Zeleny' Orel

Same thing in Irving...went to doctor's appointment Wednesday, wearing my Mean Green t-shirt. I was stopped by a gentleman who asked me if I had gone to the game. He had and we discussed how close we came to winning. I found out he has been a season ticket holder ever since his son was a cheerleader at UNT. I have worn UNT gear for over 40 years and just recently noticed that more people are making comments about UNT, taking more pride in being a graduate, and are publically saying "Go Mean Green". It gives me hope that we are slowly getting "on the radar" with more folks. Maybe I will still see a full Apogee Stadium in my lifetime! GO MEAN GREEN!

That makes two of us....one of my suggestions on the survey. It is unbelievable that there is just one drink station

I believe there has been a change in plans. Rather than a center tennis court at Warranch, plans now include indoor tennis courts instead. When weather doesn't allow outdoor play (i.e. rain), the team has had to play their competitive matches at Las Colinas Country Club in Irving, Brookhaven Country Club in Dallas, or even at SMU's courts. These have to be scheduled at times courts are not reserved for country club members (or SMU team activities) and often the needed 6 courts are not all available at the same time. This is really a poor situation and one not faced by most other universities. This is also a problem for visiting teams in terms of their travel schedules. It would also be nice to have them for practice in bad weather. Plus most other universities have scoreboards...we don't. It is really remarkable that we compete as well as we do with facilities that don't match most of our opponents!

One thing Coach Mac did right. Also interesting that all but one of the tennis players are international students. GO MEAN GREEN!

Alumni Association quotes the 140k DFW alumni as actual degree holders, not just the attendees that URCM uses (that crazy 240k number) Big difference in affinity for an institution when using degree holders vs. attendees (someone that was here for a semester or two and dropped out/transferred) for benchmarking purposes in a Higher Ed atmosphere. Comes into play when calculating alumni giving rates, average donation ect. Stuff that goes in national peer reports or is collected by entities like US News & World Report for their rankings. What does URCM stand for?

Stopped at Snow's about 1:30 pm two weeks ago and got brisket right off the pit. It was fantastic! However, they were already out of chicken and ribs. They did have some pork loin and sausage available, as well as the brisket. I think all the rain in that area kept the crowds smaller than usual. I rate Snow's much better than either the Pecan Lodge in Deep Ellum or Lockhart's in the Bishop Arts district in Dallas. I guess there is a lot of personal preference when it comes to bbq, but I personally was not that impressed with either the Pecan Lodge or Lockhart's and thought they were both very overrated. Also like the Salt Lick so much I even get it at the Austin Airport!

So refreshing to read about an athlete who doesn't have the "watch me, it's all about me" attitude...his future will be bright!

Just wanted to add some items to the discussion. Cost of college attendance and a full ride scholarship are not usually the same thing. When the federal government computes the financial need of a student, it uses the cost of college attendance amount. This is why the financial aid offers to students differ from college to college. The U.S Government uses this basic fact: Cost of College Attendance (varies by college) MINUS Family's Ability to Pay (constant regardless of college choice) EQUALS Financial Need (varies by college) and the amount for which financial aid is sought (financial aid package may include scholarships, loans, work study or a combination of them). Personally I always considered student athletes as technically being the same as "work/study students" as they "work" for the university). While a full ride scholarship usually includes only tuition and fees, room and board and books, the U.S. Department of Education includes the following when determining Cost of College Attendance: Tuition Books and School Supplies (i.e. book bags, notebooks, pens and pencils, paper and computer paper, desk accessories, such as folders, trays, ad pen holders) Fees (activity, parking, lab, etc.) Equipment and Room Materials (i.e. computer and printer, reading lamps, microwave, refrigerator, bed sheets, towels) Travel (transportation costs for commuters, transportation home during school breaks for campus residents) Misc. Expenses (i.e. clothing, toiletries, mobile phone costs) Colleges normally compute their own costs of attendance, publish, and submit them and that figure is used for all students applying for financial aid to that college. I am assuming that this is the amount being used to determine the stipend being offered by each college (the cost of attending their college minus what the amount they have been giving as a "full ride scholarship"). That would explain why there is a different stipend amount for different colleges. Not sure this changes anyone's opinion on the matter, but I do believe it shows there are some basic methods being used to determine the stipend amount.

Notice she is from the same town in Russia as current player, Kamilla Galieva. Have watched Chinese player Minying Liang practice only once, but she looked very good...hope that was the norm for her and that she can translate that into matches...if so, she could be contending for one of the two top spots on the team, in my opinion GO MEAN GREEN!

I agree. This was a look at our athletes and their families that we don't often get to see. It would make a great recruiting video for parents to watch. Interesting that they were all female athletes... GO MEAN GREEN!

Good luck to Sophia at SIU. With three top international players to play at UNT next year, playing time here might have been tough. Sophia represented us well during her time at UNT. This should leave one additional scholarship open for Coach Llama. I understand it was her choice to join another team.

After success on the tennis court and in the classroom the last 4 years, #1 UNT tennis player Kseniya Bardabush may choose to make the move from modeling as a hobby to modeling as a profession. GO MEAN GREEN! http://www.meangreensports.com/sports/w-tennis/spec-rel/050815aaa.html

Rain forced play indoors but UNT beat Louisiana Tech 4-0 and will meet #3 seed Old Dominion in the next round. Old Dominion had a 4-0 win over UAB. Our depth at the #4-6 positions was the difference as well as winning the doubles point. The top 3 singles matches were in the 3rd set with us leading in two of the three matches when the match was called. We won the bottom three matches in straight sets. In doubles we won at #1 8-5, lost at #3 6-8, and then won at #2 8-5. It will be an uphill battle tomorrow but we are capable of the upset. We have beat nationally ranked teams twice this year. GO MEAN GREEN!

I think UNT got a high seed due to their strength of schedule. UNT has a record of 8-13, but 10 of the 21 matches were against nationally ranked teams and they beat two of them. Louisiana Tech had a 7-10 record, but played only 2 ranked teams and lost both matches. UNT and LT played only 3 common opponents: Northwestern State: UNT lost at home 3-4 and LT won away 5-2 South Alabama: UNT won at home 4-2 and LT lost at home 6-1 SFA: UNT won at home 4-0 and LT won at home 4-2 I predict UNT will win in a tight match because of the tough schedule they have played and the fact they are experienced in tournament pressure matches. The weather looks to be bad in Houston tournament time and may force indoor play, which may be an equalizer. I know UNT played at least one match indoors this year, but am not sure about LT. Indoor tennis is much different because of the controlled conditions. I think UNT knows how to play in wind and is in good physical shape, which might help outdoors but not necessarily indoors. If we get by the first round, it will really be tough going from then on. If UNT plays well, they could make the finals. However, they would have to play well 4 days in a row to win and inconsistency has been the problem all year long. It could be a really interesting tournament with Rice way above the rest of the field but not as talented as last year. There could be lots of upsets with lots of teams below Rice being equally talented. The second day of the tournament will be fun to watch!

Too bad the UNT-Middle Tennessee match at San Antonio was cancelled last weekend due to heavy rains (I guess UTSA doesn't have indoor courts either). It might have clarified the seeding somewhat. I agree that the team has some bad losses this year, along with some good wins. It would be an upset to win against either TCU or Houston so the record will probably not improve. Remaining matches against UTA (always a tough match for us and it is at UTA) and South Alabama (in Denton) could be wins. Hopefully, the strength of schedule will play in our favor. I think a 5th or 6th seed is probable unless we pull some upsets or have some terrible losses the remaining two weeks. . Of course, we could win all four and finish 10-10 for the year1 GO MEAN GREEN!

The Mean Green Women's Tennis Team played well Friday afternoon and beat #75 Kansas 4-3. The match was actually clinched by UNT at 4-1, but the final two singles matches were played out and Kansas won both to bring the score to 4-3. UNT won the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead, followed by singles wins by Shestakova (#2 slot) in two sets, Sprinkmeyer (#5 slot) in two sets, and Galieva (#6 slot) in three sets. The 3 UNT singles losses were all close 3-set matches. UNT is 4-0 against Kansas in the all-time series. UNT also beat UAB on Wednesday on an extremely windy day in Denton by a score of 4-1. The match was much closer than the score indicated. Knowing how to handle the Denton wind gave us the advantage. Playing at home in front of a good crowd helped in both matches. A close loss to UTSA last week in rain-delayed play in San Antonio was a blow to the team's conference record, which Is now 1-1. However, the full schedule has been full of ranked team so the 6-10 record it is somewhat misleading of the team's ability. Most of the matches have been close, but we have had difficulty closing them out. The next two matches, both in Denton, will be tough. Wednesday we play #20 TCU and Sunday #39 Houston. Winning one of those matches would help us get a better seeding in the conference tournament at Rice on April 16-19. Both Rice and Marshall have a national ranking and should be favorites barring some upsets before tournament time. I think our team is in the upper half of conference teams and could do well. Seeing how we play next week should give us a better idea of how confident the team is at this time. Also I watched Minying Llang, our recruit from China who enrolled at mid-term, hit with one of our former players. It is hard to tell someone's true ability until they actually compete, but her strokes looked very smooth and powerful. She looks as if she could really be something special. Too bad she is not eligible to play until next fall. She would have definitely helped the team this spring. GO MEAN GREEN!

Liang is on campus but not eligible until the fall

Also tough to realize we had to schedule this match against Tulsa at SMU because we are one of the few programs without indoor courts...tough to practice consistently when the weather doesn't cooperate. This has nothing to do with the loss, with Tulsa being a good team, just something that doesn't help recruiting or match preparation. We need to step it up to have a chance to contend at the conference tournament in mid-April.

Looks as if women's softball and tennis have played a tough schedule of ranked teams so far, but are building toward a great team come tournament time!

For the second time in his UNT career (came in 2006-2007), tennis Coach Sujay Lama has been named the Texas College Coach of the Year by the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA). He also won the award in 2009. Coach Lama is an excellent coach and does a great job with limited resources when compared to other Texas and CUSA institutions. He is truly deserving of the honor. Our record so far this year is below our usual standards, but most of our matches have been against highly ranked teams. The hope is that we peak for the Conference USA Tournament at Rice in mid-April. GO MEAN GREEN! http://meangreensports.com/sports/w-tennis/spec-rel/022215aaa.html

Nice story on last night's Channel 8 Dale Hansen's Sports Special about one of our track athletes, Kedron Sowells, and his being a great role model. Kedron is a junior sprinter from Lancaster and very involved in community service, especially coats for the homeless. He also serves as the president of the Student Athlete Advisory Council and won the Spirit Award from CUSA last year. Dale Hansen and the story focused on how seriously Kedron took to being a positive role model for others...very complimentary of this young man and great publicity for our university. I don't know the young man but I think I would really like to meet him and thank him for all that he does and how he goes about doing it. Keep up the good work, Kedron. GO MEAN GREEN!

Indoor tennis courts needed...fall season begins in January and weather is unpredictable

Our own Zach Orr got a mention on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon tonight, albeit in a comedy bit. During a "superlatives" segment resembling high school superlatives, Jimmy showed pictures of NFL players (mostly Baltimore Ravens) and their "awards." The last picture shown was of Zach and he was named "most likely not to be ticklish." At least Zach is getting some publicity as linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens! GO MEAN GREEN!

When we are not competitive in games, my mind has tended to wander....such things as: 1. Is there no longer a coach's box rule in men's basketball? Coach Benford is on the court most of the time, so I guess that rule is no longer in effect. 2. What is the temperature setting at the Super Pit? It is freezing where we sit....it is just age or lack of attendance and body heat? I don't notice it being that cold at other arenas. 3. Have we basically gone to open seating? I don't see ushers very often and more games than not someone is sitting in our season ticket reserved seats (lately fans of the other teams). 4 When will our fans learn to yell at our games? We are being put to shame by the fans of opposing teams at the Super Pit. That should never happen, regardless of how poorly we might play. 5. The Pep Band has always been unappreciated by the fans. They have been one of the best parts of the game, but they too seem to have lost some of their "pep" lately. Hopefully, that is just because of the holidays. GO MEAN GREEN....BEAT UTSA! Let's turn things around in Conference USA.

If Liang adapts quickly to the American college game and Kseniya and Fransziska are completely recovered from their injuries (same ones that both had last year), then our team could make some noise in the conference. Rice is a several levels above, but on any given day in a conference tournament anything can happen! GO MEAN GREEN!