GrandGreen

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

My view, bring in a very heavy hitter fund raiser, put most of the athletic development staff under this person and have the person report directly to the President or BOR. His/her's one job is to get donations for athletics and structure stadium financing. Leave the Mean Green Club under the AD, but relieve him of major fund raising duties. Structure the new position's contract on results, pay big dollars, and be able to terminate easily if objectives are not met.

No that is not what happened in the first Troy game. NT shot 13-28 3 pointers for 46.8% to Troy's 12-39, 30.8%. Troy beat NT because IMO NT thought that they didn't have to give a lot of effort to beat Troy. Troy won because they out hustled NT, out rebounding NT, had more steals and less turnovers. Hard to believe seeing Troy in person. I think if you are afraid of playing Troy then you must be horrified to play almost anyone else in the Belt. Yes, they could get hot at the 3 pointers and put up a good game, but what team couldn't do the same thing. On a side note, NT still can't handle the press and they have been seeing it all year.

Blakeley inherited the best recruiting class possibly ever at NT and took them to three straight 20+ win seasons. He was basically a .500 coach once he had to live on his own recruits. The class Blakeley inherited, recruiting by Gene Robbins and chief assistant Tubbs. 6'8 Melvin Davis and 6'8 Fred Mitchell both 5a all starters and 6'7 Kenneth Williams a second team all state player. (5 man all state teams not the 20 players teams common now). In addition, a first team Juco all American, 6'8 Terry Bailey and one of the best shooting guards ever at NT, Carl Jones who transferred to NT and became eligible Blakeley's first year. Blakeley added one piece to the puzzle, point guard Weasel Johnson and he was off to the races. However, Blakeley like most after him could not recruit and hovered about .500 for about 5 years before being dismissed. Blakeley, right or wrong, continued to publicly lambaste the administration for poor budget support and IMO hastened his firing. Bill Blakeley's record: TeamWinsLossesPct 82-83 North Texas 15-15 .500 81-82 North Texas 15-12 .556 80-81 North Texas 15-12 .556 79-80 North Texas 13-14 .481 78-79 North Texas 11-16 .407 77-78 North Texas 22-6 .786 76-77 North Texas 21-6 .778 75-76 North Texas 22-4 .846

I think it is past time for NT to make a change, but I take exception to a lot of your comments. In general I think Slinker has recruited fairly well over the years. Actually much better than the men's team until the last couple of years. I have no idea of what you are referring to, with your players with baggage remark. Yes there have been a few minor incidents but compared to most programs, I would give Slinker high marks on the character of her players. I hate to break it to you that NT doesn't compare with Big Twelve Schools in most if not all sports. If NT had a million to pay a coach like Baylor's wbb coach, I would rather they spend it elsewhere than a single wbb coach. You may have not noticed that the women's team is doing better in the Belt than the men. Again I think it is past time for a new head women's coach not because as you opined that Slinker is a bad coach. A truly bad coach would not be coaching in her nineteenth year at NT. The fact is that Slinker has had more than enough opportunities to demonstrate that she can take a team above the mediocrity level. I think RV made an enormous blunder committing NT to a new contract for Slinker in mid season three years ago. This years team IMO has a lot talent and hopefully a new coach can take more advantage of it next year.

I think Fitzgerald and Fentress are the closest to being locks in the starting lineup. The other two positions will be up for grabs with Sam Roberson, Sam Dibrell, Beece Johnson, Brock Stickler, and Ken Washington fighting it out. Dibrell actually started at the end of last year. Ken Washington is probably the fastest of this group but may not start because he is more of an inside receiver and I expect Fentress and Fitzgerald to be the inside starters. Brock is a great blocker but may not have the speed of some others. I also see Johnson as an inside receiver. The true freshmen maybe all so in the race, but based on last year; I think TD will be slow to put them in a starting positions unless one truly excels. My guess at starters, Fitzgerald and Fentress inside and Roberson and Dibrell on the outside.

Wonder why some write off Magrum. Not a bad freshman year but played behind all those big guards. IMO he will be back and contribute and could very well start before he is through. Obviously, if JJ placed Flemings at a juco, he is hoping he will get his academics in order and be back at NT. Flemings could very well be the best player on NT's team if he had played this year. A starting lineup of Odufuwa, Flemings, Thompson, Dennis and White next year would not be bad. Yes, a dominating big man would be nice but those are little difficult to recruit.

This team is just not very good with continued mediocre to bad front court play. For NT to have any tournament hope, Wooden is going to have to get in basketball shape and time is running out. Williams is a senior player who cannot seem to play without getting into early foul trouble. Nothing like getting beat by letting a walk-on have a Larry Byrd like night.