Side.Show.Joe

I love softball. It's among my favorite sports. Right there with football and basketball. I doubt softball will get it's own forum, but I'll keep commenting. I want our girls to know that their sport is important, and hopefully others will join us in the fun. When DeLong is selling our program to recruits, I want them to know that UNT has fans that will support them. El Paso Eagle does a great job of posting thread about our series. I enjoy commenting on our games and share his enthusiasm. I don't live in the Denton area anymore, so I can't get to the games as often as I once did. But, the wife and I will be heading down on April 15th to watch the girls play Charlotte. That should be a good series. I'd be willing to adopt a player or two, post their stats, and give them praise as the season goes on. But, at least 5 or 6 others would need to be involved to make it work.

Some might not like him because he has zero Texas ties, but for my money Aaron Johnson is the best option. He's been the Head Coach at South Dakota State for over 20 years and if he wants to move up UNT would be a perfect opportunity. 10 NCAA Tournament berths. This season his Jackrabbits beat Mississippi State, Rutgers, #4 Louisville, #24 Kansas State, and #8 Southern Cal in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament. We should be able to pay enough to lure him away from South Dakota State. https://gojacks.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/aaron-johnston/2367

14 hits and 0 errors today. Every player that went to the plate got on base a least once by either getting a hit or drawing a walk. Outstanding. Hope they take this same approach to Stillwater on Wednesday.

Not anymore.

When will they drop that ratchet UNT commercial, so I don't have to see it every time I watch a game? UNT deserves a real commercial that promotes our nationally ranked programs.

I watched the whole game today. The team looked much more relaxed at the plate. Very disciplined, and it paid off with tons of walks and a big run-rule score. I liked how the pitch speed had been displayed behind the backstop. But, I was glad to see it moved into the scoreboard on the screen. UNT video production has really improved over the last year or so.

Ingle's name appeared in the box score, but not as an active player. She does not appear in on the official roster at the Mean Green Sports website. Weird.

We have a strength and conditioning coach. The elevation difference shouldn't be an issue in my opinion. If it is an issue, then our problems are bigger than competing against the likes of Wyoming.

I'm all for getting the young players some experience and confidence, but maybe throwing them to the wolves isn't the best way... especially with our OOC schedule. Personally, I think Nicholson is doing an outstanding job so far. As for Sydney Ingle... she is no longer showing on our roster. I wondered why she wasn't starting too. After seeing her absence from our roster, it kind of made sense. Don't know why she's gone, I thought she was a solid player. Epperson is also a young freshman that is impressing me. She had an off night, but I think she will be a really great player for us over the next several seasons.

The girls still aren't hitting on all cylinders. There is too much uncertainty and hesitation at the plate and some really questionable swings that are not the norm for our usually disciplined hitting team. I'm not sure why this is a problem, bit ot is. DeLong knows his team. I trust he will get it figured out. Too bad there aren't more softball fans on this board. If we had more, we could do an adoption thread like we do for football.

I have no problem with scheduling Wyoming. Baker had a fairly simple scheduling formula for OOC games.... P5 home/away game (P5's that would agree to home & home series) G5 opposite location to out P5 location (mostly AAC & MWC) G5 away game (preferably Texas teams) FCS home game (Texas FCS team) The preference for AAC programs will have to adjust. It will be interesting to see which conference Mosley tries to schedule those games with.

We never used to be mentioned in articles like this. If we are on course to move up it won't take decades. If we build a top notch AAC athletic department and be consistent challengers for the AAC football and basketball titles, we will be among the top targets 5 to 10 years from now.

^This. I see a few kids regularly wearing North Texas shirts. In my opinion this is about the best cost-effective marketing strategy for our athletic department. And, the recruits love this stuff. When our coaches visit with a recruit at his high school, they should be handing him a free Mean Green t-shirt. And when we get those kids on campus meeting with our coaches, and touring of our facilities, they should be handed a hoodie, sunglasses, & stickers for their car and phone.

Losing to #16 Kentucky was disappointing. But, losing to McNeese was unacceptable. This was a terrible loss today, and we will certainly pay the price when the next poll is released.

I often speak with kids that take recruiting visits to universities. They generally come back with free swag, which ranges from stickers to t-shirts... to nice pullover shirts and polos. Today I saw a nice TCU pullover shirt with a zip-up collar. I was informed by the kid that he also received a t-shirt, stickers and water bottle on that TCU visit too. I'm just wondering how strong is our recruiting swag game? For the record, one of these recruits was a football player, one boy runs track, and two were softball players. All four have been on several visits and also taken official visits. I asked these recruits if the quality of swag influenced their opinion of the programs that invited them for visits, and all 4 said "Yes, the quality of the swag was a strong influence on their opinion of how serious that program was about supporting their sports". I polled these kids and asked if there was an item they wish they were given on these trips, and there was a clear winner. All 4 said "pullover hoodies promoting their sport". None of them were given hoodies. One kid told me he'd wear it every day if he got one on a visit. Which makes sense. Most kids in high school wear hoodies on a daily basis.

I think UNT was a 2.5 point favorite last night against Charlotte. Destroying the 49er's by 24 points resonated with the NET. UNT jumped from #56 to #50. Still outside of the Bubble Watch, but the team is playing better as we ramp up for the conference tournament. And FAU looks very beatable at the moment.

I thought about that too. The PAC is one of the Autonomous 5, and I don't think the others can or would revoke that distinction. The P5 label will fade as we begin the era of the 12-team playoff, where the top 6 conference champs earn auto-bids.

First the ACC Network is not the best. I expected a little more than one angle from behind the plate. Having said that. this years edition of Mean Green Softball looks as strong as the team that played Oklahoma State in the Stillwater Regionals last season. And, there were no seniors starting today. DeLong has really built us a program.

This was a great win, especially considering they played a double-overtime game against UAB on Thursday.

I agree. But I don't think SMU (and whatever combination of MWC schools) actually get invitations until after the Big12 has made their move. With no combination that can save their desire for a true P5 media deal, what's left of the PAC will probably not want to over-expand, but instead keep the number to 9 or 10 in an attempt to maintain as much of their quality as possible. So, the two MWC options I named could both be on the table for the AAC.

I'm concerned about our game with Charlotte tomorrow. I'm worried the 2 overtimes may have left our guys in need of more rest than they will get. Charlotte is a fairly good team. If we are playing on shaky legs, it could be a trap game. Hope the bench is ready to contribute some meaningful minutes if needed.

SMU isn't a big fish, but the loss will require the AAC to add another member or risk having their media deal restructured to a lower amount. No way ESPN just will let the money stay the same. Army should be target #1. They are a national brand and add a New York market. That has value and would probably increase the AAC's current media deal. Air Force would be target #2. They're also a national brand, but without a bigtime market. And still more valuable than SMU. The MWC is in a weakened position with the imminent departure of SDSU. Their media deal will be taking a haircut too, unless they can find a replacement CBS Sports finds acceptable. But they have zero good replacement options. Target #3 is probably Boise State. They have a special deal with the MWC, and wouldn't get any special treatment from the AAC. But with the MWC's quality diminishing, they could view the AAC as the last life raft off the SS MWC. Of course it is also possible that all three seek invitations to the AAC and conference balloons to 18 programs. ESPN would certainly bump up the payout for that, and the AAC would certainly solidify their position as the top G5 conference.

The girls looked good today. Anyone know the status of Savage?

UNT was a 2.5 point favorite in this game, and won by 3.... but it took 2 overtimes. It was a great game and I have no idea how the overtimes effected the NET rankings. I'm just glad we squeaked out the win. Like others have noted. UNT has to win the C-USA tournament title to get an invitation to the Big Dance.

This could be a blessing in disguise. At some point in the not too distant future, the AAC will be replacing teams after the SEC and B1G poach Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, and Notre Dame's football (think about the B1G's USC invitation). SMU will probably be locked into the PAC. When the ACC makes their move into Texas, I can't see them wanting to pass on adding the DFW market. We just need to double our efforts to build our programs.