A Hypothetical

NorthTexasSportsNetwork · January 24, 2024

1 hour ago, CMJ said:

How was Mitchell not a good player? He should have been POTY as a freshman and probably didn't only because he was an underclassman. His sophomore season was a disappointment, but it was for the whole team.

Mitchell is the best athlete, in terms of skill and athleticism, this program has ever seen. The thing is, I'm not sure he would be able to work with a Grant/Ross with the discipline aspect.

I picked Mitchell because he would dominate this conference, but Hamlet was something that we also don't have right now and how he could influence outcomes of games

Travis · January 24, 2024

12 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

Mitchell was the most talented athlete by a substantially margin. However, I would pick every other choice ahead of him to be on my team.

I am sure there are players that can duplicate the feat, but Mitchell is the only player I have ever seem dump a basketball with each hand in one jump to the basket.

Why would you pick everyone above him?

Travis · January 24, 2024

1 hour ago, NorthTexasSportsNetwork said:

Mitchell is the best athlete, in terms of skill and athleticism, this program has ever seen. The thing is, I'm not sure he would be able to work with a Grant/Ross with the discipline aspect.

I picked Mitchell because he would dominate this conference, but Hamlet was something that we also don't have right now and how he could influence outcomes of games

What makes you say that Mitchell wasn't disciplined?

greenminer · January 24, 2024

10 hours ago, outoftown said:

he never developed into that good a college player.

How was he not a good college player?

He broke records in blocks (they made a montage video, highlighting every block in the tournament). He should have been conference DPOTY. He probably would have gotten all-conference honors as a sophomore if the team wasn't such a catastrophe.

Benford was SO bad, even Mitchell's abilities couldn't offset that black hole of awful basketball that he (Benford) brought to the table.

Censored by Laurie · January 25, 2024

20 hours ago, Travis said:

What makes you say that Mitchell wasn't disciplined?

facial expressions and an unrealistic set of expectations for what one player could do night in and night out. if I had to guess.

Censored by Laurie · January 25, 2024

19 hours ago, greenminer said:

How was he not a good college player?

He broke records in blocks (they made a montage video, highlighting every block in the tournament). He should have been conference DPOTY. He probably would have gotten all-conference honors as a sophomore if the team wasn't such a catastrophe.

Benford was SO bad, even Mitchell's abilities couldn't offset that black hole of awful basketball that he (Benford) brought to the table.

exactly. he averaged 15-10-3blocks with good coaching...13-8.5-2.7 with awful coaching. as a freshman and sophomore.

everyone set the expectation that he'd give 25-15 a night and that every shot from the paint would end up three rows deep...so now because TM didn't live up to their unrealistic expectations they've allowed their memory of him to be a disappointment. it's really sad. dude was a treat.

Censored by Laurie · January 25, 2024

I'll add...man, going back through some of those Benford rosters...I have only scant memories of some of those dudes. I couldn't give you 10 words on Deckie Johnson. same for either Ja'Michael/J-Mychel. I think if the name Carrington Ward came up in conversation I'd have told you he was a free safety from '08 or so.

Keith Frazier I remember from some prolonged recruiting battles and constant speculation. I can't tell you anything about the FOUR games he actually played here. nor did I recall that he finished his career at UTEP.

what a time to be alive that was.

MeanGreenTexan · January 25, 2024

1 hour ago, Censored by Laurie said:

I'll add...man, going back through some of those Benford rosters...I have only scant memories of some of those dudes. I couldn't give you 10 words on Deckie Johnson. same for either Ja'Michael/J-Mychel. I think if the name Carrington Ward came up in conversation I'd have told you he was a free safety from '08 or so.

Keith Frazier I remember from some prolonged recruiting battles and constant speculation. I can't tell you anything about the FOUR games he actually played here. nor did I recall that he finished his career at UTEP.

what a time to be alive that was.

Jordan Williams, Jeremy Combs... the rest is a blur.

CMJ · January 25, 2024

Alzee Williams' last two seasons too. He was a big part of the reason Benford went 16-16 his second year. I wish we could have had Alzee's junior and senior years under a better regime - he was a very good player.

MeanGreenTexan · January 25, 2024

8 minutes ago, CMJ said:

Alzee Williams' last two seasons too. He was a big part of the reason Benford went 16-16 his second year. I wish we could have had Alzee's junior and senior years under a better regime - he was a very good player.

Definitely. Alzee was awesome. He would have absolutely fit right into Grant's/Ross' defensive regime as well.

I checked again and it looks like we got Wooly in during Benford's last season as well.

NorthTexasSportsNetwork · January 25, 2024

23 hours ago, Travis said:

What makes you say that Mitchell wasn't disciplined?

He had to be walked to class, so many off the court stuff and would not fit well with what Ross/Grant wanted in terms of play style etc

greenminer · January 25, 2024

Chris Jones, Jordan Williams.

And, a Mean Green alumn who is/was under appreciated: Roger Franklin

Censored by Laurie · January 25, 2024

2 hours ago, CMJ said:

Alzee Williams' last two seasons too. He was a big part of the reason Benford went 16-16 his second year. I wish we could have had Alzee's junior and senior years under a better regime - he was a very good player.

I loved Alzee so much. I don't recall anyone having quite the freshman-into-sophomore year come-up...went from purely playing for defense and averaging less than 2ppg to a double-digits scorer the rest of his career.

MeanGreen22 · January 25, 2024

4 hours ago, Censored by Laurie said:

exactly. he averaged 15-10-3blocks with good coaching...13-8.5-2.7 with awful coaching. as a freshman and sophomore.

everyone set the expectation that he'd give 25-15 a night and that every shot from the paint would end up three rows deep...so now because TM didn't live up to their unrealistic expectations they've allowed their memory of him to be a disappointment. it's really sad. dude was a treat.

Our only drafted player in the last 40 years btw. Dude was so incredible and naturally gifted.

Andrew · January 25, 2024

6 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Jordan Williams, Jeremy Combs... the rest is a blur.

Chris Jones, T.J. Taylor… almost every high school coach in the metroplex knew the UNT roster. Lot of Texas and local kids b Lea use Benford went to games and showed up and talked to high schools and coaches. He kept roots here even at TCU you could go to a HS 10 miles away and they know him or he has been there.

Edited January 25, 2024 by Andrew

Dannymacfan · January 25, 2024

Tony Mitchel and it is not even close.

Travis · January 26, 2024

14 hours ago, Censored by Laurie said:

facial expressions and an unrealistic set of expectations for what one player could do night in and night out. if I had to guess.

I guess so. All I know is when I lived in the same building with him and dealt with the team when he was here, I never saw anyone more basketball focused than him. Dude had more heart than many. Just from where I sat… which was kinda close 🤷🏻‍♂️

Travis · January 26, 2024

11 hours ago, NorthTexasSportsNetwork said:

He had to be walked to class, so many off the court stuff and would not fit well with what Ross/Grant wanted in terms of play style etc

I could definitely see class not being a big motivator for him…. It kinda makes me laugh because I think on it and am like… oh yeah, that totally happened.
But when people refer to discipline I don’t know if that is what they are usually referring to out of college athletes. As for BB, he seemed more dialed in than anyone on the team.
what other off the field stuff are you referring to?
What I saw when I was around was that players seemed to like him a lot. That team of Jones last and benford first was closer and more cohesive than any other I witnessed while I was there. At least again, from my perspective.
The players seemed to respect him and like him a lot. And Tony on several occasions took the blame for things I know he didn’t do just to protect his guys. I admired him a lot more than many other players that came and gone.