Eagle61

I can see that NT Daily is more generic. The Chat had more "all-American" awards than I can recall; and we just threw it away. How about the Battalion at TAMU. They haven't changed it to seem like a legimate newspaper, but they know something about tradition. That was my point; we can't get any kind of tradition with constantly changing our name and throwing away what few traditions we do have. We are becoming "Big Generic University in Denton"; at least that is what is seems from the current admin. NTSTC, NTSC, NTSU had some continuity. Since 1901 we were North Texas State something. There were some wise guys at the first basketball game after the change that would yell "C" before the cheerleaders chant of "UNT" and that was what I thought of the name change too. We changed to UNT and the Daily (The Daily Texan?) because we wanted to be like UT. I am proud that I am an NTSU grad (now known as the University of North Texas) and that is our official title for every graduate before 1988. Like John Belushi said on SNL "aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

We should have never changed our name. The change was the results of "UT envy". We even changed our newspaper from the "Chat" to "North Texas Daily". Lots of imagination there. "State" seems to work fine in places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Oklahoma,Louisiana. Our administration at that time was a bunch of carpetbaggers. I wish I could still buy NTSU stuff. And why didn't we change our radio station call letters? UNT is just one of those names that don't fit. I speak of us as just "North Texas".

I watched the LSU game Saturday. Johnny couldn't win in the Sun Belt with that bunch. So many turnovers. Dribbling off your foot is not a coaching problem. Neither is free throw shooting: it's individual. Laura McCoy (Jr. on UNT women's team) would shoot a thousand free throws after parctice in high school. (NT daily article) She shoots 85-90 percent. She missed 3 of 50 last year; 4 of 32 this year. Free throw shooting is work. (Unless you're Shaq - maybe it's an LSU thing)

Not a stat, but we seem to have a lot of shot clock violations and shots with the clock expiring. I have seen so many passes with only a few seconds on the clock. It should have been a shot instead of a pass. Even a 25 per cent shot is better than a violation.

I went to the Alabama fan site a few months ago; it makes ours look like something from JAMA, grammatically speaking.

If you want to see some good basketball Saturday, come at 5:00. The women's team plays good basketball. The skill level is amazing. Laura McCoy hits 3 pointers from the Wells Fargo logo, about 25 feet. The first time I saw her do that I thought "what are you doing ---swish". She has made herself into a good point guard through hard work. She was 6 of 7 from 3 against UALR and the miss was an off balance shot as the clock ran out on the first half. She has improved as much as any UNT athlete I can remember since she was a freshman. We have a young team - 1 senior, and they play hard and are well coached. Petersen makes in-game adjustments and they work. You can see what they are trying to accomplish. If you like basketball, like UNT, you will love this team. Your ticket to the men's game gets you in. Plenty of seats available, sit anywhere.

This game is on ESPN3.com. The Troy games (Men and Women) are also on ESPN3.com on the Feb. 16 games.

I agree with Andrew. I never saw brilliance from Tony last year. He was rarely the best big man on the court. we lost to ULL twice with Johnny. Benford is the coach this year and more. The "fire the coach" BS after a few games is bush league. I haven't been a member of this site long, but it makes me sick every time I come here. I have been going to NT games since 1961, attend ever game I can, listen on the radio tp away games. Been to Hot Spings the last 3 years, going this year. I watch 20 plus games every week. All of which i plan on continuing. And don't bother telling me I don't know basketball. I won't be back to read it. What if a potential recruit read this site. Most of you are a disgrace to NT

OK, Wrong on the RPI. We were 4th yesterday. but I think I looked at our last opponent, Okla to get 50th nationally. We are 186. We wil move up. Our strength of schedule is 65th. We have played 4 of the state universities. Alabama, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.

I have women's season tickets also. They are ranked 4th in the Sunbelt by RPI, 50th in the nation (I think, I looked yesterday). They play hard, they have worked very hard to be where they are. None will ever play professionally. They are in it for the education. I love to watch them. We need a lot more butts in seats, come and watch once and you will be back. Petersen is a good coach and he has some very good young players, only one senior. Loryn Goodwin is the sister of the Olympic sprinter and football player at UT. She is good, will get better. Laura McCoy can hit a 3 from anywhere, NBA + range. Alexis Hyder, another frosh, scored 60+ in a high school game. She knows what to do when she gets the ball. I think they will play more than one at Hot Springs. If you like basketball, you will like this team.

This was the refs fault. They wouldn't call anything. Anything goes under the basket. Benford cannot be blamed for this, we get plenty of good looks and miss the shot. I watched Overlander in warmups. Shot after shot falling from beyond the arc. Unfortunately, warmup shots don't count. We don't have one clutch shooter. So often, in college bb, it comes down to one possession. We don't have a goto guy, like Josh White. Maybe Franklin. Looks like an under .500 team to me, even with John Wooden coaching.

So come to the pit and see them. It's family and friends now. We don't have 500 in the stands. Some nights I think we should introduce the fans to the team at the introductions. It's basketball, it's UNT. I have season tickets. Come and bring some friends. We need a home court advantage.

This "fire him" is an embarassment to UNT.

Tony Benford will be OK. Johnny didn't win immediately. Spika built our best team, but it took some time. Tony Mitchell should look for 2 more years here. He might get in the NBA then. Look how he does against good players: McDermott from Creighton, Long from ULL, even Reves from UTA. I haven't seen many games where he is the best big man on the court. Expectations were over-hyped for him and the team. Reminds me of the Jemario Thomas situation. I don't think it will come to that for Tony. He is very athletic, but he needs a "shot". An all-american should be able to take over a game. Our team is just "Sun Belt Quality". The conference looks stronger this year than in several years. We are probably middle of the pack. About .500 in SBC play is my guess. And free throw shooting is one thing that can be improved by work, but it is individual. Look at Laura McCoy. She is having a bit of an off year, missed one. You can't work on free throws if you are working on your 360 dunk. Every play doesn't have to be showtime.

Yep. Look at the Stats. We should put Tony at the 3 point line and let him shoot it every time. OK, not really. If a player is a poor shooter as a freshman, it usually stays that way for their career. This situation is not fixable until we can recruit some shooters. We will see zones in the paint all year. UTA kept backing up as the game went on. Their zone was well behind the 3 line near the end of the game. Watch LaLa do the same. If we ever see a man defense, their coach is crazy.

Losing Walton hurt a lot more than we will ever know. He is the only player that can hit from outside 15 ft. If I were defensing us, I would run a zone with everyone inside the paint. Watch ULL Saturday. Any good big man needs to be surrounded with shooters and we have none. You can't break a zone without shooters. If we could turn the game into a dunk contest, we win every game. Tony can't be a leader with 3 defenders draped on his back, it's hard to do anything. I don't know how expectations to be the best UNT team ever were ever thought of. Did you see last year? They couldn't shoot then either, except for Walton. If Overlander could get his stroke back and Walton wasn't out, maybe a good team, but not best ever. MTSU is loaded with shooters, they beat UCLA last year on an out of sight 3-point percent. Benford will learn. It appears that he can recruit. Spika had so-so years early, so did Johnny. Spika's 69-70(or was it 68-69?) team with 3 hall of famers was our best ever.