When are we going to hear some good news?

GrandGreen · April 11

13 hours ago, Jonnyeagle said:

Are you kidding? Indiana State lost their entire starting lineup and 3 others (8 total) to the portal. There are plenty of other examples. Saint Louis just lost Bradley Ezewiro and Djordje Curcic. They already lost Gibson Jimerson, Sincere Parker, Cian Medley, Stef van Bussel and Abou Magassa to the portal. Arkansas lost basically their entire team. There are too many to post.

Not kidding, you realize that all three programs you mentioned will have new coaches next year? If you did not notice, I qualified my statement by citing without a coaching change.

Now start over, and give me examples of teams that have more turnover than NT without a coaching change.

UNTLifer · April 11

15 hours ago, Green Otaku said:

Players leaving due to coach leaving makes sense to me. You like that coach and he recruited you there, maybe you don't want to play in an unknown system. I understand those reasons. We are not in that situation, our coach is still here.

Again, you don’t have to look very far to find both examples.

Green Otaku · April 11

41 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Again, you don’t have to look very far to find both examples.

ECU is the other team sticks out in our conference. 7 in the portal, and it seems like they are cleaning house because that's a lot to lose for a team that didn't do well. We are losing 7 plus 1 commit, and more importantly 5 of those were our heaviest minute players. Looking around the conference:

Charlotte-3

ECU-7

FAU-6 lost coach

Memphis-4

Rice-6 fired coach

Temple-2

Tulane-4

Tulsa-3

UAB-2

USF-4

UTSA-3

WSU-4

We and ECU are definitely the outliers, and what I've read from them it sounds like they asked their players to leave so they could start fresh.

Edited April 11 by Green Otaku

GMoney · April 11

9 minutes ago, Green Otaku said:

ECU is the other team sticks out in our conference. 7 in the portal, and it seems like they are cleaning house because that's a lot to lose for a team that didn't do well. We are losing 7 plus 1 commit, and more importantly 5 of those were our heaviest minute players. Looking around the conference:

Charlotte-3

ECU-7

FAU-6 lost coach

Memphis-4

Rice-6 fired coach

Temple-2

Tulane-4

Tulsa-3

UAB-2

USF-4

UTSA-3

WSU-4

We and ECU are definitely the outliers, and what I've read from them it sounds like they asked their players to leave so they could start fresh.

Hey, we're number 1 again!

UNTLifer · April 11

Per 247:

OK St 4

OU 3

UT 5

TX Tech 5

ECU 8

Memphis 5

Temple 5

Tulsa 3

USF 4

WSU. 4

Green Otaku · April 11

13 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Per 247:

OK St 4

OU 3

UT 5

TX Tech 5

ECU 8

Memphis 5

Temple 5

Tulsa 3

USF 4

WSU. 4

Memphis has 4

Pierre

Young

Cherenfant

A. Hardaway

3-4 players seems normal, I don't see a single team up at 7 or more outside of ECU which I mentioned.

Green Otaku · April 11

22 minutes ago, GMoney said:

Hey, we're number 1 again!

GrandGreen · April 11

Thanks for the above, that demonstrates whatever is going on at NT is unusual.

Obviously, there is an explanation other than it is happening everywhere; because it is not to the extent it is at NT.

Shark84 · April 11

57 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

Thanks for the above, that demonstrates whatever is going on at NT is unusual.

Obviously, there is an explanation other than it is happening everywhere; because it is not to the extent it is at NT.

Do you expect to hear something from Hodge?

UNTLifer · April 11

2 hours ago, Green Otaku said:

Memphis has 4

Pierre

Young

Cherenfant

A. Hardaway

3-4 players seems normal, I don't see a single team up at 7 or more outside of ECU which I mentioned.

Per 247, the following players from Memphis have entered the portal:

Cherenfant

Young

Pierre

Taylor

Williams

Greendylan · April 11

2 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

Thanks for the above, that demonstrates whatever is going on at NT is unusual.

Obviously, there is an explanation other than it is happening everywhere; because it is not to the extent it is at NT.

Yeah, sadly, I fear that the answer is pretty simple: we have the worst NIL in the conference. Until that changes, we'll be sending Hodge into a gunfight with a knife. The further we get into the NIL era, the harder it's going to be to keep up the momentum from past success. At this point we're basically just hoping and praying that Hodge is a WAY better coach/recruiter/evaluater than his AAC counterparts. Even if he is really good at those things, we can't just expect him to pull off miracles every single season.

Green Otaku · April 11

34 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Per 247, the following players from Memphis have entered the portal:

Cherenfant

Young

Pierre

Taylor

Williams

Ah thanks. I thought it was some old transfer since he weirdly entered the portal since January. Seems like a strange thing to do.

MeanGreenZen · April 11

We seem to occupy a very unique and miserable position in the current NIL landscape.

1. Our players are very good.

2. Our collective doesn’t have much $ to pay them.

3. Other schools have collectives that are willing to pay them a lot more.

It is really pretty simple.

The only way for us to compete right now is to identify and acquire undervalued assets. And then when the marketplace puts greater value on those assets, we have to start over and do it again.

Unless any of you guys have a few million $$$ you want to send to Harry via bank draft…

I am certainly frustrated and disappointed with the current situation, but I have invested too much and care too deeply to bail on UNT basketball now.

It is just going to make it all the sweeter when we finally prevail.

Hunter Green · April 13

On 4/11/2024 at 4:09 PM, MeanGreenZen said:

We seem to occupy a very unique and miserable position in the current NIL landscape.

1. Our players are very good.

2. Our collective doesn’t have much $ to pay them.

3. Other schools have collectives that are willing to pay them a lot more.

It is really pretty simple.

The only way for us to compete right now is to identify and acquire undervalued assets. And then when the marketplace puts greater value on those assets, we have to start over and do it again.

Unless any of you guys have a few million $$$ you want to send to Harry via bank draft…

I am certainly frustrated and disappointed with the current situation, but I have invested too much and care too deeply to bail on UNT basketball now.

It is just going to make it all the sweeter when we finally prevail.

I think you've nailed it.

MeanGreen_MBA · April 13

On 4/11/2024 at 2:51 PM, Greendylan said:

Yeah, sadly, I fear that the answer is pretty simple: we have the worst NIL in the conference. Until that changes, we'll be sending Hodge into a gunfight with a knife. The further we get into the NIL era, the harder it's going to be to keep up the momentum from past success. At this point we're basically just hoping and praying that Hodge is a WAY better coach/recruiter/evaluater than his AAC counterparts. Even if he is really good at those things, we can't just expect him to pull off miracles every single season.

The problem with this, if Hodge is that good at recruiting over and over, in 2-2 years, he will be swooned away by $$$$ at a larger school.

Jonnyeagle · April 13

14 hours ago, MeanGreen_MBA said:

The problem with this, if Hodge is that good at recruiting over and over, in 2-2 years, he will be swooned away by $$$$ at a larger school.

I think that players who are leaving now are looking to cash out knowing that they probably won't be starters. That is the rub. The big P5 powers have the budget to throw around 100K like it is nothing and our guys can take that money and in their minds justifiably sit the bench. Tylor Perry was different, as he had the ability to start right away.

My point is that we need to go after guys that want to play ball and not sit the bench for money.

BigWillie · April 14

On 4/11/2024 at 2:51 PM, Greendylan said:

Yeah, sadly, I fear that the answer is pretty simple: we have the worst NIL in the conference. Until that changes, we'll be sending Hodge into a gunfight with a knife. The further we get into the NIL era, the harder it's going to be to keep up the momentum from past success. At this point we're basically just hoping and praying that Hodge is a WAY better coach/recruiter/evaluater than his AAC counterparts. Even if he is really good at those things, we can't just expect him to pull off miracles every single season.

The good ole "it's hard to recruit at North Texas". Football has been going through this for many, many years.

Not saying I disagree with you, just always comes back to that.

DeepGreen · April 14

On 4/11/2024 at 11:40 AM, GMoney said:

Hey, we're number 1 again!

handshake fist bump GIF

keith · April 15

Recruiting has gone from "We would really love to see you in a Mean Green uniform next year, you would fit in perfectly with the team and culture we are building at UNT. It's a wonderful academic institution with with many opportunities for a young (man or women) to take advantage of. We have excellent degree programs in your desired field of study and we are excited to offer you a four-year full ride scholarship to join our team" to "We would really love to see you in a Mean Green uniform next year and we're excited (or maybe embarrassed) to offer you a starting salary of $xxxxx."

rcade · April 16

What I don't understand: How do we know our NIL is underfunded compared to our conference mates and other peers when the financials don't have to be publicly reported?

GrandGreen · April 16

2 hours ago, rcade said:

What I don't understand: How do we know our NIL is underfunded compared to our conference mates and other peers when the financials don't have to be publicly reported?

Obviously, we fans do not know; how could anyone know? It maybe an excellent assumption just based on NT apparently can't keep anyone, but there is no way to verify this.

I can't believe that any of the AAC teams have a substantially edge in NIL funding other than Memphis and SMU. There is something else going on other than the NIL factor.

Has anyone else noticed that there are a great number of players entering the Portal, but at this time; very few have been identified as committing or signing with another team.

My guess or maybe just my hope is that NT is in much better shape than the fans recognize. Players have committed whether they are transfers, high schoolers, or those that have entered the portal and not found a better home.

Ross Hodgeson · April 16

7 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

Obviously, we fans do not know; how could anyone know? It maybe an excellent assumption just based on NT apparently can't keep anyone, but there is no way to verify this.

I can't believe that any of the AAC teams have a substantially edge in NIL funding other than Memphis and SMU. There is something else going on other than the NIL factor.

Has anyone else noticed that there are a great number of players entering the Portal, but at this time; very few have been identified as committing or signing with another team.

My guess or maybe just my hope is that NT is in much better shape than the fans recognize. Players have committed whether they are transfers, high schoolers, or those that have entered the portal and not found a better home.

Yes, I think in most cases players are testing the market to see what if anything they can pull in. I do not think UNT is waiting on players to come back and is focusing on immediate impact guys that can help us right away. It is a buyers market!

Shark84 · April 16

Heard that Edwards, Scott and Buggs were all visiting Memphis. Doubt that all three end up there but how weird would that be?

Green Otaku · April 16

13 hours ago, rcade said:

What I don't understand: How do we know our NIL is underfunded compared to our conference mates and other peers when the financials don't have to be publicly reported?

You can kind of read in between the lines and see teams like CLT and UAB that only lost a couple of players while having really strong years. Memphis is losing bench players and is picking up some really nice commits, and USF lost a good amount but already picked up a 4 star from Alabama. CLT got Rosado from FAU. UAB picked up a 4 star from Iona.

https://247sports.com/season/2024-basketball/transferportal/?institutionkey=24053

https://247sports.com/season/2024-basketball/transferportal/?institutionkey=24036

It's also the timing, you can guess that the early movers have been offered a good chunk of money, meaning the collectives have a good amount of money to spend. We haven't had much news until this part of the cycle, while other teams have already made moves on highly rated recruits.

Edited April 16 by Green Otaku

Green Otaku · April 16

2 hours ago, Shark84 said:

Heard that Edwards, Scott and Buggs were all visiting Memphis. Doubt that all three end up there but how weird would that be?

I saw that Scott was also visiting St. Johns, I guess they liked what they saw when we played them.