Sam Houston State (12/17/16)

[UNTFan23]

2 minutes ago, Andrew said:

Honest guess is we focus too much on defense. Through the first ten games this team is holding opponents to the lowest field goal percentage in the history of the program (per meangreensports). Maybe they are focusing to much there and not enough on the offensive end of the court. I miss the good old Chris Davis or Calvin Watson days for sure. 

Focus too much on defense?! How can you say such a thing with a straight face? This team gives up 8 threes per game on average right now. We're middle of the pack (#145 out of 351 - 41% percentile). We're lucky in that we've played some pretty awful teams which puts our scoring defense at 67.44 PPG right now, (93 out of 35 - 26th percentile) but this is a misleading stat if you don't know who the Mean Green have played. Take out the Texas College and Delaware State games and the PPG jumps to 74.57! That puts this team's scoring defense around 233 out of 351 (66th percentile). Against Sam Houston they gave up right at their season average when you take out the two outliers.

OpponentOpponent	Date  Date of Game	NTScoreNT Score	OppScoreOpponent Score	ResultWin/Loss	Margin
Sul Ross State	2016-11-11	85	77	Win	8
Texas Tech	2016-11-15	43	70	Loss	-27
Drexel	2016-11-20	62	83	Loss	-21
Rutgers	2016-11-23	53	66	Loss	-13
Niagara	2016-11-25	80	71	Win	9
Hartford	2016-11-27	81	78	Win	3
Texas College	2016-11-30	73	45	Win	28
UT-Arlington	2016-12-03	61	77	Loss	-16
Delaware State	2016-12-08	73	40	Win	33

 

Games in bold are losses by 10 or more points. Games in italics are against teams with a losing record at the time the game was played. This team has yet to play a good game against a better team. 

[THOR]

stats are fun...

[Andrew]

"Speaking of defense, North Texas is holding teams to 40.0 from the field, which is a school-record through nine games. They are also only allowing 67.4 points per game and only two teams in school history have done better with the 2011-12 team only allowing 65.0 per game."- see article 

http://www.meangreensports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/121516aaa.html

 

Thor is right... stats are run when you know how to read them. It's like people never watched UNT play basketball over the past 2 to 3 decades (at least). 

We are terrible and it's clear... it doesn't take a basketball genius to figure that out, but the fact that most "fans" have no clue where our team has come from and how bad we have consistently been throughout our school history is worrisome. Four or  five good years under Jones and y'all all think we are some power house school that wins 20 games and goes to the conference finals every year. We had a talented team and it went to waste. It happens. I have been going to games for over two decades and nothing will stop me from going and cheering on the green. Even the last 4 years of sub par basketball. 

 

Oh oh and the last time we beat Sam Houston State on the road was 1992... so losing like this is nothing new... it's a bit ridiculous, but nothing new. (We do lead the all time series however. JJ loved southland and swac teams when we were in the sunbelt to pad the record). 

Edited December 18, 2016 by Andrew

[UNTFan23]

7 minutes ago, Andrew said:

I am just going off what meangreensports said prior to the UTA game. They said we were allowing right around 42% from other teams which was the best to that point in a season for UNT. 

Take what is posted on MGS with a grain of salt. The point of their writing is to attempt to put a positive spin (aka distract you) on what has been a series of bad seasons. Right now NT is 72 of 351 (20th percentile) but when you have games where someone shoots under 30% it helps pad your stats as a defense.

Opponent	OppFG	OppFGA	FGPer	Opp3FG	Opp3FGA	3FGPer
Sul Ross State	26	62	41.9355	10	38	26.3158
Texas Tech	28	68	41.1765	6	20	30.0000
Drexel	32	68	47.0588	12	28	42.8571
Rutgers	23	64	35.9375	3	24	12.5000
Niagara	23	62	37.0968	8	32	25.0000
Hartford	27	62	43.5484	13	28	46.4286
Texas College	19	86	22.0930	4	28	14.2857
UT-Arlington	26	50	52.0000	10	28	35.7143
Delaware State	12	50	24.0000	6	20	30.0000

Games in bold are where more than 10 Threes were made by the opponent.

Season Averages with TX College and Delaware St:

OppFG	OppFGA	FGPer	Opp3FG	Opp3FGA	3FGPer	GmCnt
216	572	37.7622	72	246	29.2683	9

Season Average without TX College and Delaware St:

OppFG	OppFGA	FGPer	Opp3FG	Opp3FGA	3FGPer	GmCnt
185	436	42.4312	62	198	31.3131	7

We look like a better team because of some of the awful teams we've played this year.

32 minutes ago, Andrew said:

Oh oh and the last time we beat Sam Houston State on the road was 1992... so losing like this is nothing new... it's a bit ridiculous, but nothing new. (We do lead the all time series however. JJ loved southland and swac teams when we were in the sunbelt to pad the record). 

JJ also beat Texas Tech and Oklahoma State, which people cared about. JJ also won conference tournament games, which Benford has done once in the last 4 years. I think Benford's post season record is 1-4.

[Andrew]

I understand that it is essentially meangreensports propaganda, but none the less we are not good and have not been good consistently throughout our history. SMU and UTA are passing us up and we need to do something. UTA is also benefiting from having a brand new arena which I thought at some point over the next decade UNT would look into doing (plenty of space beside apogee or across Bonnie Brea. New facilities and a successful coach who can recruit local helps. I'm sure we can get back to where JJ had us, but I hope one day we can surpass that. 

[Ben Gooding]

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

I understand that it is essentially meangreensports propaganda, but none the less we are not good and have not been good consistently throughout our history. SMU and UTA are passing us up and we need to do something. UTA is also benefiting from having a brand new arena which I thought at some point over the next decade UNT would look into doing (plenty of space beside apogee or across Bonnie Brea. New facilities and a successful coach who can recruit local helps. I'm sure we can get back to where JJ had us, but I hope one day we can surpass that. 

Quit making excuses, Andrew. We are not good. Not even close. We are a bad team in Bumfords 5th year. He is stealing from the University as far as I'm concerned and needs to be fired 3 years ago. 

[GreenMachine]

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

I understand that it is essentially meangreensports propaganda, but none the less we are not good and have not been good consistently throughout our history. SMU and UTA are passing us up and we need to do something. UTA is also benefiting from having a brand new arena which I thought at some point over the next decade UNT would look into doing (plenty of space beside apogee or across Bonnie Brea. New facilities and a successful coach who can recruit local helps. I'm sure we can get back to where JJ had us, but I hope one day we can surpass that. 

SMU and UTA are passing us? Those guys flew past us years ago and are light years ahead of us now. 

[Harry]

OK - so we lost again and that sucks however, the bright spot is the new kid Wooldrige who had 10 points, four rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal.   Also the freshman Lawson had a career high 18.  Frazier did not play in the game.    Here is Vito's game story:  http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/sports-headlines/20161217-unt-comeback-falls-short-in-huntsville.ece

[GrandGreen]

Coaching aside, this was a somewhat positive game.  As Harry stated Lawson and Wooldrige demonstrated there could be a bright future for NT basketball.  With absolutely no offense for about 12 minutes at the beginning of the second half; NT still came close to winning an away game against one of the better teams that they have played.    

Back to coaching, I think this team is so deep that Benford doesn't have a glue what to do with it.   By deep, I don't mean that NT has a bunch of great players; but rather a team that every scholarship player is good enough to play significant minutes.  I think Benford just keeps substituting hoping he will find the right five for that game.   The problem is the team seldom looks like they have played together and players are more worried about being substituted for than winning the game.  

 

[UNT90]

8 hours ago, Harry said:

OK - so we lost again and that sucks however, the bright spot is the new kid Wooldrige who had 10 points, four rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal.   Also the freshman Lawson had a career high 18.  Frazier did not play in the game.    Here is Vito's game story:  http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/sports-headlines/20161217-unt-comeback-falls-short-in-huntsville.ece

Let's be clear. There is ZERO bright spots with UNT basketball. Probably less than zero. Benford won't be fired because Ernie still loves him, and what Ernie wants for the basketball program, Ernie gets. 

I just wish Ernie would go back and look at film of fan attendance from 2011 and compare it to any home game this year.

That is what Ernie has helped achieve for this program. That is what he currently supports by a strange allegiance to a disaster of a head coach. There are no more excuses. You can't blame Tony Mitchell for this. You can't blame Chris Jones for this. This is your guy and his recruits. 

Please open your eyes and stop inadvertently killing this basketball program. 

Edited December 18, 2016 by UNT90

[GMG24]

58 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

Let's be clear. There is ZERO bright spots with UNT basketball. Probably less than zero. Benford won't be fired because Ernie still loves him, and what Ernie wants for the basketball program, Ernie gets. 

I just wish Ernie would go back and look at film of fan attendance from 2011 and compare it to any home game this year.

That is what Ernie has helped achieve for this program. That is what he currently supports by a strange allegiance to a disaster of a head coach. There are no more excuses. You can't blame Tony Mitchell for this. You can't blame Chris Jones for this. This is your guy and his recruits. 

Please open your eyes and stop inadvertently killing this basketball program. 

I disagree whole heartedly.  The team he has assembled is possibly one of the most highly ranked groups.  Whatever he's doing in practices, philosophy or workouts, and in game strategy is what's getting him.  Which I know makes him not a good coach.  

I believe we have 6-7 guys from Tx top 100 basketball players in their respective classes.  I'll need to do some digging. The team is headlined by Frazier. 

http://www.espn.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/104886/keith-frazier

Frazier (transfer) still have to recruit him.  

[UNT90]

1 hour ago, GMG24 said:

I disagree whole heartedly.  The team he has assembled is possibly one of the most highly ranked groups.  Whatever he's doing in practices, philosophy or workouts, and in game strategy is what's getting him.  Which I know makes him not a good coach.  

I believe we have 6-7 guys from Tx top 100 basketball players in their respective classes.  I'll need to do some digging. The team is headlined by Frazier. 

http://www.espn.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/104886/keith-frazier

Frazier (transfer) still have to recruit him.  

And all of that will mean nothing because this team doesn't have, and hasn't had a coherent offense the last 5 years. They also don't defend the perimeter or rebound worth a damn. I don't care where they were rated coming out of high school.

As long as Benfird is here (and he will be here as long as Ernie wants him here), there is less than zero to be excited about.

Mitchell was a 5 star and Benford screwed that up.

Denial is the strongest human emotion.

Edited December 18, 2016 by UNT90

[greenminer]

2 hours ago, UNT90 said:

As long as Benfird is here (and he will be here as long as Ernie wants him here), there is less than zero to be excited about.

What is this guy's attachment to Benford?

[UNT90]

2 hours ago, greenminer said:

What is this guy's attachment to Benford?

I don't know why it is, but it is. 

Most mind boggling thing I've ever witnessed.

[GMG24]

5 hours ago, UNT90 said:

And all of that will mean nothing because this team doesn't have, and hasn't had a coherent offense the last 5 years. They also don't defend the perimeter or rebound worth a damn. I don't care where they were rated coming out of high school.

As long as Benfird is here (and he will be here as long as Ernie wants him here), there is less than zero to be excited about.

Mitchell was a 5 star and Benford screwed that up.

Denial is the strongest human emotion.

There's no denial from me, I agree he's an awful coach.  I just wanted to point out the fact that he has assembled a solid team for the next coach to inherit. Much more so than McCarney left Littrell. 

[UNT90]

13 minutes ago, GMG24 said:

There's no denial from me, I agree he's an awful coach.  I just wanted to point out the fact that he has assembled a solid team for the next coach to inherit. Much more so than McCarney left Littrell. 

And much less so than what was left to him. 

Not arguing talent, but there is so much wrong with this team (free throw shooting being yet another problem, a problem that can be cured with hard work) that it's going to be hard for a new coach to overcome those issues.

We also probably disagree on certain players' talent level. But I try not to criticize the kids on this forum.

[GMG24]

3 hours ago, UNT90 said:

And much less so than what was left to him. 

Not arguing talent, but there is so much wrong with this team (free throw shooting being yet another problem, a problem that can be cured with hard work) that it's going to be hard for a new coach to overcome those issues.

We also probably disagree on certain players' talent level. But I try not to criticize the kids on this forum.

Fair enough.