Jonnie Jones Article From North Texas Daily

[chrisfisher]

Article from The North Texas Daily: NT basketball hopes for conference bid........Johnny Jones, head coach of the NT men's basketball team, stood solemnly on the side of the court and watched as his players took a few jump shots after their first practice on Friday night. "We're ways away from winning anything right now," Jones said, "but we're capable of getting to that NCAA tournament level of game play. We're a ways away … but we're going to get there." There was a slew of benefits that came from the NCAA tournament appearance last year. Recruiting was boosted and Jones was awarded a five-year contract extension. There are big expectations for last year's heroes of the hardwood, eight months removed from the ill-fated game against the University of Memphis, "Last year it set the bar for us," said junior guard Adam McCoy. "Now we want more. You expect to go back to the tournament and that's what we're going to do. I don't think there'll be anybody stopping us." McCoy wasn't around for the Eagles Cinderella-esque run at an NCAA tournament bid last year. While the Mean Green was in New Orleans, McCoy was a student in Mesa Community College. After the season ended, McCoy transferred to NT and is now a likely candidate for a starting position. McCoy is one of many new faces on the team this year. Of the 14 players on the roster, exactly half of them are either new to the team or new to the starting rotation. However, they have experience where it's most needed. Three of last year's five starters return this year: senior guard Ben Bell, senior forward Keith Wooden and senior forward Quincy Williams. The three have a combined 90 total starts, 2,653 minutes of playing time and 754 points scored. All in all, they accounted for about 30 percent of the total offensive production last season. Everything else came off the stellar play of now-graduated Kendrick Davis and Calvin Watson. "We got three guys that are back, we feel we have a great nucleus of guys that are returning that played very valuable minutes for us last year," Jones said. "At the same time, we did a good job of going out and recruiting and getting those guys that are going to do well with the type of basketball we play. "Should injury or bad fortune befall one of the starters, there is talent waiting at the end of the bench. New blood has been imported from the Bayou. Among the new, talented recruits is freshman guard Josh White. White attended Christian Life Academy in Baton Rouge, La., and was named a three-time Louisiana All-State selection at point guard for Christian Life. He was also named the 10th-best player in the state of Louisiana by Rivals.com. He has been part of two national and eight state championships in club and high school competition. The downside? He's only 5'10'', giving him the label as the shortest player on the team. The team roams the Super Pit with a high work ethic and even higher expectations. Even so, they keep in mind that nothing will be handed to them. "The level of intensity our guys are playing with at this point in the season is astonishing," Jones said. "They're putting forth the effort. We're executing new things that we put in. For the first practice, I was proud that we were looking as smooth as we did."

Edited October 17, 2007 by chrisfisher