chrisfisher

We are voted as a national Mid-Major Top 25 on a regular basis now, have the best record in the SBC, and were picked to do very well in our division. We have seen some great performances from "lesser" opponents this season. From here on out, every team will bring their A game in an effort to knock us down from our perch. We are in control of our own destiny this season and must play each and every game (especially the first half!) with great intensity regardless of our foe's record/ability.

I'm 99% certain I can make it. Never had the Mean Green punch... hell, I have never tailgated either. I really hope I can make it. I start at the medical school (UNTHSC) this semester but I think I only have to be there on Wed's.

UALR plays Troy today at 2:00pm. I am keeping an eye on the score on ESPN.

The Mean Green travel to take on Arkansas-Little Rock this Thursday, Jan. 4th. The UALR's website has an online video streaming pay-per-view option for only $4.95. You can sign up here. BTW, I am really looking forward to seeing Quincy and Wooden take on Jones-Jennings. He has been a problem for us in the past. I think this will give us an idea how far we have come since last season in terms of rebounds and inside play/scoring. ULAR has been hot and cold this season. We'll see which team shows up. Now that I think about it, I could care less which ULAR team shows up given that Bell, Sturns, Davis, Williams, Watson, and Wooden play/shoot well.

That seems about right based on how other attendances were rated. The student section was very empty and the vast amount of attendance came from the general public. Hopefully, once students return that will not be the case.

To say that we were on fire may have been an understatement. The stats were just posted to Meangreensports. Look at this! 2 Point Shots: FG% 1st Half: 19-34 55.9% 2nd Half: 19-27 70.4% Game: 62.3% 3 Points Shots: FG% 1st Half: 4-8 50.0% 2nd Half: 3-5 60.0% Game: 53.8% Nice!

The way I've seen it is that we have been utilizing our big men more this season, and especially in the past 4 or 5 games. I hope it continues as this will free up our guards even more.

I just got home from the game. Some observations: (1) This may have been one of the most complete games I have seen us play in 2 seasons. The Mean Green were on fire in so many areas. We have a VERY exciting offense. Numerous players in double digits. (2) I (and many on this board) expressed concern that after KD returned, it could be rough sailing for a while as we tried to reintegrate this excellent player into an offense that already had great chemistry and scoring ability. Moreover, we figured KD's shot accuracy would be off for a while. All of these concerns are unfounded. Sturns, Williams, Young, Wooden, and Bell all got their points and then some AND KD got his 18 points. (3) Quincy looked great tonight! (4) Wooden looks like a new player with that plastic full leg brace off. He is playing with a ton of confidence, making his shots, and rebounding great. Tonight, he shot extremely well from different areas including 8-10 foot jump shots, free throws, under the bucket shots, and 1 big-time dunk. He looks twice as fast in his moves now and overall is much more athletic. This transfer is a big time SCORE for UNT! (5) Rich Young had an all around solid game tonight. He does alot of things extremely well, and is the quiet player that anchors our team. (6) KD shot very well tonight including numerous 3 pointers. (7) The combination of Williams, Wooden, Sturns (or Young), Davis, and Bell was potent. I LIKE THAT LINE UP!. (8) KD played extremely aggressive tonight and went down hard to floor at least 3 times. Damn that made us nervous. The last time he went down hard, he came up wincing in pain while holding his wrist. He was taken out of the game and a trainer examined his left wrist. I saw him tell them that he was fine, but they looked at it any way. After the game, I asked KD if he reinjured his wrist, and he said that he was "alright." (9) Bell was very solid. He distributed the ball very well, and had a command of the offense. (10) I haven't seen the stats but it looks like we cut down turn over significantly. (11) We still need to work on how to respond to a full court press. There were several occasions were we got stuck in our half court and even had one 10 second violation. We seem to do best when Bell just tells everyone to get past the half court and let him work his way to half court one-on-one.

Actually, the Denver team that showed up tonight was shooting extremely well. That's the only thing that kept them in the game. I believe they made 14 3 pointers. I knew Denver was in trouble after on-fire in the first half with 48 points and were only ahead by 2 going into the half. They played the best ball they could and could not dominate us.

I just checked Meangreensports, and they updated the website in the past few hours promoting the game tonight. I assume that means Denver will be here. See y'all at the game!!!

You would think or at least hope that with all Wooden has been through this season (fighting through a serious leg sprain, starting off slow, etc) and the fact that he is developing into a major force for the team, that he wouldn't screw that up. I hope that he was suspended for something like showing up real late to practice rather than something like extreme behavior problems or conflicts.

With Harold Stewart taking care of personal issues and Wooden getting suspended for 1 game, does anyone think we should be concerned about the team melting down? I hate to bring this up with the season looking so great, but this smells of the Sturns incident last year. And we all know what happened last year during mid-season. I'd hate to see that happen again. Hopefully our players will not undermine their success again.

Last I heard on the news, the Denver airport is now open again albeit with some serious flight delays. I think we have a 50/50 chance of Denver being here. The WKU game could have been canceled b/c of that storm that moved through here yesterday and was headed east.

I basically do whatever I can to bring in money while in school: (1) UNT doctoral student (Primary Occupation), (2) owner of a small company called Computer Rescue & Maintenance, and (3) Technical Coordinator of UNT Neurotherapy Lab. I've also been known to power wash homes and be a helper to a hardwood floor/tile installer (my father-in-law) for extra dough.

Thanks Smitty for all of your hard work on these new designs!

I was watching the online video of the game. I forgot that early in the game Williams twisted his ankle and was hobbling around for a while. I know he played the rest of the game, but sometimes these sprains take time to swell up and feel the full effect of the injury. Does anyone know if Williams is OK? I sure hope so. He is such a key player now.

Admittedly, I have not been the biggest Howerton fan. However, I must say that he is making huge strides this season. Perhaps JJ was right about developing him long term. Against Jarvis, I saw Howerton do a nice turn around jump shot that looked really good. His coordination seems to be getting better all around. He also seems to be blocking better, and is more aggressive toward the basket. I really hope Howerton helps me become a big time fan of his.

Oh - BTW, great to have you back Davis! We've missed ya.

Quincy should start of course. But I think he should give Jonathon Jackson a bunch of playing time (if he is healthy). I really want to see what he can do and the Belhaven game will be a good place to give him a chance.

I know this isn't anything to write home about, but I just checked Sagarin today and we are #100. I think we'd have to win out the rest of our season if we want to climb into the Top 50 this season. Also, I eagerly await the Mid-Major Top 25 Poll after our WKU win.. hoping we get into the teens.

I noticed at the WKU game Wooden was wearing a much smaller black knee brace, instead of the whole leg brace. I think that is an obvious sign that whatever his leg problem is, it is getting better.

When I moved here last year, I knew there was a problem when I saw A&M, UT, and OU gear at grocery stores. I pondered the question, "why no UNT gear?" While I know we will never completely scare off the other institutions' local supporters, I truly hope that Mean Green pride takes over in the DFW area, and I find Mean Green gear at Albertsons. Then we will know we made it

I decided to revive this older thread as it seems very relevant right now. We all noticed that Wooden started off a little shaky. However, he seems to be getting better and better with each game. He was true force to be reckoned with at WKU, and even shot the winning basket. Not surprisingly, his play seems to have gotten better as his leg has gotten better. I can't help but wonder how much that leg thing played into his scenario, though I know he needed to shake off some rust after the 1 year sit out. I predict now that Wooden is going to turn out to be a brilliant JJ transfer signing. His game has improved in all areas, though he seems prone to committing ticky-tack fouls early in the game. I think Wooden is going to go to town on Jarvis Christian and Behaven (if JJ plays him much).

It is easy to say, "WKU just had an off night." The fact is that we dominated them on the boards, our big men controlled the inside, we played excellent defense, plus strong 3 point shooting. That is a recipe for success. I think we forced WKU into an "off night" and sub-par play - in short, we were the better team. Make no mistake about it though, WKU is great team. Also, I have been calling on Jones to play more to our big men under the basket, and he did just that during this game. I hope this continues.

I am glad we were still in the Top 25 after the UNO loss. I think we should climb back up the charts with the WKU win, plus a cosmetic win over Jarvis Christian (or whoever we are suppose to play). I hope we break into the top 15 next chart, though I think we'll need a few more quality wins to do this.