Monday Morning Scattershot

[Harry]

http://www.gomeangreen.com

[GrandGreen]

Have got to disagree with Harry on Kassell being the most deserving of this year's HOF class. Marilyn Marin was the best women's soccer player ever at NT and one of the best in the nation at the time. Chris Davis was not only one of the best basketball players in NT history but displayed the type of character that is very rare in athletics. Kelly was even before my time, so I won't comment on him; but if you were rating the athletes and their contribution to NT, I would favor both Marin and Davis over Kassell. Kassell was a great football player but I can think of many at NT that I would rate at his level or above. Marin dominated her sport at NT, she was selected as the Belt's all time best soccer player in 2006. Davis never played with much of a supporting cast at NT under the inept Trilli and JJ at the beginning of his NT career, but still managed to be arguably the best shooting guard NT has produced.

A very strong class this year with recent great players from soccer, football and basketball.

[greenminer]

Have got to disagree with Harry on Kassell being the most deserving of this year's HOF class. Marilyn Marin was the best women's soccer player ever at NT and one of the best in the nation at the time. Chris Davis was not only one of the best basketball players in NT history but displayed the type of character that is very rare in athletics. Kelly was even before my time, so I won't comment on him; but if you were rating the athletes and their contribution to NT, I would favor both Marin and Davis over Kassell. Kassell was a great football player but I can think of many at NT that I would rate at his level or above. Marin dominated her sport at NT, she was selected as the Belt's all time best soccer player in 2006. Davis never played with much of a supporting cast at NT under the inept Trilli and JJ at the beginning of his NT career, but still managed to be arguably the best shooting guard NT has produced.

A very strong class this year with recent great players from soccer, football and basketball.

I'll go with this, but purely for fun as I think they are all incredible and deserving...Hard to argue except that relative to their time, Chris Davis and MMarin were incredible players, but Kassell's impact on the football team cannot be overstated.

MMarin was so incredible, but UNT Soccer would have succeeded without her.

Davis, as great as he was, played on teams that could never quite get over that hump.

Just my own personal perception, based on meeting the team a couple times, so take it for what it's worth: when they walked onto the field, there was no player that commanded so much respect and made his team so much more than Kassell. His presence was unreal, and was probably the catalyst for one of the best 2 - 3 year LB corps I've ever seen, in addition to the rest of the D.

I vaguely recall there was a team meeting after the '01 LaMo loss, and it was Kassell who put it together and rallied the troops for what would inevitably the 4 year run. Maybe it was Kennedy or someone else. Someone correct me if I'm wrong...

Maybe I am glorifying him a bit, but I just wanted to throw 2 cents out there in favor of Kassell's impact.

All three were locks, anyways.

Edited July 28, 2008 by greenminer

[Coach]

I think all three were locks as well, and anyone who knows me at all knows there is no bigger Kassell fan.

However, I agree with Grand that if you were to make the statement that one of the three is most deserving, it would be between Davis and Marin.

The thing to remember is that Kassell was the football player of the three and the vast majority of members of this site are football focused with only infrequent passing interest in other sports, so to this audience, Kassell is the headliner.

[Censored by Laurie]

I mentioned in a previous post my appreciation for Marilyn Marin...and while those particular teams still would've been good, they wouldn't have been great and Hedlund would not have the prolonged success he has had without Marilyn.

As for Chris...what goes without mention too frequently is he easilly could've "upgraded" programs when JJ took over...if Deginald Erskin and Jason Miller landed scholarships at UT and OK State, respectivly, Davis would've had no problem transferring to a top tier program. Takes a lot of class to honor your commitment like he did, especially in the face of his teammates leaving

[emmitt01]

M. Marin is most deserving, hands down. She was one of the most prolific players in the history of her sport. Can you say that about Brad Kassell? Or any of them?