BillySee58

I don’t think we do, and that’s not exclusive to UNT. I think we encourage kids to take easy classes with the short-term mentality that “these are the best classes for you to be able to focus on your sport” without really giving them the big picture of “oh yeah, there’s really no defined job market to enter with this career plan.” I think we can and should educate these kids better on what careers they want after sports, and what degree plans make the most sense within that plan. Not what degree plans make the most sense for your last 4 years of playing basketball.

My problem is not specifically with Mitchell, but bigger picture than that. We act like these scholarships are windows of opportunity for kids to get an education and set themselves up for success after sports. That’s not the way it plays out, and that’s a problem to me. So many coaches don’t care. So many coaches just want these kids to get in classes they can pass so that they can have them on the field and further their own coaching careers. Then when they graduate the student-athletes are no better off than they would’ve been had they not earned the scholarship. I wish that was not the way it played out, and it doesn’t have to be.

Yeah I don’t disagree at all. My point is I think that’s a problem, and I hate that college is touted as some land of opportunity during the recruiting process, then most schools just put these guys in easy classes so they can focus on sports. Then they haven’t gained any real opportunity that college offers for life after sports.

Tony’s basketball career was his own to make or break in, but it’s a shame we don’t do more to set our student athletes up for success after their playing careers are over. Of the football and basketball alums I know or follow on SM, some become coaches, but outside of that very few actually go into a job field that requires a degree. Many are encouraged to go towards integrative studies (general studies) or other degrees that help them focus on athletics, which just doesn’t open up many doors for them after graduation. Long story short, from what I see it just feels like so many of our athletes end up with jobs they probably would’ve had even if they didn’t go to college, and I wish UNT did more there.

https://bracketville.wordpress.com/bracketology/ This is the most reliable bracketologist over the years. They have WKU as a 12-seed, with beating Alabama, among others, and having a solid record. Because of our non-conference results I think 13-seed is the best we could realistically get. 14-seed probably wouldn’t be shocking, unless we win out, but it would be disappointing.

I’m interested to see where Bennett puts Rausaw and Pickett. Rausaw was playing nose last year after coming in at 6’3” 275 and Pickett was playing 3-tech at 6’3” 270. Looking at Baylor film it looks like most of the time they have a 1-tech DT and a 3-tech DT. Where they were currently, they would be more inside unless Bennett has plans to trim them down a little and move them back outside.

Looks like just 1 year left. 2019 was his junior season.

Looks like Bennett is going after guys who have proven they can play at the D1 level, rather than P5 guys who have been backups and are looking for playing time. Tyrae Thornton started at Rice, Kameron Hill was a multi-year starter at the FCS level, and Jason Simmons (another transfer offer we have out) started at Safety as a true freshman at New Mexico State in 2019. We aren’t going to get P5 starters, so that’s typically what you can get. Either P5 backups who don’t have playing experience and the most recent tape you really have is high school, or guys who you actually have seen can play and produce at the D1 level but may not be as talented. We also have the former with guys like Jordan Rucker (Purdue), John Davis (Texas Tech), and Logan Wilson (ULM via Kansas State). Risk with either route.

https://www.nfldraftdiamonds.com/2020/05/kameron-hill/ 8 sacks in 2019, 7 in 2018. Looks like he did not play in any of their 6 fall games.

That helps. Gotta take care of our business now.

Picked up offers from WKU and Michigan State

Correct. He won’t be joining our roster until the summer.

Would be a really good fit. I know receiver isn’t a position with a lot of need, but while we have good talent there we aren’t as deep numbers wise.

How would it have been a grades issue if he graduated? Or did he not actually graduate? He was billed as a grad transfer and immediately eligible because of it, before the NCAA made every first-time transfer eligible

Good find. Thanks!

We did not make his top 20

Great job pulling all of this. From what I have seen, even the people covering the team aren’t sure what to make of the potential ramifications. Not sure if this has been mentioned, but the NCAA is allowing each conference to make a determination by February 26th on if they are going to hold a conference tournament or just send their 1st place team as the conference representative to the NCAA tournament.

Two key starters. Looks like they may be automatically suspended for the first game of the weekend but not 100% sure.

Loyola is up to 22nd in the country and just beat Drake, 19-1 entering the game, by 27 points on Drake’s floor.

Great start to the half. One of our best stretches in conference play.

These LONG offensive droughts are killing us. 5+ minutes. We survived against La Tech because we built up such a huge early lead, and we might survive it tonight against this level of competition, but if we are still letting this happen in the conference tournament we’ll get knocked out.

👆

Exactly. That doesn’t mean he is a for sure starter, but we know we have a proven CUSA starter. And if he’s not starting, that’s probably even better news that our starters are good enough to relegate a CUSA starter to being a rotation/depth guy.