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i actually wanted to do this last night but realize how raw a home message board is following a loss so opted to wait until today. i've felt for years we're the only two programs in the belt that understand hoops much less gives a crap about them. so it was with much happiness that i saw the 2 of us in the championship game....again. i really wanted to drive the 467 miles yesterday morning to be there but work wouldn't permit so i watched it on the tube. both teams had great recruiting classes. the top 2 in the belt. both teams had devastating incidents mid-season. you guys lost 2 absolute studs. we got rid of dead weight by firing the worst coach in western kentucky history. even though ours was addition by subtraction nobody expected ray to turn it around as quick as he did. the guys were out of shape. george fant lost 11 pounds the first 2 weeks ray coached us. you guys bounced back even after losing the 2 freshmen. made it all the way to the finals. tony mitchell is as fine a player as i've seen in the sun belt conference. not freshman...player. part of me wants you guys to keep him one more year but another part wants to see him go to the association. even if you lose him there are bright days ahead for north texas hoops. i certainly feel with ray harper at the helm we have bright days ahead too. i assure you this is no flame post and i sure as hell wouldn't be congratulating the middle folks if they had won it. good luck in the new conference. i'll miss the mean green. we'll be the only team that remotely gives a crap about hoops. dahbeed.

I can't be serious right now, so here's a bunny with a pancake on its head.

Because they are my/our team. I've gotten to where I honestly don't follow others as much. I still follow the Cowboys, Rangers, Mags and Stars, but over the years I've gotten to where I would rather live and die with my Mean Green Eagles.

It's time to turn our thoughts to next season. I'd love to see some of the more knowledgable guys on here post their thoughts on what to look for. Those who are graduating- Alonzo Edwards, Tyler Hall, Kedrick Hogans. We're losing a little muscle inside but I don't think Ked or Zo really stepped up like they needed to this season. Tyler gave a gutsy performance all season. Got a lot more out of him then what should be expected for a walk-on. Who's coming in- Justin Patton?, Clark Overlander, John Odoh. Patton will be a SR who gives us some good length on the wing at 6'7. He was Gramblings leading scorer and rebounder. Overlander is a sharpshooter who will give teams problems as I've heard he's anywhere from 6'6-6'8. Odoh is a big get as he will be a big body down low. One hopes that he be able to give UNT 8pts, 10rbs a game while allowing others to play to their position. Question- Does NT have one more spot available in this class? Vito says so. Chris Jones and Jordan Williams- Will they be back. They are still enrolled which is the best sign that they will. Last night on Twitter they both took individual responsiblity for not doing their part in the classroom leading to them not being able to be out there with their teamates. Chris Jones has the potential to do big things at the PG position for us. Alzee Williams-What a year! The great news on him is that he will only be a JR next season. Really impressed me this season. Does he swing over to the 2 next season if CJ is back? Brandon Walton- Struggled out of the gate but really turned it up as the season progressed. He helped to spread the floor with his shooting. Trey Norris- Didn't get a lot of run this season. Doesn't look to get much next with CJ and Alzee back. Roger Franklin- Seemed to be hit or miss this season. Hopefully he can put it all together and be more consistent in his Sr year. Jacob Holeman- Really turned it on in the tourny. Looking forward to what he will do next season. Forrest Robinson- Saw limited time as he was injured for a majority of the season. He provides some length and is a long range threat. Nikko Stojilkovic- Seemed to perform well when called on. Not a starter but should be able to get some good minutes. And the big question.... Tony Mitchell- Will he or won't he? He says he's leaning towards staying. After last nights performance I think that would be a good idea. Starting 5 next season: Chris Jones Alzee Williams Jordan Williams Tony Mitchell John Odoh with Justin Patton, Roger Franklin, Jacob Holmon, and Brandon Walton all logging extensive minutes. That gives us a really deep and really solid 9. Throw in a few minutes for Overlander, Nikko, and Forrest. Damn I'm excited about next season!!

What if you gave up on UNT football and basketball and next season both started a decades long dominance of the reallybighowevermany conference? Then, I bet you'd feel really silly. I guess I'm a fan because I'm an alumni, and I've met some of the greatest people anywhere following North Texas sports.

Let me know when you've put your all into achieving a goal and come up just short. I'll be sure to take a swipe at you while you're down. Until then I'll be an effin coward behind a keyboard.

This sums it up for me!!!! Glory to the Green - Alma Mater Singing glory to the green, singing glory to the white, For we know our university is striving for the right; Down the corridor of years, we'll forget the joys and tears, But North Texas, North Texas, we love!

its not impossible. my love for this university and what it has meant to my life will surpass anything that happens on the court/field. i as an alum, am forever connected to this university and will support all of it, good or bad, any way i possibly can. Next year should be fun...GO MEAN GREEN!

but damn it it hurts to lose like this.....

We've never lost a game in Arkansas that u attended. I'm just sayin

I love being kicked in the balls it's how you know you're alive

Are you not on board with the theory of "situational hotness"? There is talent everywhere

Well....I've seen some pretty stupid stuff posted on this board, but, far and away, this takes the cake. Dumbest thing I think i have ever seen posted. Stupid is as stupid posts! Clueless and classless might be two words I would use to describe the above referenced post and the person who posted them. Good grief!

This times 10 I'm slowly recovering, bring on next year. GMG!

impossible was listening to the UTA game this season... everything else was bearable

Sad. Hopefully he knows we are proud of him and if he decides to stay this team can be special this year. Great run by UNT this year with a lot of adversity.

I will say that it stinks at times. But if you talk to horned frog fan they experienced some serious disappointments before experiencing all the joys they have earned. The mean green nation bleeds green and white and the future will be fun. It will contain a buttload of disappointments and some joys. But it is our team and this fall will be our time. hate being owned by WKU - football in Apogee now this. Oh well it was fun seeing them on national tv. Time to book a hotel for baton rouge. GMG

I was addicted to crack for a good portion of my life. It's about the same feeling

Tired bit cost us the conference tournament. Again. I warned you, but noooooooooooooooo

The issue was the play calling. Hands down the worst play calling I have seen in years. A coach who wants to win will not sit on the ball the last 2 minutes of the game with a 2 or 4 point lead. The result... we get two awful deep 3 point shots a rushed shot in the paint and a shot clock violation! He must have reached into Avery Johnson's playbook a bit... You will never see Coach K attempt to sit on a lead. But two years in a row our play calling has been sub par and we have left hot springs empty handed.

Since Joe Biden supports contraception, seem to me the Catholic Church should excommunicate him. I hope His Excellency, The Pope, signs off on that order.

ITS ALL ABOUT YU DARVISH GMG

This is the report card of a team that wins 10 games and bows out of the conf. tournament in the first round as a 12 seed. You're not giving alot of these guys enough credit. EDIT: Here's how I would score it- Hogans: C, big man was basically running on adrenaline out there. He was still able to contribute in the middle, although not as much as we thought... however we did not know the extent of his injuires. So maybe some of those expectations were overly optimistic. Edwards: D, You're spot on here really, and that's sad. Hall: B, Hall exceeded any and all expectations for him this year. It's a good thing too because we relied on him way too much. Holmen: B+, He was banged up a little this year as well and I think that kept him from getting an A for me. Solid contributor. Niko: B-, This guy was key for some serious runs throughout the year. Offensively, he was a fairly consistent player for us. Defensively... needs improvement. Walton: B, Hit some HUGE shots this year for us. Also missed some HUGE shots for us this year. Overall, a very nice piece and a solid contributor to the team. Franklin: B+, Franklin contributed to the team in alot of unseen ways. He stepped right in as the vocal leader of the team when Hogans wouldn't. 2nd on the team in boards and he scored more when Jones/Williams departed. Patton: I, we won't know anything about him until next year. A. Williams: A, I don't know how you could give this guy anything less than an A. Proved to be the best player on the team other than Mitchell. Mitchell: A+, he was as advertised. Norris: C-, I upped him because of some of his flashes. He has alot of development to do... Good thing he's only a freshman! Robinson: C-, We missed out on alot of him this year due to various injuries. I thought JJ would consider redshirting him... See Norris' grade for reasoning. Jones: I, Headed for an A+... then we all know what happened. J Williams: I, Headed for a B+ to A-... then we all know what happened.

When they called his name for the award, he originally acted like he wasn't going to go up and get it until Coach Forrest (I think) gave him a nudge (the WKU fans were booing by that point). When he did start walking up to get it, he was moping along very slowly while everyone else was waiting. Immature? Yes. Justified? No. Understandable? Yes.

There are only 2 college teams I care about... UNT and UTEP... I grew up in El Paso but attended UNT for 3 years before I finally went back to El Paso for personal reasons and graduated from UTEP... I have been a UTEP fan all my life and a UNT fan all my adult life... Frankly being a fan of either is a bit of a kick to the balls as another poster put it... But, I root for laundry... I will always be a UTEP fan and I will always be a UNT fan... Nothing will shake me from either... And nothing, but nothing, will ever convince me to be a fan of UT or Alabama or USC or Ohio St. or Notre Dame, etc... I didn't go to school at those places and I didn't grow up in those communities... I could not possibly care less about the fortunes of those schools and teams... So, I wouldn't say it is impossible to be a fan of UNT... I consider it to be a privelage to be a member of the Mean Green Nation... And while things haven't always been that great, I will still be a fan when they are... And I am positive that I will feel more alive then than I do now with the current feeling of having been kicked in the balls...

Are you still in the journalism business? If so, you and Green Bat would seem to be ideal candidates to author something like this. Since someone mentioned a coffee table book with "vintage photos", that raises a question.... and I've thought about this for some time. Where are the "vintage" photos of North Texas sports....and the organizations associated with them? Who is the keeper of these photos? How can they be accessed? Another suggestion. Until such time as this project gets going, why not have a "History" thread pinned in each of the sports forums. People can post their remembrances about North Texas sports, and sporting events...and spirit organizations. Maybe there could be a thread for each decade. We want something to do here in the off season? Well, here it is! And EVERYONE can be a part of it.

I hate NBA basetball. I love college basketball. The raw emotion and will to win that the players all seem to play with every game is the reason why. The players care more all game, every game in college and it doesn't feel the same way in the pros. There is nothing wrong with our best player hurting after a loss, it should hurt!

It's called being a fan. Sometimes it hurts, but those are OUR guys out there and we support them no matter what.

Also, if he DOES come back... This is the kind of feeling he won't forget. If he's anything like me, he'll carry this feeling as motivation through the offseason and work hard. He'll remember this feeling during the next season trying to position UNT to get the highest seed in the conference tourney. He'll remember this feeling as he pounds WKU during the regular season for 30 & 20. He'll remember this feeling as he lets it all out during next season's tourney. He's already a freak of nature as it is. Now, T-Mitch has a chip on his shoulder. The NCAA had better watch out next season if he returns. Mitchell is now truly "on a mission".

Next time you have a nice open wound be sure to put some salt on it, I'm sure you'll handle it in a mature, dignified manner. Tony's a kid who just had his heart ripped out, if you had one you'd have a little empathy.

Shouldn't comment this late after driving back but I will anyway. I see a lot of criticism of the team and even Mitchell, and I guess that is to be expected after a tough loss. The Belt didn't have a dominate team this year despite Denver and MTSU's records. NT could have won or loss any game in the tournament by a play or two. Give WKU credit they beat NT playing their fourth game in 4 days and they gave maximum effort. It took a probably all time game from Akol their 6'11 jr center who had averaged just under 6 point and 4 rbs a game. I see some blaming Mitchell for poor defense, Akol was not missing and at his height there was no one to stop him. The referees did play a major role in the game by completing missing a series of calls doing WKU's come back. In a game this close it did make a difference and when a player is knocked completely off his feet at mid court; you would expect at least one of the three refs to notice. You hate to lose to WKU and especially with their record this year, but this is not a good NT team and the effort was there. I don't know why JJ continues to use the same offense no matter what the make up of the team, but he has had great success in the tournament. Frankly, NT has Mitchell; undoubtedly the best player in the conference, and Alzee Williams, NT most consistent player and one of the most underrated players in the league. After those two, it is at best an average group filling out the starting five and no depth at all.

And BTW - a fantastic game that had a gut wrenching ending. Even though we had our chances afterward, I figured it wasn't meant to be once that scrambled trey with about 1:15 to go went in. I still am having a hard time dealing with that play, because we'd played really good defense to even force the situation where they had to save the ball from going out of bounds twice, and then BECAUSE we were diving for the ball left a guy open to stick the knife in our chest. Just seemed like destiny for WKU at that point.

Fixed.

Devastated. However kudos to the fans and students who made the trip to Hot Springs. I applaud your commitment.

For me personally, making it to the finals again was a treat. I did not expect us to be there, we got a LOT of help getting there with UALR, Denver, and MTSU losing on the other side. I think a lot of our mistakes tonight was inexperience and a short bench. Next year is our breakthrough season.

I thought Tony played fairly well considering the fact he has played all of one half of a season in two years. He is the only freshman in D1 this year to average a double double....give the guy a break. He wears Green and plays for our school.

Agreed, next year we use it to get to the final but not for the final

Ouch. I'm hurt just looking at that. I can't even begin to imagine how he feels.

I'm laying this loss at your feet mentioning winning before the game.

when we got up 13 and started celebrating like we had won...i knew we were done...the killer instinct i saw us play with for 2 days up and left and right then i told my self i think we have lost this game....shit i wish i wasnt right...im beyond depressed....but next year really should be awesome if t-mich stays

Agreed. Didn't really have any other options besides Tony. Really could have used more bodies/scorers...cough CJ and JW cough

Unlikely given our propensity to lose so many games late. Besides I don't think he is going anywhere except LSU

It seems the team lost a few times having early leads this season.

More like crap basketball from UNT

Can't blame it on the missed ft we had already choked it away by then... That situation is kinda damned if you do damned if ya dont

As bad as the other teams that couldn't.

This game showcases my pet peeve with the sport of basketball: everything is so subjective and open to interpretation that refs can literally control and dictate the outcome of every aspect of the game.

They said the scorer's table made a mistake. They corrected it at halftime.

Not even gonna watch. I bet I can get caught up on Army Wives tonight.