UNT comes up short on Kouassi

Harry · June 4, 2015

UNT misses cut for Kouassi per Vito:

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2015/06/unt-misses-cut-for-kouassi.html/

Andrew · June 4, 2015

His loss. I guess he didn't want to be a starter his senior year.

Andrew · June 4, 2015

I very much dislike players who turn down the opportunity to play to ride the bench and be on a "winning team". He averaged what 4 points and 4 rebounds a game. At UNT he could have started and put up 8 and 8 with 25-30 minutes a game. He rather play 3 or 4 minutes in scrub minutes. Let's just refer to him as Luke Walton or Mark Mardsen. Maybe he can get his two seconds of fame dancing on the floor after a win. Enjoy riding others coattails Mr. Kouassi. We want players who want to get on the floor and play!

Censored by Laurie · June 4, 2015

I very much dislike players who turn down the opportunity to play to ride the bench and be on a "winning team". He averaged what 4 points and 4 rebounds a game. At UNT he could have started and put up 8 and 8 with 25-30 minutes a game. He rather play 3 or 4 minutes in scrub minutes. Let's just refer to him as Luke Walton or Mark Mardsen. Maybe he can get his two seconds of fame dancing on the floor after a win. Enjoy riding others coattails Mr. Kouassi. We want players who want to get on the floor and play!

he should totally have settled for a sub-.500 program.

what a jerk for trying to push himself.

Andrew · June 4, 2015

he should totally have settled for a sub-.500 program.
what a jerk for trying to push himself.

Push himself by not playing and watching successful players play? He could do that from his couch at home.

Green P1 · June 4, 2015

I also very much dislike players that don't want to finish out their careers playing in front of empty arenas for a garbage coach.

WTF are we supposed to do?

Edited June 4, 2015 by Green P1

BillySee58 · June 4, 2015

I very much dislike players who turn down the opportunity to play to ride the bench and be on a "winning team". He averaged what 4 points and 4 rebounds a game. At UNT he could have started and put up 8 and 8 with 25-30 minutes a game. He rather play 3 or 4 minutes in scrub minutes. Let's just refer to him as Luke Walton or Mark Mardsen. Maybe he can get his two seconds of fame dancing on the floor after a win. Enjoy riding others coattails Mr. Kouassi. We want players who want to get on the floor and play!

If he's going to be a bench warmer for those schools then it's not like he's going to be the guy to come in and make us a top-of-the-conference team. The 01-02 Cleveland Cavaliers were not one Mark Madsen away from being contenders. The 08-09 Minnesota Timberwolves were not a Luke Walton away from being a contender.

If we're not good this year, and Willy Kouassi is averaging 3 or 4 minutes a game for one of those teams, then him not choosing us won't have been the problem.

Andrew · June 4, 2015

If he's going to be a bench warmer for those schools then it's not like he's going to be the guy to come in and make us a top-of-the-conference team. The 01-02 Cleveland Cavaliers were not one Mark Madsen away from being contenders. The 08-09 Minnesota Timberwolves were not a Luke Walton away from being a contender.
If we're not good this year, and Willy Kouassi is averaging 3 or 4 minutes a game for one of those teams, then him not choosing us won't have been the problem.

He would have been better off picking a mid major program like UNT or WKU of he wanted to play and make an impact. I would only have expected him to pit up 6 to 8 points a game and 6 to 8 rebounds a game. Not a game changer, but a decent starting center who can give a couple freshman the opportunity to grow over a year. He was averaging what 3 points and 4 rebounds at smaller school than UNT. What is he going to do at Arkansas against SEC competition? It's pretty clear he wants a free ride and doesn't want to really play.

All About UNT · June 4, 2015

He would have been better off picking a mid major program like UNT or WKU of he wanted to play and make an impact. I would only have expected him to pit up 6 to 8 points a game and 6 to 8 rebounds a game. Not a game changer, but a decent starting center who can give a couple freshman the opportunity to grow over a year. He was averaging what 3 points and 4 rebounds at smaller school than UNT. What is he going to do at Arkansas against SEC competition? It's pretty clear he wants a free ride and doesn't want to really play.

oh yeah....that's exactly what he is thinking! You tell him Andrew!

GrandGreen · June 4, 2015

Unbelievable, a lot of you chastise a player for opting to go somewhere else and at the same time continually knock Benford and the program. I don't see how you can think both, partially when he is apparently going to a school much higher on the bb food chain.

My view is I doubt he would have made much difference at NT anyway. Most of the touted transfer players Benford has pulled in have been mediocre at best and the centers have been much worse than that. I like the guy they just signed as much as Kouassi.

foutsrouts · June 4, 2015

Bottom line is that we still have no experienced rim protector, and this guy was probably the best shot at pulling one in. Same ole same ole.

UNTFan23 · June 4, 2015

I very much dislike players who turn down the opportunity to play to ride the bench and be on a "winning team". He averaged what 4 points and 4 rebounds a game. At UNT he could have started and put up 8 and 8 with 25-30 minutes a game. He rather play 3 or 4 minutes in scrub minutes. Let's just refer to him as Luke Walton or Mark Mardsen. Maybe he can get his two seconds of fame dancing on the floor after a win. Enjoy riding others coattails Mr. Kouassi. We want players who want to get on the floor and play!

This is why no one takes you seriously.

Army of Dad · June 4, 2015

This is why no one takes you seriously.

It's not the only reason...

Andrew · June 4, 2015

This is why no one takes you seriously.

Were people really excited about a player that averaged around 4 and 4 at a small school against mediocre competition? Do not get me wrong. I think he would have been a decent pick up for north texas. He would have maybe put up Armani numbers which would have been welcome, but it's not a major lose until I see him improve and actually play. It's hard to take others seriously who have no basketball experience and just attack attack and attack.

also I did finally get an ankle brace! The coaches played in the gym after work once and I have been hitting it up this week and it's helping. It's still super weak and I still have not been able to sprint or run long distances on it yet. I went up for an attempt at a out back dunk and it failed. Still not there

UNTFan23 · June 4, 2015

Were people really excited about a player that averaged around 4 and 4 at a small school against mediocre competition? Do not get me wrong. I think he would have been a decent pick up for north texas. He would have maybe put up Armani numbers which would have been welcome, but it's not a major lose until I see him improve and actually play. It's hard to take others seriously who have no basketball experience and just attack attack and attack.

also I did finally get an ankle brace! The coaches played in the gym after work once and I have been hitting it up this week and it's helping. It's still super weak and I still have not been able to sprint or run long distances on it yet. I went up for an attempt at a out back dunk and it failed. Still not there

You seemed pretty certain he was going to help lead the team to a 20-win season.

If Willy joins I will feel very confident in our chances to win 20 games. We still need a bit more size (maybe another walk-on?), but this would bode well for our team this season. We are ready to turn the corner!

If you go back and read the comments in this thread, there seemed to be some excitement possibly in landing him.

Andrew · June 4, 2015

You seemed pretty certain he was going to help lead the team to a 20-win season.
If you go back and read the comments in this thread, there seemed to be some excitement possibly in landing him.

I was excited. We needed height. At that point all we had was Brice and Combs. Thomas and Fuller were not even on the radar. I am content with who we have recruited. I would have welcomed willy and hoped he could have out up a double double. He chose to play for a big name school instead of p,aging for a school where he could get play time.

Harry · June 4, 2015

Look - I really don't understand the negativity here. Personally, I WANT to see the coaches going for good players. Unfortunately for us, this kid blew up. Who knows, maybe the attention we gave this kid ended up attracting some of the big boys. I don't feel near the disappointment on this kid that I have on others. And frankly, I appreciate the effort put forth by the staff to make it as far as they did. When you start battling Arkansas for recruits it's a whole new ball game. Their league, facilities, fan base and track record of NBA players is very difficult to beat.

The problem with all of the Benford angst around here is that it is becoming too one sided. He's struggled in many key areas, but the handling of this particular recruitment was not one of them.

Best of luck to Willy but I commend our coaching staff for putting in a good effort to land him. I think the Mike Thomas pickup helps ease the pain of this loss.

Andrew · June 4, 2015

Look - I really don't understand the negativity here. Personally, I WANT to see the coaches going for good players. Unfortunately for us, this kid blew up. Who knows, maybe the attention we gave this kid ended up attracting some of the big boys. I don't feel near the disappointment on this kid that I have on others. And frankly, I appreciate the effort put forth by the staff to make it as far as they did. When you start battling Arkansas for recruits it's a whole new ball game. Their league, facilities, fan base and track record of NBA players is very difficult to beat.
The problem with all of the Benford angst around here is that it is becoming too one sided. He's struggled in many key areas, but the handling of this particular recruitment was not one of them.
Best of luck to Willy but I commend our coaching staff for putting in a good effort to land him. I think the Mike Thomas pickup helps ease the pain of this loss.

I'm not trying to be to negative. I am very pleased with Benfords re ruins this season. Best class since 2011 by far. Could this class be better if you include Reese? Mitchel sat half a year and so did Jones and Williams so this group could contribute more. I want to see how this pans out. We have some great athletes and length to know compete with teams like ODU.

Green P1 · June 4, 2015

I'm not trying to be to negative. I am very pleased with Benfords re ruins this season. Best class since 2011 by far. Could this class be better if you include Reese? Mitchel sat half a year and so did Jones and Williams so this group could contribute more. I want to see how this pans out. We have some great athletes and length to know compete with teams like ODU.

That's a really good way to describe every new season led by Benny.

The "Re-Ruins".

Andrew · June 5, 2015

That's a really good way to describe every new season led by Benny.

The "Re-Ruins".

It's recruits. And it's a decent group of young players. We have some two and three star recruits. Maybe the next coming of Jordan Williams and Chris Jones. Who knows....