utamav91

I can't wait for it to be officially approved. As much as Texas Hall gives us a home-court advantage, I think our recruiting will definitely take another HUGE step forward. All the kids that say they don't want to go UTA because of the facility...now will have a reason to want to go to UTA because of the facility. I think coach Cross's contract runs to the end of the 2011-2012 season--hopefully we'll have another good season or two before the end of that (a nice run deep into the conf. tournament at least) and the school will give him an extension for a season or two into the new building.

Denver beat UTA in a tournament in Montana earlier this year. They are a young team, but can get hot and really score a lot of points in a hurry. That is going to be a very, very good team in another year or two. Nice win for UNT.

I think this is what makes the series so special. I think no matter who is having the better season (UNT probably so far), both teams are going to battle it out for 40:00. Kinda like the UT-TAMU or Texas-OU series in football: both programs have been up and down over the years, but the games usually wind up being close. The difference was we wound up winning on the boards (rare for us with our small lineup this year) and that was just enough to win. And because we're kinda small, in previous games we've fallen in love with the 3-point shot, but unlike UNT, our percentage isn't very good. We know Vereen and Long are going to get their 20 each night, but the question is whether another player or two would be able to score. And it was Moffitt doing just that tonight. 6-5, can play outside or inside, and he did both tonight, getting some big rebounds and making some 5-8 foot shots in the paint. I'm glad we won, but it was a great game to watch no matter who you were rooting for. Very entertaining. Good luck to UNT the rest of the way and see you at Texas Hall next year.

The win over OSU wasn't as big as it seems--they are young and not nearly as good as they have been in years past when they contended for the Big 12 title or played well enough to earn an invitation to play in the NCAA tourney. A big name historically, but this was the year to get them to your building and beat them. May not happen again if they rebuild like they usually do. Kinda like when our Mavs beat New Mexico State at their gym two or three years ago--a HUGE win for us at the time but I think they won maybe 5 or 6 games the whole season. I think UT-San Antonion and a few other Southland or Sunbelt teams also beat them. We caught them at the right time and played a great game on the road. Would I want to play them now, no way.

real question is: can UNT handle the UTA inside game? That's UTA strength right now I think. We're young with no seniors but we've got a couple of real big strong power forwards/centers that can score a lot of points and defend the paint pretty well (Griffin, Posey, Vereen). And we really clean the glass. But, Wooden and UNT's depth may be too much for the Mavs. I hear he's really good. I'd like to the Mavs shoot the 3 a bit better but Guignard, Moffitt and Epps can 3s from outside and if they get hot, nothing can stop them and Mavs roll. Free throws have been less than outstanding as well. But UNT is a talented team with a nice win the other night. We beat UT-Tyler by 30, but I think that was expected. Div. I teams should dominate non-Div. I teams. Overall I think UNT has the edge but it should be a good game. Glad to see the UNT-UTA series resume...ya'll come to the stage next year. I think home team probably wins each game, and then hopefully the series resumes in a long-term fashion. If it's like the old days, should mean some nice crowds for both arenas.

someone mentioned Southland teams...Lamar plays in a beautiful 10,000 seat arena down there and they average like 3000 a game. Not bad. Meanwhile, our Mavs average a little under 1000 a game (the spring semester games vs. conference rivals draw about 1100-1500 if the team is playing well) Would love to see the long-rumored new arena replace Texas Hall and see if our attendance goes up. I think winning and playing local rivals solves a lot of attendance problems--remember back in the 70s and 80s North Texas would come to Arlington and we'd have a full house of 3200. And when we won 20 games in a couple of different seasons, 2000 a game with a few sellouts was pretty common.

I think renewing the UTA-UNT series will be good for both schools. Back in the day, there were some good crowds in both buildings. And it should get some good media attention. If nothing else, looks like UNT should have some easy wins going into conference this year. I remember a few years ago UNT would play a NCAA-tourney level road schedule before conference...like 2 or 3 top 20 teams every year. Good for RPI, tough on record though. Our non-conference home schedule has Texas Wesleyan and Angelo State for exhibition games, and then UT-Dallas, UT-Tyler, Austin College and UT-Pan Am once the season starts.

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Unfortunately, I think Rangers are done for the year. A mediocre team in a bad division. Probably 86 wins takes the division. Problem is, they're more than just 1 player away from being a contender, but not bad enough to start another youth movement and rebuild like Detroit, Minnesota, KC, or even the Angels who play a lot of young guys. Kinda in the middle, which makes it tough. I'd give anyone that has a good August in OKC a ton of innings on the mound in September in Arlington.

10,000 seats would be too big for UTA sporting events. Even if we double our average to 2000 a game...a 6000 seat arena will be only 1/3 full.

Those are good seats. The GREAT seats are upstairs in the balcony. Great view. Almost like you're right on top of the court. But brick walls behind the baskets? Never seen those. They've got blue curtains as far back as I can remember. I remember someone mentioned Johnny McDowell...he was a great player For those of us who don't follow UNT hoops real closely, whatever happened to Vic Trilli? I remember it was HUGE news when he came to UNT.