drex

Since the Midland Juco kid verbally committed, I assume that we are safe with Johnny to stay, but has anyone heard that he finalized his extension?

Should be interesting to see the fate of A&M basketball now that Gillispie has left. Was their recent success just a flash in the pan, or will the Aggies be smart enough to find a suitable replacement.

I am impressed that Watson put in a good word for this program. Players talking to players is a potent recruiting tool.

To he best of my knowledge, no Naval Academy ship is in harm's way and you can bet that they sure will be trying to sink us. Lighten up and give the Exes some credit for trying to contribute to school spirit.

Take it from an old timer, when the phrase Mean Green first made its appearance, the football team was wearing white helmets with a green stripe down the middle and the letters NT on the side of the helmet. If white was good enough for the original Mean Green, maybe we can muddle through using white again.

Dickey had an agent, too. Hope Johnny fares better.

The thrill of professional sports held on college campuses.

Good luck getting any response from the athletic department. They should have had the common courtesy of informing the 'hard core' season ticket holders about the change so the 'hard core' could move over behind the NT bench. Oh well, as Joliet Jake said in the "Blues Brothers"...."these are just requests, they don't mean nothin'."

Slinker is just like Dickey. Both stood by while the rest of the conference got better and passed them by. She's a nice person, but can't coach a lick. If we were serious about women's basketball she should have been shown the door by now.

I have visited several times with Rick while in San Antonio...he is a friend of one of my fraternity brothers who lives in San Antonio. His restaurant is LaFonda, 6402 N. New Braunfels, telephone 210-824-4231. Good mexican food.

Booker Woodfox's dad played football for North Texas.

We lost because Memphis is a better program...they have worked hard to become a good program and have succeeded. Now, we must make the decision to take the next step and move on up or just let this year be another anomaly that we visit again 19 years later when we go back to the dance. I hope every decision maker at NT understood the impact of this visit to the big dance. Let's not wait another 19 years.

The firing of Craig Helwig by Dr. Pohl. Without this move, no New Orleans Bowl teams, no Todd Dodge, no Johnny Jones, etc.

If they stick to the current system, they must require the school and site of the tournament to guarantee sales of 5,000 tickets. If the host team goes out early then they play Santa Claus with the tickets and let some kids, charities, etc. use the tickets. You should never be allowed to host without the participation of the local chamber of commerce and city government. The host community should be held more accountable for game attendance.

The article would have more punch if I could be assured that the Daily staff went to the games. Did the writer even go to the games? Doubtful. As to the millions on promotion, until the athletic department figures out that they are dealing with human beings and treat them as such all the promotions ( I really think they meant advertising) will not help. The athletic staff roams around the basketball games with a scowl on their faces like they don't even want to be there or too important to be there and the athletic director sits down on the floor and visits with about 15 people....he never comes into the stands to thank the people for being at the game. Until this is a people friendly athletic department the only thing that will get the people out is to have a really outstanding product. Even then, the majority of the people won't embrace the success until they feel like they are wanted and are a part of the athletic family.

I hope they do this thing right. First in line should be Mean Green Club members, basketball season ticket holders and students. I have already heard from some 'stiffs in the community' who say they are going to go to the tournament. They were not donors, season ticket holders or even went to a single game this year. They should be at the back of the line. The bandwagon needs to run over these 'stiffs.'

I was at the pep rally and made a point to see if Tina Slinker and her basketball marvels showed up to support the men's team. Surprise, surprise, she was nowhere to be found.

How ironic it would be if we play A&M or Kansas. In A&M you have the head coach who did not get the North Texas job, and in Kansas you have an assistant coach who Helwig ran off from NT.

This team got precious little respect or support from faculty, staff, students and alumni this season. If we win tonight, I hope Johnny steps to the mike and says 'this championship is for the team and the 500 hard core fans.' It is not surprising that they are getting little official attention from the university. Does Villareal have any idea how big this is? We are a whisper away from some serious national attention. At some point the 'it's only basketball' mentality must give way to reality.

I have followed the basketball program since 1966 and this might just be our best. With due respect to Blakeley, Gales and Spika, this team could make the biggest waves. When do we start the thread as to how we are going to hang onto Johnny Jones? If he goes to the big dance, will he keep right on dancing out of Denton? Couldn't blame him, given the pitiful support from fans. He is a fine person who deserves some success.

Rudy's barbecue in Denton has always been good about showing NT games on weird stations....perhaps they will try to carry this one. I am going to call them tomorrow for find out and will post what I learned.

We did this in the mid 80's....we had about 15 people with life insurance policies with North Texas Athletics as the beneficiary. Then, the grim reaper ( Helwig ) showed up and crushed the program.

You are correct. Following the 19th ranking we played Memphis State on the road. Memphis put a caged live Tiger close to our bench and we lost to them. Our loss dropped us out of the top 20. At the time of our national ranking, the NCAA field was only 32 teams with the 'big conferences' hogging the spots. We should have gone to the NIT, but shot ourselves in the foot, due to poor self promotion from the athletic department. I wish some of you all could have been at the SMU game when it was standing room only. The SuperPit can really rock with about 10,000 people in it. SMU never knew what hit them.

A Helwig protege who wants to be at the University of Kansas.

When we did the student "Pack the Pit" promotion, we hosted UTA. Jimmy Gales' team had won three games going into the UTA game....we had over 4,000 for that game. Thanks to all who made it possible.