Basketball: Unt Ready To Get Back On The Court

[mgsteve]

Start of practice will highlight new faces

06:45 AM CDT on Friday, October 12, 2007

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

Quincy Williams has yet to play anything more than a pickup game with the recruits who arrived at North Texas in the months following the Mean Green’s NCAA Tournament appearance.

What little he has seen of the six-man class has Williams excited about what the group could accomplish this season. UNT will begin preparing for its encore to a campaign in which is set a school record for wins while finishing 23-11 at 7 p.m. today when it opens preseason practice at the Super Pit. The workout is open to the public.

“I am very impressed with our new players,” said Williams, a senior forward. “Coach [Johnny] Jones has brought in a lot of talent with great guard play and a couple of good big guys. Practice is going to be competitive and that was the coaches are looking for.”

Williams isn’t the only one with a high opinion. The consensus among recruiting analysts and the team's staff is the class is the best UNT has landed during Jones’ seven-year tenure, in terms of its overall ranking and the individual accolades some of the players have received.

Point guard Josh White was rated the 10th-best recruit in the state of Louisiana last season by Rivals.com, while shooting guard Tristan Thompson and Arizona State transfer George Odufuwa were both ranked in the top 20 in Texas in the Class of 2006 by Texashoops.com.

Adam McCoy was one of the top 3-point shooters among junior college players last season at Mesa (Ariz.) Community College, and Kendrick Hogans earned a scholarship from UNT after improving his stock late in the summer while playing in AAU tournaments.

UNT added one final piece when Dez Willingham, a key contributor for SMU last year, transferred to UNT for his senior season. Willingham will be eligible right away because he has already graduated from SMU and enrolled in a graduate program at UNT that is not offered at SMU.

"It has been difficult for us to get the quality of kids that we have gotten this year,” Jones said. “There are several reasons why we were able to do it. We put in a lot of hard work, have stability and got a lot of exposure from going to the NCAA Tournament.”

Recruiting analyst Mike Kunstadt of Texashoops.com said Thompson and Odufuwa were mid-major to high-major prospects coming out of high school and are great pickups for UNT.

Jones was particularly pleased with the balance in the class. UNT signed a pair of frontcourt players in Odufuwa and Hogans, a point guard in White and three players who are expected to play on the wing in Willingham, McCoy and Thompson.

UNT also addressed immediate and long-term needs. Odufuwa will sit out the upcoming season after transferring and should help fill the void left by the graduation of Williams and Keith Wooden, a pair of senior frontcourt players.

UNT’s guards are expected to make a more immediate impact.

“All really good teams have great guard play,” Jones said. “This class will give us exceptional guard play.”

UNT’s season could depend on it.

The Mean Green is expected to rely more on its frontcourt players for scoring this season, with Wooden and Williams forming one of the top interior duos in the Sun Belt Conference. To approach the level it reached last season, UNT will have to complement that presence inside with solid play on the perimeter.

UNT thrived from the outside last season with Sun Belt Tournament Most Outstanding Player Calvin Watson and fellow seniors Kendrick Davis and Rich Young, along with sixth man Michael Sturns, who transferred after last season.

The amount of playing time up for grabs on the wing increased when UNT decided to redshirt Collin Mangrum this season to let him recover from a series of injuries.

Jones expects Willingham to benefit the most from the extra playing time that is available.

“Coach Jones said I will play both the one [point guard] and two [shooting guard], but I just want to do what it takes to win,” Willingham said. “I feel comfortable out there on the wing.”

White is expected to back up senior point guard Ben Bell, who will groom the freshman to take his place in the starting lineup next year.

“I am really excited about being a part of this class,” White said. “The guys that we have coming in are going to help us out a lot this year. We should be real talented offensively. We just have to focus on defense to win games. We have more than enough guys who can score.”

The only concern for UNT could be how its recruiting class will fit in with what is largely a rebuilt team. The Mean Green not only brought in a recruiting class of six players -- five of whom will play this season -- it is also trying to incorporate Collin Dennis into its lineup for the first time.

Dennis transferred to UNT from South Florida and sat out last season.

“It’s a concern when you turn the roster over, but we have a lot of older players who will be able to help the younger guys,” Willingham said. “They know what it takes and how hard you have to work to get to the NCAA Tournament.”

The newcomers will begin to learn those lessons today.

“The guys in this recruiting class have big roles to play,” Jones said.

North Texas newcomers

Name Pos. Prev. school

Kendrick Hogans F New Orleans Karr

Adam McCoy G Mesa (Ariz) CC

George Odufuwa F Arizona State

Tristan Thompson G Brewster (N.H.) Academy

Josh White G Baton Rouge (La.) Christian Life

Dez Willingham G SMU

Edited October 12, 2007 by mgsteve

[chrisfisher]

I can't tell everyone how excited I am about this upcoming basketball season. We are loaded with talent. I hope they gel well. I know my daughter wishes the season would start too... everyone morning I remind her how many more days until we go to our first b-ball game of the season