GrandGreen

Western Kentucky wins both men and women's outdoor track crown for third straight year. NT men finish sixth out of ten teams and women end up in third. Alysha Adams was female athlete of the meet. I think it is time for RV to look at the track program, there is no reason NT should continually settle for mediocre in track and field. This meet was at Denton and IMO the results were very disappointing. Congrats to the NT winners but there should have been a lot more.

May be because UNT does not want to help another football program to get started in Texas and the Belt doesn't need them. Do you really think NT playing in San Antonio is going to help recruiting in South Texas more than a brand new competitive football team in the area is going to hinder recruiting? UTSA and TS at San Marcos have a long way to go before they are going to be an asset to any fb division league. UTSA and TSSM are going to be able to get games against some good programs because they are relatively cheap and offer little competition. Now filling out a 12 game schedule will be a challenge. I doubt I am the only one that sees two more lower tier poorly funded football programs competing for coverage and recruits in Texas as a negative.

Could have been Delante Taylor a guard with great hops.

McMillan had a great vertical. Kenneth Lyons arguably the best player ever at NT could dunk with the best. Brandon Gilbert from Trilli era had some of the greatest dunks I've seen. I will give a vote for Leroy Winfield who never dunked because it was not allowed, but he jumped center for NT and seldom lost. At 6'2 he could jump out of the gym. I still refuse to give any credit to Shawson Johnson, the player gave a two year ship to play one semester. Adam Smith who played for Jank was also a prolific dunker.

NT men will probably have little chance against WKU and their 10 foreign athletes. The women's race should be closer, WKU only has 8 foreigners. Being that track is a sport that has relative few ships and most athletes only get partial scholarships, I wonder how WKU gets so many international players. NT has 3 foreigners on the men's' team and none on the women's team. NT's distance runners are a little better than last year but will get few points, the throwing events are another almost void on the NT teams. NT should do well in the sprints and relays. WKU should win the men's easy with NT having a good shot at third. The women's side should be close with WKU the favorite but Middle and NT close. However, NT does have the home field advantage and could surprise. NT track does seen to be improving , although they are usually in the top three or four, they seldom win despite having six championships a year to compete in including cross country.

Even though NT lost both games, they played well with one more game scheduled with ULL. They will be a third seed and that should put them in the opposite bracket of ULL, not a bad tournament position. It should be an interesting and very competitive tournament. NT with several victories over ranked teams and ULL although still dominate in the conference can be beat. For years, ULL went through the conference unbeaten with little struggle, those days are at least over.

Another bloated all conference team with 16 named, a pet peeve of mine. Name first, second, and third teams if you must but having 16 on an all conference first team golf team greatly cheapens the honor. I just saw an all district high school girls soccer team that included eleven players from one school among those honored as first team. Why even bother?

Greeneaglealone, great to have you as a fan, I really do enjoy your articles. Thanks for the great work. I certainly don't agree with everything, but your point of view is well presented. I look forward to your future features.

The only thing surprising about the first team is there are absolutely no surprises, including not naming a first team QB. The fall newcomers may change a few first teamers, but it will really alter the second squad. The second team named did have a few minor surprises, Dodge and walk on Jones ahead of last year's starter and long distance threat Outlaw. Franklin, Noble and Fortenberry ahead of Bean and Flax on the offensive line. On the defensive side, certainly not unanticipated, but Cantly again being tried at DE. I wonder if this is just a function of no numbers at the position in the spring and Owusu-Hemeng staying in the dog house, or is there still a strong feeling that this is where he should play. Herron and Anyiam not in the two deep is a little disappointing.

Really disappointing day, NT went from second place to fourth with next to worst round on day 2. Ortiz after setting the course record with a 64 on the first day was 11 over par today. Ortiz is now 11 on the leaderboard and the team is 12 behind Middle. Not an impossible feat to win but they are going to have to have a great round.

Thanks for the info, looks like NT has a great pipeline into Mexico.

I agree men's golf was not nearly as bad as tennis, but it was far from stellar. I think the golf coach is only in his second year, but he brought in the fourth rated freshman class in the nation last year. Both squads are similar in they are now depending on international athletes. Something I applaud as it is the best way to compete, but I do wish there would be some limitations on the number allowed.

That was mentioned I think on the official site blogs, very vague but hinted he was a super talent. Apparently we got some super studs last year. It is amazing what a coaching change can do sometimes: tennis, swimming, golf both teams, and softball. Really the climb in men golf has been faster than any of the others.

End up in second to Middle, 3 over par and 5 behind on first day. NT's Ortiz is leading individual with eight under, leads field by 6.

Good article, I think it highlights why JJ and others are high on Edwards despite his struggles. As an aside does anyone know who is running that website, they are really comming out with some good stuff?

Note for those that havn't been following the program, that NT is playing 3 freshmen .

NT should have the best showing ever in the Belt all sports competition. Probably won't win as NT only plays 16 sports compared to WKU 19 and the Muts's 17. NT does have an outside shot with good teams that should contend for the title in men's golf, women and men's outdoor track and softball to be decided. With the exception of football, women's basketball and volleyball, NT has fielded competitive Belt teams this year. Volleyball has a new coach on board. Dodge is in an improve or go year. SS has only had 2 years in WBB. It is interesting to me that women's tennis, softball, and men's golf are all top 100 programs while NT's historically best program, soccer has probably fallen behind that level. Yes, soccer has never had a bad year, but the rest of the Belt has caught up to some extent with NT not getting to the Belt tournament finals in the past two years.

My linkwww.sunbeltsports.org/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4100&ATCLID=204936107 NT wins 4-2 despite losing number 1 in both singles and doubles. Sets up match with number 1 seed FIU.

A great receiver for the Green, those who saw that infamous 1988 UT game should never forget Marcus.

Thanks for the explanation.

Vicious! I always love when someone prefaces his statement with "no offense, but" type statement, you know someone is about to get blasted. You didn't think labeling someone a "clumsy , tall white guy' would get some reaction? Have you seen Knox play? He is tall and white but I think he moves well for a 6'10 player and has a good stroke. FYI, I have no relationship with Knox, at all. I do know that seldom does a team like NT get a legit ready to play 6' 10 player out of high school. Those types go to the Dukes, UT's or directly to the pros. You will notice that it is common for teams to recruit players like this in hopes that they will mature into players and the benches are full of them. The reason is, if that player does develop then you have a player that could be a real difference-maker for your program. I saw enough out of Knox last year to believe that he could be more than just a role player for NT in the future. There are a lot of people salivating about Morgan coming here, his record thus far in college is not significantly better than Knox and he was a five star can't miss player out of high school. Yes, I know there is a difference in playing in the PAC 10 and Belt, but you are now dealing with potential with both players.

Thanks, but it would not be a wash if your best kids could not beat the opponents top players but could beat out the lower ranked players. For example your team playing straight could not win any match, but playing your 1, 2, 3 against their 3, 5, and 6 should result in three wins; therefore you would tie in the singles matches despite having a team that should have lost 0 - 6. I am sure there is a honor code involved and in the long run this would be easy to detect, but it does look like it might be easy to slide maybe your number 2 player to a 3 to get more favorable odds. I just wonder if there is some type of protocol or testing that polices this to some degree.

As an aside, does anyone know how the scoring of matches evolved. It seems to me, strange that 3 double matches only count one point. Also that a number one seed is no more important in scoring than a six. What keeps teams from playing their best players lower in the seeding to greatly improve their probability of winning?

Copied from another message board, is what appears to me an accurate listing of NT's softball signings as well as 4 next year commitments. A quick google yeilded that Hoff is from Garland High, Coe from Brazoswood, Wagner from McKinney North, and Thompson from Sand Springs, OK. This list does not include the recent juco signee Fraley who was recently reported on the official site. Sun Belt FAU: Kimberly Diaz, Rebecca Garner, Whitney Herb, Carly Speering, Jordan Stovall, FIU: Erika Arcuri, Kennah Orr, Mariah Dawson, Rachel Slowik, Chelsea Zgrabik, Bekah Kiser Louisiana-Lafayette: Victoria Cummings, Allie Chenault, Shelbee Rodgers, Natalie Fernandez, Christina Hamilton Louisiana-Monroe: Miyuki Navarrete, Stephanie Routzon Middle Tennessee: Jordyn Fisherback, Lauren Keele, Shelby Stinnet, Kayla Toney, Shelby Lamb, Casey Horner, Nina Dever North Texas: Darian Blake, Jordan Terry, Kailee Carr, Jackie Miller, Dani Hoff, Elizabeth Coe, Haley Wagner, Madison Thompson South Alabama: Sara Hilton, Hannah Campbell, Julie Moss, Haley Richards Troy: Taylor Smartt, Kelly Luquette Western Kentucky: Megan Johnson, Tiffany Gooch, Kelsie Mattox, Amanda Thomas, Brittanie Albright

The only money the league makes is through the NCAA basketball tournament, why would we want to divide that small piece to even more teams. Adding every team in the south that wants to move up from the FC division is not going to make the Belt stronger. Lets wait for the TSU and UTSA's of the world to develop something before we are so anxious to give them a leg up by granting them a conference destination.