Search the Community

Freshman guard Clarke Overlander has asked for a release from his scholarship and plans to transfer from the UNT mens basketball program, head coach Tony Benford announced yesterday. "I want to thank my teammates, coach Benford and the staff at North Texas for the opportunities this season, but at this time, I feel like moving on might be the most beneficial thing for my playing career", Overlander said in a press release. "My family and I appreciate all of the tremendous support we received from the fans and the entire North Texas community." Read more:http://wordpress1.cws.unt.edu/?p=3399

UNTs roster is going to look a whole lot different next season. That was already going to be the case, thanks to the departure of a pretty large group of seniors. Then Trey Norris elected to transfer before the season began. Then Tony Mitchell declared for the NBA draft, as expected. And now Clarke Overlander has also elected to leave the program. There are a couple of ways to look at Overlanders departure simple math and the loss of a player with local ties who just didnt pan out. Lets start with the case of Overlander as a player and a person. Hes a great guy. Anyone will tell you that. He did and said all the right things. He just didnt make the impact UNT had hoped for, and the circumstances he faced didnt help matters. UNT suffered a bad string of injuries last season, which pretty much eliminated the possibility of Overlander playing sparingly and developing over the long-term like he needed to after making a huge jump up in the level of competition from Argyle. UNT needed Overlander to fill the role that Brandan Walton held as the Mean Greens designated 3-point shooter after the senior broke his foot in the Mean Greens season-opener. Overlander didnt come close to succeeding, shooting 15.2 percent. UNT head coach Tony Benford talked all season about how terrible UNT was in terms of 3-point shooting. Its not going to hurt UNT to see Overlander leave, at least not in terms of his contributions on the court. Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2013/03/the-impact-of-overlanders-depature.html/

There is a pretty good argument for Clarke Overlander having a big tourney game against ULL -- just look at what Holman did in that ULL game last year! He got hot from the 3-point line and the rest was history. I don't think Holman had a game with that type of 3-point production in his career at North Texas but maybe I am wrong. Anyhow -- best of luck to Clarke and all the players. The tourney shore gives all of them a chance at redemption from the disappointing regular season.

Wednesday afternoon basketball notes (Overlander update) Caught a bit of breaking news here in the last few minutes. Clarke Overlander has a sprained ACL and will be out two to four weeks. Thats great news for UNT, which thought Overlander might be out for the year. UNT cant afford to lose any more players. And in other news, a few people have asked me if I have asked Tony Benford about any underlying problems UNT is experiencing in the wake of a tough season and a series of suspensions. Keith Coleman was suspended for a game against Troy, while Alzee Williams sat out UNTs loss to Louisiana-Monroe. Yes, I have asked. Here is what Benford had to say: Guys are making bad decisions. Thats all it is. That has happened everywhere I have ever been. It happened at Marquette and Nebraska. I told the guys we have team rules, you have to follow them. We are going to play to win every game. No one is going to give up. No one is going to quit. We are going to keep working hard and keep playing hard. I think the thing is still wide open. We want to get back into the race. That is our goal. Its a long season with a lot of games left to be played. I think Benford has a point here. Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2013/01/wednesday-afternoon-basketball-notes-overlander-update.html/

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2013/01/overlander-down-with-knee-injury.html/ Sounds like he could be out for a while.. Lots of tough breaks this year..

North Crowley’s Braxton Reeves, Coppell’s Jett Raines, Argyle’s Clarke Overlander, The Colony’s Zach LeDay and South Grand Prairie’s Chris Washburn were selected to play in the Texas High School Coaches Association All-Star basketball game. The game is at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Saint Mary’s University in San Antonio. Read more: http://highschoolsportsblog.dallasnews.com/2012/07/five-local-players-picked-for-texas-high-school-coaches-association-all-star-basketball-game.html/

Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/archives/2012/05/sunday-night-hoops-notes-hardw.html