SMU (1/25/24)

[GMG_Dallas]

3 hours ago, TIgreen01 said:

Had to watch it on tv and that might be the first time I can remember ESPN announcing being that pumped and excited about anything UNT sports related.  They were literally slobbering over us.  It’s about damn time.  Loved it.  
 

Wish I could’ve been there in person…missed what looked like an epic atmosphere, and it absolutely came through on TV.

UNT alum was doing play-by-play on ESPN2. You know he had to be excited. He got to do his exact college job on national TV. 

"While enrolled in the Honors College, Emrich worked three years for North Texas Television and KNTU-FM, broadcasting Denton ISD football and UNT men's basketball games."

https://northtexan.unt.edu/issues/unt-alumnus-ted-emrich-fulfills-lifelong-goal-play-play-announcer

 

[GMG_Dallas]

53 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

Because SMU is our only Quad 2 win and if they jump into the top 30 in NET, last night will be a Quad 1 win. 

[meaniegreenie]

4 hours ago, GMG_Dallas said:

UNT alum was doing play-by-play on ESPN2. You know he had to be excited. He got to do his exact college job on national TV. 

"While enrolled in the Honors College, Emrich worked three years for North Texas Television and KNTU-FM, broadcasting Denton ISD football and UNT men's basketball games."

https://northtexan.unt.edu/issues/unt-alumnus-ted-emrich-fulfills-lifelong-goal-play-play-announcer

 

I think he's also the son of Roger Emrich who had a pretty good career as well.

https://www.newhopefh.com/obituaries/roger-emrich

 

[UNTLifer]

1 hour ago, meaniegreenie said:

I think he's also the son of Roger Emrich who had a pretty good career as well.

https://www.newhopefh.com/obituaries/roger-emrich

 

Correct. Called a good game. The color commentator was a little suspect. 

[Matt from A700]

So many thoughts to mention that I couldn't until now because of how slow the WiFi was at the Pit last night - a great problem to have!

• First off, what a crowd. This was a game everyone from the team to the fans and AD was circling from the start, and everyone did their part. Crowd stayed lively throughout the entire game even during our rough start (2 points in the first 6 minutes I think?). Sadly SMU only brought their retired folk who sat down the entire game, including the last couple of minutes. I imagine there could have been a few more hundred if this game started at 7 p.m.
• You couldn't have had a more competitive, back-and-forth game. Good to see SMU people on PonyFans acknowledge it as well. No team led by more than 5 points the entire game!
• Still struggling to break the press. SMU made us look bad quite a few times on both sides of the court. Credit to them for their athletic skill and defensive pressure. It felt like they had six defenders on the court. (Although in the second half it really felt they had eight players *hint hint hint*)
• Speaking of the three extra players, it was disappointing Aaron couldn't finish the game. Then Rubin's reinjury. Against a school infamous for paying players, it was *us* who put the game away with an all-transfer lineup.
• What a second half from Buggs, and overall performance from him in his first game back. He's a huge morale guy on the bench, it was great seeing him amped up on the court again. Those two late triples by Buggs might have been the loudest I've heard the Pit in my young life. Can't remember how it compared to Perry's dagger against LA Tech in the CUSA clincher a couple of years ago.
• Have to give credit to the program Mac and Hodge have built in Denton. Despite the bummer of a loss in Charlotte, the basketball team has continually won these big attendance games (outside of Virginia in the NIT) starting with the late CBI run, LA Tech, last night...
• I felt our tough start could be attributed to the pressure the guys were probably feeling. SMU knew they'd be in a hostile environment, no one would blame them for losing. Our guys were the team that had to go back it up. Now all the pressure shifts to SMU as they are 0-1 in the recently renewed series that will probably be ending again, and they are going to face a loud UNT fanbase in their own building.

[Matt from A700]

Just now, Matt from A700 said:

 

• I felt our tough start could be attributed to the pressure the guys were probably feeling. SMU knew they'd be in a hostile environment, no one would blame them for losing. Our guys were the team that had to go back it up. Now all the pressure shifts to SMU as they are 0-1 in the recently renewed series that will probably be ending again, and they are going to face a loud UNT fanbase in their own building.

So if you were on the fence before, get your asses to Moody on Super Bowl Sunday! Plenty of time to go to the game and get back home before the Big Game.

We are already 35+ strong in our group. This number does not count the UNT allotment given to player/team families and other fans who have already bought tickets - I've tried to reach as many on this board and Facebook. Lower level seating is now only available on resale websites, but if you want to get group discounted tickets in the second level, let me know and I'll reach out to the SMU rep about expanding our group. There are still bunches of 8-10+ seats in the second level ranging from $15 to $50 at group rates so we can still clump Mean Green fans together.

 

[FirefightnRick]

On 1/25/2024 at 8:32 PM, ADLER said:

Where are all our SMU trolls? Would they be missing if SMU had won?

And where were their fans?  I didn’t see 10 people in blue and red.  Really makes you wonder, other than just for no other reason than the exorbitant level of cash they have flowing to their athletes why any any of them would want to play for that program? To be ranked 32nd and can’t get anyone to travel 35 miles to see their team play, and a really good team at that?  That’s really something else.  

Still, it was a solid, never give up fighting win by this team that was All Good And All Green!

 

Rick

[meaniegreenie]

There's been a lot of great clips on Xwitter but just now saw this one for the first time.

Allen gonna' start selling "pony rides" for $100 NIL money.

Edited January 27 by meaniegreenie

[FirefightnRick]

On 1/25/2024 at 10:31 PM, MeanGreen22 said:

The “North! Texas!” chant isn’t something you ask for. It’s an organic cheer that comes when the fans feel it in the moment. The moment was absolutely perfect tonight. I wish the gameday ops people understood that and stopped trying to push it on us (often at weird times in the game). 

 

Rick

[Quoner]

10 hours ago, cousin oliver said:

I just don't get why you want to demean the attendance the day after such a great effort?  I get that there were other well attended games but maybe we should give it a couple of days.

Let Andrew count things in peace. It’s like a super power for him and he deserves to be happy. 

[97and03]

2 hours ago, meaniegreenie said:

There's been a lot of great clips on Xwitter but just now saw this one for the first time.

Allen gonna' start selling "pony rides" for $100 NIL money.

[NorthTexasWeLove]

17 hours ago, GMG_Dallas said:

Because SMU is our only Quad 2 win and if they jump into the top 30 in NET, last night will be a Quad 1 win. 

This is a quad 2 win that I wouldn't mind seeing turn into a quad 4 win. Realistically, we aren't getting an at-large. The committee has to make room for 14 loss SETHEE and Big10 teams. Nevertheless, the success of SMU has no measurable standard of continuing to develop and further grow the AAC basketball reputation as they are leaving. So, piss on them. If anything, commentators would comment on their struggles in the AAC last year in every TV broadcast they are on in the ACC next year. I'd much rather prefer that. On the contrary, commentators will comment next season how they were dominant in football last year while they lose 7 or so games, disparaging the AAC football reputation. They don't deserve a right of passage. They deserve to lose at everything at every turn. 

[GMG_Dallas]

2 hours ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

This is a quad 2 win that I wouldn't mind seeing turn into a quad 4 win. Realistically, we aren't getting an at-large. The committee has to make room for 14 loss SETHEE and Big10 teams. Nevertheless, the success of SMU has no measurable standard of continuing to develop and further grow the AAC basketball reputation as they are leaving. So, piss on them. If anything, commentators would comment on their struggles in the AAC last year in every TV broadcast they are on in the ACC next year. I'd much rather prefer that. On the contrary, commentators will comment next season how they were dominant in football last year while they lose 7 or so games, disparaging the AAC football reputation. They don't deserve a right of passage. They deserve to lose at everything at every turn. 

That's all fine but you never want your best win to turn into a bad win. I guarantee you not a single ACC team that beats Duke or UNC wants them to have a complete collapse and go on a big losing streak. 

[NorthTexasWeLove]

15 minutes ago, GMG_Dallas said:

That's all fine but you never want your best win to turn into a bad win. I guarantee you not a single ACC team that beats Duke or UNC wants them to have a complete collapse and go on a big losing streak. 

I understand. But the dynamics in this scenario are a little different. 

[GMG_Dallas]

40 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

I understand. But the dynamics in this scenario are a little different. 

My focus is on this conference getting 3 bids and making deep runs so we get more tournament units. If FAU and Memphis lose in the conference tourney but get at-large bids, I want our AQ (hopefully us) to get a decent seed. No, we're not getting an at large barring the complete collapse of a good 5-10 bubble teams but our seed can still go up depending on our resume as the AQ, if we get it. 

Edited January 27 by GMG_Dallas

[NorthTexasWeLove]

10 minutes ago, GMG_Dallas said:

My focus is on this conference getting 3 bids and making deep runs so we get more tournament units. If FAU and Memphis lose in the conference tourney but get at-large bids, I want our AQ (hopefully us) to get a decent seed. No, we're not getting an at large barring the complete collapse of a good 5-10 bubble teams but our seed can still go up depending on our resume as the AQ, if we get it. 

I get it what you're saying. We'll be a 9 or 10 loss mid-major AQ. That will put us around 23-9 or 22-10, which puts us around the 11-13 line regardless of what happens with SMU. SMU could run the table and we could beat them in the AAC tourney final, we'll still be on that same line.

[BigWillie]

18 hours ago, FirefightnRick said:

And where were their fans?  I didn’t see 10 people in blue and red.  Really makes you wonder, other than just for no other reason than the exorbitant level of cash they have flowing to their athletes why any any of them would want to play for that program? To be ranked 32nd and can’t get anyone to travel 35 miles to see their team play, and a really good team at that?  That’s really something else.  

Still, it was a solid, never give up fighting win by this team that was All Good And All Green!

 

Rick

This is the life of the rich. Pay for status. 

Wonder why they haven't ever considered hiring fans to come to the games for them! 🤔

[NT80]

55 minutes ago, BigWillie said:

This is the life of the rich. Pay for status. 

Wonder why they haven't ever considered hiring fans to come to the games for them! 🤔

[tmjerm]

On 1/25/2024 at 10:02 PM, UNTLifer said:

We were leading the conference in FT shooting entering the game. 

I heard them say that, but don’t you feel like we miss too many?

[NorthTexasWeLove]

32 minutes ago, tmjerm said:

I heard them say that, but don’t you feel like we miss too many?

If we're being negative...

Yes. But we're fans and every miss feels like 3 misses. A miss on the front end of a 1/1 feels like a gut punch. But we're generally pretty decent from the stripe. 

If I'm going to complain, I'm going to complain about our backcourt defense. There has been a lag this year. I'm also going to complain about rotational help being slightly slow. Those are much bigger areas of improvement than FT %. Now, we are less efficient on offense, but more explosive, and the drop in D can be contributed to that. 

[Matt from A700]

1 hour ago, tmjerm said:

I heard them say that, but don’t you feel like we miss too many?

The basket by the UNT bench was treating SMU as the home team. They got several favorable bounces in the first half that we were not able to reciprocate on any of our floaters or hook shots in the second half.

[UNTLifer]

7 hours ago, tmjerm said:

I heard them say that, but don’t you feel like we miss too many?

Yes, but the comment I was responding to made it sound like we have been weak from the line all year. 

[dodgefan]

On 1/26/2024 at 2:14 PM, dodgefan said:

That's the first time I have seen SMU play since Larry Brown or Jank was the coach, what has happened to their program? I don't even think they had a point guard did they?

As I was saying, SMU just lost to winless Wichita state, they are awful.