DRC: Breaking news -- Holston leaving UNT program

Brett Vito · April 12, 2018

DRC: Guard is expected to graduate and transfer

http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/mean-green/2018/04/12/holston-leaving-unt-mens-basketball-program

BillySee58 · April 12, 2018

Woolridge is now the only Benford player remaining. Technically Simmons signed under Benford too. Either way, this will be almost entirely a Mccasland roster going forward

Andrew · April 12, 2018

Is this not concerning to anyone? Hopefully the bleeding stops, because if we loose anyone else we could be in for a long season. We have lost very little offense, however Lawson and Holston both brought length, athleticism, and defense. We are very undersized already. Hopefully we get some length and defense to replace these guys.

TheReal_jayD · April 12, 2018

10 minutes ago, BillySee58 said:

Woolridge is now the only Benford player remaining. Technically Simmons signed under Benford too. Either way, this will be almost entirely a Mccasland roster going forward

This is good thing IMO. Hang on to Smart, Woodridge, Simmons, Duffey, Miller, Tope. And go add to your talent pool the way you did in year one. And go win CUSA

TheReal_jayD · April 12, 2018

2 minutes ago, Andrew said:

Is this not concerning to anyone? Hopefully the bleeding stops, because if we loose anyone else we could be in for a long season. We have lost very little offense, however Lawson and Holston both brought length, athleticism, and defense. We are very undersized already. Hopefully we get some length and defense to replace these guys.

Not at all. This is perfect. You lost a talented player in Lawson that did fit system and to players that played minimal minutes

El Paso Eagle · April 12, 2018

11 minutes ago, Andrew said:

Is this not concerning to anyone? Hopefully the bleeding stops, because if we loose anyone else we could be in for a long season. We have lost very little offense, however Lawson and Holston both brought length, athleticism, and defense. We are very undersized already. Hopefully we get some length and defense to replace these guys.

Welcome to modern Division 1 BB. Lots of transfers every year.

Andrew · April 12, 2018

17 minutes ago, TheReal_jayD said:

Not at all. This is perfect. You lost a talented player in Lawson that did fit system and to players that played minimal minutes

I guess my only concern is the height/ability to defend taller and longer guards and forwards. Holston and Lawson were actually a large part of our success in the last game against SF. Holston only played a couple minutes, but his defense in that time was huge! Miller and Tope are aggressive and fill this void, but if we go out and get 3 players under 6’5” we will run into a lot of miss match issues on defense.

Cooley · April 12, 2018

1 hour ago, BillySee58 said:

Woolridge is now the only Benford player remaining. Technically Simmons signed under Benford too. Either way, this will be almost entirely a Mccasland roster going forward

Bedford had an offer out there for Gibson earlier in the year. As been pointed out here, his dad played football here.

MCMLXXX · April 12, 2018

Let it not be lost in this news that Holston graduated in 3 years. That makes me proud of him and the program.

He deserves a Congratulations and a Thank You for you for a job well done at UNT!

UNTLifer · April 12, 2018

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

Is this not concerning to anyone? Hopefully the bleeding stops, because if we loose anyone else we could be in for a long season. We have lost very little offense, however Lawson and Holston both brought length, athleticism, and defense. We are very undersized already. Hopefully we get some length and defense to replace these guys.

Not really. I think we all expected to lose Holston and Fuller. I also heard rumors that Lawson would probably leave, but we all hoped he would stay since he was the most well rounded player of the three. We will add a taller Tikohenko, slightly shorter J. Simmons and the three recruits that McCasland now has available. I appreciate all three of these players contributions this year, but they can all be replaced. I am excited to see who we sign.

BillySee58 · April 12, 2018

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

Is this not concerning to anyone? Hopefully the bleeding stops, because if we loose anyone else we could be in for a long season.

What bleeding? These guys leaving are not guys Mccasland recruited. It's a very normal roster transition over a year period for a new coach. Also, we get to use those spots on other players, who will likely be big improvements over the four who are gone.

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

We have lost very little offense, however Lawson and Holston both brought length, athleticism, and defense.

All of the offensive players we have lost so far were bad offensive players. Lawson, you could argue, is not a bad offensive player but he certainly was this year. And he just isn't a shooter which really hurt this offense. When he was in our offense did not look good this year. When we stopped playing him in a primary role, our offense looked immensely better. Same with the other guys we lost.

It's not a coincidence how much better this team did with Duffy and Miller taking the majority of Lawson, Temara, and Holston's minutes.

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

We are very undersized already. Hopefully we get some length and defense to replace these guys.

Did you not watch the CBI? We looked just as good defensively as we did when Lawson and Holston were playing a lot. While looking leaps and bounds better on offense.

BillySee58 · April 12, 2018

1 hour ago, TheReal_jayD said:

This is good thing IMO. Hang on to Smart, Woodridge, Simmons, Duffey, Miller, Tope. And go add to your talent pool the way you did in year one. And go win CUSA

Without a doubt. Also, all the people clamoring for better free-throw shooting, look at the percentages of the guys leaving compared to the percentages of the guys Mccasland actually signed. Benford recruited a lot of guys who couldn't shoot, and Mccasland is recruiting the opposite.

Harry · April 12, 2018

1 hour ago, Cooley said:

Bedford had an offer out there for Gibson earlier in the year. As been pointed out here, his dad played football here.

@Cooley thoughts on the losses? What would you do if we indeed have 3 spots to give and considering the russian, Gipson and the Ark st transfer should be in the mix. 3 is a lot more spots than we thought we would be working with.

ItsSparky · April 12, 2018

2 hours ago, Andrew said:

Is this not concerning to anyone? Hopefully the bleeding stops, because if we loose anyone else we could be in for a long season. We have lost very little offense, however Lawson and Holston both brought length, athleticism, and defense. We are very undersized already. Hopefully we get some length and defense to replace these guys.

All by design & to script.. not worried at all, the scholly's available are coming at the best time for the program.. Expecting GMac to bring in a quality big as well as another scorer.. Many thanks to Khalil, Fredo & AJ, this is just modern day CBB business

ChristopherRyanWilkes · April 12, 2018

Yeah, can we stop acting like these players are leaving because they wanted to? They were asked to leave, had a talk, whatever. All three saw greatly diminished to non-existent roles on the team this year. Now we can continue to build on the players McCasland's philosophy fits with. This is extremely positive news in my opinion. I wish them the best of luck as well.

Andrew · April 12, 2018

1 hour ago, ChristopherRyanWilkes said:

Yeah, can we stop acting like these players are leaving because they wanted to? They were asked to leave, had a talk, whatever. All three saw greatly diminished to non-existent roles on the team this year. Now we can continue to build on the players McCasland's philosophy fits with. This is extremely positive news in my opinion. I wish them the best of luck as well.

I just hope we sign a few guys who can play defense and guard a 6’7” wing on the perimeter.

Wag Tag · April 12, 2018

Mc has got to get his players for his system! Pretty simple! GMG

RiseUNT · April 13, 2018

I say The Russian kid will take up all the minutes at PF if he is as advertised. This team needs a stretch 4. When he is not on the floor we will go 4 guards.

Finding a skilled 7 footer who isn't going to a blue blood is like finding a 300 pound DT who isn't going to Alabama. Everyone says we need bigs will be crying when he can't even catch the ball or plays too soft.

BillySee58 · April 13, 2018

49 minutes ago, Andrew said:

I just hope we sign a few guys who can play defense and guard a 6’7” wing on the perimeter.

What 6'7" wings do we play who actually have a good offensive skill set?

Cooley · April 13, 2018

On 4/12/2018 at 3:54 PM, Harry said:

@Cooley thoughts on the losses? What would you do if we indeed have 3 spots to give and considering the russian, Gipson and the Ark st transfer should be in the mix. 3 is a lot more spots than we thought we would be working with.

This is the best possible scenario for this coaching staff. You rid yourself of all the guys at the end of the bench and/or non impact players; creating 3-4 more scholarships. Obviously, Z Simmons needs help down low with fatigue and constant foul trouble. This allows 1-2 additional big men to compete better against bigger and better competition. Lawson, I feel, can easily be replaced with someone more suited for this offense and a higher IQ. I appreciate his service to the team but he was so lost out there. I would go get a legit big man (6-9 or 6-10) that can pound down-low. Another PF/C type and the best wing in the 6-6/6-7 range. I think we are ok at point but could use another true point guard, other than Woolridge. (I know about the early commit in 2019). There are at least 3 scholarship available next year (Duffy, Miller & Tope)

This is just a golden opportunity to really take the next step, if addressed properly. With 3-4 available, possibly a grad transfer, juco transfer, HS kid(s) and maybe the best transfer that can sit out next year. I wish we could start keeping some DFW kids home but there is an impressive transfer list (Verbal Commits) looking for new homes.

This goes to show that in basketball, you don't need 3-4 years to turn a program around. In about 12 months, this coaching staff will have had about 11 scholarship to fill.

Edited April 15, 2018 by Cooley

MeanGreenTexan · April 13, 2018

On 4/12/2018 at 8:34 PM, Cooley said:

This is the best possible scenario for this coaching staff. You rid yourself of all the guys at the end of the bench and/or non impact players; creating 3-4 more scholarships. Obviously, Z Simmons needs help down low with fatigue and constant foul trouble. This allows 1-2 additional big men to compete better against bigger and better competition. Lawson, I feel, can easily be replaced with someone more suited for this offense and a higher IQ. I appreciate his service to the team but he was so lost out there. I would go get a legit big man (6-9 or 6-10) that can pound down-low. Another PF/C type and the best wing in the 6-6/6-7 range. I think we are ok at point but could use another true point guard, other than Woolridge. (I know about the early commit in 2019). There are at least 2 scholarship available next year (Duffy & Tope)

This is just a golden opportunity to really take the next step, if addressed properly. With 3-4 available, possibly a grad transfer, juco transfer, HS kid(s) and maybe the best transfer that can sit out next year. I wish we could start keeping some DFW kids home but there is an impressive transfer list (Verbal Commits) looking for new homes.

This goes to show that in basketball, you don't need 3-4 years to turn a program around. In about 12 months, this coaching staff will have had about 11 scholarship to fill.

He's already here.

EDIT: He averaged 11.1 assists/gm in high school.

EDIT #2: (I see there are some confused people...) The "other true PG". That player is here already. His name rhymes with Lumoja Kibson.

Edited April 16, 2018 by MeanGreenTexan

southsideguy · April 13, 2018

18 hours ago, MCMLXXX said:

Let it not be lost in this news that Holston graduated in 3 years. That makes me proud of him and the program.

He deserves a Congratulations and a Thank You for you for a job well done at UNT!

This a true accomplishment on his part. It took me about three years to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up and two more years to take the classes I needed.

I hope we are not losing anyone else because the core is in place for a special team.

Venson · April 15, 2018

We all knew those guys were leaving. I don't think anyone is really surprised here. If you are surprised, then you were not really paying attention this year.