TheTastyGreek

The "perimeter scorer with size" should have been RJ McGhee. That one still stings. Still, better to find out he's not going to cut it academically after a week rather than losing him at midyear when we've been planning on his availability all year. I wish that guy could have stuck around.

Now that we've got Robinson, it's not totally out of the question that we might use the 3 remaining ships on perimeter players. As CBL pointed out elsewhere, we've got post players returning. Holmen and Knox (2 years of eligibility), Hogans and Edwards (1 year of eligibility), and now Robinson (4 years) makes 5 scholarship post players out of a possible 13. I think we'll get one more, and who we go after will depend on what Knox shows this season in practice and limited game minutes. If Knox shows that he can play a role next year, I think we'll try to get another HS big man and develop him with Robinson. If Knox can't, then we need a JUCO or a midyear transfer who can step into the rotation next season. The other two ships will go to perimeter guys. Since we don't need to emphasize a point guard with Jones and Norris aboard and Alzee returning, we can just go out and get a pure scorer. Ideally, one with some size like Tristan or Jordan Williams.

If Leavitt does get hired here, and word ever gets back about how the Canales clan repeatedly tried to tarnish him in some misguided attempt at getting Mike hired as HC... I wonder if Mike Canales gets a 3rd chance to work with him. If the worst you can say about Leavitt is that he went roughly .500 against BCS teams... Sign me up.

What's going on with this guy? Is there some sort of academic issue or something? When he first popped up, he was looking at BCS offers... Big East, Pac 10... And Memphis and WKU to boot. Now, his top 5 offers are two OVC teams, one SoCon, a bottom feeder CUSA team, and a middling at best A-10 squad. Other than them, Charlotte and us are his only Rivals offers. He's still a Rivals 3 star and ESPN still has him as a 4 star with a 93 overall grade. What happened to his options?

And, as NT03 and I discussed in our giddy text message extravaganza... Anyone who worries about the "soft" label he may need to fight through- Just wait until he spends a year practicing with Kedrick Hogans. He's going to turn out juuuuust fine.

YES. YES, YES, YES. Hello, 6'9" 3 star forward. Meet your new best friend and future co-dominator, Jacob Holmen. Get comfy with each other, you'll have two years of dream weaving in your futures.

Did Leavitt ever get accused of any wrongdoing other than the locker room incident? Even if this drags out in the courts for years, did USF ever come up with anything other than the locker room incident as cause for firing him? Because if that's all that would be discussed in court, I don't care if the lawsuit drags on during his tenure at North Texas. For crying out loud, the guy who built Troy was busted ON TAPE bribing an Auburn football player and telling him to keep quiet about it. Somehow, he's managed to move past it and turn their program into a success. I don't know if Leavitt did what USF says/thinks he did or not. If I had to guess, he probably did. Either way, I don't care. As far as "scandal" goes, this is about the most minor knock on a viable coach I can think of. We're not talking about Dave Bliss here. We're not even talking about Bobby Knight. The guy may have gotten physical with a kid in the middle of a game. In the heat of the moment, he may have let his judgment fly out the window and done something stupid. We've got a shot at a guy who had a BCS conference team ranked LAST YEAR. And the year before that. And the year before that. And it's not a guy who is used to having all the BCS resources and tools at his disposal. He built the place from nothing. From literally nothing. I've been heavy for Franchione, and I'd still love to have him. But if Leavitt is after us, then LOCK THAT GUY DOWN.

Has footballscoop announced who will replace ASU coach Steve Roberts after they confirmed his firing last December? Also, did they ever clarify when we fired soon to be hired HC Randy Butler?

I think people just don't realize that they've gotten the details all mixed up on the locker room choking story at USF. It wasn't a player that Leavitt went after. It was a fig tree. Feel better now?

When I looked back on the beach and saw that there was only one set of footprints during my most difficult times... I realized it wasn't because Jim Leavitt had abandoned me. He was CARRYING me. By the throat.

The Dickey Monster. The dark, devious puppetmaster behind all the evil in the North Texas universe. That guy is like the Illuminati, Masons, Bildeberg Group, and the Trilateral Commission, all rolled up into one diabetic with a bad ticker.

Jim Leavitt is out there, every day (between rounds of golf), trying to find the REAL chokers. He and his sidekick Mike Caneles (MC for short) are tirelessly working to clear his name.

All this is just keeping us guessing, like some parlor game. Prevents us from asking the most important question, why? Why was that kid grabbed by the throat and slammed into the locker? Who benefited? Who has the power to cover it up? Who?

Leavitt is right handed. But that kid's head snapped back and to the left. Back, and to the LEFT. It couldn't have been Leavitt. Were there any Cuban players in that USF locker room? How about Italians?

In the beginning, USF had only chaos. Then, Leavitt said: "Let there be TEAM". And there was. He reached down, picked up some astroturf, breathed life into it, and let those players bask and repose in the magical Garden of Big Eastden. And it was good.

I think that there was actually a second throat grabber in that locker room. Possibly loitering around on the grassy bench. Leavitt was a patsy and that report was a sham. How could he hold his clipboard, draw on the whiteboard, AND throat grab that kid? I, for one, do not believe in the "magic chokehold" theory. Leavitt was a scapegoat. Plain and simple.

Yup. And I wouldn't have a problem with it being us, either. Leavitt, Mangino, Leach... They'll all get second chances somewhere. And I don't think any school that offers it to them is going to regret the decision.

The author? The concept of written communication and archiving?

Wow... You know it's a dogfight for this job when someone in the Canales family is linking to Bleacher Report articles to take down another candidate. Does this mean Canales isn't interested in a reunion with Leavitt?

Also, Dennis Franchione cooks Thanksgiving dinner for hundreds of homeless people, every year. But Jeff Bower is the reason that police have to x-ray candy to make sure kids don't get fed razor blades. Just something to keep in mind...

Sad to hear it, because this would have been awesome and we already browbeat RV to attend during his podcast. Happy to hear it, because now I can be there for it.

I would donate my time and typing skills to personally create and publish Franchione's North Texas Ninjaface Gazette if it helped lure him here.

I heart you, too. I didn't mean to take a shot at you, you're a reasonable guy. CMJ already covered the fact that none of the other proposed locations have expressed the interest or willingness to even work the tournament around the schedule we need, much less offer the financial incentives that Hot Springs has been willing to put on the table. As for the East/West list... For Hot Springs, it's a bullshit and misleading division. ASU and UALR may be "east" of Hot Springs, but I don't think location is a problem for them. ULM is a shorter drive to Hot Springs than Denton or Dallas are. And if ULL or USA fans are upset about the distance, none of them shed any tears for me in 2007 or 2008. We drove longer distances the years they hosted than what it would take them to get to Hot Springs from their campuses. If Huntsville or Biloxi make competitive bids in a few years, I'll be there, too. Not that either holds any tourist appeal to me.

The only fans of other schools with opinions worth acknowledging are the ones who come here and repeatedly, loudly, abrasively, obnoxiously flood the forum with raves and praise for their candidate of choice. And that acknowledgment needn't necessarily be positive.