GrandGreen

Actually my post had nothing to do specifically with NT recruits. Not sure how that was even inferred. It had to do with the lack of courage in most high school districts to limit their first team all district teams to the number of starters on a team. The strenght of a particular area or district imo should have no bearing on the number of players selected as first team. Also my post did not address DMN all area teams at all. They selected 11 player teams. I will however speculate that some of the first team senior players were chosen based more on who they signed with, then any other more objective means.

Unfortunately all district honors no longer mean much. Noticed some of these districts had has many as 36 players named first team. A very few districts actually limited their teams to 11 players, congrats to them for trying to make the award mean something special. This is no way unique to soccer, as I have seem first team all district football teams with over a hundred players. I wish the coaches asscs. and or UIL would put limits on the number of players honored. This practice may make more players and parents feel good but it really downgrades the honor for those who really deserve it.

Actually most of the recent NT JC recruits are not even first team all conference. Only other jucos with All American mention that I can think of that DD recruited are Bense and Pruitt.

North Texas Sun Belt Sports It seems that NT is having a off year in most sports even based on Sun Belt standards. Below is how I would rate the NT teams in Sun Belt competition without a lot of analysis. What are others’ thoughts on the overall Belt performance since NT joined the league? Top of the Hill Obviously, NT has dominated in football despite last year’s fiasco. Four champions in five years and a 26 (?) game-wining streak is impossible to argue with. NT also has been dominating in Soccer, I think playing in every championship game and winning both the regular season and the tournament the last two years. Middle of the Road Women basketball, early success in Belt but struggling since despite a Western Division wining 7-5 last year, getting routed in first tournament game. Other teams seem to be leaving NT behind. Volleyball, good competitive team with Marginas (sp) early and last years team improved. Track/cross country – Women’s track teams would probably be rated in top of conference but men’s teams and cross country have not been very successful in recent years. Both women and men’s track teams seem to be improving. Golf- seems to stay in middle of pack in both women and men teams. Bottom Swimming is good for title IX and academic performance, but totally non-competitive in the pool. Tennis is turning into a disaster despite having new facilities. Softball now in its fourth year has not made the progress that was hoped for. An aside how can you field a team with only one viable pitcher? Men’s basketball has never been a significant factor in the Belt race.

I kept hearing the conference is stronger every year? Based on What? There was nothing close to a good team in the conference last year.

From Portland State Official Athletic Site GAME 1: PORTLAND STATE 11, NORTH TEXAS 3 Portland State set an NCAA Division I record by hitting four consecutive home runs to open the third inning en route to an 11-3 rout of North Texas in the Vikings’ opening game of the Nevada Softball Tournament. The game was called after five innings due to the mercy rule. The Vikings hit a total of seven home runs in the game, tying for the fifth-highest single-game total in NCAA Division I history. With the Vikings leading 3-0, Daniel, Stokes, Bean and Slayton all homered to open the third inning and make it 7-0. Heide later added a three-run home run in the frame. Heide led the Viking attack, going 2-for-3 with two home runs and five RBI. She also hit a two-run home run in the first inning to record her fourth and fifth home runs of the season. Slayton finished 2-for-2 with two RBI and Stokes went 2-for-3 with an RBI. The home runs by Slayton and Stokes in the third inning were the first of their careers. Daniel’s home run in the third was her fourth of the season and Bean’s was her third. Sophomore right-hander Mandy Hill also homered in the game, hitting her fifth of the season with a solo shot in the first to give Portland State a 3-0 lead. Hill’s home run followed Heide’s two-run blast as the Vikings hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning. All nine Viking starters recorded at least one hit as Portland State out-hit North Texas 12-3. Hill (10-4) worked four hitless innings to earn the win before yielding to freshman right-hander Jessi Even in the fifth. Jessica Smith (2-10) was charged with the loss, allowing seven runs on eight hits and two walks before being lifted in the third. NOTES: This was the first-ever meeting between Portland State and North Texas in softball … The 12 hits marked the Vikings’ eighth 10-hit game of the season after recording five 10-hit games last season.

That the story I have heard. NT did not even apply to remain 1a as the AD at the time forgot to mail in the pettition. The AD could have been that incompetent but I have always believed that the Administration made the decision to drop down and join the Southland and the failure to submit documents was a bad cover story.

All three NT girls basketball signees were honored as being all state. The Texas Assc. of Basketball Coaches all state team (20 players in each class) included Brittany James on the class 3a team and Torrian Timms in 4a. The even less exclusive Arkansas all state teams (32 players in each class) included Mimi Goodman in class 4a.

Geez, ASU is not only the fastest team in the Belt but also the NFL. Do you know that Ben Johnson in his world record 100 meter dash was timed in the 4.3s for the first 40 yards and that was with starting blocks and on steroids? I suggest you look at the times of the very best college football players at the pro combines to get an indication of how inflated the numbers you quoted are.

MTSU (12 seed) were beat by Utah (4 seed) 76-71 in first round of NCAA tournament. Did not know that Allison Clark who played one season for Slinker is an assistant coach for the MUTS. Always wondered what happened to her, she was one of Slinker's most heralded recruits; played and started her freshman year and then transferred to Tenn. Tech.

I am amazed so many still defend DD, who continues to do just about anything he can do alienate the small fan base that we have. I don’t care what his intensions were or who his audience was, his comments were incredibly stupid. I can understand players’ reaction to negative comments, but most of them are mature enough to understand that it is just part of the game. If any coach or player does not understand that a dismal 2-9 record is going to cause criticism; then they are unbelievably naïve or worse. DD’s “us against the world” ploy is used by poor coaches at all levels and often appears to work. The problem is that it’s long term effects are almost all negative especially for the institution that they are representing. Does NT have an athletic director? RV either does not have the will to put a muzzle on DD or the power. I wonder if DD ever considers those, with the authority to give him his dream job, may look at more then the record when making those decisions. A coach that incessantly denigrates his employer and fan base is not likely to end up on the short list.

Those that compare the Belt and Southland in basketball are recent fans or have a poor memory. The Belt is a much stronger league in men's and in particular women's basketball. No, I don't think NT would be close to winning the Southland this year, but from top to bottom year after year the Belt is the better basketball conference.

“I am more disappointed than I thought I would be,” UNT coach Tina Slinker said. “We had a good year and were probably one win away from getting in. It helped that we beat Middle Tennessee, Stephen F. Austin and SMU. That put us close to getting in.” I can't believe even Slinker thought that NT had a chance at getting in the NIT. Playing .500 ball for the last half of the season and not losing the first game of the Belt tournament but getting blown out. If another Belt team had been taken, I think that would have went to ASU who owned Slinker's team. The big wins SfA and SMU were at the first of the year and both of those team substantially improved while NT went in the oppossite direction. Despite the record and Western Division championship, this team imo underachieved.

It seems that everyone is freaking out b/c our young football team lost a bunch of games last year and our bball had another bad SB tournament. To those who think that JJ should be fired (I was in that group before this last season), put yourself in RV's shoes and ask yourself this question, "How do you fire the head bball coach when he has cemented a top 30 recruiting class for next year?" Seriously?! If that doesn't buy the man at least one more year, I don't know what to tell you. Do you actually believe that NT class is a top 30? I think it could end up to be JJ best, but top 30. A very promising transfer in Woodson, but he did not exactly tear it up in his first two years. A class 2a guard who had great numbers against questionable competition but was injured most of the year. A good jc point guard in Bell, but not exactly a nationally rated recruit. A 6'10 jc center that doesn't start and another 6'8 jc player who basically has not played in 2 years. At this time I doubt if this class would be rated in the top half of the Belt much less a top 30. Oh, and to untbowler who said, "$$$ does not buy wins"---pull your head up out of the sand and look around. Not many teams, with budgets comparable to UNT, are able to win enough games to improve their status in the NCAA world. $$$ buys coaches, which buys you more wins, which buys you better players--which buys you more wins, etc, etc....IF UNT can continue the trend that we are on (improving attendance and # of season ticket holders), THAT will get us more $$$, among other things. Do you really think that NT is going to continue to grow attendance without improving the product? Money is important but so is making the right decisions. NT is in a self imposed mess at present with long term contracts given to the AD and fb head coach which made little sense at the time and a lot less now. We will be lucky if the AD doesn't continue this trend with rewarding two unsuccessful basketball coaches with new contracts. You are definitely correct in that it is very difficult to breakout in athletics from the bottom tier and the odds are definitely stacked against NT. However, IMO it is very unlikely that continuing along the current path is going to be effective; changes need to be made.

What in the world are your comments about? I am sure that NT did not offer any of these guys, do you think that every player that is listed as having interest in NT is going to be offered a ship? By the way any player that gets a ship to any school has accomplished a lot.

Actually there is a lot of difference, the soccer team got beat in the NCAA tournament, the women's basketball team in the first game of the Belt tournament. I think the women basketball team was a big disappointment based on the talent and experience on that team. The soccer team did not start a single senior and still won the conference regular season and tournament. NT has had some bad sports years and I doubt this year is close to the worse. But when your two main revenue sports, men basketball and football are both at the bottom of the conference, it is a bad year. As far as the other sports, I don't know why NT is not at the top of the all sports standings every year. NT has the largest enrollment except FIA (who is much more of a communter school) and is in the middle of the biggest recruitment area in the Belt and should dominate the secondary sports. For example, the limit in women's women and diving is 8 ships for the whole team. So most are on partial ships and teams depend on walk-ons to excel. How can a team from NT be so non-competitive in this sport other than noone really cares? It seems that most non-revenue sports at NT are after thoughts and only serve to fulfill Division 1 criteria, with the objective of winning only a secondary consideration.

In case anyone thinks that the NT team just ran up against hot teams in the tournament. NT men lost to UALR 55 to 72. South Alabama beat UALR in their next game 78-53. Slinker's team was routed by Arkansas State 62-78. Arkansas State was destroyed by MTSU 90-64. At the end of the year when it counted the men's team was horrible and the women's team despite winning a very weak Western Division was not much better.

One thing that seem to be lost in this discussion is the fan. Yes most of the loyal fans are going to be there no matter who we are playing. But many may feel as I do, I don't want to watch NT play a 1aa opponent. The game just holds very little interest in my view. Unless NT loses it means absolutely nothing. Some may have got a thrill out the basketball team clobbering UTPB, Angelo State and Hardin Simmons, but other than padding a record; what purpose did it serve? If you think getting playing time against these teams is an advantage, I hate to see JJ conference record if he had not had those benefits. There is nothing wrong with playing an occasional 1aa, but imo that should be the last option for a home game. If NT can't compete with non-power conference team then changes have to be made to upgrade the program not downgrade the competition.

Congrats to Coach Slinker, staff, and players. I think they have the talent to win the tournament. A long shot , but they have a little bit of momentum going into the tournament. As far as Slinker getting another contract, apparently that was decided mid-season by RV. I can think of no rationale for making that decision at that time, but it was made. As one of Slinker's biggest recent critics, I too have mixed feelings about this year's season. On the positive side, the women's team is much better than the NT men. We would be singing JJ's praises if the men's team had won a division championship and were ranked in the top 100 teams. Slinker now has 6 winning seasons out of 17 not exactly hall of fame level. Having seen all of Slinker teams, I have some opinions that can't be erased by one semi-successful season. Yes imo, a 9-6 conference record with this team is not a big success. Now winning the tournament or going a couple deep into the NIT would change my mind. I do hope that this is the big turnaround year for Slinker. Next year's team should be much better than this year. The four big posts are all going to be back and are getting better. If you exclude Bobo, this years freshmen guards were better than the seniors that got the majority of the playing time. The early recruiting class was not very impressive but I believe NT has two more ships to give. A good three point shooter would fit in well.

I guess if you assume that any game with a 1a non-belt team is a loss, then you gain nothing by playing occ games. Because you sure don't gain anything from beating a 1aa team. I maybe in the minority, but I had rather lose badly to a respectable team than have to schedule 1aa teams for a chance at an occ victory. Use to be NT fans complained about body bag games against the likes of UT, OU and LSU, now many don't think NT can be competitive with anybody rated higher than 100. Even if this is true, the schedule is not the problem; it is the program.

The good news is that MAC is undefeated in their region and is 24-4. The bad news is that NT recruit Jackson has apparently been injured all year and has not played. 6'10" recruit Muse is averaging 8.9 points and 4.9 rebounds a game but is not in the starting lineup.

From official athletic site Swim Team Claims Fifth At Sun Belt Championships Courtesy: University of North Texas Release: 02/18/2006 DENVER (2/18/06) – For the second straight year the Mean Green swimming and diving team leaves the Sun Belt Championships with a fifth place finish. North Texas, who finished the meet with 257 points, trailed wire-to-wire champion Florida Atlantic as well as Denver and Western Kentucky who staged a fierce battle for second. The Mean Green was led by the 400-freestyle relay team of Emilia Tudose, Devon Dlouhy, Betsmara Cruz and Bonnie Garcia Meitin. The squad finished fourth and set the school record in the event with a time of 3:35.54. Garcia-Meitin also saw success in the 200-yard backstroke. The sophomore finished fourth with a time of 2:04.97, the second best time in school history. Newcomer Alesha Oleson finished seventh in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:13.08. Despite the finish at the conference meet, the 2005-2006 season will go down as one of the best in the program’s brief eight year history. The squad set nine school records and will lose only one athlete to graduation. Final Standings Florida Atlantic - 858 Denver - 790 Western Kentucky - 769 Florida International - 314.50 North Texas - 257 New Orleans - 250.50 Arkansas-Little Rock - 102 I know not many care about swimming, but this has got to be the most questionable team at NT. In their eighth year, they managed three fourth places in the Belt meet. They are lauded for school records but are completely non-competitive in the conference. Finishing 600 points out of first place and only beat out a UNO team with multiple problems and only 9 team members and another partial funded team with 12 members. Does anyone know why this team is consistently non-competitive?

Perry Pruitt had a short nfl career, also Leo Taylor had a good career in Canadian football.