Calling This Before I Can Say "I Told You So"

[HoosMeanGreen]

4 minutes ago, NT80 said:

Yes, but that in itself is the criticism.  They don't play yet take up valuable roster space during a season with injuries that we needed other contributors.   Either play them or trade them, as they say.

Impossible to field a team with 12 “playable” players simultaneously. The talent divide is large enough within the team. The talent divide grows exponentially when you play another team. It will never be a one for one swap. Hey Coach, I’m about to rest my best player. They are all good, but Johnny here is the best. I need you to sit Billy so the talent level remains as close to being equal as possible. My #1 for your #1, as we recognize that your #1 is clearly better than my #1.

[BigWillie]

30 minutes ago, HoosMeanGreen said:

I will assume that back in the good old days those schools churned out thousands of doctors, and lawyers, and such? Too many documentaries on athletes that couldn’t read or write. It was never about the “student”, it was always the athlete. 
 

Once the student/athletes got wind of AD & Coach salaries, TV revenue, etc. vs their “cost of scholarship” the gig was up. 
 

I doubt my pediatrician or Family doctor see $700K+ on an annual basis, but then they are not entrusted to install defenses or press breaks. As a player my stance would be to keep your education and pay me for my labor. I would gladly pay for my education with my earnings. If a coach is worth $700K, it would be interesting to see a players true value. Prior to NIL it was the cost of a scholarship. I love NIL. If Company X wants to pay me twice what Company Y is willing, then why would one not take it. I doubt anyone here says pay me the bare minimum. I most certainly am not at UNT because my parents sought or accepted the lowest salary possible in the profession.

Yeah, I could understand that, but there were also very smart athletes that got degrees they could use in the real world. I am not saying it is not skewed towards money, but it is the players choice to realize at some point they aren't going to go to the NBA and make something of their free education. 

[BigWillie]

14 minutes ago, HoosMeanGreen said:

Impossible to field a team with 12 “playable” players simultaneously. The talent divide is large enough within the team. The talent divide grows exponentially when you play another team. It will never be a one for one swap. Hey Coach, I’m about to rest my best player. They are all good, but Johnny here is the best. I need you to sit Billy so the talent level remains as close to being equal as possible. My #1 for your #1, as we recognize that your #1 is clearly better than my #1.

This is my point too. I am not blaming Stone for not being good enough, I am blaming the coaching staff for wasting the scholarship on him. 

[Shark84]

2 minutes ago, BigWillie said:

This is my point too. I am not blaming Stone for not being good enough, I am blaming the coaching staff for wasting the scholarship on him. 

To be fair, there are others on this roster that are scholarship players that don't ever see the floor.  

[NT80]

4 hours ago, HoosMeanGreen said:

Impossible to field a team with 12 “playable” players simultaneously. The talent divide is large enough within the team. The talent divide grows exponentially when you play another team. It will never be a one for one swap. Hey Coach, I’m about to rest my best player. They are all good, but Johnny here is the best. I need you to sit Billy so the talent level remains as close to being equal as possible. My #1 for your #1, as we recognize that your #1 is clearly better than my #1.

We are allowed 15 useable players, not 12.   We all know about Hodge bringing Tylor Perry (best player on the team) off the bench.  Starting five are not always the best five.  Player #9 or #11 on the bench depth chart should still be able to contribute something.  They are on scholarship because of some skill a coach saw in them.  To never play 7 guys says poor recruiting evaluation or players not up to college game speed.  We have players 3 years on the bench.  Why?

Edited February 27 by NT80
more info

[BigWillie]

3 minutes ago, Shark84 said:

To be fair, there are others on this roster that are scholarship players that don't ever see the floor.  

I know, I am blaming the coaching staff. Right now my point is that Stone should not be a scholarship player, but I don't know if the others should or not.

[BigWillie]

3 minutes ago, NT80 said:

Yet we all know about bringing Hodge bringing Tylor Perry (best player on the team) off the bench.  Starting five are not always the best five.  Player #9 or #11 on the bench depth chart should still be able to contribute something.  They are on scholarship because of some skill a coach saw in them.  To never play 7 guys says poor recruiting evaluation or players not up to college game speed.  We have players 3 years on the bench.  Why?

Honestly, this is where Vito should ask the tough questions, but he is still worried about his parking pass.

[HoosMeanGreen]

37 minutes ago, BigWillie said:

Yeah, I could understand that, but there were also very smart athletes that got degrees they could use in the real world. I am not saying it is not skewed towards money, but it is the players choice to realize at some point they aren't going to go to the NBA and make something of their free education. 

Would you say that number of smart athletes that obtained degrees (earned not given) would be in the neighborhood of 50% or considerably lower? 
 

What percentage of current UNT football & basketball players are “Sports Management” majors? The real world equivalent of underwater basket weaving. It’s such a sham. I cringe when I hear graduation rates, knowing dayum well that those “degrees” are near useless.  Today’s excuse is so & so % of college graduates are employed in fields different from their course of study. I translate that to most “real world” jobs don’t require secondary education. You have a degree - great. Sit with Joan for the next 2 weeks and she’ll train you. F)-$ a sham. This is a scam. 
 

Pay the players as the employees that they are. Keep the “college degree” benefit. It’s used at the same rate as the employee gym at my Dad’s firm.

Edited February 27 by HoosMeanGreen

[HoosMeanGreen]

31 minutes ago, NT80 said:

Yet we all know about bringing Hodge bringing Tylor Perry (best player on the team) off the bench.  Starting five are not always the best five.  Player #9 or #11 on the bench depth chart should still be able to contribute something.  They are on scholarship because of some skill a coach saw in them.  To never play 7 guys says poor recruiting evaluation or players not up to college game speed.  We have players 3 years on the bench.  Why?

Outlier situation. This is not the norm at 99.9% of programs. 
 

You are confusing their roles as scholarship players with time on the court during real games. That is not why they were brought to the team. And they stay too? Why? Because they know why they are here. Those guys are vital to the team!

Edited February 27 by HoosMeanGreen

[Shark84]

3 minutes ago, BigWillie said:

I know, I am blaming the coaching staff. Right now my point is that Stone should not be a scholarship player, but I don't know if the others should or not.

How many scholarships do we get for basketball? It's probably 12-14. If that is correct, I'm fine having Stone getting one to be your 10th or 11th guy. We don't realize how hard it is to find guys that are willing to bust their butt in practice every day and not play. From what Grant said last year, the guys we have on the end of our bench work hard, are team players and don't complain. I'm sure the guys on the end of most college teams fall into that same category. I agree with you that I don't understand why we have some of these guys on scholarships if they aren't good enough to play but I also don't know what goes into building a team roster at UNT. 

[UNTLifer]

16 hours ago, HoosMeanGreen said:

Student with nothing but time. What’s your excuse? Wife troubles? Let’s hope not. 

Nah, married going on 28 years.  Doing great, but thanks for the concern

[Cooley]

28 minutes ago, Shark84 said:

How many scholarships do we get for basketball? It's probably 12-14. If that is correct, I'm fine having Stone getting one to be your 10th or 11th guy. We don't realize how hard it is to find guys that are willing to bust their butt in practice every day and not play. From what Grant said last year, the guys we have on the end of our bench work hard, are team players and don't complain. I'm sure the guys on the end of most college teams fall into that same category. I agree with you that I don't understand why we have some of these guys on scholarships if they aren't good enough to play but I also don't know what goes into building a team roster at UNT. 

Unless we are a perennial top 20-25 program, I don't know why it is acceptable to knowingly sign bench/role players. J. Morgan was not a good player in high school. Why would we expect more from him now?  Stone was the 3rd best kid on his Oklahoma HS team. Why would he be a key guy on the G5 level? The kid from Kilgore JC (not sure he is on scholarship) just started playing the game. Our recruiting has been boom or bust for the past 5-6 years. Half of the recruits have excelled while the other half have been busts. Stop wasting valuable scholarships on kids of great character that may be great in practice. Treat each scholarships like it's the only one we have. There are too many good/great players that we pass up that could really help this program. (with no known issues) More so in football.     

Just my weekly rant

[HoosMeanGreen]

16 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Nah, married going on 28 years.  Doing great, but thanks for the concern

Anytime!

[untphd]

Does anybody remember FactCheck. It sounds like his kid is on here.

[NT80]

8 hours ago, Cooley said:

Unless we are a perennial top 20-25 program, I don't know why it is acceptable to knowingly sign bench/role players. J. Morgan was not a good player in high school. Why would we expect more from him now?  Stone was the 3rd best kid on his Oklahoma HS team. Why would he be a key guy on the G5 level? The kid from Kilgore JC (not sure he is on scholarship) just started playing the game. Our recruiting has been boom or bust for the past 5-6 years. Half of the recruits have excelled while the other half have been busts. Stop wasting valuable scholarships on kids of great character that may be great in practice. Treat each scholarships like it's the only one we have. There are too many good/great players that we pass up that could really help this program. (with no known issues) More so in football.     

Just my weekly rant

This!

[NT80]

9 hours ago, Shark84 said:

How many scholarships do we get for basketball? It's probably 12-14. 

12 scholarship players, but you can have 15* players on a roster.

 

 

*except UNT which is only allowed to have 8 useable players.

[NT80]

9 hours ago, BigWillie said:

Honestly, this is where Vito should ask the tough questions, but he is still worried about his parking pass.

Vito doesn't ask tough questions.

[Censored by Laurie]

9 hours ago, NT80 said:

12 scholarship players, but you can have 15* players on a roster.

 

 

*except UNT which is only allowed to have 8 useable players.

13 scholarships

[meanJewGreen]

Been a rough season for sure. If we had a closer on this team I could see 5-6 more wins this year. I have faith in Hodge, he's given me that through 5 years as McCasland's #2, and as a winner in the JC ranks. 

Only 2 blowout losses this season. Some gritty wins. He is not Benford, thats for sure. 

[NT80]

2 hours ago, Censored by Laurie said:

13 scholarships

Correct.  I wanted to see who was paying attention, lol.

 

Number of Scholarships Available

For men's basketball, there are 351 Division I teams and each team is allowed to offer up to 13 full scholarships per year. Nov 20, 2023

 

[HoosMeanGreen]

On 2/28/2024 at 9:37 AM, meanJewGreen said:

Been a rough season for sure. If we had a closer on this team I could see 5-6 more wins this year. I have faith in Hodge, he's given me that through 5 years as McCasland's #2, and as a winner in the JC ranks. 

Only 2 blowout losses this season. Some gritty wins. He is not Benford, thats for sure. 

Sorry for the late reply but I’ve been sick & in bed for the past 2 days. 
 

How easy is to find a “closer”? My knowledge of UNT closers is limited. Hoo were the last 3 closers prior to Perry? 
 

I have only seen one team win it all with a 100% focus on the defensive end. That team had 5 pro players on it. The object of the game remains to have more points at the end of game play than your opponent.
 

A better question would be how long does a fanbase give a coach to find another winning lotto ticket (closer) before it demands a change is philosophy. I would guess these “closers” don’t “grow on trees” or there would be two on the current roster.

Edited March 1 by HoosMeanGreen
5 not 3 pro players on roster

[Ross Hodgeson]

On 2/27/2024 at 12:44 PM, Cooley said:

J. Morgan was not a good player in high school. Why would we expect more from him now? 

I have always been told it was because he was a legacy like his dad played here way back when or whatnot?

[Ross Hodgeson]

On 2/27/2024 at 12:44 PM, Cooley said:

There are too many good/great players that we pass up that could really help this program. (with no known issues) More so in football. 

Just out of interest @Cooley what are your thoughts on our current signees?

[CMJ]

Hamlet was our closer immediately preceding Perry.  Before that probably Smart his sophomore year.  Prior to Smart you may have to go back to Josh White.

[meanJewGreen]

4 hours ago, CMJ said:

Hamlet was our closer immediately preceding Perry.  Before that probably Smart his sophomore year.  Prior to Smart you may have to go back to Josh White.

I would even put Huntsberry in there. Tristan Thompson was another one