GrandGreen

Morgan was recruited out of high school, I think he went to SOC were Gales had been coach. The official reason given for Morgan not playing his last two years were medical issues, high blood pressure. However, I think he did play international ball after he left NT so there may have been other factors.

Raygogreen you have identified the best three eras of NT basketball in the last 40 years, Spikas last MVC teams, Blakeley's early teams, and Gales Southland championship teams. Hamilton and Whitaker played for Spika and both went to the pros, but Whitaker was a free agent in football. Other contributors Willie Davis, Bill Cutter, Mathew Huff, Mort Fraley and Leroy Winfield who did play in the NBA a number of years. Winfield was 6'2 played forward and jumped center for the team. Blakeley's only winning teams were based on Robbins/Tubbs recruits. Blakeley's freshman class recruited by the prior coaching staff included Melvin Davis and Fred Mitchell both 1st all state (5 player team not the large number now classified as all state) in the largest classification. Class also included Kenneth Williams a second team all state which gave little ole NT 3 of the top 10 high school players in the state. Add to this, Terry Bailey a first team Juco all american and a great shooting guard red shirt Carl Jones. Blakeley did recruit Weasel Johnson, the misssing piece to the puzzle. Gales' NCAA team included Ronnie Morgan who actually played two years, the other stars were Phillip Worrell, Wendell Williams and Deon Hunter. If they could have made a layup they would have given North Carolina a game in the first round of the NCAA's.

Not sure why you chose the sample above to demonstrate Jones is improving the program. 2001-2002 was Jones first year were he was 15-14. Jones did improve over Trilli's results but that is a very small feat. Because of the number of cupcakes being scheduled last year and this, it may be better to judge based on the conference numbers. 2001-2002 8-7 2002-2003 2-13 2003-2004 8-7 2004-2005 6-9 2005-2006 6-9 Based on the conference numbers, Jones' teams are getting worse not better. I don't think RV will even consider terminating Jones until his contract ends after the 2006-2007 season. Although in my opionion, if this years team is not substantially better he does not derserve another season.

Young team is no excuse when you have a coach in her eighteenth year. Never understood how youth is an excuse when coach has been in charge of recruiting for over three years. By the way, I don't like the black away uniforms at all.

Imo it would be very difficult not to get a better recruiting class than DD did the last two years. There are some good players in the group and I hope they all develop and contribute, but very few would not have been available very late in the recruiting process. However, there should be a good base for a new coach with approximately 50 lettermen and 18 starters returning. The new coach will have quantity and hopefully enough quality to be competitive from the start at least in the Belt.

Anyone else concerned that after a month of searching for a head coach that RV would try to contact Pat Sullivan? If NT hasn't got better options than a coach that failed at TCU, who I think DD would agree had much better circumstances, then this search has made very little or no positive progress.

Hats off to Praire View. For those that might underestimate a new coach, look at what Cynthia Cooper-Dyke has done at PV. In her second year at PV and with her first recruiting class of 9 players she is turning around a team under "very difficult circumstances". NT beat PV 84-52 away last year and was barely able to get a victory at home this year. The two highest scorers in the NT game including one that got 30 points for PV are both freshmen. Talk about difficult circumstances PV next eight games are all away including 2 games at USC Trojans tournment (USC, Houston) and games at Oklahoma State, Witchita State, UTEP, Missouri, Notre Dame and Baylor. I doubt that PV will win any of those games, but it is obvious how they fund their program. Look for PV to dominate the SWAC as long as they can keep Cooper-Dyke as coach.

Any guesses to what NT's record will be in those nine straight away games. I hope I am wrong but I predict 2-7.

] The guy has already been all conference two years including 2005 when the offensive line was as an unit very bad. Generally coaches cannot even evaluate individual offensive line play without film review, but I guess you have the gift. I watched almost every game and have no idea if Lineberry was at an all conference level. I do think he will have a difficult time making all conference this year because of the play time lost because of the "Green Team".

I guess you have watched film and determined that everyone on the offensive line is unworthy. It is entirely possible that one or more NT offensive lineman were actually doing an all conference worthy job. Using your logic no one on the team should be honored because the team was so bad.

On the defense Holman and Chapman, not sure Weathers had a good enough year. On offense Quinn and Lineberry. For a team that had the most pre-season oc picks, this like the season will be a big disappointment.

Well assumming NT is interested in Dodge, assuming SMU is interested in Dodge, assuming Dodge is interested in either SMU or NT; this scenario is plausable. It seems to me that if RV is interested in Dodge there would have already been contact. I don't know what the benefit of terminating DD with three games to go is if there is not an active coaching search. If that search only includes coaches with USM ties then RV is clearly not doing his job.

Nice win for the lady's. Loyola Chicago was a bad team with loses to Illinois 59-87, 60-78 Northwestern and 66-77 Illinois State, but Slinker's team really ran them off the court. The team has a lot of depth again this year, but do they have the difference makers that can turn them into a good team? If they can get a reliable point guard play this team should be at least competitive in the Division. Freshman Brittany James looks like the real deal with Bobo like speed and potentially a much better offensive player.

If the Belt has clearly improved how about a little more analysis then your more teams with .500 records. Let me help you out. Troy 6-5 1-4 non conf record with victory over Tennessee Tech Muts 7-5 1-4 non conf record with victory over Alabama State ASU 6-6 2-3 non conf record with wins over Army (sag rating 105), Memphis (sag rating 109) ULL 6-5 3-2 non conf record with wins over E. Michigan, NC A&T and probably the Belt's most impressive victory over Houston. The sagarin ratings for the Belt are Muts 78, Troy 104, ULL 118, ASU 119, ULM, FAU 131, ULM 133, NT 155 and FIU 186 As much as I would like to believe that the Belt is getting stronger, I fail to see any support other then self-serving statements made by Belt representatives.

I guess I am the only one that does not think the Belt has significantly improved. Imo there are more teams Bowl eligible due to 12 games and additional conference games than any subtantial overall improvement in the league. Imo the two best Belt teams so far were the 2003 and 2004 NT teams with no others that close. I thought the MUTs may have reached that level but they have come apart at the end.

Maybe because they count 3 points. A shooting percentage of 33.3% for threes is equivalent to 50% in twos in points scored. In addition a college three is much easier (closer) than a pro three. Also obviously a good outside game will open up the inside game and vice versa. North Texas so far this season has not demonstrated a very effective offensive inside game further pushing reliance on an outside short.

Slinker got RV'd last season when he committed to a contract extension in mid season. One winning season out of the last four was apparently good enough for RV to give her a two year extension. By the way there is no comparison in Slinker and Dickey. I question Slinker's coaching but never her character.

Did anyone actually believe that the Outlaws were going to spend millions of dollars on a stadium to play summer baseball? My guess is they thought partnering with NT would help get donations to build a stadium and NT would foot the maintenance expenses. Pure Pie in the Sky. I hope NT gets a baseball team, but I would put that way down in the priorites. Funding baseball and some off the wall women's sport is imo not a wise use of resources at this point. NT already has enough underfunded and almost fanless programs to pay for.

NT has much bigger basketball problems than courtside monitors if they can't put away a young UTA at home with a first year coach. Horrible defense, all game but giving up uncontested layups with game on line at end is pathetic.

Now we know how Charlotte felt. Usual NT pathetic defense. There is no reason for NT to lose to a young UTA team.

DD's contract was extended in 2004 to run thru 2008, which I thought was a very poor decision. This article states he has a contract thru Dec. 2009. This makes the situation even worse and means if true that DD's contract was extended again. Why?

Apparently you have not read NT's plan to sell naming rights to everything from the stadium to practice fields. I think you will find in the current era even the venues named for coaches etc. are supported by major donations by people who want to honor that person. There is also a major difference in building a stadium and selling the naming rights years after construction. How many Big 12 stadiums were erected in the last 10 years? As far as honoring Mitchell, although deserving; he coached over forty years ago and because of that I can't see a lot of support being generated for your proposal.

Names are bought these days not earned.

Jackson was injured in his freshman year at MACC and played only about half the year and not at all last year. So it been nearly 2 years since he has played, lots of rust to lose.

Actually agree with you, assumming we could get MM and DD out of the media for a few days it might be possible. I am not sure what either one of them thinks they are accomplishing keeping the pot boiling. It certainly is not going to enhance DD's appeal to future employers.