BillySee58

That's besides my point. Here are the two options with Arikawe and Miller. 1) Keep them for 2018-2019, fill their scholarships with 2019 early signing period high school players who we are currently recruiting and likely will be very solid CUSA level prospects. 2) Move on from them after this season, fill their spots with late signing period JUCOs this spring who may very well be around Miller and Arikawe in terms of ability, while taking away two scholarship spots you had for early signing period 2019 high school players. Also, you have to factor in that Gibson will be back, Jahmiah Simmons, who has started for Mccasland at the 4 on the D1 level, will be eligible, and Tikhonenko will either be eligible by then or you can use his spot to try and find an upgrade over Arikawe. We won't be relying on Arikawe or Miller anyways. We should have a pretty solid 9 man rotation of Woolridge, Gibson, Smart, Lawson, Duffy, Holston, Zach Simmons, Jahmiah Simmons, and Tikhonenko. As long as you fill Temara's spot, and maybe Fuller's spot if they go that route, with decent fringe rotation players, I don't think it's worth it to take away those two 2019 early-signing period high school spots to sign two more late 2018 JUCO players. I think the amount of impact late-signing jucos can have on a program is much more limited compared to early signing period high school recruits, where the top high school players are typically signed. The whole point of my post is that we should have the luxury next year to not need to take away from the latter to get more of the former.

Does anyone know the rules for practicing during finals week? I know the basketball team doesn't play games during finals week and I thought they didn't have organized practices either, so I'm not sure if there are rules, either by the University or the NCAA, that prohibit or limit practice during finals week. Obviously I say this because finals week at UNT is the week leading up to the NO Bowl.

Come on, Mason. Forget about having confidence in your team. You're supposed to say you expect the same outcome even if you guys play your best. That's ridiculous how this could be spun as anything resembling disrespect.

Fuller makes the most sense because he has two years of eligibility left. But for Arikawe and Miller, I think they stay. I think that because this staff seems to be focusing more on the 2019 class than filling that last 2018 spot. I think they would rather have Arikawe and Miller be end of the rotation/bench guys next year and use those scholarships on fall signee high school guys for 2019, than replace them after the year is over with late signee JUCO guys. With late-signee jucos, there is no guarantee they are any or much better in their first year of D1 ball than Miller and Arikawe. Instead of run that risk when you already shouldn't be relying on much from Miller and Arikawe anyways, I think they'll be more interested in signing good high school players in the early signing period next year with those spots.

Yeah, my first year being a UNT fan as a freshman in 2011 we lost to UTA by 33 points on their stage. Benford's team lost by 13 at home the next year, by 23 points in Arlington two years ago, and by 16 last year in Denton. To go on the road, with only 9 scholarship players in the second half, in a game we weren't sharp at all offensively, against a UTA team with 7 of its top 8 scorers being seniors, and be tied in the last minute, it looks the tide is swinging heavily in our favor.

Yes. The problem is, this team is very short on offensive firepower, in addition to being a young team. Gibson is one of our two top ballhandlers, penetrators, and one of our top 4 three-pointer shooters. He is one of our better on-ball defenders as well, but we aren't nearly missing him as much on the defensive end. We really could use Tikhonenko, who should be one of our better three-point shooters as well and a stretch 4. No telling when he suits up in a Mean Green uniform. Jorden Duffy went down last night, for how long we aren't sure, and he was our only threat to score double digit points off our bench. He got helped into the tunnel, and came out and watched the rest of the game with ice on his knee. So luckily it didn't seem serious, but also wouldn't be surprising to see him out for a bit. This team really needs AJ Lawson to start shouldering more of the scoring load. He is shooting 36.8% from the field, 21.7% from three, and 62.5% from the free-throw line. If he plays decent and is not 0-6 from the line last night there is a good chance we win.

Really the only Mccasland recruits we are not getting production out of are Arikawe and Miller. When you overhaul the roster with late signings, you're not going to hit on every one. Hard to get too many quality guys that late in the game. Gibson is out, Tikhonenko is out, and Jahmiah Simmons, who started 9 games at Arkansas State last year as a true freshman, is redshirting due to transfer rules. Duffy went down mid-game and has played really well the last few games. We are short-handed right now, and the guys out are players who figure to be key guys signed by Mccasland. Smart is a sophomore, Lawson and Woolridge (inherited by Benford) are sophomores, Zach Simmons is a true freshman, it's a young team playing very short-handed right now playing a team who 7 of its top 8 players are seniors. This team has already shown good signs of improvement as the year has gone on.

This post makes sense

I hope he doesn't and we just figure it out. I think it's more embarrassing to have to have the other team call off the dogs in a dang conference championship game. THIS IS A CONFERENCE OPPONENT!!11!1!

Grambling State beat Ga Tech today

That's the word but it has only be confirmed by a semi credible source (Reed Carringer).

OU was favored by 29.5 going into the game, per ESPN. That qualifies as being a massive underdog.

Trae Young is a dang cheat code. Glad to see Duffy and Simmons have strong second halves. Duffy is now 7-12 from three since his 2-9 effort against UTRGV, and has scored double digits in two straight games. We really need that going forward, as he is currently our only scoring option off the bench. He didn't get to fully participate in practice before we started playing games, so it looks like he is starting to get settled in. And Simmons is now up to 75% shooting on the year. Just need him to figure out how to stay out of foul trouble. Common issue for a freshman big. Also, Woolridge is going to get a triple double at some point.

Tied at the half. Good job, boys

Trae Young, man. Always seems to answer

I think ODU and Marshall are probably two of the best CUSA teams in terms of that. In terms of getting people to the Pit that day, I wish it were a WKU, La Tech, or MTSU but in terms of keeping momentum rolling (if we are playing well) I agree with you.

I agree. Really wish that was a La Tech or WKU.

I think the fans will come back if we have something going once conference play starts. I'm interested to see how many people make it out to the Mcneese State game on a Saturday 12/9. That's our last non-con home game, and it's on a Saturday. If we could manage to sweep or split UTSA and UTEP on the road to start conference play, then beat Charlotte on a Thursday at home, that Saturday game against ODU could have a sizeable crowd. Trying to relate this to football. We had a decent crowd against UTSA, less than I was expecting, but people really started turning out when it became apparent we were a division championship team (UTEP and Army).

You keep putting Zachary Simmons' position as guard. Also, the stats you have him down for are Temara's stats.

Exactly. There is really no difference in these bowls in terms of prestige at this point. It's basically the the playoffs, the New Year's Six, and every other bowl. This isn't 2007 where the bowls were more tiered and non-AQ conference teams were trying to work their way up to crash a BCS bowl.

This is definitely a game we lose the last couple years. Grambling shot very well, didn't make many unforced errors, and went 14-15 from the free throw line. They showed how they've been competitive in their games this year and beat a team we lost to. That's a program we should beat by double digits easily though, and I think we will once Mccasland has more time here. Our depth is very thin right now. We are entering games with 10 scholarship players, of which there are only 6 that Mccasland can trust right now to play significant stretches and put the ball in the basket. Arikawe and Fuller have been nonfactors, and Miller and Holston are good defensive players but are limited offensively, particularly shooting from the outside. Gonna be an uphill battle the rest of the year, but good to see Simmons and Duffy starting to play well. Those two have to be good for us to have a chance to push .500.

Simmons is taking over on both ends. He's now shooting on 71% from the field this year. Hope we keep upping the volume on his touches. Duffy is playing well on both ends and really starting to step up as our second ball handler. Also 5-7 from three over the last three games

Dove has 46 catches for 772 and 11 touchdowns through 12 games (they're 12-0).

Thanks, guys! Good find @djohnnie