Buford_Julep

Returning scholarship players: Post players: Will Smith Sr Mike DeGrate Sr Justin Barnett So Ron Harris So Wings: Len Hopkins Jr (Has asked NCAA for a med-redshirt) Ty Thomas So Point guards: Jerome Rogers Sr Scott Roniger So (Has asked NCAA for a med-redshirt) Returning walk-ons: Adrian Awasom Jr Antonio McKenzie Jr (4.0 student was unable to play this season because the classes he wanted to take were only available during BB practice time) Signed new players Shawon Johnson Jr? or Sr? (6-9 tranfer from LSU) Mike Jones Jr (6-7 Teamate of DeGrate at McLennan CC. Out scored and out rebounded DeGrate. Made All-Region 5 team) Calvin Watson Fr (6-3 to 6-5 in reports. Probably a wing player) Two scholarships are left. According to Coach Brooks one will go to an experienced Juco point guard and the other will go the best available athlete NT is able to find. Just looking at the roster leaves me with the belief that Harris, DeGrate and /or Mike Jones might get a chance to play wing next year.

Typical Knight. Make sure everyone knows who to blame without mentioning why. Drag the guy's name through the mud without saying what he did. We've seen this before with Jamaal Brown and those other guys. The Tech message board was full of rumors and what they might have done.

Signing point-guard Isaac Hines of Dallas Molina should have given a huge lift to the program, but Hines never played a game for Lamar and now is at Collin Co. CC.

In 1990 Jimmy Gales took an NT team with a 3-24 record and a 7 game losing streak to the Southland Tournament. The Mean Green defeated McNeese St and Northwestern St before losing in the finals to NE Louisiana (now La Monroe).

Boutte has two sons playing basketball at Ozen (pronounced: oh ZAN). Peanut Boutte is a 6'3 starting Soph forward. Another son plays on the Freshman team. LINK:

I agree 100% with Corinth Eagle's post.

About JJ's coaching style and philosophy: He likes man to man but will use zone if he thinks it is appropriate. On offense, he likes the UCLA offense, but is flexible. He adjusts his system to fit the ability of his players. At an early practice in November, 2001, JJ blew the whistle when Chris Davis posted up. He told Chris the 3 never posts up. In 2002 he put in a whole new offensive set. Sort of a 1-4 that seemed to be designed with the idea of getting Chris a chance to work one on one in the paint. JJ has said offense comes and goes but defense should be a constant. You should always be able to play good defense. His practices show that wasn't just talk. The first hour of every practice I saw was devoted to defensive fundamentals. The practices started like this: 1. Assuming the basic defensive position and moving forward,backwards and laterally. 2. Defending a man who has used his dribble and is out of shooting range. 3. Double teaming the same situation as above. 4. The squad then splits into guards and forwards. One on one defense against passes, dribbling and shooting is worked on. 5. Next, three on three defense and sometimes 4 on 4. 6. Lastly, 5 on 5 defense. Why can't he recruit the Metroplex better? It seems every high school player wants to go to the highest profile school that will have him. Right now NT is behind TCU, SMU and Baylor. It is too early to say Ty Thomas and Ron Harris will not become good players. Thomas made a lot of progress this season. I think he plays well defensively right now. He plays defense with his feet. He has spent one complete season guarding CD. That has to have helped him. On offense he still needs to get his game under better controll. Harris has some very quick and effective offensive moves. He can take it to the hoop, which is what JJ is looking for. He still has not got out of his high school habits of overcommitting on defense and trying to block every single shot.

NT has two scholarships to give. One is intended to go to an experienced point guard. I don't know if NT is still pursuing Dandrick Jones or not. He visited here last November with Calvin Watson and Mike Jones, but said he was waiting till Spring before he made a decision. He reportedly has "high major" schools interested in him now, so he probably has forgotten about NT. Yes, Calvin Watson is a wing player. If NT adds a JUCO point guard, that leaves JJ with a fairly balanced roster. The last scholarship could be used on just about any position. IMO Roniger's future is at the 2 position and Boxell will not be offered a scholarship. I would like to see the last ship go to a high school point guard. Someone like Darius Harper of Hebron or Glen Forbes of Fort Worth Arlington Heights.

Davis, Green, Green and Chiles(NCAA release says student-athletes not scholarship players) graduate and Masters leaves the team. That totals 5. More are leaving than the 4 scholarships allocated so NT gets an extra ship, provided all 5 are on track to graduate in 5 years. This should leave NT with 2 more scholarships to give. This is what I was able to find on the web: 5/8 Rule Modified By NCAA Release Date: Oct 23, 2001 DIVISION I MANAGEMENT COUNCIL OFFERS MODIFICATION OF "5/8" BYLAW INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA Division I Management Council today agreed to recommend to the Division I Board of Directors a proposal that would modify its "5/8" bylaw. The rule has limited the number of initial grants that may be awarded to men's basketball players to eight in a consecutive two-year period, with no more than five initial grants in one of those two years. The modification, which will be considered by the Division I Board of Directors on November 1, would allow institutions to award up to a total of nine initial grants during this academic year and 2002-03, with no more than five initial grants in one year. For example, those that awarded five this year would be allowed to award four for the 2002-03 year; those that awarded less than five initial grants this year could award up to five for 2002-03. The "5/8" limit would resume in 2003-04 with one change. When the number of student-athletes who graduate in any given year combined with those who leave an institution early but who are on track to graduate within five years exceeds the number of initial grants provided during that same given year, the school would earn one additional initial grant. The additional grant must be used within the following two years. Overall men's basketball scholarship limits would remain at 13.

I know it doesn't apply to Bobby Knight and Texas Tech. Has it been scrapped? Right now NT has 8 returning scholarship players plus Shawn Johnson, Calvin Watson And Mike Jones. A total of 11. Last year NT gave 4 scholarships, so if we give 2 more to bring us up to the NCAA limit of 13, that would come to 9 scholarships in 2 years. We are only allowed 8. If we only have one to give, it will almost surely go to an experienced point guard. Dandrick Jones, of Kimball and Trinidad, Colorado C.C., was mentioned by the DRC last fall as being interested in NT. I read recently that he is now getting attention from several high major programs, so it looks like we can forget about him. Coach Rike was not on the bench during the South Alabama game. My source says he was in Florida scouting a JUCO point guard. Greendog, you used to go by Pedraza I believe. Can you add or correct anything?

I'm not sure how objective I can be as I am a Mean Green fan and like to see the team be a success. The season isn't over yet. There are three games and a tournament left for the guys to turn it around. I am proud of the way our guys play. Hard but clean. There are no thugs on this team. I have been to enough practices to learn that the games are the easy part of Division I basketball. It is not true that there is a lack of effort or laziness or the team has quit. IMO this team has more talent than any NT team since at least the 87-88 team and maybe even since the early Blakeley teams. If someone wants to dispute this please mention what particular team they think had more talent than this one. The Big West was much stronger than the Southland and the Sun Belt is yet another step up. Quality of opponents is a major factor in a won-loss record. Last year this team, mostly the same players as last year, competed well in Conference. This year they haven't done so well. Why? I don't know. Here is my theory. There is more to how well a team plays besides it's talent and preparation. What did Yogi say, "Half this game is 50% mental." That applys to basketball too. I think this team may have had too high of expectations this year. I know we fans did. When Hopkins was injured and the team had a few bad games, they may have suffered a loss of confidence that hurt even worse than the loss of Hopkins. I don't want to minimize the effect of Hopkins' injury. Losing Hopkins was a big loss. He is a great shooter on a team that doesn't have that many guys who can score.

Fort Worth Dunbar vs Hebron. It might even be a close game. Hebron has three highly rated college prospects. Point guard Darius Harper is the son of ex-Mav Derek Harper. 6'7 Juniors Farmer and Weaver are also college prospects. Dunbar has an unbelievable athlete in 6'3 Senior Lance Jackson, and 6'5 Junior Jeremis Smith is an outstanding rebounder. Should be the biggest crowd at the pit in several years.

President's List...4.0 GPA: Scott Roniger and Lance Boxell Dean's List....3.5 GPA: Chris Davis, Rusty Chiles, Mike DeGrate and Ron Harris Great job guys. I hope I didn't leave anyone out. Those phony lists the newspapers publish about graduation percentages list only scholarship players that graduate in 4 years. Walkons, although they are part of the team, do not count. Transfers count as failures. Good students that take a medical redshirt year like Chris Davis count as failures.

We have to contain Hector Romero in order to have a chance at a win tonight. He is a short, but ultra quick post man. Chances are JJ will alternate players and defenses to try to slow him down. I would like to see Ty Thomas given a chance to try to guard Romero. I saw Thomas play three games in high school. He played post then, and was really good at fronting his man. The game should be fun because of N.O.'s coach Monty Towe. He is a loudmouth who always has something to say. You can't miss him. He stands on the court almost the whole game.

I saw the tall guy who wears glasses play AAU ball at the shootout last summer. He played in the top division and did just fine against the big-school guys. Callisburg plays in a great district. Krum couln't make the playoffs out of that district this year.

UNT has played well aganist LaLa at home the last two years. 2002....UNT 78, LaLa 59 2001....LaLa 96, UNT 92

Although its been a dissapointing season, all of the freshmen have shown flashes of ability at times. Last night's radio broadcast indicated Barnett and Thomas played well. Mike DeGrate has quietly been establishing himself as the best big man on the team. He had a very good statistical line last night. North Texas Player....... Min FG 3PT FT Off Reb Ast TO Stl Blk PF Pts M DeGrate 29 5-5 1-1 1-2 1 ...7.... 0 ...2 ..5.. 2 ...4 12

Jovanni Allen....Fort Worth Southwest and Seminole JC Josh Brian........Pearland Tx and Blinn JC

1. Justin Barnett was in Trilli's last recruiting class. I can't remember the names of the other two. One was a post from Pearland H.S. and Blinn J.C. His Sophomore stats at Blinn indicated he was not playing much. I never found out if he was injured, suspended, inelligible or if it was a coach'es decision. Anyway, he never joined the BB program. The other was about a 6'3 player from Fort Worth Southwest and a J.C. from either Kansas or Colorado. He had a good reputation from Fort Worth and scored a lot of points while he was a J.C. player. He enrolled in school, but was ruled ineligible by the NCAA before any games were played. 2. Lee Green and Jermaine Green were JJ's only recruits after he was hired as coach. After Craig Helwig resigned or was fired, there was a painfully slow search for a new athletic director. Spring basketball recruiting had already begun before Villareal was hired. More time was lost while Villareal interviewed candidates. By the time JJ was finally hired, everyone else had finished recruiting. 3. DeGrate,Byrd,Thomas,Roniger and Harris were JJ's second recruiting class.

1. Justin Barnett was in Trilli's last recruiting class. I can't remember the names of the other two. One was a post from Pearland H.S. and Blinn J.C. His Sophomore stats at Blinn indicated he was not playing much. I never found out if he was injured, suspended, inelligible or if it was a coach'es decision. Anyway, he never joined the BB program. The other was about a 6'3 player from Fort Worth Southwest and a J.C. from either Kansas or Colorado. He had a good reputation from Fort Worth and scored a lot of points while he was a J.C. player. He enrolled in school, but was ruled ineligible by the NCAA before any games were played. 2. Lee Green and Jermaine Green were JJ's only recruits after he was hired as coach. After Craig Helwig resigned or was fired, there was a painfully slow search for a new athletic director. Spring basketball recruiting had already begun before Villareal was hired. More time was lost while Villareal interviewed candidates. By the time JJ was finally hired, everyone else had finished recruiting. 3. DeGrate,Byrd,Thomas,Roniger and Harris were JJ's second recruiting class.

NT misses Hopkins more than I thought we would. The threat of a 3-pointer is not there and the opposition is all over Chris when he gets the ball in the paint. The loss to Arkansas St is much more dissapointing than the losses to the more talented Denver and Little Rock teams.

If JJ thought Johnson was a bad guy...he would not want him here. JJ's motto is "attitude is everything". Surely the guy must realize this is his last chance. If he is a problem...he won't be here for long. All NT loses is one scholarship. The upside is NT gets a big time player. The reward is worth the risk.

According to DRC, Shawon Johnston was ranked as the 7th best national JuCo by CBS Sportsline when he signed with LSU. He is from Shreveport La and played for Lee J.C. 7.0 rebounds and 2.3 blocks are great stats when playing 17.7 minutes a game. Link to story of Johnson quitting at LSU and photo: http://www.theadvocate.com/stories/120602/...ohnson001.shtml

Lance Boxell does not have a profile on the official site, so I am forced to use my poor memory. Boxell was named all state 2-A at least once, probably twice. I think he was named 2-A player of the year once. He led his team to the state championship. He was consistently ranked in Texas Hoops top 50 prospects for years, but was not offered a Div I scholarship. This is from the official site profile on A. Awasom: His senior season in basketball, he was named all-district, all-region, all-state and all-Greater Houston Area . . . He averaged 18.3 points and 21.3 rebounds per game in 2000-01 as a senior. How can anyone get 21 rebounds a game in 32 minute games against any competition? Rusty Chiles was second team all district at Houston Spring and all-conference honorable mention in Junior college. He doesn't have a division I body, but has good basketball skills and good court sense. It isn't like these guys were impressed from some P.E. class. They have good basketball backgrounds. IMO there is a tremendous depth in Texas high school basketball talent. All the good players don't get scholarships.

Blakely always had good quotes for the newspapers. So did UTA coach Snake LeGrand. UTA-NTSU was an absolutely great rivalry back then. I remember a sellout crowd at the Gymatorium or whatever they call it at UTA. I was and am a Blakely fan- but the core of his best teams- Terry Bailey, Carl Jones, Fred Mitchell, Melvin "Lurch" Davis and Ken Williams were all recruited by Gene Robbins, who had a record of 33-67 at NT.