NT80

Similar to the football program, it was left in pretty bad shape after Trilli. JJ will need a couple years to restock and get his system established. As always, I still think we are lacking in the post position. Barnett seems to have some good tools, he just needs experience.

Lady Eagles are now 3-0.

I agree with much of your post. The biggest exasperation for me was watching us constantly just the pass ball around the perimeter and not try to get closer in. We shot many balls 5 feet and further outside the arc. Not quality or high percentage shots.

"We’re bigger than we were last year and stronger than we were last year," Jones said when asked if rebounding could present a season-long problem for UNT. "It’s just a matter of having that desire and determination to get to the glass." That says it well. We haven't been able to really control the boards with big men in over 10 years.

I think Moody holds around 9,500. There were probably about 3,500 total there, mostly older adult smu fans, few students. About 500-700 UNT fans were scattered around, not a bad showing by us for a holiday, just wish the result could have been different, I hate to lose anytime to uppity smu.

Smuu had 3 shots each time down the court to our one 3-point try. We need more of a presence inside. Refs weren't consistent either.

UNT Notebook Green takes Red’s former role 11/27/2002 By Tim MacMahon / Staff Writer Even with a bad ankle, North Texas forward Jermaine Green was assigned to defend Southwest Missouri’s Terrance McGee during the 6-0 guard’s hot streak in the second half of Friday night’s season-opening win. It wasn’t that UNT coach Johnny Jones had run out of options. He expects Green, the team’s second-leading scorer and rebounder last season, to be the Mean Green’s defensive stopper now that Kenneth "Red" Mangrum is a graduate assistant instead of a guard. "He kind of reminds me of Michael Cooper," Jones said, referring to the spindly former Lakers swingman who usually drew the most difficult defensive assignment. "Jermaine’s very versatile. He has a great deal of pride in defending and rebounding and doing the little things." The 6-8, 185-pound Green, a senior, played primarily power forward last season. He hopes to spend more time on the perimeter this season, where he feels he is a better fit. "Hopefully I’ll get more minutes out there when I’m healthy," said Green, who was limited to 18 minutes against SMS but contributed 12 points, two steals and a block. "That’s what I did when I was in junior college. I was defensive player of the year for my team. I can do that at this level, too." Green, however, continues to be hobble by his ankle. He hasn’t participated in a full practice since suffering a sprain in the Nov. 15 exhibition finale. He estimated his ankle to be at 80 percent strength. Blanton poised for breakout Coach Tina Slinker saw signs of forward Kim Blanton’s potential long before her 21-point, 10-rebound performance in Friday’s season-opening win over UT-San Antonio. "She’s been consistently doing that in practice," Slinker said. "That’s the first step. Some of it is confidence. Part of it is that she’s become more skillful with her athleticism." The 6-1 Blanton, the niece of NFL tight end Rickey Dudley, was a role player the last two seasons, providing defense and rebounding in limited minutes off the bench. Her previous career-high point total was 13 points. While Blanton has emerged as one of the Lady Eagles top offensive threats — she led UNT in scoring in the final exhibition game as well — her defense definitely has not dropped off. She held UTSA star forward Nikki Hendrix to six points on 3-of-13 shooting. "That’s what’s fun about Kim — she can play both ends of the floor now," Slinker said. "She’s always been so solid defensively." Jones: Dickey doesn’t get enough credit UNT men’s basketball coach Johnny Jones spent the first few minutes of his Tuesday afternoon press conference extolling the virtues of football coach Darrell Dickey. Jones said Dickey had done an extraordinary job this season, withstanding the loss of his starting quarterback and developing a redshirt freshman at the position while defending the Sun Belt title. Jones added that he often uses the football team as an example to when he talks to his team. "I’m not sure if he gets enough credit for what he’s done," Jones said of Dickey. "He’s been an inspiration for us and our basketball team." Slinker likes Armstrong as sixth man Freshman Jamie Armstrong, who is perhaps the most highly touted recruit in the history of the Lady Eagles program, didn’t disappoint in her debut. She scored 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting in 27 minutes off the bench. Coach Tina Slinker said she sees Armstrong’s role this season as providing instant energy off the bench. "I like her there right now for a lot of reasons," Slinker said. "She does something right away when she comes in, and I can put her at the two or the three, depending on matchups." Player of the Week Redshirt freshman quarterback Andrew Smith had a remarkable performance in the Mean Green’s regular-season finale, a 30-20 win at Middle Tennessee. Smith completed 14 of 19 passes — including his first 10 — for a career-high 206 yards. He threw touchdowns of 45 and 40 yards, putting both passes on the money. For his efforts, Smith was named the Denton Record-Chronicle UNT Player of the Week. TIM MACMAHON can be reached at 940-381-9572. UNT 7-DAY SCHEDULE FRIDAY: Women’s basketball vs. Alcorn State, SWT Classic, 6 p.m.; Men’s basketball at SMU, 7 p.m. SATURDAY: Women’s basketball vs. UMKC, SWT Classic, 4 p.m. SUNDAY: Men’s basketball at Indiana, 1 p.m. TUESDAY: Women’s basketball at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 5:30 p.m.

I plan to be there too! Beat Schmoo!

Maybe we should start scheduling a game in New Orleans for that night, maybe vs. Tulane or Southern or (gasp!) even LSU? We'd already have a good crowd in town!

SMS men's basketball preview: Southwest Missouri State 2002-03

Yes, I believe I did predict a 40-point win! Good job Mean Green!! I couldn't make the game tonight, how did it go?

UTA beat the Tx/La All-Stars last night 89-58 and we should do as well or better against them. I'm looking for a 40-point win!

I also have just seen the Exhibition game, but Hopkins for sure needs as many minutes as we can get him. DeGrate is very athletic and I know he was disappointed in fouling out. I thought Roniger and Barnett both played well despite being relatively new to the college game. Roniger made some great passes and is a good ball handler. He didn't seem to want to shoot when left open. I thought Barnett moved well for as big as he is, and he's a good 4 inches or more taller than Masters making him close to 7 feet or more. We have a lot of depth on this team.

I hope these guys remember us after JC. Does that free up another ship for next year? How many will we have to give?

Click on the photo for the seating chart too, unique arena design: NT @ Indiana tickets

Vic is a great recruiter, and a nice guy, but he was 4-24 his last season at UNT.

Freshmen Pair Lead Lady Eagles In Exhibition Win Freshmen Jamie Armstrong and Jasmine Williams came up with double figures in points and rebounds, respectively, to spark the North Texas Lady Eagles to a 70-55 victory over the Houston Jaguars in an exhibition basketball game Thursday night at the Super Pit. In the Lady Eagles' first action of the 2002-03 season, Armstrong led a balanced scoring attack with a team-high 10 points while Williams grabbed a team-leading 10 rebounds. Also for the Lady Eagles, senior forward Angel Lewis finished with eight points while another of the Lady Eagles' eight true freshmen, Natalie Mireles, chipped in with seven points. "I was pleased overall," said North Texas head coach Tina Slinker. "We played a solid first half and a not-so-solid second half. I think we lost some intensity but that was to be expected playing as many kids as we did. We have a great deal to work on. We must define who our go-to person is going to be. But that's a good problem to have." North Texas, which got scoring from 12 of the 13 players in uniform and rebounding from every player who saw action, took control of the game early and never let up. The Lady Eagles jumped out to a 28-6 lead in the game's first nine minutes and owned a 48-28 lead by halftime. The Lady Eagles never let their lead get below double figures although at three different times in the second half Houston cut the deficit down to 12 points. Besides Williams' 10 rebounds, three other Lady Eagles -- Kim Blanton, Karolyn Haskin and Mireles -- each came up with five rebounds. North Texas also got encouraging play from freshman Erika Bobo who started at point guard. She passed out a team-high five assists, one-third of the Lady Eagles' total of 15. The Lady Eagles will host their second and final exhibition tune-up on Monday, Nov. 18, when they will face Oklahoma Flyers in a 7 p.m. game at the Super Pit.

Mean Green basketball team set for intrasquad scrimmage Saturday November 01, 2002 In case the Homecoming activities are not for you, NT basketball fans can check out the men's team at the Super Pit. The Mean Green basketball team will play a Green-White intrasquad scrimmage at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Before the game, players for the 2002-2003 season will be introduced. A slam dunk competition featuring forwards senior Jermaine Green, junior Will Smith and junior transfer Michale DeGrate will also take place. "This is an exciting opportunity for us," head coach Johnny Jones said. "It will give fans a chance to see who the team is, and we hope to make this event an annual tradition." Jones said that the scrimmage was taking place of a Midnight Madness event that was in the works of being planned.

Are you a UNT party-animal? Then you must have this for your Mean Green bashes... Unique UNT item

Next Saturday 1-2pm, a Green/White basketball scrimmage will be held in the SuperPit before the Homecoming football game at 3pm....Be There!

No radio coverage that I can find. My suggestion is to call the Celina stadium pressbox direct and get updates.

Looks nice, I especially like the SW area of lands they hope to purchase (for possible future realignment of the golf course so existing land can be used for athletic and rec. purposes and building along I-35E). It appears from this Master Plan that UNT could eventually own all the land on both sides of I-35E and I-35W along the split. That would be a great corner to have all tied up. Great visibility!

I think with the recent downturn in the economy more students than were expected went back to college. UNT was not expecting 30,000 this fall and it has resulted in peak demand. Growth is hard when it comes this fast, but the reverse like many other schools are having (TWU, ULM, etc.) is much worse. Hang in there, I bet they open additional sections.

I think The Daily was responsible for much of the controversy last semester. They gave inaccurate facts and reports about the Athletic Fee and in columns tried to stir up students by saying they had no representation for their money. It's a sad day when a paper has to invent it's own news to have enough to write about.

Tim MacMahon: UNT’s on the rise, but so is rest of Belt 10/24/2002 By Tim MacMahon NEW ORLEANS — Ask Johnny Jones about expectations entering his second season as the men’s basketball coach at North Texas and he launches into a canned speech. He talks about how the team never set specific goals last season, simply trying to "get better each practice and each game." An 11-victory turnaround — and the team’s first winning season since 1995-96 — won’t change that basic approach. "That will also be the goal and motivation this year," Jones said in his usual guarded manner. He won’t say it, but I will: The Mean Green has a chance to be pretty dang good. Senior swingman Chris Davis, who will likely break the school’s career scoring record late in the season, is one of four returning starters. That number doesn’t include guard Leonard Hopkins, who will eventually replace Davis as UNT’s go-to guy. Forward Michael DeGrate, a junior college transfer, will have an immediate impact. He probably won’t start though, which is a testament to the Mean Green’s depth and talent. Add it all up and UNT is picked to finish ... fourth in the Western Division? That’s what the Sun Belt coaches forecast for the Mean Green in a poll released at the conference’s media days Wednesday in the Big Easy. As much as I believe in the Mean Green, I can’t make much of an argument that UNT should be predicted to place any higher. Louisiana-Lafayette, New Mexico State and New Orleans were picked to return to their spots of first, second and third, respectively, in the division standings. All three schools also have a wealth of talent returning and a top-notch newcomer or two. That’s the thing about the Sun Belt this season: There are a lot of teams in the league that have a chance to be pretty dang good. "People ask me about this league after I’ve been in the SEC and Conference USA," Jones said. "I don’t see much difference. One thing is for certain: Every night that you suit up — and I don’t care where you are — you have to be ready to play." That will be particularly true this season, when nine of 11 teams in the conference have at least four starters coming back. Six of those teams are coming off winning campaigns. "You can’t just assume that because you have guys back that you’re going to be good," Arkansas-Little Rock coach Porter Moser said. You also can’t just assume that the Sun Belt will only get one bid to the NCAA Tournament, as has been the case every year since 1994. Western Kentucky, the two-time defending champion and a team that will be ranked to start the season, will have to fall flat on its face not to be back in the Big Dance. The league’s best shot at another bid is to have the Hilltoppers lose in the conference tournament, but a couple of other teams might have credentials to be considered for an at-large selection. Louisiana-Lafayette, which won 20 games and played in the NIT last season, tops that list. Arkansas-Little Rock and New Mexico State would need to make some noise in non-conference play, but they both have schedules that should lead to impressive records while still including a couple of chances to beat name-brand schools. What about UNT? The NCAAs are probably out of the Mean Green’s reach. Of course, I would have said the same about a winning season a year ago.