GrandGreen

You obviously have not seen the damage that still exists in New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Not to mention not having any consideration for the number of people who lost not only most of their material belongings but loved ones to the tragedy. I would hope that NT fans are above that kind of verbal abuse. Also you might consider NT has two players from NO, which I am sure might not appreciate the humor in Katrina. I am sure this will be interpretated by some as just the ramblings of someone who doesn't get it, but IMO using Katrina in this matter would be truly classless.

Tougher choice than you might think. Men's golf as pointed out, is the only sport that NT actually has a national championship in. Cross country is part of the track program which actually counts as 3 different sports (outdoor track, cross country, indoor track) with the cross country runners generally filling the long distance positions of the track teams. The NCAA does not divide the track program ships between the 3 segments. Title nine is also based on total scholarship numbers not sports sponsored. Thus to offset baseball with a ship limit of 11.7, you would have to cancel the whole men's track program which only has 12.6 ships allowed. This would also put NT below the minimum number of sports necessary to be in the FB division. Cancellation of the Golf team would only offset 4.5 ships needed to get to the maximum for baseball. Title IX, in my opinion should be challenged. No matter how noble its intentions it has put a great burden on the "have-nots" of college sports. Funding sports with not even a remote chance of breaking even or for that fact provide very little in any type of recognition for the school in the same category as football is certainly questionable. There needs to be some type of financial reality added to the equation.

I think that other than Gilmore hopefully at de, the rest of the defensive positions are up for grabs. At DE, NT actually has a number of players that could elevate their game to be good Belt players. I think the main competition for the other starter will be between Owussu-Heming, who is probably the best athlete among the other de's, and Sykes who apparently got the coaches excited last year but never quite turned the corner. Russo did come on at the end of the year and could challenge as could a seniors Cole and Stewart. Pending no more turnover, de should have some depth. The starting dt positions should be wide open. Atkinson not going to spring practice is going to hinder his early play. I look for Ross and Desoto to be the starting dts, both showed significant improvement at the end of the year. I think the rotation will be Ross, Desoto, Atkinson and Brown. I hope Cantly, Hawthorne and Franklin can contribute but I don't see them challenging for a starting role. Robertson and Nwigwe should return as starters at linebacker with juco Charles battling Pinson for the third position. Warren should be a solid backup but after that there is not much experience. The defensive backfield should be much better (it would almost have to be). Three year starter Bush will be one cornerback. The other corner will probably be the juco Smith. I look for Hill to be the primary backup, with Cook and Adams contributing. The safeties should be returning starters Williams and Kylee Hill with Shorter and Agbottoh. I do think this defense has the potential to be at least adequate in the Belt. The talent level is improving but more importantly one more year of Deloach's leadership should be seen on the field.

There always has been and there remains a great many reasons to go to UNT. If you include TWU, there can't be many better girl to boy ratio in the nation for males. NT is a good academic institution and offers as diversified campus as any in the state. Add to that Denton has to be one of the best college locations in the state. What locations are better? I would disqualify Lubbock, Waco, Houston, and El Paso on the surface. TCU or SMU have good metroplex locations but nether can offer the college town atmosphere of Denton. College station is not bad, but it is A&M and it does not offer the eclectic background or easy access to larger cities that Denton does. Austin would have been my hands down choice a couple of decades ago, but it has lost a lot of it charms and now feels much like any other big city. Along with SMU and TCU, UNT offers easy access to one of the most viable employment centers in the world. I alway remember Hayden Fry's quote, "If I can get them on the campus, I can recruit them".

Strange quote, the AD could have further restricted the release if he had wanted. Who do you think granted the release if not the AD? If Gio does go to A&M, I wish him good luck. It will be interested to see if he is givien a ship to A&M, if not; then it doesn't matter if he got a release or not.

I don't like the term "mid majors", but I don't dislike the concept. The fact is that there are enormous differences in all sports in the amount spent, facilities, coaching, etc. between the haves and the have-nots. I see nothing wrong with trying to honor teams that do well compared to their piers in terms of similar resources.

I wouldn't get too excited about that attendance number. Great come back, it would have been awful to lose to Denver, who now has lost 39 straight road games and also are one of the youngest teams in the nation. Is there anyone who can explain why NT with 37 seconds in the first half and trailing by 17 NT decided to stall the ball. Of course it resulted in a turnover. Great to see Dennis have a good game, I think he turned it around with his aggressive play along with McCoy who finally hit a couple of threes. Awful first half followed by a much better second half, obviously aided by a young team with a "can't win on the road mindset". Great hustle and defense in the second half saved NT, but the offense still looks out of sync to me.

NT (2-4, 6-11) beat Denver (4-2, 9-7) 76-69. Best game in ages for Green. Won at free throw line going 21-24. Had four players in double figures : Escalero 18, El 17, James 15, and Jackson 12 with 10 rebounds. Jo Hall is back after an eight games suspension and had 6 points.

You don't see a lot of difference in getting outscored by over 3 more tds a game. I was one of DD's biggest critics but this team went from real bad but relatively competitive under DD to undoubtedly the worst in the nation.

JJ's record the last 4 seasons and thus far this year is 36-35 in conference. Not exactly great but obviously a great improvement over Trilli. JJ seems to have the team poised to take that next step and actually be in the conference regular season championship race, but it has not yet happened. His recruiting has greatly improved over his first few years and he seems to have the talent to get over that hump and join the elite of the conference, but in general his teams continue to be mediore except that great tournament run of two years ago. I would love to see a team that is better than a win most of the home games and lose most of the away games in the league. That maybe too much to ask with a team that garners so little support from the fan base and administration. Despite having great basketball facilities, I guess it is hard to sell a program that struggles to fill 20% of their stadium despite having an exciting team. JJ is currently a good not great coach but he is actually a lot better than the program deserves based on it's support level.

I think what the conference season has demonstrated thus far, is just about any team can beat any other team. NT has gone to overtime with three of the better programs and obviously these games could have gone either way. I am concerned that NT has not been consistent and seems to have lost their shooting touch in the last three and a half games. However, I am encouraged that the front court is obviously improving and despite poor outside shooting and at times poor ball handling, NT has been in every game beginning with the Arkansas game. I don't think there is a team in the conference unlike last year that NT cannot beat. If last years two best players, White and Dennis, can get near their play levels of the past; NT should be hard to beat.

Vizza's departure certainly bothers me. Not because I think Vizza was irreplaceable or even a particularly good QB, but it is just another sign of how far down the NT program is down right now. When you give a player the opportunity to start two years at QB, and then he leaves apparently without even giving the coach the courtesy of a discussion, it certainly points to a program in chaos. I wish Vizza well, he did play with a lot of desire, but I do wonder what is wrong with a player and a coaching staff that interacts everyday and yet seems to have so little communication. I don't understand why Vizza would announce his departure without first talking to the coaching staff or why the coaching staff would be so unaware of the situation that they claim surprise.

It has happened twice that I can remember at North Texas. Although technically Josh Gulley was not a starter when he transferred, he in fact tried to transfer after a very good freshman year against the hardest schedule in NT's history. Simon would not release him to play at California and he stayed another year in Simon's doghouse before transferring and never played QB after his fish year again to my knowledge. There was a freshman named Van Ness who started for Fry's first team at NT and played very well. He transferred out and started a number of years at a West Coast 1a program.

Our annual "not up to snuff" fan thread. They did at least buy tickets and come to the game. I am always amazed at these posts at a school that needs support more than anything else. Lets give some kind of litmus test to the handfuls of people that make the effort to actually attend to see if they are worthy. Instead of being concerned about the thousands that did not bother to come including 99% of the students that have already paid for the privilege. Yes, school is out and I would bet you that at least 50% of the students live closer than the hour drive its takes me to drive to the game, but they have better things to do. As some one that sit through four and a half hours of basketball, Saturday: I will try to liven it up, I wouldn't want to disappoint such an avid fan.

Awful outside shooting, but still could have won. Great game for Tremiel. Very questionable shoot selection at critical times. Good news, is that NT was at least close with horrible 3 point shooting. Good defensive effort in a very closely called game.

Good for BC. I wish somebody would make a stand and hold coaches to their agreements. Before someone brings up TD or DD, remember that colleges almost always end up honoring their contracts. DD was paid for three years as he should have been, but if he had got that dream job he would have been gone in a flash, no matter how many years he had left on that contract. Obviously, I would like NT to have coaches that someone else wants, but wouldn't it be great if coaches lived up to their contracts.

Yes, everyone is going to throw away a four year scholarship plus the ties that they have at NT, because some other player leaves. All this conjecture comes with two disastrous seasons, and no one is happy including the team, coaches, and fans. Players, parents, and fans are going to complain that is to be expected. The truth is that NT was undoubtedly the worst team in the nation last year and that is enough to worry about. I don't see the need to add speculation to the mix.

I have vastly overestimated the team in the last two years. I believed in year one, that TD would improve the offense and an experienced defense would led to a good season. Year two, I expected the offense to continue to improve and even with a depleted defense that Deloach would be a significantly positive influence. What I acutally saw, was the worst two years of NT football in my long tenure following the team. Next year, I see little hope. NT is in full panic mode scrambling for Juco help. What is particularly disturbing is that NT is desperately recruiting wrs and dbs. Positions that Dodge has given out double digit ships in his first two years. Looking at next years schedule, there is not a game that NT will be favored in. Assuming the coaching improves, I believe NT may win 3 games.

Sarcasm ignored, the cupboard was far from empty. She inherited first and second team pre-season all conference players and a team that was picked near the top. She had four starters returning although the second best player is now on indefinite suspension for whatever reason. The team did show great promise for two games, Valpo and New Mexico, and not much before or after. It is too early to give up on the team and they do play hard. It is also not guaranteed that the next year will be better. NT loses some of the best current players including Amber Jackson. On paper, SS's high school recruits are not necessarily any better than what Slinker normally signed. I do believe that the two transfers will be good players for NT and I think Stephens still has a couple of scholarships to give. Again, it is way too early to tell if Stephens is the real deal or another good talker, bad coach like Trilli. I am all for discipline, but I am concerned with the number of players who have been suspended by Stephens. Slinker did not exactly recruit a bunch of thugs. Slinker's most heralded and the only post recruit was also apparently strongly encouraged to transfer. Even though not many care about woman's basketball, RV took a big chance on Stephens. picking her over much more experienced candidates. I like the coach's passion and have high hopes she will turn this around, but I have not been encouraged by the teams play in their latest games. With NT's general apathy toward woman's sports, there is no doubt Stephens will get every opportunity to be successful.

SHSU (3-10) 79 NT 72, looks like a long year

Has JJ' team every benefited from trying to run clock. With all the momentum NT goes into a semi stall and almost immediately loses a ten point lead. With an official crew calling anything close to contact, why didn't NT's quick guards just drive to the baskets as the Muts did. Without Magrum this game would have been a rout. The team played hard but missed a great number of layups and had no offensive flow. Those that discounted the loss to New Orleans should now recognize that this team is no better than mediore at this point. Throwing up three's with no inside game is not going to win a lot of games.

Most teams have players on scholarships so I guess talent is never an issue? The facts are that NT only two losses up to this point were to good teams, Houston 7-1 and Oklahoma State 8-3. New Orleans is now 5-6 with losses to Savannah State and Nicholls State. They are improving and shoot lights out for most of the game. So is it just a matter of coming up against an unusually good game by an opponent or is it another year of NT hovering just over .500 with a couple of road wins in conference hopeing for the hot streak in the tournament. To me, NT looked like a team with little urgency who was content to fire away from outside and was out hustled for most of the game. NT did turn it up a notch at the end of the game, but still could not stop NO. IF NT can't beat NO on the road, who can they expect to beat. NO was picked last in the conference and probably has less a home court advantage than any team in the Belt.

Another 10-8 conference ho hum NT team? Can JJ ever get over the hump? This team has too much talent not to play a lot better than tonight. Bad defense, pass around with no urgency until someone throws up a three offense. With all this team speed why does NT continue to play a slow half court game? NT played like they were sitting on a lead. Maybe it was the 150 rowdy fans that appeared to be there that got to the Green.

I wonder how in the world they can afford this. No attendance and no guarantee games, and yet they can finance a team. Apparently schools in other states have a great advantage over Texas teams in budgets.

I thought the replays from NT were bad, but ULL has to show every goal they score not once, but from two different angles.