New Possibilty For The Last Scholarship?

[UNT90]

Only problem there is not one bit of evidence that Babb ever had NT on his radar. Just because a player is from the area does not mean that NT has a prayer of signing them. A lot of wishful thinking abundant on this board, but as far as I know there has been no interest at all from Babb, Morgan, or the player from Utah in NT. Carmouche is a good player and NT could do a lot worse than sign him. He is a proven upper Belt level player with two years to play. I think if he signs he will be instantly the favorite to start at the wing with Thompson.

JJ has done a great job, moving this program forward; but NT is not going to get too many highly ranked recruits with the support that he has gotten at NT. A Belt school with a very generously counted average attendance of 2,600 for a program that has two NCAA tournament appearances and four 20+ seasons is not going to excite many four star recruits.

While I agree that attendance needs to improve, keeping expectations low doesn't help. I was hoping for Morgan due to his dad's connection to UNT, but I never thought we had a shot at Babb.

Morgan is the type of tranfer that we landed recently in Wooden, Odufuwa and the like. He may have been rated higher coming out of high school, but for a BAD UCLA team this year he did bubkus. What you do means more than how high you rate out of high school. If he doesn't somehow end up at UNT, I wouldn't be surprised to see him at SMU, TCU, or one of the Southland schoools. I doubt any schools in the big 6 conferences will have interest.

You have to win, win consistently, and beat ranked, big 6 schools if you want attendance to increase. 2 out of 3 so far. It also helps if you have a home schedule that isn't more boring than drying paint.

[Censored by Laurie]

While I agree that attendance needs to improve, keeping expectations low doesn't help. I was hoping for Morgan due to his dad's connection to UNT, but I never thought we had a shot at Babb.

Morgan is the type of tranfer that we landed recently in Wooden, Odufuwa and the like. He may have been rated higher coming out of high school, but for a BAD UCLA team this year he did bubkus. What you do means more than how high you rate out of high school. If he doesn't somehow end up at UNT, I wouldn't be surprised to see him at SMU, TCU, or one of the Southland schoools. I doubt any schools in the big 6 conferences will have interest.

You have to win, win consistently, and beat ranked, big 6 schools if you want attendance to increase. 2 out of 3 so far. It also helps if you have a home schedule that isn't more boring than drying paint.

I love Odufuwa and Wooden, but they were both 3 star recruits at best...Morgan was a 5...if the 1 year rule hadn't been in place he'd probably have gone straight to the league and would've been a top 25 draft pick. He may've sucked at UCLA, but I promise you that his ego wouldn't have let him to "stoop" to UNT...and certainly not any of the area schools or the Southland.

Again, mark it, he'll end up at a mediocre power conference school (like maybe LSU) or playing in Europe.

I also doubt highly this is a case of lowered expectations on the part of the coaching staff...no doubt they contacted Babb and Morgan and Tucker and Henderson and a whole slew of other players...but they have to show interest as well.

[UNT90]

I love Odufuwa and Wooden, but they were both 3 star recruits at best...Morgan was a 5...if the 1 year rule hadn't been in place he'd probably have gone straight to the league and would've been a top 25 draft pick. He may've sucked at UCLA, but I promise you that his ego wouldn't have let him to "stoop" to UNT...and certainly not any of the area schools or the Southland.

Again, mark it, he'll end up at a mediocre power conference school (like maybe LSU) or playing in Europe.

I also doubt highly this is a case of lowered expectations on the part of the coaching staff...no doubt they contacted Babb and Morgan and Tucker and Henderson and a whole slew of other players...but they have to show interest as well.

If his ego is that big, I'd bet on Europe.

The lowered expectations was not aimed at the coaching staff. I'm sure they do everything they can to get the best talent available. That comment was aimed at the fan base. I do think that JJ should feel pressure to land these types of recruits. If not, what's the point?

It's kind of like the chicken and the egg. Does increased attendance lead to better recruits or do better recruits lead to more wins and increased attendance. If you settle for the status quo, that's what you'll get, for a while.

[GrandGreen]

While I agree that attendance needs to improve, keeping expectations low doesn't help. I was hoping for Morgan due to his dad's connection to UNT, but I never thought we had a shot at Babb.

Morgan is the type of transfer that we landed recently in Wooden, Odufuwa and the like. He may have been rated higher coming out of high school, but for a BAD UCLA team this year he did bubkus. What you do means more than how high you rate out of high school. If he doesn't somehow end up at UNT, I wouldn't be surprised to see him at SMU, TCU, or one of the Southland schoools. I doubt any schools in the big 6 conferences will have interest.

You have to win, win consistently, and beat ranked, big 6 schools if you want attendance to increase. 2 out of 3 so far. It also helps if you have a home schedule that isn't more boring than drying paint.

Keeping expectations low does not help, but how does expanded expectations from a fan base help if it is not reflected in attendance or support? Frankly, I marvel at how well Jones has done when I look at the average Superpit crowd of maybe 1800 actual fans including a few hundred students. Things are definitely better, there were maybe 25 NT fans who saw Jones win his first tournament championship excluding the band in Lafayette and there were not 100 students at the NT games in the Belt tournament in Denton; but there is far to go.

As far as Morgan, you seem to take the position that he was a failure at UCLA; therefore NT should definitely be in the chase in his recruitment. The fault in that logic is, that if NT still sees a lot of promise in Morgan so do a multitude of other teams, many higher up in the pecking order than NT.

Your factors for increased attendance: consistent winning including games over the big six conference members and an improved home schedule. Maybe you should throw in a national championship or two. The facts are that almost every team these days plays a number of patsies in the non-conference. JJ has had home games against Indiana, Alabama, Oklahoma State and other brand name teams to see little rise in NT fans attendance. Note, I stated NT fans not opponent fans who come to the game. Yes, attendance was up for those games especially from students but still far from a satisfactory level. Fan support is building and I expect it to be significantly better next year, however it still tough for Jones to recruit against MVC, CUSA or Western Kentucky programs that have more support and resources.

[Greendylan]

I do remember Carmouche's name being called a lot when playing against us. It seems that my memory serves me well: 15 points and 7 rebounds on the road (according to Yahoo Sports). I would say that he arguably was the second or third best player on a fellow Sun Belt team. I know we all wish to maintain high expectations, but this would really be a steal in my opinion. How many teams get to add the second or third best player from a conference opponent (who is immediately eligible) simply to increase depth on an already loaded team?

His numbers and size may not indicate that he fulfills any glaring need, but this would provide another PROVEN option from the bench. It seems to me that our ability to rotate in fresh new players—from a plethora of formidable backups—when the starters are struggling is one of this team's greatest advantages over nearly all our opponents. Additionally, he would still be here the year after all our current starting guards have exhausted their eligibility.

Yes, there are other attractive options (that may not really be options), but I look at it this way: Do we really want to see this young, double-digit scoring, Division I starter end up as a welcome reinforcement at ASU, WKU, or USA?

[Keith7]

Is Carmouche an improvement over Mangrum? If he is then I'm fine with him

[Army of Dad]

Yes, there are other attractive options (that may not really be options), but I look at it this way: Do we really want to see this young, double-digit scoring, Division I starter end up as a welcome reinforcement at ASU, WKU, or USA?

I am cool with that if it means we land a better player. If he is the best available then I will still cheer loudly for him next season.

[UNT90]

As far as Morgan, you seem to take the position that he was a failure at UCLA; therefore NT should definitely be in the chase in his recruitment. The fault in that logic is, that if NT still sees a lot of promise in Morgan so do a multitude of other teams, many higher up in the pecking order than NT.

Your factors for increased attendance: consistent winning including games over the big six conference members and an improved home schedule. Maybe you should throw in a national championship or two.

UCLA plays slightly better competition than UNT. Like it or not, there is a pecking order in college basketball, and when you have not shown anything to a major college program in 2 years, another major college program is most likely not going to come a calling (unless they are looking to put Morgan on their bench, which surely won't fly with JM). So you start at the mid-majors and work your way down.

So you equate winning a game against a ranked opponent to a national title? Didn't know S. Alabama and W. Kentucky BOTH won the national title this year. Last year's home schedule sucked, period. This year should be better, but you have to constantly be working on improving the schedule, no standing still or you go backwards (see last year's home schedule).

Beating ranked opponents matters. It gives you credibility with the students (who should be out there anyways) and the community that is distracted by many other things in this area.

[BleedGreen]

I do remember Carmouche's name being called a lot when playing against us. It seems that my memory serves me well: 15 points and 7 rebounds on the road (according to Yahoo Sports). I would say that he arguably was the second or third best player on a fellow Sun Belt team. I know we all wish to maintain high expectations, but this would really be a steal in my opinion. How many teams get to add the second or third best player from a conference opponent (who is immediately eligible) simply to increase depth on an already loaded team?

His numbers and size may not indicate that he fulfills any glaring need, but this would provide another PROVEN option from the bench. It seems to me that our ability to rotate in fresh new players—from a plethora of formidable backups—when the starters are struggling is one of this team's greatest advantages over nearly all our opponents. Additionally, he would still be here the year after all our current starting guards have exhausted their eligibility.

Yes, there are other attractive options (that may not really be options), but I look at it this way: Do we really want to see this young, double-digit scoring, Division I starter end up as a welcome reinforcement at ASU, WKU, or USA?

I gagree.

[Green P1]

Is Carmouche an improvement over Mangrum? If he is then I'm fine with him

Maybe not as a lockeroom guy, but as a player no doubt.

Edited April 20, 2010 by Green P1

[NT03]

For some reason I haven't been able to log in in about 3 weeks now , but for those interested we never had a shot at Babb.

He wants badly to play in the BIG XII , but as of last week no school has offered.

He has/gone on visits at Wichita St , MO St & SO Ill

As for Morgan I have no idea. I don't know if his ego is too big to come to UNT or what , but if he's waiting on someone like a Baylor to come a calling I think he is going to be dissappointed.

Edited April 20, 2010 by NT03

[island eagle]

For some reason I haven't been able to log in in about 3 weeks now , but for those interested we never had a shot at Babb.

He wants badly to play in the BIG XII , but as of last week no school has offered.

He has/gone on visits at Wichita St , MO St & SO Ill

As for Morgan I have no idea. I don't know if his ego is too big to come to UNT or what , but if he's waiting on someone like a Baylor to come a calling I think he is going to be dissappointed.

Not too much demand for slow, fat and lazy.

[LoveMG]

JJ has had home games against Indiana, Alabama, Oklahoma State and other brand name teams to see little rise in NT fans attendance.

dont think we have hosted bama. cameron, college of the southwest, denton high, etc. but not alabama

Edited April 20, 2010 by LoveMG

[UNTLifer]

Do we play UTPB this year in Odessa? I would like that since I now live in that area.

[chrisfisher]

dont think we have hosted bama. cameron, college of the southwest, denton high, etc. but not alabama

No 'bama nor Indiana... we played Indiana State. The crowd for Oklahoma State was close to 7000 if I recall. I'd call that an attendance bump.

[NT03]

No 'bama nor Indiana... we played Indiana State. The crowd for Oklahoma State was close to 7000 if I recall. I'd call that an attendance bump.

We have played Indiana U at the pit

We also beat a school by the name of Baylor at home that same year... they aren't too bad now a days

Edited April 21, 2010 by NT03

[CMJ]

No 'bama nor Indiana... we played Indiana State. The crowd for Oklahoma State was close to 7000 if I recall. I'd call that an attendance bump.

I'd say about 30-35% of the 6700 was OSU fans, so it wasn't a huge attendance bump.

We did play Indiana back in 2003 at the SuperPit. Considering the Hoosiers are one of the 5-6 most storied programs of all time -- attendance was pretty lousy.

Edited April 21, 2010 by CMJ

[GrandGreen]

No 'bama nor Indiana... we played Indiana State. The crowd for Oklahoma State was close to 7000 if I recall. I'd call that an attendance bump.

We did play Indiana both home and away. Alabama apparently only away. The OSU announced crowd was in the 7000 range I think, but at least 3000 were wearing orange. I did not say that tNT didn't have bigger crowds for name opponents, only that these games did not draw as many NT fans as one would hope.

[NT03]

I really hope this years Tech game brings out over 9K with more than 5K of the crowd wearing Green

[MeanGreenTexan]

So just to clarify, Carmouche was only on a campus visit and he has not signed yet. Correct?

[Green Lantern]

For some reason I haven't been able to log in in about 3 weeks now , but for those interested we never had a shot at Babb.

He wants badly to play in the BIG XII , but as of last week no school has offered.

He has/gone on visits at Wichita St , MO St & SO Ill

As for Morgan I have no idea. I don't know if his ego is too big to come to UNT or what , but if he's waiting on someone like a Baylor to come a calling I think he is going to be dissappointed.

Right there with you on the log in thing, but I'm back. *High fives all my cyber basketball buddies*

[foutsrouts]

Right there with you on the log in thing, but I'm back. *High fives all my cyber basketball buddies*

Log in problems here as well.

[CMJ]

So just to clarify, Carmouche was only on a campus visit and he has not signed yet. Correct?

Indeed

[NT03]

Babb to Iowa State

[MeanGreenTexan]

Babb to Iowa State

I guess IA St. is "closer to home"... but, really?