Why Did We Lose?

[UNTflyer]

Did the Memphis fan's see him? We have a lot of respect for JJ but you won't see much for Tic from our camp.

I don't know. He was with his wife and a couple other people. A reporter came over to interview him and asked "Is it hard for you to watch this game?"

I will say this... a few times there it seemed he and his guests were cheering for the Mean Green.

[UNTflyer]

I saw some of the guys on Bourbon Street tonight. I told them I was proud of them and they had a helluva season.

I just hope the fans that came out this week will be there next season. We need some major support for this team. We proved that we CAN run with the big guys. Many people stopped me today on Bourbon Street and asked "Hey, did you guys win? I saw that you were leading...." and "Hey, it was a respectable loss. You guys hung tight."

I am very proud to be Mean and Green.

[class84]

It comes down to depth. Bell was good, but we had nobody to run the point when he was out with foul trouble. Wooden and Williams were very good inside, but Stewart and Howerton were out of their league (though they played hard). Davis wasn't effective, but there was no one to come in and pick up the slack. Sturns is supposed to be that guy, but he's too erratic.

Our starting five played them even. The advantage of being a top 10 program is that you can bring High School All-Americans off the bench and not lose a beat. We're not deep enough to do that.

[NCMeanGreen]

Not to really put major blame on any individual players, but Sturns, Bell, and Young contributed very little to the bottom line and we made too many mistakes to overcome their pressure D on our 3 point game. We looked good most of the game, especially the big guys, but we just couldn't quite get over the hump. Those runs, not the pulled pork kind, will get you every time.

Huh????

[TIgreen01]

It comes down to depth. Bell was good, but we had nobody to run the point when he was out with foul trouble. Wooden and Williams were very good inside, but Stewart and Howerton were out of their league (though they played hard). Davis wasn't effective, but there was no one to come in and pick up the slack. Sturns is supposed to be that guy, but he's too erratic.

Our starting five played them even. The advantage of being a top 10 program is that you can bring High School All-Americans off the bench and not lose a beat. We're not deep enough to do that.

I agree! I have been impressed with Bell and Wooden the most this last month. Wooden looks like he's ready for a breakout season next year and Bell is just a solid, smart PG....which is something that we haven't had since I've been following this program. JJ's teams(guards specifically) always seem to struggle with the press, but this team did well until the bench came into play. We're a player or two away from making some serious noise.

[BleedGreen]

Not to discredit Memphis as they looked great, but there were certainly areas were we came up short. If you were JJ what would you praise the guys for and what would you work on with them?

Easy answer - Look at the Memphis roster on their website. At least 4 of them came from Prep Schools, which means they did not academically qualify out of high school. Then, they went to a prep school where they were "GIVEN" high grades so they could then move on to Memphis and play basketball full-time. In the post game interivews, one of the kids said something to the effect of..."I had to step up because otherwise, I would have had to go back to class and I definitely didn't didn't want to do that."

Long story short....UNT is a team of student athletes. Memphis is a group of athletes many of whom have no intention of being a student. If you get a chance, watch HBO's Real Sports feature on prep schools. That shoudl tell you everything you need to know.

I am proud of our kids for who they are. The kids at Memphis for the most part will never amount to anything except for maybe 1 NBA spare.

[GoMeanGreen1999]

Long story short....UNT is a team of student athletes. Memphis is a group of athletes many of whom have no intention of being a student. If you get a chance, watch HBO's Real Sports feature on prep schools. That shoudl tell you everything you need to know.

You might look up the graduation rates of the two schools before proclaiming that one. I know ours are low for the bball team. I don't know what Memphis' are, but the NCAA it implementing a new rule next season where if a team doesn't have at least a 15% graduation rate, they will lose a scholarship.

[NT03]

NCAA it implementing a new rule next season where if a team doesn't have at least a 15% graduation rate, they will lose a scholarship

.

It's about time they did something about this. Still just 15% is sad , but a start. The college basketball game is a joke in the sense that most players just put on the jersey and have nothing else tied to their school. I think it should be at the very least 25%. Does anyone really think that Greg Oden has ever attended a class at Ohio St. ???

The term student-athlete is a lost art in most cases

[CMJ]

Graduation rates are a tad skewed however, because transfers count against you.

[NT03]

Graduation rates are a tad skewed however, because transfers count against you.

A tad yes , but still the NCAA should be ashamed of themselves. Schools who play by the rules and actually want their kids to succeed in life outside of sports should be rewarded with more scholarships than the "semi-pro" schools.

[CMJ]

A tad yes , but still the NCAA should be ashamed of themselves. Schools who play by the rules and actually want their kids to succeed in life outside of sports should be rewarded with more scholarships than the "semi-pro" schools.

Just think of how many transfers would count against us though. Between JUCO pickups and true transfers, quite a few.

[chrisfisher]

The biggest problem I thought we had was handling the full court press. I was very disappointed to see us regress from the regular season in that respect. It appeared over the past 5-8 games we had solved that problem. We adapted to this inbounding the ball to a Ben Bell that ran full speed in front of the throw-in person, and would take off up court with the ball.... no hesitation, no holding the ball for several seconds checking several different players to inbound the ball too...the only way to stop Bell on his run by was to foul him... if Bell got trapped once he received the ball, we'd have a player waiting for the pass back.... during the Memphis game, we did the old scheme that didn't work: send 2 or 3 guys to receive the inbounds while standing still or trying to make a quick move left of right... Memphis is too fast/skilled for that.. And once we finally inbounded the ball, we looked very disorganized. I was completely perplexed as to why we handled the full court press like this. It seemed like everything they learned over the season on this got thrown out the window. Despite this, I was very proud of our team, and felt we had a real chance to win for 75% of the game.

Edited March 18, 2007 by chrisfisher

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

It comes down to depth. Bell was good, but we had nobody to run the point when he was out with foul trouble. Wooden and Williams were very good inside, but Stewart and Howerton were out of their league (though they played hard). Davis wasn't effective, but there was no one to come in and pick up the slack. Sturns is supposed to be that guy, but he's too erratic.

Our starting five played them even. The advantage of being a top 10 program is that you can bring High School All-Americans off the bench and not lose a beat. We're not deep enough to do that.

That was the difference in the game. Memphis got 31 points from their bench...we got 4. Sturns is the best sixth man in the Belt but he didn't answer the call in this game. He is our leading scorer per minute played but he only had two points. We missed his point production and his turnovers helped ignite Memphis.

On the other hand, their #15 played an outstanding game. He scored well and played a good hustle game. We had three more turnovers and fouled a few more times, mostly in an effort to step up the defense and try to get back in the game. That would have been enough to lose to a team as good as Memphis but we had good effort and could've made it tight.

Hey, we were playing the #5 team in the nation. It would not surprise me if they won it all.

[Guest Aquila_Viridis]

It came down to a handful of plays, and they were of an assortment; there is no one thing in particular. Some of you guys are saying 'we didn't handle the press'. They pressed the whole game and right, sometimes we didn't handle it, but that was bound to happen some.

The competition was tough. Memphis has spent a LOT more on their program. They have a big-name coach and they have some really good players. Not a whole lot would have to change, though, for there to have been a different outcome. And that says that we also have a great coach and some really good players.

Even though we did not win, it was a great experience, and it was great experience for our program. It was a great feeling being part of the North Texas contingent.

Memphis has spent great gobs of money on their sports programs compared to North Texas. Yet that is not going to assure them of a long advance in the tournament and it has not done them a whole lot in football. They are simply out of their minds about getting into the Big East so they can play Louisville again; so much so, that during their conference tournament, which they hosted, they were publicly bashing their current conference. It was not endearing. I guess if all the spending eventually gets them there then we can see the justification in it. The caution though about a 'wait and see' attitude would be that if opportunities come up, we would not want someone else to be in a better position to capitalize on it.

[MootPoint]

Regardless of stat lines, I think Ben Bell played his heart out. He carried that team when he was in, as any point guard should. Williams and Wooden both played strong and didn't back down; Howerton also gave some good minutes. Bottom line, they all played to win and the effort was there. I agree there were turnovers and a lot of unnecessary mistakes, but I think they all realize that and they know they had what it takes to play with Memphis and know what to work on to improve. Great season for the team and hoping they can keep it going next year.

[chrisfisher]

I am sooooooooo excited about next season. We have some key loses in Watson, Davis, and Young, but I think with Quincy, Wooden, Stewart, and Bell significantly developing as the season progressed, we will be a force to be reckoned with next year - especially in the post positions. Quincy, and especially Wooden, played spectacularly against a Top 10 team in the nation in Memphis... imagine how they will play next season against lesser opponents or even our tougher OOC play. Damn I'm going to be bored for a while! 2007-2008 basketball can't start soon enough!

Edited March 19, 2007 by chrisfisher