TheTastyGreek

Conference Tournament doesn't start until next weekend. Quoner and I will PM the mods when we jump in the car so they can surprise us during the drive again.

BleacherReport.com: Because Geocities shut down and took away your other web outlet.

What's more likely? Green P1 gets pistolwhipped by Cerebus? Or Quoner and I are beaten to death with a firehose nozzle?

Flash Gordon??? NEVER HEARD OF HIM. But Batman is hands down the greatest superhero North Texas has ever had!!!

Not to undermine the comic vibe going now, but here's a bit of serious info that bodes well for our chances on Thursday: Gradnigo expected to be out vs. North Texas. For anyone who doesn't follow the rest of the conference very closely, Chris Gradnigo is sort of like the Odufuwa/Quincy Williams to Tyren Johnson's Tramiel/Keith Wooden. Johnson carries the statistical weight and scores more points, but Gradnigo is arguably the one that makes the whole system work. Gradnigo averages 14 points, and his absence will put even more pressure on Johnson to produce and avoid foul trouble (and the guy has already been basically carrying that team on his back all year). It will also stress the Cajun bench, as they'd be stuck with only 9 available players. I believe they're under scholarship sanctions from the NCAA, and they already lost point guard Ryan McCoy (a onetime North Texas recruit who couldn't make the grades) to academic ineligibility back in January. Gradnigo hasn't practiced at all since severely bruising his back on Saturday. The writer of the article starts by saying that it will take an "overnight recovery of miraculous proportions" for Gradnigo to suit up against North Texas. Final status will be determined today. Lafayette is 1-6 on the road against SBC teams this year, and 3-10 overall. They haven't won at the Super Pit in 5 years. They're probably going to have to play without their 2nd best player, or at best, with their 2nd best player in severe pain and seriously limited. It's unfortunate that part of it relates to a guy getting hurt... But things seem to be shaping up nicely for us tomorrow night.

He wants to show you a magic trick. He's going to make a fantastic University President disappear.

If we can match the 4500 we had on Saturday, I'll be thrilled. Those elementary kids really boosted our numbers, and they cheered and waved and got into the game way more than I expected. I'm coming, and on top of the usuals, we're bringing at least 3 people who've never come to an NT basketball game before.

He's always struck me as more of a HVAC technician than a basketball internet columnist.

I never really got the vibe until I heard him talk and saw his facial expressions on these stories... But George Odufuwa reminds me of Avon Barksdale. Anyone else?

Don't hate on Dorsey Levens. I actually have two Packers jerseys- Sterling Sharpe and Dorsey Levens. Neither is a throwback.

I've been meaning to tell you this, but that mustache makes you look like you have something to hide. People are talking. Lots of people.

Reminds me of the time I stepped on a nail and said "Fiddle-dee-dee... That will require a tetanus shot."

You did see the full section (and more) of elementary kids and their families on Saturday, right?

Just when I thought we might be done worrying over what to do about Figgins... He goes and signs with another AL West team.

There's a conference pep rally/band concert on Friday night. Last year, there was a gathering outside the team bus at the hotel before each game. Not sure if either of those are what they were talking about.

John McElwain, an Associate Commissioner of the conference.

Dude... We don't need to scoreboard Canada. Our existence is permanent "scoreboard" in Canada's face. Even the stuff that's second-rate that they cling to as their national identity (hack comedians and improv comics, NHL franchises, etc.) we take from them whenever we get the whim. Frankly... Unless someone discovers that maple syrup is an alternative fuel source, the only thing that keeps Canada from turning into an iced-over Argentina is America's friendly border and generous spirit. Tell your Canadian pals to suck it. And to be grateful for the privilege.

Under Johnny Jones, we're 4-1 vs. MVC competition. The only loss came against Missouri State, and we beat them twice (home and away). So... Creighton. Not SWC, not Power 7, not what you mentioned as wins you missed in your original post. But if you want to talk MVC teams... We're doing pretty swell against that conference under JJ, too.

I hesitate to point this out, because I don't know that it will do any good. And I'm not now (nor have I ever) tried to make the point that JJ is the greatest coach we've ever had. Frankly, if the worst anyone can say about the man is that he isn't quite as exceptional as Bill Blakeley, I think that even Johnny Jones would say that's probably fair and it's no insult at all. But the only top 7 conference (the modern ones) team that we beat on the road in the Blakeley era that we haven't also beaten on the road under Johnny Jones is Baylor. And we did beat Baylor at home under JJ (like we also did under Blakeley) back in 2003. I'm not saying that JJ could smoke Texas if we got them in the Pit. Even if we have beaten every other non-conference opponent that's played us more than once and made at least one trip to the Pit under JJ's tenure. What I am saying is that even Blakeley couldn't beat Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State... ON THE ROAD. Which is the only chance we've gotten at most of those teams in the Jones era. The ones we've gotten at home, we've beaten, too. The same place Blakeley's teams played them when they beat them. It's not a knock on Blakeley, I'm not disrespecting that era at all. But if you're upset that we're not beating those guys on the road... Well, even Blakeley couldn't do it, 30 or more years ago. And if you're upset that we're not beating opponents like that at home, then your gripe isn't with JJ. It's with whoever works relationships with other programs and negotiates premium OOC games. Because the only top 7 conference team that's played us at least once in Denton and not lost to JJ is Indiana, and that's an 0-1 series that hasn't been renewed in the past 6 years. As for needing Mapquest to find our opponents this year... I know you're not talking about Oklahoma State, A&M, Boise, or Rice. I hope you don't mean SE Louisiana, Houston Baptist, UTA, Texas Southern, or Cameron, because we played all of them under Blakeley, too. Any student of history would know and respect them as historical rivals established 30+ years ago, and geographic location of those schools would be no mystery. And any student of our history would appreciate that at least JJ managed to BEAT Texas Southern, unlike BB (or Jimmy Gales, who lost to them at the Pit by almost 20). By elimination, you must be talking about Jackson State and/or University of the Southwest. Jackson State is a SWAC team from Jackson, Mississippi. Johnny Cash sang a song about that town, I highly recommend it. As for the SWAC, that's the same conference that former Blakeley opponents like Alcorn State and Texas Southern came from. As for University of the Southwest, I'll admit that I'm not very familiar with where they are. Wikipedia tells me they're in Hobbs, New Mexico. I'm not sure where Hobbs, NM is in relation to the classic road trips of the BB era... It doesn't have the name recognition of Henderson State, Roosevelt, Central Oklahoma, McMurry, Carolina A&T, Trinity, or Texas A&I. Wait, wait... I DO know where Texas A&I is... It's in Kingsville. It's named Texas A&M-Kingsville now. That's what they've been called when we played them under JJ and everyone bitched about us scheduling weak OOC opponents. But University of the Southwest does sound a lot like Southwestern, a patsy that Blakeley's teams played (and lost to) back in the glory days. Maybe Hobbs is somewhere close to Georgetown, Texas. I think I'll have to check Mapquest. Anyway... Bring them to the Pit, and JJ seems to beat them. Play them somewhere else, and neither JJ nor BB did it. As for the lack of name recognition... Either you're forgetting your history, or you're just not familiar with Southwest and Jackson State. In either event, I'm sure there's Blakeley-related history you can relate them to. EDIT (because I forgot one mistake): We've played Houston at home once and never beaten them in 3 tries under JJ. That's the one exception to something I wrote in the beginning of this post.

So if I get upset with 1 or 2 people on the football forum, is it acceptable for me to hijack (remember how much you hate that concept?) every thread on that board? Maybe I'll just start posting in every single football thread. Every time someone starts talking about the 2010 team, I'll interject and imply or flat out say that everyone is a moron, because Mitch Maher was really good and all anyone is talking about is Riley Dodge. Anyone want to talk about Todd Dodge's chances of getting to 7 wins? Well, shut the hell up, everyone. Because I think Corky Nelson was better than Dodge. And you're all going to hear it, whether it's relevant or not. This is the definition of thread hijacking, Rick. You can't get upset at anyone else over humorous or serious thread hijacking if you're going to keep doing stuff like this. I'm not calling you a bad guy or a bad fan. 3 years ago, the whole reason I met you was because you made the down-and-back drive so you could be there to see JJ and the '07 boys earn the tournament bid. And we celebrated together on the way out to the cars, which we all climbed in to immediately drive back to Dallas. As I recall, you and Emmitt were on the phone with someone right after that game, talking about another forum member who had been grinding some ridiculous axe all season long. Again... I'm not trying to insult you here, or anything like that. But I think you're really off base with this stuff.

It's not about that, really. I get why Rick would be so frustrated with thinking people don't know or respect the history of the school... But it really isn't relevant in any way in this thread. And bringing up other frustrations here doesn't really accomplish anything for anyone.

Rick, for crying out loud... Who here said anything about George being the best anything in any period of our school history? I'm 100% sure Ronnie Morgan isn't eligible in this discussion. You're really tilting at windmills here, and nonexistent ones at that. You know I love you and all, but this is really getting unstable.

Even if the guy goes out and gets kidnapped by aliens tomorrow, I can't imagine Tyren Johnson doesn't get the nod. He's got the numbers, he's on a winning team, and he's been critical to the turnaround there. His game took a quantum leap forward, and I just don't see how anyone else gets the honor this year.

All conference and POY are a stats game, and we're too balanced for anyone to really ring out on the leaderboards. If Tristan/Josh were a 10 ppg guard and the leftover 4-5 points were coming from the other, that one would be a 1st team lock and a POY contender. As it is, Odufuwa's big rebounding lead and double/double average make him the only contender for 1st team, and even that is arguably an outside shot. I love Tramiel, but All conference isn't an intangibles honor. I'm a huge fan, but you can't really make a case for him over Johnson, Yates, Roberts, Rohnert, Odufuwa... There are just too many other guys with better statistical resumes right now. Even if intangibles are a consideration, Gradnigo from ULL and Adams from ASU are arguably higher on the list than Tramiel.