offensive lineman?

 

On 3/23/2024 at 9:56 AM, Meangreen Fight said:

OL quality as a squad is more about the weakest link rather than the best individual lineman.  I don't agree with @3_n_out but it certainly possible if all the individual lineman are best than the worst lineman in the squad last year.  And if the offense is 60% pass vs 40% run or if is closer to 50/50 with a zone blocking run scheme that makes the weakest link more important vs strongest link.  It is great to have a monster like Larry Allen, Eric Williams, or Travis Fredick.   But it you aren't scheming to run behind him their impact can be limited when the best pass rusher on the opposition just moves to go at weaker offensive lineman.  

So many unknowns about this coming season it hard to be excited or pessimistic about it.  I just wish this was year 3 of our new coach instead of year 2.

Just trying to have some blind optimism early in the spring. I like the notion of having some P5 OLs transfer to us and potentially contributing. And to be honest, while our offensive numbers were great, our OL struggled some. 

[Spring Football]

41 minutes ago, 97and03 said:

I don’t think I have ever seen a spring with less hype or enthusiasm. 

From the supporters or from the team?

[Recruiting ROI]

I think we’ve developed a nice pipeline from the juco ranks. But, with our recent success the past few years, I’m hoping for guys from major conferences to realize what UNT has going for them right now. You still have to recruit the major juco players, tho. You also have to look at P5 kids who are part of a rotation that may want more burn. We have to build up from here on out

[Spring Football]

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

There are some articles on the DRC website that I posted in another thread. 

Thanks. I read it. I somehow feel we will have a much better OL than last year. 

[LSU (3/19/24)]

24 minutes ago, RBTX said:

It's actually the winner of Seton Hall and Saint Joseph's tomorrow. St John's declined their invite to the NIT.

Doh!

[LSU (3/19/24)]

Looks like we get the winner between Providence/ St. John’s. Wouldn’t it be sweet to face another pre-season opponent for another revenge game. 

[LSU (3/19/24)]

Wow! We closed the game! Just learn to hit FTs in pressure situations. 

[LSU (3/19/24)]

Why are our 80% FT shooters missing these?

[LSU (3/19/24)]

Bit of a flop there by the LSU guard I think

[LSU (3/19/24)]

Play smart ball. LSU will be aggressive defensively. Draw the foul

[LSU (3/19/24)]

Just now, CMJ said:

NT 62 ---------- LSU 48

 

10:01 to go

 

Starting to slow the game down some, which is actually much more our style.  Beat them playing at a faster pace, if we start grinding them -- you really have to like our chances.

Exactly. Play mean green bball - slow temp milking the clock. Let LSU put pressure on themselves with each possession 

[LSU (3/19/24)]

Just now, Matt from A700 said:

Don't like that we didn't score after that LSU timeout. Would have been nice to take a double-digit lead into the half. Can't let them get any momentum at all in the second.

Maybe instead of them trying to drive it all the way, pull up for the mid range if the lane isn’t open all the way. Mix it up some

[LSU (3/19/24)]

8 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

Sissoko had some boneheadedness early... but is fighting down low

Seems to have a little more energy tonight

[LSU (3/19/24)]

What a terrible shot by JE. Makes the nice steal and just jacks up a contested 3. Come on, man

[Spring Football]

2 hours ago, Tom McKrackin said:

This is pathetic.  Closed practices suck.

As long as the unveiling looks better than last year. 

[Spring Football]

Anyone have any news about the spring practices? Anyone looking good/not so good? Been thirsting for some UNT football news of late. 

[Florida Atlantic (3/15/24)]

20 hours ago, Cooley said:

Layne Taylor will be the best pure point guard/play maker on the team. He's also a very good shooter. My only question is does he have the quickness necessary at the next level. Seemed to struggle against bigger and faster guys. Defense is adequate. Certainly a rotation guy from day 1. 

From what I’ve read, he definitely has a nice skill set and a winning pedigree. But, I’m a little concerned about the size. Sub 6’. Maybe Hodge will utilize an offense to effectively showcase his skills instead of just throwing the ball to Aaron down low to operate or going iso. 

[It was a good season]

15 minutes ago, greenminer said:

I'd like to find a recruit that can level this up big time, not just fill in the gap and/or be serviceable.

(I'm being greedy here)

I’m hoping for this also, but are we a program in the eyes of prospects to be a destination point? Unfortunately, I don’t think we’re quite there yet. We out need to keep winning and making noise. Recruit juco players and transfers from big programs like this past season and we can make progress. 

[Florida Atlantic (3/15/24)]

I hope they recruit hard at the juco level for size. If most come back and we add size up front, that’s progress. Coach Hodge needs to improve on offensive sets. Too many iso plays out on the wing or back down dribble offense. Anyways, hopefully they give our new recruits a shot at the rotation next season. 
Anyways, we didn’t do as well as I was hoping, but we never backed down from any team. We were competitive against everyone with the exception of one or two teams if I recall. Hope the guys see that and feel they have unfinished business for next season.