MrAlien

Great start for the team in the NET, but the NET is far more accurate in February then it is in early December. It is the metric used by the committee to determine seeding and at large bids for the tournament. Down side is that there is not a lot of opportunity left to move up, The game at Memphis is the only Q1 game left on the regular schedule, and maybe 3-4 Q2 games.

The rules were different when Seth was hired, you didnt have to worry about half the team jumping into the portal, building an NIL fund, and having to build a team from the transfer market. When Seth got here he had something to start with. Morris had nothing when he got here, most of the good players we had left, he was hired with only a couple days left in the transfer window, and had no recruiting plan for UNT.

I dont see the logic in firing a coach just a couple days before the transfer portal opens, especially a G5 program that will see a lot of transfers.

There will be a roster reset every year going forward, 2023 was a complete program reset with new coaches and virtually no recruiting momentum.

It has not even been 2 years since this program did a complete reset, and the team is back in a bowl game. I think most G5 programs would consider that being on the right track.

Hes 73 and will not coach forever... That said, if you can bring him in and have him coach just a couple seasons to get the program on the right track before retiring and handing it off to someone he has trained as his replacement.

I don't see any other option but to root for him... If you fire him now and reset the program again (twice in less then 2 years) then you throw away next season. All the recruiting, and portal momentum, and most of the team will disappear with the coach being fired.

At this point in the football cycle, if you fire a coach then you throw away all the recruiting work being done for the following seasons. The portal opens up in just a few days, and most AAC schools build their next years roster in the transfer portal. How hard is it going to be for these programs to build rosters for next season if they dont have a head coach going into the transfer window?

I get the frustration, coaches spend years recruiting players but now the NIL is involved and coaches have less control. It used to be that the coaches had all the offering power, but now the NIL has the power, and coaches are stuck playing middle man.

Its all about recruiting, it takes years for a coach to develop a consistent recruiting cycle, and Morris has only had one full year of recruiting, I do think the program is going in the right direction.

any additional streaming options, or is there a local sports bar showing the game?

If he is so good, then why didn't Memphis pay him? why didn't he have an iron clad contract? There is something missing from this story, my guess is he failed to meet some sort or criteria in order to receive his NIL money, probably on the education side of things.

Do the players not sign a formal contract for their NIL deal? You would think that a program would want to lock down a player with a contract to prevent him from leaving for another program mid season.

With so much turnover in college sports, I dont know how you can predict how next season will go.

I always thought the UTA game was a good idea for both programs. not only would it be attractive to fans and alumni from both schools in the area, when you factor in the rankings its almost a no brainer. UTA finished 129 in NET, UNT 79 last season, in Kenpom UTA is currently at 159 and UNT is sitting at 80. A close game between these schools would benefit both schools in the rankings.

I have been saying this since last season, this team can't tackle! Players are in position to make plays, but the basic fundamentals of hitting a guy low and wrapping him up are not there. I will give Caponi some credit, very rarely does the defense seem confused, the players know their assignments and are in the position that they need to be in. I don't know if you can fairly blame the DC for poor tackling, its the position coaches that are supposed to teach the fundamentals, and its the head coach who decides to run tackling drills in practice.

I am not putting them with the Blue Bloods of college basketball, however their games are well attended, and when it comes to national media attention they are the most recognizable basketball program in the current AAC. It is also worth mentioning that the bottom few teams in the conference have terrible programs, and that does drag the league down.

The topic was basketball... When Houston left the AAC the conference lost a lot of clout, and now most people view the AAC as a 1 bid conference. Currently the MWC is a better basketball conference having at least 4 bids the last couple seasons. Now those schools are joining the PAC along with Gonzaga, possibly St. Mary's, and even Memphis is having talks to join again. So the PAC could be a very strong conference. The MWC will still be a decent BB conference, and could probably add GCU, and I am sure whom ever else makes the move to the MWC could see a boost in recruiting. So I could see them being a 2-3 bid conference. This could leave the AAC in a bad position if Memphis leaves, a single bid conference, and less attractive for recruiting.

The Pac is shaping up the be a high major basketball conference, and Memphis seems to be more of a basketball school. However it makes less sense for all the other sports.

its going to be a solid basketball conference for sure, could be a 5-6 bid league.

the AAC and MWC should have done this a year ago, but its too late now.

Who is making these deals with players? Is it the school? or is it a private collective? or is it some private booster that promised to buy him a Ferrari if he started 3-0? Either way I dont think that any professional representative would advise him to pull out if they didnt have a clear breach of contract. In the NIL era this could end up being a death sentence for UNLV, other athletes will not trust them in the future.

Would you rather be in a G5 football conference or a high major basketball conference? AAC might be a better football conference for now, but its only 8 games a year, and it will not ever hang with the Power 4 conferences. Plus you could always schedule out of conference games with good programs. The PAC is looking like it will be a High Major basketball conference, and every conference game would be a high profile game. Granted it would be in the pacific and mountain time slots, but there would be no other conference that could compete for ratings in those time slots.

The PAC is starting to look like it will be a very strong basketball conference, could be a 5-6 bid conference. From a basketball perspective I think UNT would benefit, right now the AAC is a 2 bid conference at best.

The PAC is shaping up to be a decent basketball conference... However the AAC is in better media markets, and there are quite a few regional rivalries, and it makes sense for other sports.