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Harry

Standing by Benford

By Harry, in GoMeanGreen.com,

Let me preface this by saying the loss to UAH was unexpected and very disappointing for all of the Mean Green nation. It was embarrasing and should not be taken lightly.

It also allowed for a opportunity to finally vent over the huge loss of Johnny - a great coach who was here a decade and accomplished so very much. I do not think in the whirlwind that occurred with Johnny leaving for LSU, Benford's hire and Tony's decision to stay we ever actually had a good chance to grieve/vent over that loss and the response seen after UAH only verifies that fact.

As many have vocalized their disappointment in Benford, I want to remind everyone that he was very instrumental in keeping this program together AFTER Johnny left. Let us not forget this. Benford was able to convince Tony Mitchell that staying at UNT for another year made the most sense. He convinced Tony that his staff and their experience would make him a better player.

He also was able to get Chris and Jordan and the whole academic picture back on track. Of course the players had a lot to do with this as well but it was under Benford's watch that it occurred.

Landing Keith Coleman to replace Odoh was another good move although we have yet to see that pay off on the court, Coleman has shown some good signs.

Benford did an exceptional job keeping the recruiting pipelines strong post-Johnny with TJ, Friar, Nunn, Wesley... that should not be forgotten either.

Benford is a new head coach -- I think he will be a good one before all is said and done but he will make mistakes along the way. The UAH loss was a gut punch and certainly took a lot of the optimism away from the season that we had expected. I am saying you have to take the good with the bad. People on here seem to quickly forget the good.

There is a LOT that can be accomplished this season which will fade the ugly memory of UAH. Winning the Belt and getting to the NCAA's to start. What about Lehigh or St. Louis. Would victories in those games ease the pain of the UAH loss? How about watching this talent develop more as a team? Is that not something that a fan could or should look forward to at this early point of a long season?

Last point, Tony Benford and Coach Robb Evans didn't shoot 22% against UAH, the players did. At what point do they take some accountability for the loss? If they had made just a few more shots we could have easily won that game and this travesty would have never happened.

GMG
Harry
DENTON, Texas (AP) - Brandin Byrd rushed 85-yards for a touchdown to help North Texas beat South Alabama 24-14 on Saturday.
Byrd had 15 carries for 109 yards, including the touchdown in the third quarter.

Jeremy Brown had 11 carries for 61 yards, including a 51-yard touchdown run. Derek Thompson hit Drew Miller with a 2-yard pass for a score. Zach Olen, in addition to his points after touchdown, also had a field goal. Thompson was 12 of 28 for 106 yards for the Mean Green (4-6, 3-3 Sun Belt).

The game was 14-14 at halftime, but South Alabama (2-8, 1-5) was unable to put any points on the board in the second half.

Ross Metheny was 23 of 45 for 233 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown pass. Kendall Houston scored on a 1-yard run. He had 11 carries for 42 yards.

The Jaguars are in their first season in the Sun Belt Conference.

http://www.cbssports...outh-alabama-14
jimbob

Watch the Blocking!

By jimbob, in GoMeanGreen.com,

Powers & Feeley block down, then Feeley slides to block the deep LB as Ybarbo and Johnson pull and pick up the rushing LB and kick out the filling LB respectively...Result: A nifty 85 yard TD run by Byrd. Watch the blocking by the O-Line...NEVER BETTER!


Harry
North Texas (0-0) at No. 16/15 Creighton (0-0)
Omaha, Neb. • CenturyLink Center (17,272)
Nov. 9, 2012 • 7 p.m.
Radio: MGRN - 88.1 KNTU-FM, 95.3 KHYI-FM
TV: None
Webcast: MeanGreenSports.com (via GoCreighton.com)
Series: Tied 4-4
Last: NT won 108-105 in Denton, TX on Feb. 26, 1977

GAME NOTES

OMAHA, Neb. – The Tony Benford era of North Texas basketball will get started with a bang on Friday night as two of the best players in college hoops will square off in Creighton’s CenturyLink Center. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. and can be heard on the Mean Green Radio Network.

Preseason All-Americans Tony Mitchell of North Texas and Doug McDermott of Creighton have quite a history playing with and against each other. Both represented the United States in the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championships and the two also participated
in the prestigious LeBron James and Amar’e Stoudemire Skills Academies.

On Friday, their schools will square off with the college basketball world paying close attention. Several publication have called this game one of the nation’s best of the year, and it’s no wonder with the amount of talent that both teams will suit up.

McDermott became the first AP First Team All-American in Creighton’s rich history in 2011-12. McDermott was among the national leaders with 22.9 points per game, and added 8.2 boards and 60.1 percent shooting in leading the Jays to the third round of the NCAA Tournament.

No. 16 Creighton opened the season ranked inside the AP Top 25 Poll for the second time in school history. Creighton ended the 2011-12 season ranked 19th in the AP Poll and 20th in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

North Texas and Creighton have met eight times, and the series is split down the middle at 4-4. In Omaha, the Jays lead 4-2, while the Mean Green leads the Denton series 2-0. The two haven’t met since 1977, when they split a February home-and-home. NT did get the last laugh with a 108-105 thilling win in Denton on Nov. 26, 1977.

Benford, a collegiate coaching veteran of 21 years, took the reins of the North Texas basketball program for 2012-13. Benford spent the last three years at Marquette, including the 2011-12 season as Buzz Williams’ Associate Head Coach. Aside from helping the Golden Eagles reach the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in each of the last two years, Benford has coached in 14 total postseason appearances and has recruited and coached five NBA first-round draft picks in his career.
Harry
Tony Mitchell steers clear of the what-if game.

Academic issues scuttled his plans of playing basketball at Missouri. He had to wait a year to begin his collegiate career, potentially delaying a big payday for him in the NBA.

Yet, Mitchell talks about having no regrets about how things turned out. The ultra-talented forward and his North Texas teammates visit Omaha to open the season with a Friday night game against Nos. 15 and 16 Creighton.

“I’m tremendously blessed in spite of the setbacks I went through,” Mitchell said by telephone before Tuesday’s practice. “I’m in a great position. My teammates and I are ready to play. We have a lot of talent on this team, and we feel we can compete with any team in the country.

“There has been some frustration, but you just have to keep moving forward. The thing that kept me going was that I never looked at what I was going through but what I was going to.”

Many basketball observers think Mitchell’s destination is NBA stardom. The 6-foot-8 sophomore decided to return to North Texas rather than taking a shot at pro basketball after last season, and he is considered a possible lottery pick in next summer’s draft.

When Mitchell became eligible for the Mean Green last December, his first game drew 21 NBA scouts. A Creighton official said 10 or more scouts are expected Friday to get an early-season read on Mitchell and Doug McDermott, the Bluejays’ 6-8 All-America forward.

The two were teammates two summers ago on the U.S. under-19 national team. Creighton coach Greg McDermott, who followed his son to Lithuania for an international tournament, was impressed with what he saw from Mitchell.

“He’s a phenomenal athlete, maybe the best athlete in the country,” McDermott said. “He’s 6-8 and has tremendous jumping ability. He’s powerful and he’s worked on his skill set to where he’s doing some things off the dribble and he’s making some 3-pointers.

Read more: http://www.omaha.com/article/20121106/BLUEJAYS/703019953/1070#mean-green-s-mitchell-isn-t-looking-back
Harry
Jordan Case spoke with the team, said today was a good opportunity for the wide receivers to show what they could do. Mac loves Jordan and says he did a great job with the kids. It was an A+ speech.

Andrew Power 176 yards receiving, most since Andy Blount. Mac thinks he has a chance to play at the next level, not a high level pick but possibly drafted. Will play his last game at home against South Alabama. Very proud of "AP" and the other seniors.

On one of the scoring drives they ran a four- tight end set. Marcus Smith is one of their best tight ends and is out for the year. Tanner Smith the walk-on will eventually earn a scholarship. Power also caught the first pass ever at Apogee stadium.

On the other side of the ball Zach Orr has another big day, should be a first team All-Sun Belt. When they go into recruiting meetings, you talk about does he have the Zach Orr character, mentioning they use the Zach Orr standard when they look at recruits. Averaging better than 9-tackles a game.

You find out more about players during adversity. Zach Orr is an example of how you should handle adversity. Told Eric Capper that any awards that the SID submits for should most certainly include Zach Orr's name.

Mac like 4pm start times. 19,000 will break the all-time record for fan average at North Texas. Good weather projected. Hank talked about how the bridge is helping, the Fouts lot was packed last Saturday. Mac said when they bus in from the hotel they see more tents. He knows that when they get more wins and improve the product it will grow more. 5K were walk-up tickets

Open Mike Night Questions

Jay: Blessed to know how hard you and your staff are working, the excitement and works is not indicative of the record. Hedlund has a good kicker will you recruit him. Also what about transfers (Brock) got

Mac: Brock Berglund , the defensive guys say that he can play...likes his toughness, competitiveness, his feet, he really is a good player - DT is coming back and he won't give up the job easy, McNulty comes out of a redshirt after breaking his hand...[Darius] Terrell (the UT transfer) has lost some weight has gained some speed. He's like all those Desoto guys they just come to play every day they are tough...this is home to him (North Texas) - (key note here he said they would sign specifically ONE high school QB) -- Reggie Pegram from Purdue, defensive coaches and players say his tough has passed out some concussions and stingers just scored two touchdowns in Purdue’s bowl game.

Hank: you can never have enough stockpiling at QB can you?
Mac: You got to have a minimum of 4 - spring ball is going to be fun for these fans.

Fan: I have two stupid questions, one for my wife back there in the green jacket she is scared of you. What do you write on that green piece of paper?

Mac: I have notes, keep track of penalties - I'm not smart enough to remember them so I write them down...thoughts that I want to share with the coaches and the team...it’s not for show

Fan: On the home games there are a lot of recruits that come into the south end zone -- how does that process work

unofficial visits we can’t pay anything but we can give them 3 tickets...when a man wants to take official visits they get 5 and we can pay mileage, food -- unofficial visits are so important now and that's why I encourage all of our fans to get to games because it makes a good impression...there are so many choice in the state of Texas...there are more and more people that want to come and see our campus and our facilities...we try to make it as positive as we can..the game day experience and atmosphere is very important in the eyes of these recruits.

Fan: What do you think about all these wild uniforms, Notre Dame helmets, Oregon -- I'm wondering if UNT will come out with anything like that for next year.

Mac: What I don't like is changing uniforms, I like stability -- I like people to relate to the uniform -- I like tradition and when we put the uniform together we put a lot of time into it we accentuated the green and white - Now as Hank knows our 100 year celebration is next year and we are looking at some throwback uniforms with Nike for next season but we won't change uniforms for the sake of changing uniforms while I am here.

Hank: You are a big note writing guy...people in the audience should know he likes green and blue - and sometimes pink!

Mac: I do like to write notes, but I will say this at Iowa State we had a really good working relationship with all of the staff and faculty and we are trying to do this here. We all need to work together. I got a call from Mike Peterson the other day and we visited - Tony Benford and I met earlier today - there's real camaraderie here - we care about each other - if the women’s sports do great it’s good for the men and vice versa...

No more coaches show for the next two Mondays because of basketball conflicts.

Hank: you called me to visit with Greg McDermott who you know very well.

He's just one of those guys - Greg's just a phenomenal friend - Doug used to eat smores out there with my kids - we helped him grow and develop. They've got a phenomenal team and they won about 30 games. GMac has done a great job of building that program. Tony has some great players and I know he will do the same thing here.

Hank: You play against LSU and some of these programs and players can get hurt -- that doesn't happen in basketball and Tony Benford has stiffened up the schedule.

Should be a great challenge against Creighton and gosh almighty that would be a huge shot of confidence if you could win that game -- I hope it is on TV and if it is I will be watching

Hank: Eli Young Band was shooting a music video here at Apogee today! Great music scene and they did a video for you coach Mac which we will show at the game this Saturday.

Mac: Did they buy some football tickets?

Mac: More high school games will be played here as I understand it which is great; Channel 21 will be here doing the game this Saturday. 10 of 12 games will have some type of television. This has a huge impact on our program very positive.

Hank: Dave Barnett and Dougie Anderson will be calling the game. Let's talk about South Alabama. The Mean Green March you were really early this past week?

Mac: It is really neat and very meaningful to our players and their parents...a lot of emotion will be there this Saturday and we hope you will be there between 1:30 and 2pm. It is a neat entry into the stadium. A lot of young kids’ high fiving, all good for North Texas!

Hank: This week against UNT can get back to 3-3 in the Belt. South Alabama is 2nd in the Belt in sacks.

Mac: Mike Grant when he was at Southern Miss got a lot of very good players from Mobile and now South Alabama is getting them so they have some talent. They are playing hard and tough, good speed -- we are going to have a real challenge in this game against a much improved South Alabama team.

Hank: South Alabama leads the Belt in turnovers however.

Mac: We need to get back to not turning the ball over - that's North Texas football right now and we gotta get back to that,

Hank: You have a 4 man rotation at defensive tackle - two of these players were recruited as defensive ends. What are you looking for from the defensive tackle position?

Mac: We are looking for the best athletes we can find. If you can't handle that or play with your hair on fire. I have some insight into that position. I know how important it is. Lincoln and Boutwell are smaller but they are very active, Cantly and Abbe are bigger and take up more space. We need guys at the position that will play with their hair on fire.

WE BELIEVE IN THE MEAN GREEN!

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