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To celebrate Texas Independence Day.....Rudy's is offering a quarter pound of brisket for 32 cents.....Tuesday from 2-4. (at any Rudy's location). And the 32 cents goes to the Haiti relief fund. (From the Sunday D-RC page 2D).

congrats to the bball team. i was worried at 11-7 but they finished strong and 20-8 with a west division title is something to be proud of. 24-8 with a tourney bid would be awesome.

I don't know about the football scheduling things but the tie-breaker rule has been on the book for some timne, certainly more than just this past week, and could not have been aimed at us.

Let's just win the G Damn Sun Belt Tournament and send Troy to the NIT. It's not the end of the world. NT has the best team in the Sun Belt. Now it's time to prove it.

Got this from the guys at Channel 11, we have a couple of alums in high places over there. North Texas 2010 Football Schedule Sept. 4 at Clemson Sept. 11 Rice Sept. 18 at Army Sept. 25 at Florida Atlantic* Oct. 2 Louisiana-Lafayette* Oct. 9 Arkansas State* Oct. 16 Florida International* (Homecoming) Oct. 30 at Western Kentucky* Nov. 6 Troy* Nov. 13 at Middle Tennessee* Nov. 20 at Louisiana-Monroe* Nov. 27 Kansas State

I still can not believe that the Sunbelt has decided to do this three way tie breaker. So, I did my own investigative reporting to see exactly what the rules were and how they deduced comparing the western division champion with the runner up for the regular season title. Why have two divisions? All of these questions have been exhausted on this board. Questions like, we didn't even play the same number of games against each other and the other teams had home court advantage. So, here is the actual text from the Sunbelt official website. Sunbelt Post Season Format and Tie Breaking Procedure The seeding for top two seeds has its own tiebreaking for #1 and #2. A tiebreaker that only involves the division winners AND a coin toss if their records are identical and head/head matchup is identical. The "Top Three Seeds -Determination" clause specifically points out that the #3 spot is "next best ... regardless of division", which implies the division champions must be determined before determining number 3 seed. The Tie-Breaking Formula comes into play for all of the seeds below these two seeds. Specifically, point © of the Tie-Breaking Formula section states that "if each team has the same record against the highest-seeded team in the division" ... Not the other division. THE top seed has to be established before you ever get to the infamous "three way tie" clause which is point (e) of the Tie-Breaking Formula. But here is the real kicker. There is a statement that clearly states when the "Tie-Breaking Formula" is invoked. The last sentence of the "Seeding" clause: In the event of a tie for any seeded position within a division, the seed shall be determined by utilizing the conference’s tie-breaking formula. It is only to be invoked for seeded positions WITHIN a division. So, the conference skipped and ignored its own rules to find a rule that that is embedded far into the tie breaking formula that shouldn't even be invoked. The rules clearly state to determine division winners and to determine head to head of those two to determine #1 and #2 seeds. After reading and analyzing these rules, I just don't see how they came up with the seeds using this three way tiebreaker bull. I thought maybe the rules were ambiguous, but it is very clearly defined. Why does this matter so much to me? This is a guaranteed post season berth to the NIT. And that means everything. That is visibility. That is more money. And above all else, our players deserve it. This was determined before the season. The conference chose to go another direction which tells me one of two things. 1. They were too frantic in making a decision because they didn't think it would actually happen, and resulted in not analyzing the rules properly because they rushed it after the last games played out. 2. They are incompetent. Either way, I think it all boils down to number 2 (pun intended), even if number 1 is the root cause. If we win out and go to the NCAA, then in my opinion the conference dodged a bullet. If not, I‎ will be highly disappointed if UNT does not come out publicly with their lawyers and go after the conference. Quit pus-footing around these issues and be behind closed doors. Let us know you think it is bull and you are going to do something about it. Don't give me this crap that Rick V. is probably on top of this and trying to be "political" or some crap. This is not the time for this. The players and Coach Jones deserve it. Your alumni and donors want it.

When I saw the title thread "Cake Walk" I thought they were talking about our Mean Green, but I guess not, WKU is a good program but I believe we can beat them, we did beat them before our current streak. I like what that WKU poster wrote: WKU's biggest fear in the tourney: NORTH TEXAS

Keith, with respect... The very first link you provided about how they 'use the same rules everywhere' is actually not only wrong, it's the exact OPPOSITE of right. And again, with respect... I don't think you understand "why all the crying", as evidenced by this post you made that gets the NIT bid completely wrong, too. The reason this is so upsetting is that this stupid interpretation of the tiebreaker cost us a guaranteed postseason bid. That may not be a big deal for any of those conferences you mentioned... But we've only had three postseason bids in our entire history. Losing the guarantee could cost us something that's only come around an average of once every 25 years or so. Plus, it costs us money and program prestige. Not playing in the postseason costs us what would otherwise be a recruiting advantage. I've already repeated all the reasons that this interpretation of the tiebreakers is absurd, and even I'm getting sick of talking about it. But the fact remains, we got screwed. It cost us something significant and valuable; something worth getting upset over.

I actually like being seeded #2. Hopefully the desire for postseason play will get us to the real tourney. But I agree, something must be done to fix this. Three of the last four years have ended in a three team tie. This should've been fixed prior to this season. http://www.sunbeltsports.org/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4100&ATCLID=919677

i'm sure you're right in everything that you say....but....DICK JOKES FLIPPIN RULE!!!! especially with old people like waters...STAY HARD DUDE!!!

I really appreciate your faith in my powers of persuasion... But I don't imagine anyone at SBC headquarters plans on reversing this (or any other) decision based on the arguments of some random jackass from a school message board. It would be an awkward press release for someone to have to write and send out to the relevant beatwriters, to say the least. And it bears repeating that my polite but impassioned communications with the Sun Belt Conference over matters relating to the basketball tournament generally don't do much good. Probably because I'm an idiot. I've talked to Commissioner Waters at every tournament I've ever attended for more than a night. The first time, he came and found me. Last year, I caught him walking around the arena and told him how much I loved the neutral site concept and the evolution of the tournament. This year, I'll politely but emphatically tell him that I think this was total crap and he ought to be ashamed. Then I'll tell him that I like bringing all teams to Hot Springs, but that I think they'd sell more tickets if mens and womens games ran simultaneously all day on Saturday and Sunday, rather than having men and women in separate sessions. I doubt that he'll be strongly affected by the words of that Greek guy who makes dick jokes and used to co-run not one, but TWO crappy websites. Of course, maybe I'll get lucky, and he'll name me co-commissioner and issue me a tiebreaker-crimefighting costume, like Batman and Robin.

eff canada!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

tasty....have you questioned the ruling authorities in this matter yet? it probably will go on deaf ears, but if they hear it, maybe they will fix it.

I'm as big a fan as anyone, but I'm not sure we're the best team the way WKU is playing. That is why it's so critical they have to win 4 in 4 -- they may not have legs by the end.

Cool idea....think it will be crowded?

After mtsu won their game, I didn't expect us to get the 1seed, or NIT bid anyway. We had a great regular season, and are the hottest team going into Hot Springs. Lets focus on the positives.

I hate the damn SunBelt now more than ever.

FYI: It's limited to one per customer: http://rudys.com/f2s/

We can probably do a cookout at our place. It's on Ramble street, very close to the team hotel (if I'm not mistaken). Anyone who'd be interested in a bring your own meat/alcohol cookout sometime around 4:00-6:00, let me know.

I thank you, sir.

I only gave a - 1 because I know he gave himself a + 1 . So it balances itself out. One should'nt give oneself a +1. If you don't agree with that than I'll give u a -1 !!! F Lee Jackson F the SunBelt & F Canada !!! F everyone .. I'm in a bad mood today !!

Dude, I gave you a plus 1. Everyone who gave you a -1 should get a -5 for the inability to recognize a sarcastic post.

It is total obvious that the USA won the gold. For a complete breakdown, see my post in the non-UNT sports forum: If this were the Sun Belt Conference, the USA would win the gold medal because of the following scenerio: Both teams played each other twice and are tied 1-1 in head-to-head. Team USA won the first game 5-3 in regulation. Canada won the second game 3-2 in OT. The USA therefore holds a 7-6 combined goal advantage over the Canadians, plus Canada has 2 losses in the tournament (comparable to conference play), while the USA has only one. All this clearly shows that the USA won the gold.... if this were the Sun Belt Conference. Somehow, somewhere, FIU is responsible for that overtime goal.

I know you're right (though MTSU lost to FIU, too), but it still burns me that we lost the NIT guarantee and the outright title because of unbalanced scheduling and a conference that can't apply tiebreakers in a way that compensates for it. We played the 3 top teams in the East on the road this year. Two of them, we beat. The third, we only lost to because we had what would have been a layup stolen away with 44 seconds left and no foul was called. We had the same record as Troy and we beat them heads up at their house. But they win the tiebreaker? Because of the division runner up somehow factoring into the equation? It's infuriating.

That is true, but Vito's blog title said "UNT to name wide receivers coach tomorrow." That implies an announcement. Oh well, as long as we have someone in place by the time spring practice starts, I guess there's really no urgency. I still don't know exactly when spring practice is scheduled to start and can find nothing on the official website about it. I saw that Texas started on Friday and got plenty of local (DFW) news coverage about it.

Fire away.

When a coach has his back to the wall, you see the best or worst of his abilities as a coach. This year should be very interesting.

I have to admit I am one of those... Although I did attend UNT in the 80's (when we were still 1AA) I graduated from UTEP and have been a Miner diehard my entire life win (not that often) or lose (quite often)... When my wife and I moved to McKinney I was looking for a college team to support and since I had been a student at UNT it seemed natural... I only get to watch UTEP play in person in DFW once every other year in football and once every year in basketball, so that hardly meets my need for a sports fix... I have attended about 10 UNT games in the 11 years I have lived here, but with my 9 year old becoming a football maniac this next year I am going to break down and buy season tickets for the both of us and then again for the season to open the new stadium... I am exactly the kind of person that needs to be chased by the university marketing team... I don't have a large vested interest in the fortunes of UNT sports, but I have greatly enjoyed the games I've been to, have bought gear for my son and I and have been really made to feel part of something by the fans we have met tailgating, etc... That being said, any idea when football season tickets go on sale...??

nothing worth having is ever easy...

We learned in the alumni association that there comes a time to write off those alums of the past and those of departments that tend to never care or support any part of UNT. These are what I term "parasites" who suck what they can get for their own personal gain and never think twice of recognizing the education that got them to where they are today. You start with the freshmen and the applicants from J.C. and H.S. Make them feel that it is cool to bleed Mean Green and that apathy and lack of spirt toward what will be their alma mater one day is for losers. We have a great new marketing person in Cooper Jones whom I just met last week. He saw the University of Louisville go from playing in a dilapidated old minor league baseball park to PAPA John's Stadium. He has been where we have been so has Coach Canales. Let them know that it doesn't pay to not cross the county line. Denton may not appreciate what it has in North Texas, but other more progressive areas see the explosion that can take place in a location and a program like UNT is now posed to offer. Let Cooper know your ideas as he is eager to get rolloing and will be receptive. In our time of sadness over the departure of Dr. Bataille, we can marshall new strength to see the vision that she and Dr. Pohl had for this university does not back slide to a facuily run "little music school and teacher's college" due to some of the politically motivated animals that have supposedly now seized power @ UNT. We have coaches in place, a great A.D., and our time is now. Prees forward as alums and fans despite the city of Denton and the weakness of our Chancellor. Location will always be our ally even if we have to drag Denton along kicking and screaming. WE CAN BE THE METROPLEX PRIVATES WORST NIGHTMARE--a public university in a great location with great facilities--these are things that keep the chancellors, presidents, and A.D.s @ SMU and TCU having nightmares!!!

Attempting a burnout in a front wheel drive car is sorta gay anyways. Perhaps he should have upgraded the clutch. ...I guess he can now.

Drink of choice when you're underage and poor!!

Man, if NT can land this guy, I wonder how that would rank in our All-Time "Stolen from Big Schools" list?

If there really is a time for baby Football Jesus to Cry, it's right freakin' now. untjim's post really hurt me.

The Sun Belt records don't go back very far, but from what i can see on the site there has never been a 3-way tie for the best record in the conference. To apply the tie-breaker in the way they did makes no sense, since only two teams can even qualify for that #1 seed. True, it is the current rule, but I don't they ever anticipated this scenario and it needs to be fixed.

Thanks Quoner, but I must say any of your positive points should be counted as double.

So lets see they had 60 prior to one month ago, so why did they not make the changes then. Poor pitiful Democrats they can not even get their own party to go along with their policies. They just do not like it when Repubs use the filibuster that one of their great Demigod presidents instituted (Woodrow Wilson) and used quite a bit during the Civil rights debates in the 60's (Robert Byrd and Gore Sr.). Guess it sucks being in the majority, where complaining because petty.

I wonder how much Quoner would like to see you in one of those tight crimefighting spandex suits.

The USA beat Canada earlier in the olympics but Canada gets to be no. 1? these rules are screwy and that's an outrage! The IOC better be glad I'm not going where ever they are or I would give them a piece of my mind!!

the one and only thing i like about the #2 is that WKU and ASU are on the other side of the bracket and we wont have to play either untill the championship game...i think we have the "easiest" route to the championship...yet with the way the sunbelt is who knows...

If troy wins the conference then we do, if not then they get it

I may be mistaken, but in his post game interview yesterday did JJ really say we were going to order a banner and rings for winning the west bracket of the conference? Maybe that's all changed now that we are Co-Champions? Rick

MSNBC, that noted liberal network, shows how much smarter they are than FOX. http://sports.yahoo....ffers-o?urn=oly,224640 Brilliant people over there. Just brilliant.

Ok, here's an article listing several names of conservative commentators who are fanning the hate/paranoid flames. http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/story/1176621.html Here is an excerpt. Take the conjured link between the virus and Mexican immigrants. This one proved too easy a lure for the usual suspects with a penchant for blaming every social ill on immigrants. Commentators Glenn Beck, Michael Savage and Neal Boortz leapt at the non-opportunity. They took the news of the flu cases in Mexico and blended it with their own twisted takes on whom to blame for what may prove to be a virus that incubated in many portions of the world. At first, the takes were innocuous enough, more like bad comedy. There were jokes to rename the already inaccurately labeled swine flu the “fajita flu.” But then the possibility of a pandemic was called “the latest border crisis.” Calls were made to close the U.S./Mexican border. And fear-stoking diatribes soon followed that illegal immigrants would be the “perfect mules” to bring a bioterrorist attack into the U.S. All the blather negated the work of epidemiologists who were tracking the germs, noting that the evidence has been that U.S. residents returning from Mexico seem to be the carriers, not immigrants heading north. By Friday, the virus had spread to New Zealand, Israel, Netherlands and the United Kingdom. None of these countries is considered a destination for poor Mexicans seeking work. Don’t expect breathless commentary about dangerous sunburned tourists fresh from their southern vacations spreading deadly germs. Lou Dobbs once even tried to blame leprosy on immigrants. When countered by health experts, he simply blew harder that he was right. In recent months, advocacy groups have tried to stick a pin in the anti-immigrant pronouncements of Dobbs and his like-minded cohorts on cable television and radio. Such efforts won’t get too far. The entertainment factor drives too much of their ratings. The base problem is that far too many people agree with a message and disregard whether it’s accurate. The two don’t always coincide.

I totally agree with this guy. http://www.star-telegram.com/news/columnis...nedy/index.html

Oops I thought complaining about not getting first based on rules used year after year and that are pretty common was the "in" thing to do around the forum these days. My mistake!

I tried but after reading endless posts about how we got screwed this was the best I could come up with.

I spend most of my time on gmg.com searching my old posts to give them +1 until I meet my quota. Please don't screw this up for me, I really want to be a general one day.

Question, Isn't this the second or third time we've gotten the shaft in some way from this conference? The others being the times we have had to rearrange our schedule in football? If so, to me that's a lack of standing up to the conference and Wright Waters. And we may have and just haven't heard about it yet from Vitto? But as one of our other alumni has stated already, this time it's a done deal. But along the way during this process if we were to have raised holy hell about it they may think twice about it the next time? Rick

--The tie breaking rules were agreed to BEFORE the season and everyone played by them... I have no problem with the outcome and being considered second. I also agree that this bracket location gives us a decent or best chance to be in the NCAA.