scoop dog

Georgia is a cupcake this year also(by SEC standards), because they are playing with only half a team.

I saw Howerton play a good number of times this summer, and the evaluation from coach on this post seems like a very good one. Justin is not a great leaper, and he is somewhat slow of foot, but he does work very hard, and I would also point out that he is an extremely tough kid. He is a warrior through and through, and always plays hard against contact.

Island Eagle - #50 in the state may be about right for Howerton. However, if you look at these lists, you generally do not see players in the #50 range signing with Big 12 schools. Green buzz - A&M has not had a lot of great post players in the past, but you must remember that their coaching has usually been poor. Gillispie will be a big step up over the last few guys who were in there, so we'll see what he can do.

Harold Stewart is extremely athletic. He is also incredibly aggressive. He pounds the glass on both ends of the floor, and is a better than expected passer down in the low post. Probably the one thing keeping Stewart from being a high major prospect is the lack of an outside game. If he had a good three point shot, OR if he could break people down off the dribble from the perimeter, then he'd be a top 100 national player, because he'd be an oversized small forward. As it stands now, he is a bit of a skinny, undersized power forward. In any case, nice pickup for UNT. He should be getting minutes right from the beginning, and could possibly even start at some point as a true freshman.

I have seen Justin play a good number of times. "Okay" is a good word for what he is. Not great, not bad, but okay. Justin is a tough kid who is much more effective on defense than on offense. He does work the baseline hard, and is not intimidated by contact at all.(The Mustangs do not allow soft players to get playing time. They are all tough, regardless of ability level.) Howerton rebounds fairly well, and he also uses his size well to push people around. He scores a lot of his baskets on putback attempts off of missed shots. However, he is pretty limited offensively after that. He does not have much of a post game at all, nor does he ever display much range on his shot from beyond 5-10 feet from the basket. He is also slow afoot, and does not leap well. He is not uncoordinated, mainly just very slow more than anything. I was very surprised to see him commit to A&M a couple of months ago. IMO, he does have a Big 12 physique, but not big 12 ball skills.

Most of the other games are not really things that most people would get excited about. I just gave you the high points. North Texas DOES play Billy Tubbs and Lamar this season, and also TCU again. Most of the other non-conference games are matchups such as Southeast Missouri, who did make the schedule again.

This year's schedule will be highlighted by the highest number of home games that UNT has had in quite some time--something like 17 or 18 slated to be at the Super Pit. Also featured are road games at Alabama and Texas this season.