Buford_Julep

c.......Justin Barnett 6-10 Jr c.......Chris White 6-6 Jr c-pf...Quincy Williams 6-8 Fr c-pf...Jeff Simpson 6-8 Jr pf......Ron Harris Jr wf-pf. Michael Jones 6-7 Sr wf.....Ty Thomas 6-6 Jr wf.....Calvin Watson 6-5 So wg....Len Hopkins 6-3 Sr g.......Michael Sturns 6-2 Fr(may be used as a point guard) pg.....Isaac Hines 6-0 Jr wg-pg.. Marqus Mitchell 6-0 Sr g......Kendrick Davis 6-3 Jr (Transfer. Elegible in 2005-06)

The Dallas Pump and Run Blue, coached by Erven Davis and assisted by brother Chris, are 3-0 and ready for the NBA Gold (top division) knock-out bracket which starts Sunday. The Dallas Pump and Run Blue won over the Kansas City Keys 77-73, Houston Gold 66-64 and the North Texas Rice Owls 74-62 in pool play. The Blue's next game is scheduled for 2:20 pm Sunday at the Superpit against a yet to be decided opponent. NT prospects Marquez Haynes and Jonathan Otis both started and played a big part in Saturday night's win over the North Texas Rice Owls. Both appear to be physically strong. Haynes played some point and some wing. Otis played on the wing and in the corner against the Owls' Zone. The Barnett family was there. Justin had successful surgery for a bulging disc in his back and should be ready to play this fall. All four NT coaches watched the Blue-Owl game. Coach Leonard likes Isaac Hines. "Isaac is a player who can score 6 points and dominate the game," he said.

According to Saturday's DRC, two NT recruits play tonight at 9pm in the superpit for the Dallas Pump and Run Blue. Marquez Haynes is a 6-3 guard from irving Nimitz. He has been offered a scholarship at NT and other schools showing interest are SMU, TCU, Houston, Rice,UTEP, Tulsa, Wyoming and Colorado St. Jonathan Amos is a 6-4 guard from Dallas Hillcrest who is receiving interest from SMU,Colorado State,Nevada and Ark-Little Rock.

Admission was about $5 or $6 per day in previous years. Be ready for some run and gun basketball. Usually the best players play on "Select" teams with outstanding players from various schools. Fort Worth Dunbar (known as the MLK Mash) is an exception. All Dunbar players play for the school team. Last year former NT player Otis Evans was the coach. Dunbar High School Coach Hughes is ineligible to coach, but he was there with a notebook and pen. Link to Texas Hoops Denton Shootout preview

Last season the Athletic Department used a "Souls vs Soles" promotion. It was a game between local coaches and local religious leaders. The crowd was invited to stay and watch the North Texas-South Alabama game that followed. Many did stay. Posters on this board noticed the attendance was much larger than usual and there were many more children in the crowd than usual.

Kendrick Davis, and Karon Bradley of Marquette and Katy, were often mentioned on various web sites during the 2002 recruiting period as being heavily recruited by NT. After failing to sign one of those two, NT signed Scott Roniger.

Today (May 19) is the last day for signing. We should hear something soon.

"From a men's standpoint, some of the membership was concerned these games create a relationship between an institution and club teams that result in an unfair recruiting advantage.'' That is putting it mildly. Consider that Dave Bliss and Baylor paid the Houston Superstars $25,000 for an exhibition game and Bliss convinced some Baylor supporters to contribute $75,000 to the same organization. Surprise! The Houston Superstars also have an AAU team for high school players. Baylor gave scholarships to team members Kenny Taylor, John Lucas and Tyrone Nelson. Lawrence Roberts was not a full-time member of the Superstars, but he did play several games for them. All four of these players transferred from Baylor. It looks like they may have known about other infractions. This should be investigated by the NCAA.

DRC quotes JJ: "There are a lot of guys who will be available and some kids might be looking to transfer. We won't rush into anything."

McLennan PG Jesse Kimbrough has signed with Jacksonville Fl. Kimbrough was on some NT lists earlier.

Texas Hoops lists no 7 footers in the class of 2004. Just four players over 6'9 are mentioned in the Top 100. None over 6'9 are mentioned among Texas "top unsigned seniors" list or Texas "on the bubble" seniors list or the Texas "best of the rest" seniors list. the players mentioned are: 1. 6-11 Marcus Aldridge (signed by Texas) 2. 6-10 Connor Atchley (Texas) 3. 6-10Trent Plaisted (Brigham Young) 4. 6-10 Carl Nelson (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) Nelson is obviously a project. He was rated #83. Since Jank was fired, NT has never signed a player rated worse than #80. There just aren't enough really big guys to go around.

Photo of Chris White below: Click, then scroll down

Below is link to Collin Co CC for Hines complete stats and photo. Click

I saw him play twice in the Global Games against some of the best under 21-year-old-players in the world. I thought he was the best player on the court for the US team. He was named to the all-tournament team. I saw him play one game at the Region 5 Div I NJCAA tounrnament at UT-Dallas in early March vs South Plains CC. Hines scored 29 points on 10-17 from the field and 7 of 8 from the foul line. He had 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals. I thought he was Collin County's best player. He is about 6-0 and is very thin. He doesn't have great speed, but is a very skilled and intelligent player who makes good decisions. He is a good defensive player and is always a threat to steal the ball.

Isaac Hines (Dallas Molina) was one of the top high school players in the metroplex two years ago. He was point guard at the Dallas Global Games where he played with Keith Langford (Kansas), Lawrence Roberts (Baylor and Mississippi State), Antoine Wright (Texas A&M), Daniel Horton (Michigan) and other high school stars. Hines made the all-tournament team. He has played for Collin Co CC the last two seasons. In 2003-2004 Collin Co CC finished with a 29-3 record and was ranked #2 in the nation in Div I of the NJCAA. From Collin Co CC web site: Sophomore guard Isaac Hines of Dallas Molina High School was named Player of the Year in the NTJCAC for the 2004 season. Hines averaged 11.7 points, 8.0 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 3.4 steals on the year while leading Collin to its second consecutive NTJCAC Conference Title. Click, then scroll down to Junior College

Players may committ now. The 2002-2003 dates for signing the letter of intent, the binding agreement for both sides, was April 16-May 15. I was unable to find this year's dates, but it probably hasn't changed by more than a day or two.

No doubt about it , Shawnson's addition helped the team. But, he was not the only reason the team improved. Hopkins finally overcoming his early season problems and the addition of Watson were also big factors. Those two will be back next saeason, and they should be much better.

This is a survey of peole who have actually seen at least 5 NT basketball games in 2003-2004. Please indicate how many games you saw and which way you think the program is headed. I saw all home games and the TCU game in Fort Worth. I think the program is improving.

As best I recall Jason Miller has been in the Ok State rotation for the last two seasons. The link to the stats shows that he even started 7 games and ranks 7th on the team in minutes. He has been a secondary player for OSU but far from a bench warmer. Once again trying to rely on a poor memory I thought Deg, after he recovered from a shoulder injury his junior year, started many games for Texas. His Senior year he again missed some of the season with another shoulder injury, but played important minutes after he came back. I am certain that he was on the floor during the last few minutes of Texas last game, a narrow loss to Oregon. Oklahoma State Stats

Some time ago Cooley posted a list of names on Scotty's board. I ran the names through the Google search engine eventually and found them all. I wrote down what info I could find, but haven't been able to find some of the names on the internet since then. Others are: Casey Forge 6-4, 195 Everman Robert Lee 6-2, 170 Fort Worth Eastern Hills Kevis Shipman 6-0 170 Dallas Lincoln Bamfield Harmon 6-1 Northeast Oklahoma A&M JC

Just noticed a fourth player. Edjuan Green. 6-6 230 Houston, plays for Temple CC. I wonder if he is related to Jermaine Green who is also from Houston and played for Temple CC? I doubt it. Edjuan is about 60 pounds heavier. Green had a big first half vs South Plains with 12 points and 4 rebounds.

20/20 One of the questiones was flawed. How many fouls are you allowed before fouling out of a game? The correct answer is 4. You are not allowed 5. The 5th foul gets you disqualified.

Three Junior College prospects, who have been listed as NT recruits on various internet sites, are participating in the Region 5 NJCAA Tournamet being held at UT Dallas this weekend. McLennan CC defeated Odessa CC 81-53 in the first game. McLennan is where Mike DeGrate and Michael Jones played before coming to NT. Now there are two more players that NT has shown some interest in. Jessie Kimbrough, a 6-0 Guard from Mexia, scored 17 points and had 4 assists in the win over Odessa CC. Eric Dawson, a 6-8 215 pounder from San Antonio, scored 8 points and secured 7 rebounds in the same game. Tonight at 8pm NT recruit Isaac Hines, 6-0 point guard for #2 nationally rated Collin County CC, takes the court vs Frank Phillips CC. Use the link below to follow the above mentioned players in the tournament. Click on the link. Then click on Web Cast in the lower right corner. Next, click on the game. NJCAA Region 5 Tournament

I nominate Randy Felhaber's 35-foot buzzer beater in a 64-63 win over New Mexico State. The 1973 afternoon game was on Missouri Valley Conference TV.

This is my favorite time of the year. The Texas UIL playoffs have started. Last Tuesday I saw Ft Worth Eastern Hills defeat Ft Worth Brewer 80-42 at Keller Central HS Gym. Eastern Hills was led by Robert Lee, who has been mentioned on several internet sites as being interested in playing for North Texas. Lee is about 6-1 or 6-2 and is listed at 170 pounds. He plays wing forward for E.Hills, but is projected to be a shooting guard or possibly a point guard in college. Lee was the MVP of the 4-A Whataburger Tourmament and is clearly the best player on a 24-5 team that is currently ranked #6 in 4-A by the Texas HS coaches poll. He scored 17 points vs Brewer and probably led his team in rebounds and assists also. He is a sensational athlete. Hills likes to use him on the receiving end of alley oop passes. Twice he slammed home offensive rebounds. Once he went over the back of several much taller players to turn an offensive rebound into slam dunk. Even the Brewer fans were oohing and ahhing over that one. His athletic ability reminds me of former Ft Worth Dunbar star Lance Jackson. He seems to have very good instincts and plays within his abilities. He is very much a team player, and did not try to force any shots. The bad news about him is pretty much the same as it was for Lance Jackson. In college, Lee will have to show some outside shooting and ball handling skills. In the Brewer game, Lee left the ball handling to the point guard and seemed uninterested in taking jumpshots even when he was wide open. But if he wants to play here, I doubt NT would turn him down. Link below: Robert Lee