MeanGreen61

CONGRATULATIONS Longhorns ! The national champ is from the Lone Star State !

FULL ARTICLE http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll.../601050347/1006 North Texas has been more effective offensively than the Cajuns for most of the season. The Mean Green has won its last three, has gone 6-1 at home in The Super Pit this season and posted a 67-61 road win at Tulsa Monday in its last outing. That's the only time since mid-December that UNT has been held under 80 points, and the Cajuns are 0-8 under Lee when opponents scored more than 80 points. The Mean Green has three starters and four regular performers back from a team that went 6-9 in league play in 2004-05. But the addition of Davis has solidified that unit.

Typo........couldn't edit heading........

MEN 70 Western Kentucky 102 Middle Tennessee 118 South Alabama 140 North Texas 152 Louisiana-Lafayette 167 Ark.-Little Rock 191 Troy 196 Denver 245 Arkansas State 281 Fla. International 293 New Orleans WOMEN 28 Western Kentucky 79 North Texas 87 Middle Tennessee 97 Florida Int. 98 Arkansas St. 150 Denver 180 Ark.-Little Rock 182 South Alabama 185 La.-Lafayette 207 Troy 317 New Orleans

"North Texas is playing well and they're 6-1 at home," Lee said. "Against them, we're going to have to play much better on transition defense, but if we can be patient on offense we can get some good looks. North Texas rolled to a 67-61 road win at Tulsa Monday, taking their fifth win in six outings with the only loss in that streak coming at home to Houston. In those six games, UNT is averaging 90.3 points per game, and the Mean Green is shooting 49.5 percent from the floor in that streak. UNT ranks 19th nationally in scoring (81.7). FULL ARTICLE http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll.../601040340/1006

Actually we're 4-4 vs D1 teams with wins over SFA & Nicholls State (Southland), Tulsa (CUSA) and Chattanooga(Southern).

Post by ashVID on the Tulsa board "Actually about 12 min into the game I thought the same thing. I turned to my wife and said that this was the best we had played all year. She looked up at the score and said, "yah... but we're still losing at home to North Texas..." OUCH!"

Men's basketball: Davis delivers for UNT Guard comes up with 3-point play to push Mean Green over Tulsa 08:21 AM CST on Tuesday, January 3, 2006 By Brett Vito / Staff Writer TULSA, Okla. — North Texas head coach Johnny Jones said nearly a month ago after a heartbreaking loss that he wouldn’t hesitate to go to Kendrick Davis in a tough situation at the end of a game after his star guard came up just a little short in a loss to Texas A&M. Jones kept his word on Monday night in a game against Tulsa and saw Davis come up with a clutch 3-point play in the closing seconds that lifted the Mean Green to a 67-61 win over Golden Hurricane at the Reynolds Center. The win ended the Mean Green’s six-game road losing streak and extended their hot start to the season. UNT (7-4) has won five of its last six games and picked up just its second victory in 23 games at Tulsa (4-8). “This was a great win for us,” Jones said. “The guys did an excellent job down the stretch and made the big plays we needed to make. That speaks volumes to get that done on the road.” No play was bigger than the one Davis made with just 1:17 left in the game and the score tied at 57-57. UNT went to Davis, who drove the lane, drew a foul from Tulsa freshman center Sam Mitchell and dropped the ball in before converting the 3-point play to give the Mean Green a lead it wouldn’t relinquish in its first game on the road since a 72-70 loss to Texas A&M on Dec. 6. Davis had a shot to win the game in the final seconds against the Aggies, but saw hit 3-point shot bounce off the rim at the buzzer. “I am the type of guy who doesn’t get down on myself,” Davis said. “Every game is a new game and every shot is a new shot. It felt good to see that shot go down and help the team win.” UNT made the lead stand up by hitting seven straight free throws in the final minute to seal the win. Davis scored 21 points to lead four UNT players who finished in double figures. Sophomore forward Quincy Williams added a double-double that included 15 points and 10 rebounds. A balanced attack sent the Mean Green into their Sun Belt Conference opener against Louisiana-Lafayette on Thursday on a high note. UNT’s win also spoiled an unusual game for Tulsa sophomore guard Brett McDade. The former Ryan standout grew up attending games at UNT, where his father Fred played for two seasons. McDade finished with five points and five assists. Junior forward Darold Crow scored 24 points, despite aggravating an ankle injury he suffered Dec. 22 at Eastern Michigan and missing 5:02 in the second half. Briefly … UNT saw its streak of games with at least 81 points come to an end at five. … Tulsa had won six straight games against UNT.

Mean Green Claims 67-61 Comeback Victory At Tulsa Courtesy: University of North Texas Release: 01/02/2006 Tulsa, Okla. (1/2/06) – Junior guard Kendrick Davis scored 15 of his team-high 21 points in the second half to lead the North Texas men’s basketball team back from a five-point halftime deficit in a 67-61 victory over Tulsa on Monday at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The Mean Green won its third consecutive game and its first road game of the season, actually snapping a six-game skid in road games that dated back to last season. The Mean Green improved to 7-4 as it defeated Tulsa for the first time since 1976, while the Golden Hurricane fell to 4-8. The game marked the second time this season that the Mean Green has trailed at the half, but pulled out the victory. Tulsa led 47-41 with 11:28 left in the game, but North Texas went into a zone defense and went on an 11-0 run over the next six minutes to take its first lead of the second half. The Mean Green didn’t give up the lead the rest of the way and while Tulsa trailed just 57-60 with 1:17 left, Lionel Brown made five free throws over the remainder of the game to seal the victory. Quincy Williams recorded his second career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Led by Williams and Jeffrey Simpson, who finished with six boards, the Mean Green outrebounded the Golden Hurricane 23-16 in the second half. Simpson and Brown also scored in double figures with 10 and 11 points, respectively. After attempting just six free throws in the first half, the Mean Green hit 12-of-16 attempts in the second half. NT also shot 43 percent from the field, while holding Tulsa to a 37 percent field goal percentage and .238 percentage from beyond the arc. After eight lead changes and with the score tied 26-26, Tulsa went on a 7-2 run over the final 5:09 of the first half to take a 33-28 lead at halftime. North Texas was hurt by nine turnovers and was slapped with 10 fouls that Tulsa took advantage of, making 9-of-10 free throws during the first half. The Mean Green shot 42 percent from the field, but was limited to its second fewest points in a half this season. North Texas returns to action this Thursday, January 5, when it hosts Louisiana-Lafayette at 7 p.m. in the first of four consecutive home games to start Sun Belt Conference play.

The Vegas betting line had Tulsa as a 3.5 point favorite.

UNT takes on Tulsa, Ryan alum McDade Son of former Mean Green player a Golden Hurricane 09:24 AM CST on Monday, January 2, 2006 By Brett Vito / Staff Writer Fred McDade couldn’t have been happier when he found out a few months ago that North Texas had added Tulsa to its schedule for a home-and-home series. The deal will give Fred a chance to see his son, Brett, play in their hometown next season, but it will also present a unique problem — deciding whom he should root for. Fred played for North Texas for two seasons in the early 1980s under head coach Bill Blakeley and still follows the Mean Green. He also follows Tulsa, where Brett is a standout sophomore guard. Fred will have his loyalties tested for the first time tonight when the Mean Green (6-4) travel to Tulsa (4-7) for the first game in the series at 8 p.m. “I will have my Tulsa shirt on, but I might have Mean Green on under it,” Fred said. The game will also have a strange feel for Brett, who went to several UNT games while growing up in Denton. The Mean Green recruited Brett, who said he seriously considered following in his father’s footsteps before deciding to play for the Golden Hurricane. “North Texas was my second choice,” Brett said. “I liked the academic program at Tulsa and the school has a good basketball tradition. My dad let me make my own decision. He told me that I was the one who was going to have to spend the next four years at the place I chose.” So far Brett has fit right in with the Golden Hurricane. He spent one season as a redshirt at Tulsa before moving into the starting lineup and averaging 9.6 points a game as a freshman last year. McDade’s 270 points rank fourth in Tulsa history for freshmen. A solid first season proved to be just the beginning for Brett, who enters tonight’s game leading the Golden Hurricane with an average of 12.5 points a game. Brett credited his solid start in part to the afternoons he used to spend at UNT playing pickup games against a host of former Mean Green players, including Chris Davis and Leonard Hopkins — two of the top players in UNT history. “Brett is a very talented basketball player,” UNT coach Johnny Jones said. “He has been really good for Tulsa. He is one of their key guys.” Fred was just as important to UNT’s success during his two years with the Mean Green. He averaged 4.7 points off the bench in the 1980-81 season after transferring to UNT from Tyler Junior College. He averaged 9.9 points as a senior in the 1982-83 season after spending the 1981-82 year as a redshirt. UNT won 15 games in each of Fred’s seasons playing for the Mean Green. Brett built on the McDade family basketball legacy in Denton during a standout career at Ryan. The Raiders won the state title Brett’s freshman season and returned to the regional semifinals during his senior year, when he averaged 26.8 points a game. “Brett is one of the best all-around players I have ever coached in 30 years,” said former Ryan coach Richard Scofield who is now at Liberty. “He was definitely the best guard I have ever had. He could shoot, dribble, play defense – he could do it all.” UNT will look to stop Brett and build on its recent run of success heading into Sun Belt Conference play. The Mean Green’s game against Tulsa will be their last before opening league play at home against Louisiana-Lafayette on Thursday. UNT has won four of its last five games behind a balanced attack that features junior guard Kendrick Davis, who is averaging 16.0 points a game. “This is a good opportunity for us play another tough opponent on the road,” Jones said. “It’s an ideal time because it’s right before conference play. It would be good to go into conference play on a winning note.”

End of a streak UNT football’s sharp decline is top story of 2005 05:21 PM CST on Sunday, January 1, 2006 By Brett Vito / Staff Writer The landscape of North Texas athletics underwent a dramatic change between the Mean Green’s first loss in Sun Belt Conference play and their second. UNT played in four straight New Orleans Bowls, Patrick Cobbs and Jamario Thomas won national rushing titles and the Mean Green Athletic Center opened. All told, just short of four years went by between UNT’s win over Middle Tennessee on Oct. 13, 2001, that started its 26-game Sun Belt Conference winning streak and a 13-10 loss to Troy on Oct. 4 this season that ended it. In a year that saw several milestone moments in Denton sports, no story was bigger than the end of UNT’s conference winning streak that ranked as the second longest in the country when it concluded. “I don’t think anyone thought it would last forever,” UNT head coach Darrell Dickey said after the loss that ended the Mean Green’s run. “I wish we’d have played a lot better than we did tonight when we lost it.” UNT had several opportunities against Troy to turn the tide and keep the streak alive, but squandered most of them. UNT’s loss to the Trojans turned out to be just the first misstep in a season that saw the Mean Green plummet from the top of the Sun Belt Conference to the bottom. UNT, which had gone undefeated in conference play in three straight seasons, finished in a tie for last place in the league with Florida Atlantic at 2-5. The Mean Green had a chance to win nearly every conference game, but never were able to get over the hump, lost five games by 21 points combined in league play and finished 2-9 overall. Some games, it was a lack of offense that sent UNT to a loss. At other times, it was the Mean Green’s inability to come up with a key stop. Part of what made the season so frustrating for the Mean Green was that it began with high expectations. UNT was a near unanimous choice in the Sun Belt’s preseason poll to win a fifth straight league title. The school also received unprecedented publicity in the preseason when Cobbs and Thomas became the first pair of former national rushing champions in NCAA history to return to the same backfield. The duo even appeared together in USA Today and ESPN The Magazine. Those preseason accolades were just a few of the benefits that could be attributed at least in part to the streak. UNT’s attendance at home games improved in three of the four seasons the Mean Green won the conference title. UNT also received a $1 million donation for the Mean Green Athletic Center from Houston businessman Jim McIngvale, who named his friendship with Dickey and respect for what the Mean Green had accomplished in football as the reasons behind his donation. Seeing the streak that had done so much for the athletic department come to an end caused Dickey and athletic director Rick Villarreal to take a hard look at the program during the offseason. “We have a lot of evaluating to do, both from a coaching and players’ perspective,” Dickey said. “We have a lot of work to do between now and the beginning of next season, and it begins with me.” Dickey vowed to improve the Mean Green’s focus during the offseason and make the changes necessary to get UNT back on track after a large step backward with what he called one of his youngest teams in recent years. “I feel good about a lot of the kids on this team and what we can accomplish in the future,” Dickey said late in the season. “We have a good future ahead of us.” For the first time in years, UNT will face that future after a season that ended without a conference title and a trip to the New Orleans Bowl. The change made the end of the Mean Green’s winning streak the biggest story in Denton sports this year. BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com. The Top 10 of 2005 The Denton Record-Chronicle’s voting for the Top 10 local stories of 2005, with rank, story, total points and first-place votes in parentheses: Rank, Story Points 1. UNT football’s Sun Belt Conference winning streak ends at 26 games 57 2. Pilot Point suffers through an e-mail scandal in its athletic department 52 3. Guyer opens as the new high school athletic program in Denton 46 4. Argyle and Liberty Christian both reach football state championship games 32 5. Patrick Cobbs sets UNT’s all-time rushing yards record 31 6. UNT women’s soccer qualifies for the NCAA Tournament 26 7. Lake Dallas’ Lauren Espinosa wins the state golf tournament again 18 8. Denton boys soccer goes deep into the playoffs, while the Lady Broncos miss the playoffs 15 T9. Denton’s boys and girls basketball teams both make playoff runs 13 T9. Ryan’s Austin Jackson forgoes his Georgia Tech scholarship to sign with New York Yankees 13 Other stories receiving votes: Ryan suffers worst football season under Joey Florence, 7; Four Ryan baseball players get selected in MLB draft, 5; Denton Outlaws win TCL title, 3; UNT men, women lose first games in Sun Belt basketball tournament as hosts, 3; Sanger boys hoops makes regionals for first time since 1978, 3; Tina Slinker wins 200th game at UNT, 3; UNT’s Korey Willliams qualifies for NCAA track meet, 2. THE REST OF THE TOP 10 5. Patrick Cobbs sets North Texas’ all-time rushing yards record Patrick Cobbs came back for a second shot at his senior season in 2005 and completed his remarkable career as North Texas’ all-time leading rusher. Cobbs appeared poised to break UNT’s rushing record in 2004, but a series of injuries forced him to take a medical redshirt. Cobbs came back from his year off with a vengeance and finished with 1,154 yards on the season and 4,050 for his career. Cobbs’ total shattered the previous UNT rushing record of 3,120 yards set by Ja’Quay Wilburn from 1997-2000. Cobbs cleared the 100-yard mark in nine games and posted some of his best performances at the end of the season. Cobbs was named first-team All-Sun Belt Conference and was also named to ESPN The Magazine’s Academic All-America Football Second Team. — Brett Vito 6. North Texas women’s soccer qualifies for the NCAA Tournament North Texas advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year in 2005, when the Mean Green continued to establish their program as one of the best in the region. UNT knocked off SMU during the regular season and also dominated the Sun Belt Conference, winning the regular season title and the league’s tournament championship for the second straight year. The tournament championship sent the Mean Green into a rematch with SMU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Kimber Bailey ensured that the Mustangs would avenge their earlier loss to the Mean Green by tallying a hat trick in a 3-0 win. UNT (16-4-2) tied the school record for wins in a season and posted the best winning percentage in school history. — Brett Vito

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...366/1048/SPORTS The heat is on Sun Belt League responds to U-M complaints December 31, 2005 BY MARK SNYDER FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER Three days ago, few Michigan fans knew the Sun Belt Conference even played football. Now the smaller conference is Big Blue's public enemy No. 1. For those who missed all things ESPN the past few days, here's the long version of the U-M fans' view: The Alamo Bowl officiating crew, run by the Sun Belt, cost Michigan in Wednesday's 32-28 loss to Nebraska. A number of officials' calls have come under scrutiny, and U-M coach Lloyd Carr criticized the way officials handled the instant replay system. Don Lucas, the Sun Belt supervisor of officials, has heard the complaints. "As in every game, there are several calls you'd like to see again, maybe get a better view," Lucas said Friday. "I prefer to think there were a number of very close calls could go either way -- as many as I've seen in my 13 years as supervisor of officials." Lucas has yet to evaluate the entire game tape, but he did explain a few points: After officials signaled that Nebraska's Terrence Nunn made a touchdown catch in the third quarter, the upstairs booth reviewed the call, but the referee's pager didn't buzz, so he kept the ball in play. U-M called a time-out, and the communication problem was corrected. Then the play was overturned. "Where we had a breakdown was once the referee was over there talking to Coach Carr, he should have told him they would restore the time-out," Lucas said. "We would have given Michigan a time-out back, so that's something we did wrong, and that was an area we could have improved." On the game's final play, when Michigan lateraled the ball seven times after completing a pass, the officials could have thrown a flag for three reasons once players prematurely ran from the sidelines onto the field, Lucas said. The possible calls: unsportsmanlike conduct (someone running on the field trying to influence the play), illegal participation (a player from the sidelines actually participating in the play) and an unfair act (a player intentionally and actually affecting a play's outcome). "The officials did not feel like the people from the Nebraska team participated in the ending part of that play at all," Lucas said. He said Michigan players were on the field, as well. On the apparent pass interference by Nebraska on a fourth-down throw to Mario Manningham in the end zone in the fourth quarter, Lucas said essentially it was a split-second decision and a judgment call not to throw a flag. "I did not see the end zone shot that night until it was shown on ESPN several hundred times," Lucas said. "When you see a shot on TV, frame by frame, contact appears to be there forever. When you see that same play live-action and see that guy... it's different." The Sun Belt does not use replay during the regular season, and commissioner Wright Waters spoke to Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany about the officials' lack of familiarity with the system. "I'm on the same page as Jim, in retrospect, maybe we should have revisited that," Waters said. "Maybe not with more experienced referees, but with replay. I don't know, I can argue both sides. The thing I hate about it the most was that a great college game between two incredible programs was overshadowed."

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/colleges/13528778.htm Posted on Sun, Jan. 01, 2006 Mean Green puts it on line By JEFF WILSON Star-Telegram Staff WriterDENTON -- The three-referee crew for Saturday afternoon's game at the Super Pit took the "whistle while you work" thing a little too seriously -- and North Texas was the beneficiary. The Mean Green scored its first 15 points from the free-throw line and hit 32 of a school-record-tying 46 attempts during a foul-filled 72-59 victory over Northwestern State. The win moved the women to 10-2, the best start in school history. "It's awesome," UNT coach Tina Slinker said. "That's not an easy task, as we look at it. There's a lot of games in there that show the difference in this team this year as opposed to this team last year, and that's the most exciting part to me." The free-throw attempts matched the mark set against Oral Roberts in 1997 and Texas A&M in 1998, and the free-throws made percentage (69.6) was fifth all time. The Demons (7-4) were whistled for seven fouls in the first 4:04 of the game, 29 overall, and were assessed three technicals. The foul shot was the Mean Green's No. 1 source for offense in the first half. UNT was 20-of-29 in the first 20 minutes while missing 21 of 29 field-goal tries. UNT didn't record a field goal until Natalie Mireles drained a 3-pointer almost nine minutes into the game. "I told them before the game that the free-throw line would be a very important place, because this team was a very physical team," said Slinker, who won for the first time in 15 games against the Demons. "I don't like a game like that, but at least we took advantage of it." The Mean Green shot 31 percent from the field, the second-lowest effort of the season, although the players attributed that to their eight-day holiday layoff. The start-and-stop flow to the game also didn't allow UNT to get into its offense, Slinker said. Still, the lead hit 30 points when Erika Bobo stole a pass and raced the length of the floor for a layup and a 66-36 lead with 10:41 remaining. Northwestern State closed the gap to 68-51 against UNT's reserves, and the comeback led Slinker to insert the starting five with 3:46 to play. The Demons finished the game on a 23-6 run. Mian Williams scored a game-high 16 points for the Mean Green, which opens Sun Belt play Thursday at New Orleans. UNT expects the best from its conference opponents. "It's going to put a target on our back," said Mireles, a senior who scored 13 points. "Every one in the conference has seen how well we are playing, so we need to be ready for them." UNT WOMEN 72, NORTHWESTERN STATE 59 IN THE KNOW Breakdown Why North Texas won: Free throws were the difference. The Mean Green made nine more than Northwestern State attempted (32 makes to 23 attempts. UNT was outrebounded 53-46 and made 18 field goals to 22 by Northwestern State. Why Northwestern State lost: The Demons pulled a disappearing act in the second half, being outscored 27-12 in the first 10 minutes. Add in a 13-point halftime deficit, and the result was a lead too big to overcome. Notable Senior point guard Natalie Mireles' 13 points were one away from a career-high 14, which she set in UNT's previous game, an 84-52 win at Prairie View. Demons coach Jennifer Graf, 27, is the youngest Division I coach in the NCAA. She is a 2000 graduate of Northwestern State. Up next: UNT at New Orleans, 7 p.m. Thursday

Texas schools. MEN 18 Texas 45 Texas A&M 52 Houston 104 TAMU-Corpus Christi 145 Sam Houston 151 S.F. Austin 152 UTEP 155 Texas Tech 169 North Texas 184 SMU 186 UT-Arlington 191 Lamar 192 Baylor 211 UT-San Antonio 215 Rice 220 TCU 293 Texas State 315 UT- Pan American 324 Prairie View 325 Texas Southern WOMEN 8 Baylor 25 Texas 31 Texas A&M 63 TCU 70 Texas Tech 79 TAMU-Corpus Christi 82 North Texas 92 UT-Arlington 103 S.F. Austin 121 Rice 130 SMU 143 UTEP 156 UT-San Antonio 203 Texas State 253 Houston 270 Lamar 315 Sam Houston 317 UT-Pan American 324 Texas Southern 330 Prairie View

MEN- Conference #16 77 Western Kentucky 96 Middle Tennessee 122 South Alabama 158 Louisiana-Lafayette 169 North Texas 171 Ark.-Little Rock 190 Troy 208 Denver 229 Arkansas State 276 Fla. International 290 New Orleans WOMEN - Conference #12 27 Western Kentucky 82 North Texas 84 Middle Tennessee 96 Florida Int. 100 Arkansas St. 149 Denver 163 South Alabama 172 La.-Lafayette 183 Ark.-Little Rock 217 Troy 319 New Orleans

Pomeroy favors NT in the next 5 games and in 8 of the next 9. Hope this holds true http://www.kenpom.com/sked.php?team=North%20Texas&t=p

No it isn't the main story. Could it possibly be due to the Holiday Season? There is an events calendar to the right that shows tonights game along with other upcoming games. Did you bother to look?

I give up. Green Grenade and PMG. Now add eulesseagle to the mix.

Pedo Grande

UNT not content with close defeats Mean Green look to get back on track vs. UT-Permian Basin 10:22 AM CST on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 By Brett Vito / Staff Writer North Texas head coach Johnny Jones couldn’t detect his players feeling any sense of accomplishment from playing Houston close when the Mean Green returned to practice after their holiday break. As far as Jones is concerned, that’s a good sign. The Mean Green played Houston to the wire on Friday before falling by eight points to the Cougars, who were nationally ranked earlier this year. UNT will look to bounce back from what they saw as their second disappointing near miss of the season tonight when the Mean Green host UT-Permian Basin in the first of their three remaining games before the opening of Sun Belt Conference play. UNT also took Texas A&M to the final minute before losing at the buzzer. “We are competing at a great level, but our mission is to be at that next step where we are winning games,” Jones said. “That’s when we will get satisfaction, because we are not satisfied with being close.” UNT will get one last chance to pick up a big win in non-conference play when the Mean Green travel to Tulsa on Jan. 2. The opportunity is one UNT will look to build toward in its game against UT-Permian Basin today and a second home game against Stephen F. Austin on Friday. The Mean Green head into tonight’s game at 4-4, which is disappointing because they could have been 6-2 had they made a few key plays at the end of a pair of games earlier in the month. UNT guard Kendrick Davis had a 3-point shot that would have beaten Texas A&M at the buzzer bounce off the back of the rim. UNT was also within a point of Houston with just 2:26 left to go in the game. The Mean Green’s performance prompted Houston coach Tom Penders to predict that if UNT kept improving, it would be in the thick of the race for the Sun Belt Conference title. UNT’s players refuse to look at a pair of close losses in a positive light, no matter what opposing coaches have said. “I don’t like moral victories,” UNT junior guard Calvin Watson said. “We haven’t been taking the losses well. We have been in close games, but they haven’t gone in our favor.” A game against UTPB could offer the Mean Green a chance to put their close loss to Houston in the past and build toward their conference opener against Sun Belt West Division favorite Louisiana-Lafayette on Jan. 5. UTPB is an NAIA team that recently announced its decision to apply for membership in NCAA Division II. UNT played another Division II team in Angelo State on Dec. 19 and cruised to a 111-65 win after opening the game with a 31-0 run. UNT drilled UTPB last season, 103-44. The Falcons appear to have improved since that loss and are off to an 8-3 start that includes a 75-69 win over Texas State, a Division I team. Marlo Saunders, a 6-5 forward, leads the Falcons with an average of 19.5 points a game. “They are better than they were last year,” Jones said. “They won at Texas State, which is a huge win for them.” UNT beat Chattanooga at home earlier this season and will have another opportunity at another solid non-conference win in a game at Tulsa on Jan. 2. UNT will look to continue building toward that game behind junior guard Kendrick Davis, who leads the team with an average of 17.0 points a game. Jones said his goal is for the Mean Green to win three straight to head into conference play at 7-4. “We have improved each game, but we have to continue to cut down on our mistakes,” Jones said. “We have some tough games coming up. Its important to be playing well going into conference play.” Briefly … UNT senior center Justin Barnett is battling a back injury and is questionable for the Mean Green’s game against UTPB. BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com.

Geeze hammering away, even on Christmas Day

The only stat that really counts is the final score.

From College Football News http://www.collegefootballnews.com/2005/Co...e_of_Whimsy.htm

UNT falls short of average on GSR report 07:54 AM CST on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 By Brett Vito / Staff Writer Athletic director Rick Villarreal knew when he arrived at North Texas in the spring of 2001 that the school’s athletic department had a long way to go to reach its academic goals. The NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate Report that was released on Monday showed just how far. All 11 of UNT’s programs finished under the national average for their sport in the report that studied universities’ athletic departments from the 1995-98 school years. The GSR report allowed a six-year window for students who entered the university in those four years to earn their degree. The scores in the study include athletes who transferred into the school but do not count students who were in good academic standing when they transferred out to another school. “It shows just what we knew when we got here,” Villarreal said. “We still have a lot to do and are headed in the right direction.” UNT finished with a 52 percent graduation in football. The Mean Green were seventh among the 10 schools in Texas that play Division I-A football. UNT ranked third out of the six Division I-A teams at public schools in Texas. The Mean Green ranked in front of Houston (45 percent), Texas (40 percent) and UTEP (37 percent). UNT posted a 33 GSR rate in men’s basketball, well below the national rate of 58 percent. The Mean Green finished with a 79 percent GSR rate in women’s basketball and finished just below the national average of 81. Villarreal said UNT’s athletic department’s graduation rate now stands a 67 percent. The NCAA started the GSR study to better measure the success of universities in graduating their students. The NCAA previously counted transfers against an institution’s graduation rate, even if the athlete earned his degree at another school. The NCAA included a federal rate that did not take into account transfers and included it in the study. All of UNT’s graduation rates were higher in the GSR category than the federal category. “This clearly gives us a more accurate portrayal of what is going on at an institution,” NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson said. “The way the federal rate works is that it looks at students six years after they entered an institution to see if they graduated from that school. It wouldn’t take them into account even if they graduated with honors at another university.” The Sun Belt Conference, of which UNT is a member, also struggled in the GSR report. Only 36 percent of the conference’s teams met or exceeded the national average in their sport. The GSR is one of two new studies that the NCAA is using to measure academic performance among college athletes. The NCAA is also using an Academic Progress Report study that measures a university’s performance in keeping athletes eligible and in school. The NCAA has set penalties that can include the loss of scholarships for individual teams that fail to reach a minimum APR score over a two-year period. The two-year APR scores will be released later this year. Christianson said the NCAA is considering tying scholarship penalties to GSR scores in the future. Villarreal said earlier this fall that UNT anticipates all of its programs exceeding the pass-fail line in the two-year APR report and avoiding any scholarship penalties. Villarreal pointed to UNT’s current graduation rate and what he expects to be a solid performance on the APR report as signs that the school is improving on a below-average performance on the GSR report. “We can always improve,” Villarreal said. “If we are not graduating 100 percent of our athletes, there is always an opportunity to do better. We are proud of our teams that did well and will look at how they can do better. We will also look at the teams that didn’t do well, the reasons why and how they can improve.”