SMU (2/11/24)

dodgefan · February 11

I have only seen SMU play the two times we played them, how have they won 16 or 17 games? Like I said, I've only seen them twice, but they just don't look that good.

UNTethered Eagle · February 11

3 hours ago, Censored by Laurie said:

tears in groins and hammies are usually a month-minimum. anywhere.

I hear you, depends on where the tear is and the severity, of which we are not privy to.

These injuries are difficult to treat as they almost always strains from untreated biomechanical faults. Hence the tissue needs to heal but you also need to fix what set up the injury in the first place.

When Jones made a brief appearance a few games ago he almost immediately aggregated it when he played full speed.

Edited February 11 by UNTethered Eagle

Big Z · February 11

Stone plays 26 mins and can’t even score 2 points?

Pathetic

HoosMeanGreen · February 11

1 hour ago, TIgreen01 said:

Edwards is awesome, but if we need a three with the last shot he can’t create it. We need to draw up better late game offensive set plays. We got by the last several years with Hamlet and Perry creating shots. Coaches need to step it up to fill the void because that guy isn’t on the team.

You must have missed the end of the game. Edwards created his own 3 pt shot at the end of the game and missed it. It literally went in & out. Now if you want to discuss how we go from the 9:00 minute mark to 2:49 before he gets going, then I’m all ears. Too many close games lost to not look over at the bench and ask questions.

HoosMeanGreen · February 11

53 minutes ago, dodgefan said:

I have only seen SMU play the two times we played them, how have they won 16 or 17 games? Like I said, I've only seen them twice, but they just don't look that good.

1. They are good.

2. Our style of play muddies the water and makes good teams look “not so good”.

3. They play good defense & can score. They don’t predicate their success with one side of the ball, but both.

Another moral victory for the good guys. We were right there until the end.

HoosMeanGreen · February 11

1 hour ago, NT93 said:

I guess we’re officially middle of the pack, but the difference between #1 through #7 is so, so small. There is absolutely no margin for error, yet we’re still competing against the best in the conference.

I would be interested to see a stat that shows how many minutes of each game each team in the conference has been winning. It’s maddening how much we’ve been leading in most conference games only to lose in the end. And I’d say missing two starters, or lack of depth, play a big part in that.

You play the Top 10 teams in the country. You lose each game by 1. Are you a good team or a bad team?

Your record is 0-10. I can’t remember the last time there was an 0-10 team that many considered to be a good team.

Good teams find a way to win & bad teams find a way to lose. #OhhAndTin

BleedingGreen · February 11

It’s ok to be disappointed. Ok to make suggestions. I am glad we are in the position of having had so much recent success to then feel this way.

All of the players in the game play their hard and give 100% . I am grateful for them. . A few on the bench and 1 playing is not at this level is all .

With a healthy Rubin and CJ , no doubt we had a legit chance to win the regular season title and conference tournament.

HoosMeanGreen · February 12

4 minutes ago, BleedingGreen said:

It’s ok to be disappointed. Ok to make suggestions. I am glad we are in the position of having had so much recent success to then feel this way.

All of the players in the game play their hard and give 100% . I am grateful for them. . A few on the bench and 1 playing is not at this level is all .

With a healthy Rubin and CJ , no doubt we had a legit chance to win the regular season title and conference tournament.

Hoo is the one playing that you feel is not at this level? I think everyone that plays is “at this level”.

This team was 5-5 with a healthy Rubin & CJ. This team limped into conference play at 7-5 (Thank you UT-Arlington & LSU Shreveport). I am not trying to “troll”, but what makes you think that those 2 are the missing piece to a legit shot at the regular season title or conference championship? Again, not trolling. But if you know something that can give me hope, then I’m all ears.

Edited February 12 by HoosMeanGreen

BleedingGreen · February 12

4 minutes ago, HoosMeanGreen said:

Hoo is the one playing that you feel is not at this level? I think everyone that plays is “at this level”.

I think Stone would be a solid contributor at a Southland conference or similar level school. He handled his role in CUSA but American conference is now a cut above his level.

BleedingGreen · February 12

10 minutes ago, HoosMeanGreen said:

Hoo is the one playing that you feel is not at this level? I think everyone that plays is “at this level”.

This team was 5-5 with a healthy Rubin & CJ. This team limped into conference play at 7-5 (Thank you UT-Arlington & LSU Shreveport). I am not trying to “troll”, but what makes you think that those 2 are the missing piece to a legit shot at the regular season title or conference championship? Again, not trolling. But if you know something that can give me hope, then I’m all ears.

If we had CJ and RJ healthy, we would have been able to close out all of these recent close losses. I think a similar run as the NIT would be possible to win the conference tournament this year with them.

HoosMeanGreen · February 12

5 minutes ago, BleedingGreen said:

If we had CJ and RJ healthy, we would have been able to close out all of these recent close losses. I think a similar run as the NIT would be possible to win the conference tournament this year with them.

I hear what you are saying, but based on what? The 5-5 is a large enough sample size. 4 of the 5 losses looked just like today.

GMG_Dallas · February 12

3 hours ago, Greendylan said:

We've played 6 games against the top 5 teams in the conference and have won 1 of those games. 6 games is statistically significant to say we are not among those top teams. Could be a different story with a healthier roster, but at this point it is what it is, sadly.

You do realize players aren't injured forever, right? You just have to get healthy at the right time. We've only won a single game against a top team but even with injuries, we haven't been blown out against anybody but Charlotte on the road. We've actually led most of the game in most of those losses while shorthanded. This UNT squad is a group that can go 4 wins in 4 days if Rubin and CJ get healthy which I think they will. Every team in the conference should be terrified of the Mean Green come March. Battling injury is not the same as not being a contender.

Again, terrible take.

BigWillie · February 12

5 hours ago, Censored by Laurie said:

only 8 fouls called in the first half. anyone else bracing for the refs to really try to shine in the second half?

This is exactly what happened. A couple of bad calls late again.

5 hours ago, CMJ said:

NT 46 ---------- SMU 39

16:00 to go

Increasing the lead, but I do not like us playing this fast paced scrambling style. Not our game.

Yes, looking at the scoreboard, I am not sure why we have started to give up so many points. It's like we are trying a different strategy without Rubin and CJ.

4 hours ago, Greendylan said:

Sadly, this is not going to be a "wait until the conference tournament" kind of year. I think it's safe to say at this point that we are no longer contenders. Injuries may have a lot to do with that, but that's just where we are one way or another, which is middle of the pack.

I think everyone has already addressed how this didn't make sense, so I will just echo their sentiments.

4 hours ago, Hunter Green said:

Oh, I disagree. You can't expect more when you have two starters out. All of our losses can be attributed to lack of depth at the skill positions.

Exactly. Imagine losing one of your best defenders, avg of 10 points a game and another body that can give others a rest to close out games. Injuries make a huge diff.

NT80 · February 12

7 hours ago, Greendylan said:

We've played 6 games against the top 5 teams in the conference and have won 1 of those games. 6 games is statistically significant to say we are not among those top teams. Could be a different story with a healthier roster, but at this point it is what it is, sadly.

Disagree. The losses were by 12, 3, 3, 5, and 3 pts. Three of the losses were on the road. We led several of the games for majority of the game. Bad endings mostly.

NT80 · February 12

7 hours ago, UNTFan23 said:

Who, on our bench, would you propose we play more?

Allen!

Allen = 16 points, Sissoko = 2

greenminer · February 12

Continually amazed how competitive we are despite CJ/Rubin out.

I think any other team would be decimated with similar injuries/limitations and collapse. But not us. Not Hodge.

I don't know about y'all, but I'm entering emotional cruise control until the tournament starts, when hopefully we are 100%.

greenminer · February 12

7 hours ago, dodgefan said:

I have only seen SMU play the two times we played them, how have they won 16 or 17 games? Like I said, I've only seen them twice, but they just don't look that good.

SMU is good, we are just really good at making teams look bad.

BigWillie · February 12

1 hour ago, greenminer said:

Continually amazed how competitive we are despite CJ/Rubin out.

I think any other team would be decimated with similar injuries/limitations and collapse. But not us. Not Hodge.

I don't know about y'all, but I'm entering emotional cruise control until the tournament starts, when hopefully we are 100%.

This is exactly my feelings too! Let's just try and get that 4th spot if we can.

DentonStang · February 12

13 hours ago, dodgefan said:

I have only seen SMU play the two times we played them, how have they won 16 or 17 games? Like I said, I've only seen them twice, but they just don't look that good.

Correct.

Bad? No.

Particularly good? Also no.

Very..... Meh.

Big Z · February 12

Channel 4 Fox good day showing highlights from the game here in 5 mins

MeanGreenTexan · February 12

Guys ran out of gas yesterday, and still played at team that color-commentator Mark Adams said he expects to win the AAC.
As we've seen over & over (and as @greenminer has already stated), NT's style makes good teams look bad. So if the only time you ever watch another team is when they play NT... they're going to look bad, even if they win.

Once we're back to full strength, I anticipate not running out of gas late in these close games, and instead, digging out W's.

SMU2006 · February 12

Good game (and a really strong contingent of UNT fans at Moody).

I don't know that SMU is "good". I think we're wildly inconsistent and have really struggled late in games. Double digit halftime lead at Memphis that ended up as a loss. Losses to Wisconsin, Arizona State, and Dayton where we had the lead late in the second half. SMU has really struggled closing out games and finding consistent scoring outside of Zurich Phelps.

Before the season I was hoping for 20 wins and the NIT. I think that's still attainable but we'll see.

NT80 · February 12

1 hour ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Once we're back to full strength, I anticipate not running out of gas late in these close games, and instead, digging out W's.

Developing and playing more of the roster early in the season would totally help this. Being out of gas or not having enough players to finish should never be a reason to lose in basketball when you can carry 15.

Shark84 · February 12

8 hours ago, BigWillie said:

This is exactly my feelings too! Let's just try and get that 4th spot if we can.

We would probably have to win out to have a shot at the 4th seed. I don't see that happening. We just need to get healthy and try to get at least the 5th seed. That is possible. It would give us the highest seed left in the second round. Hopefully Rubin and CJ can play in the last couple of conference games in March to get back up to game speed.

Greendylan · February 12

13 hours ago, BigWillie said:

This is exactly what happened. A couple of bad calls late again.

Yes, looking at the scoreboard, I am not sure why we have started to give up so many points. It's like we are trying a different strategy without Rubin and CJ.

I think everyone has already addressed how this didn't make sense, so I will just echo their sentiments.

Exactly. Imagine losing one of your best defenders, avg of 10 points a game and another body that can give others a rest to close out games. Injuries make a huge diff.

1. I don't think there's anything inherently illogical about the sentiment that seeding in conference tournaments matters. When you don't get the advantage of a double bye and thus have to play more games, while also not having the chance of upsets allowing you to avoid the best teams, that's a huge disadvantage. Look, when healthy, I think we have as good of a chance as anyone to win the AAC. We have a great roster and a great coach, and they have a tough style of play that has almost let them sneak out some big wins despite the absence of multiple starters. But, I just don't think that any team in the AAC is good enough to win the conference tournament from the 7 seed or lower, which is where our current trajectory suggests we will be at the end of the regular season. I should have more clearly emphasized from the start that my frustration is with the really unfortunate luck of the injuries during a critical stretch--not an indictment of the program as a whole or something like that.

2. I'm not disagreeing with the point that "injuries make a huge difference." In fact, that's exactly my point, which is why I also said the following:

18 hours ago, Greendylan said:

Oh, I completely agree, but this seems to be the roster we have to work with for the foreseeable future. The odds of any team winning the tournament from the 7-9 seed (or somewhere around there) is extremely low, even if we do get guys back then. It's no one's fault...just the present reality.