GrandGreen

I will agree with WKU as number one. But Troy football is in a very small market, and IMO only succeeds because the coach is good and they have a distinct advantage in recruiting because of academic standards. I also wonder how you could rate the Florida schools with the worst attendances in the nation as being a good job, particularly FAU who plays one of the most difficult schedules in the nation to support the program. I would also give high marks to WKU's and the Muts minor sports coaching jobs as they seem to support them more than most of the Belt schools. 1. WKU men's Basketball - Best tradition and overall support of any sport in the Belt. 2. UNT football - Best location and recruiting base. Other than stadium, other facilities should be or close to top of the Belt. 3. USA men's basketball - Good facilities, although I think the Pit is superior to both Mitchell and the Cajundome. Good support for Belt team. 4. ULL baseball - Best support of any program other than football or basketball. 5. UNT women's basketball - Traditional very low performance standard, great facilities and recruiting base

Obviously, Wbb is the premier woman's sports and does well at many universities. At NT, not many have discovered men's bb much less the lady's. For those who never go to either of the bb teams games and may believe the highly inflated attendance numbers reported, basketball has a long way to go. By the way, I am definitely in favor of inflated attendance numbers, because it is the norm for all the less than powerhouse programs. The attendance for the men's team as definitely improved but still is an embarrassment for a very competitive team the last couple of years. The women's attendance average if you exclude the double header games, is probably less than three hundred. I do hope that the Administration uses this chance to vastly upgrade the WBB program. I think RV has does well with his last couple of hires in Swimming and Tennis; and this is a much more important hire. The women do have a very good senior class next year with Jackson, Lee, Hull and Escalero. I believe with the right coach the team could fight for at least the Division championship next year. I hope the administration is not as lackadaisical with this hire as it appears from the few available reports.

It is great to have this additional money, but it really is not that much when you consider that it is shared by 13 universites.

The defense when Joe Greene played was called the Mean Green, referring to the school color "Green" not Joe Greene. Joe Greene got the moniker "Mean Joe Greene" in the pros not college. Hey, but it does make a good story.

[quote name='GrandGreen' date='Mar 22 2008, 11:57 PM' post= I am confused a lot, but not about this. It is my opinion if NT cannot effectively recruit against this level of schools, than little progress has been made since the Southland Conference. NT may not get this player if in fact they really want him, but it's not exactly like NT is recruiting against the ACC or any other conference above Belt level. There are definitely few schools that have been playing division 1 basketball for half a century that don't have more skins on the wall than NT.

It appears he would be an excellent pickup, but I wonder why anyone would think the competition for his services is all that intense based on the information provided. There is no reason that NT should not be the top of the list of the schools mentioned. About half of the schools mentioned are Belt teams and few of the others are exactly powerhouses. If NT is to ever going to get anywhere in BB, it going to at least be able to contend with the other so called mid-majors for recruits. As far as the women's BB coach, I would hope with over a year to prepare, that our AD is not as ill prepared as the few articles I've read seem to indicate. He should definitely have a short list of capable candidates if not an almost done deal at this point.

Being 2 of the 3 games were rained out, I guess it is lucky for Tech that they will now have time to get over their jet lag. No one will ever know how much the travel played a part in the game, but it was rather strange scheduling by Tech; a three game series a day after a tournament in Hawaii. I guess a win over Tech nearly makes up for a loss to TWU.

I think you will find that Judy Nelson was head coach at the time, Corky was fired. It is well past time for a coaching change, but thus far; Tina has remained a class act even through the firing. IMO, RV made an unnecessary mess out of this whole situation. There was no reason to put Slinker, the staff, and team through this lame duck season. Signing four players in the early recruiting period also makes little sense knowing that there was only a very remote chance that the coaching staff would remain. I give Skinker, the team and a thrown together coaching staff; high marks for just surviving the season with integrity intact. On the positive side, the new coach will inherit a good nucleus of players. NT should have a very strong senior class next year with 4 starters returning.

Agree on defensive line, but do not understand your comment relative to the offensive line were NT only lost one starter. Offensive line has four starters returning: Drake, Menard, Santiago and Bailey plus Rose who started a handful of games last year and was the starting center in his freshman and sophomore years. Add to that three redshirts and a couple a jucos and the offensive line should be much improved. As far as size, the offensive line should be the biggest in history. Last year was the year to be very concerned about the offensive line.

I think you can easily see the problems with the Belt oc games. With one exception discounting ULM home game with Arkansas in Arkansas, all the Belt teams only have one oc home game (excluding WKU). I am not going on a rant about "money games" because they are a necessary part of financing for all Belt teams, but any fans who rant about poor records should take the schedule into consideration. It also seems that NT has one of the more reasonable oc schedules in the conference, although I didn't particularly like the LSU/Miami switch.

Schindler started at least one year, maybe two, so he did do something. I though he was a pretty gutsy player and played tough. His claim to fame though was that he never dunked the ball in a game, despite Gales stating he would shave his head if Doug ever got a dunk. I would be very happy if Knox could start a couple of years.

It seems that NT could play against the full court press by now. A team full of guards who uses the post to break the press.

I believe Sykes will be a defensive end. Not sure how anyone could believe that this linebacker crew has unprecedented three deep talent. Outside of Penson, Robertson, and Mahon, this is largely a group of unknowns. But the coaching staff must agree there is a lot of talent, because linebacker was obviously not a priority in recruiting. The staff must surely see a lot of promise in the red-shirts; Hager, Warren, Padron and Davis. I will agree the most likely starters will be Pension, Robertson and Mahon; although none have played middle linebacker to the best of my knowledge. Again, I think that linebacker is the most puzzling position on the team. Very little experience and no "Can't Miss" type of players waiting in the background. Robertson and Penson have star quality, and apparently the staff sees great potential in the other players.

I know nothing about the character of Willis; but he is a heck of a football player, at least against NT. Without Willis, IMO NT would have easily won last year. NT doesn't need another QB, so I am not sure why this thread is relevant.

You are right, NT did split. In fact, I thought ULL looked much better in the game in Denton, even though they lost, then they did tonight. They made some wild shots in the first half and managed to hit most of their free throws tonight and that was enough to beat a woeful playing NT.

If NT continues to play like this, there will be no Mobile.

Not horrible, but very average at this point. ULL has beat us twice so I guess they are also playing at least average. They played a slow down game and really made NT look bad. When every guard other than McCoy plays very sub-par, you are in for a long night. Do you think all this talk of newcomer and freshman of the year talk may had a very negative effect. There is always hope, I haven't canceled my Mobile plans yet; but if they play like this in New Orleans, I may reconsider.

So?

Major choke job. Beat by a bad team.

NT 63 ULL 68, ULL now 3-14 in conference The game not as close as score, ULL led all the way. Time for a change?

Does anyone but Vito think that JJ has any chance at the LSU job? LSU may have great thoughts of JJ, but I can't see a school with their resources going for a .500 Belt Conference coach.

I wonder how many SMU fans would select NT as a preferred conference mate. Not many, my guess. The selection so far, get high marks for a geographically close conference and sticking with lower tier football programs. I would pick the conference based on the long-term potential of the group. My first choice would be UT, OU, LSU, etc. However, assuming the big programs are off the board for now, here is my lineup: TCU - Much more desirable than SMU and two big time programs are enough for the metro mess Houston - Probably the school with the most in common with NT. Memphis - Great Basketball Tulane - Gives Louisiana presence and a Nawlins game Southern Miss - Established Southern team Arkansas State - Geographic fit ULL - Solidify Louisiana presence, balance out southern teams Tulsa - Balance out North NMSU and UTEP, see no need to go that far West SMU - I would limit area teams to two Rice - Not a bad choice, but don't see a lot of potential athletic growth La Tech - Have you ever been to Ruston? Close to NT, but I feel like ULL and Tulane are better La representatives ULM - Again I see no need for three La schools, although I would pick ULM ove LaTech UAB, SAU, MTSU - All good candidates, but want to limit conference to 9 teams and limit footprint Troy - Small school, questionable academics

A couple of thoughts, Corky along with Fry were the very best NT coaches for getting the team ready for the "Big Games". Corky was wise enough to know that beating a Southwest conference team was a lot better than beating a SFA or McNeese State. Despite what many may think, NT was at a severe disadvantage during most of their stint in 1-AA due to the differences in admissions standards between NT and the majority of the Southland. Corky and Dennis Parker were in a box, they couldn't successfully recruit against the 1-A teams for academically qualified recruits. At the same time, NT could not rely on getting sub-standard academic but 1-A quality athletes that made up the vast majority of the out of state and East Texas Southland rivals' squads. The 26 straight conference wins were a major accomplishment that will probably never be broken at NT. Whatever you may think of DD, the facts are that NT is the only Belt team that has won an outright championship and NT has three. I am not sure NT ever won an outright Southland championship much less three in a row. I do remember the monumental foul-up by the AD in not getting a home game in the first round and causing NT to play at Nevada. I am not the RV fan that many on this board are, but you newer fans would not believe the kind of incompetence, NT fans put up with the "good ole boys" NT used to have fill the AD post.

I wonder who you think are the best basketball players you have seen play for the Mean Green. Attending NT during the golden era, late 60's when IMO NT had both the best basketball and football teams in history, I go back too many years. I think Joe Hamilton was the best BB player, I have seen for the Green. However, I think Kenneth Lyons was probably the most valuable as he was the best player on the team for all four years while Hamilton was a Juco transfer and only played two years. My all time best teams First: 6'7 Kenneth Lyons -The toughest player I have seen at NT 5'10 Joe Hamilton - Deadly shooter, great quickness; All conference in easily the best league in the country at the time 6'2 Leroy Winfield - Jumped center at 6'2 and played forward 6'5 Chris Davis - A do everything guard, deserves super credit for sticking with Trilli 6'6 Jessie Ratliff - Another player who was the best player on the team beginning with his freshman year Second: 6'8 Terry Bailey - Best offensive center 6'2 Carl Jones - Great shooting guard 6'7 Phil Worrell - Led NT's first NCAA tournament team 6'6 Bobby Iverson - Best athlete ever? High School All American, All MVC 6'2 Crest Whitaker - Super quick Others of note: 6'8 Adam Smith 6'8 Willie Davis 6'7 Fred Mitchell 6'7 Kenneth Williams 6'8 Melvin Davis 6'2 Jon Manning 5'9 Deon Hunter 6'6 Ronnie Morgan 6'4 Eph McDaniel 6'5 Al Shumate 6' Weasel Johnson 6'1 Neil Adams 6'1 Pat Hicks 6'5 Calvin Watkins 6'8 Stan Blackman