Mean Green Basketball Ranked

collegesportsguy · July 26, 2011

College Sports Madness has ranked North Texas as #136 in their top 144 Men's Basketball teams. Check out the preview.

MeanGreenTexan · July 26, 2011

Thanks for sharing.

You seem to be pretty high on Brandan Walton. To be honest, I haven't heard much about him other than he likes to shoot the 3. I think JJ will have a hard time deciding who starts at the 2. Alzee may take that spot, unless Johnny has plans for him to be like Dom and play combo off the bench.

foutsrouts · July 26, 2011

If Alzee has been working hard on improving his outside shot, then I would definitely see him starting at either the one or two. If not, I suspect we'll have new guys at both positions. Of course Walton's shooting numbers are pretty suspect as well, so I guess that JJ's going to have a lot of tough personnel decisions to make this year.

GrandGreen · July 26, 2011

Appreciate the ink and the rating is not bad but lots of questionable opinions. Williams is a very good recruit but he is not even the best in this year's class that would have to be Mitchell. I will be surprised if either Walton or Stojilkovic ever start particularly after the first few games. Jones will be the staring point guard. I would not be surprised if NT ends up with 4 freshmen starting including Mitchell and transfer Franklin could be the fifth starter.

This is going to be an exciting year as nothing has been decided. Mitchell will start quickly after he becomes eligible but I see a real battle for the other four spots.

MeanGreenTexan · July 26, 2011

Appreciate the ink and the rating is not bad but lots of questionable opinions. Williams is a very good recruit but he is not even the best in this year's class that would have to be Mitchell. I will be surprised if either Walton or Stojilkovic ever start particularly after the first few games. Jones will be the staring point guard. I would not be surprised if NT ends up with 4 freshmen starting including Mitchell and transfer Franklin could be the fifth starter.

This is going to be an exciting year as nothing has been decided. Mitchell will start quickly after he becomes eligible but I see a real battle for the other four spots.

I think he's spot-on. Remember, Mitchell was not a 2011 recruit for us. He is a transfer. Out of all of our 2011 recruits, Williams is the most heralded.

I'll bet Kedrick is a lock to start as long as he's healthy.

UNT90 · July 26, 2011

I think he's spot-on. Remember, Mitchell was not a 2011 recruit for us. He is a transfer. Out of all of our 2011 recruits, Williams is the most heralded.

I'll bet Kedrick is a lock to start as long as he's healthy.

How can you transfer when you never attended any other university? I think he is a recruit, just a delayed 2010 recruit.

Army of Dad · July 26, 2011

from the article:

Alonzo Edwards has the strength to make a difference in the paint. Like Holmen, his playing time is up in the air, but the sophomore does have plenty of upside.

Unless I am mistaken, Alonzo is a senior. The article had some decent analysis, but missing points like that one do call into question the rest of the piece.

UNTMike81 · July 26, 2011

I think this wright up is weak. If author say's UNT best in Sunbelt by March Madness then why doesn't he put UNT in the NCAA's. March Madness is where UNT will end up!!! It's just a question of what seed and who UNT will have playing center. All the press has our big's shooting from the outside and not playing inside. I hope JJ and staff can teach one or more of our incoming players to play in the paint. We need inside player so we can play inside out.

What I'd give for a true unstoppable 5. To bad we couldn't land a top notch true 5. If we had or find someone to play the 5 then UNT would be "scarey" good to great!!!

Censored by Laurie · July 26, 2011

I think this wright up is weak. If author say's UNT best in Sunbelt by March Madness then why doesn't he put UNT in the NCAA's. March Madness is where UNT will end up!!! It's just a question of what seed and who UNT will have playing center. All the press has our big's shooting from the outside and not playing inside. I hope JJ and staff can teach one or more of our incoming players to play in the paint. We need inside player so we can play inside out.

What I'd give for a true unstoppable 5. To bad we couldn't land a top notch true 5. If we had or find someone to play the 5 then UNT would be "scarey" good to great!!!

Am I missing something? Is this a bit?

Oh...and the guy's write (or wright, if you will) sucks.

MeanMag · July 27, 2011

I think this wright up is weak. If author say's UNT best in Sunbelt by March Madness then why doesn't he put UNT in the NCAA's. March Madness is where UNT will end up!!! It's just a question of what seed and who UNT will have playing center. All the press has our big's shooting from the outside and not playing inside. I hope JJ and staff can teach one or more of our incoming players to play in the paint. We need inside player so we can play inside out.

What I'd give for a true unstoppable 5. To bad we couldn't land a top notch true 5. If we had or find someone to play the 5 then UNT would be "scarey" good to great!!!

There are likely 320 other teams in college basketball that would like to land a top notch true 5.

Edited July 27, 2011 by MeanMag

mgfan · July 27, 2011

UTA is ranked 133, which is ahead of us. How is this possible?

GrandGreen · July 27, 2011

I think he's spot-on. Remember, Mitchell was not a 2011 recruit for us. He is a transfer. Out of all of our 2011 recruits, Williams is the most heralded.

I'll bet Kedrick is a lock to start as long as he's healthy.

Mitchell got out of high school a year earlier but actually committed to NT after the 2011 high school recruits. Technically he still hasn't signed but he has to be included in the 2011 class.

Green Lantern · July 27, 2011

Am I missing something? Is this a bit?

Oh...and the guy's write (or wright, if you will) sucks.

No, it's not a bit. I suggest that you start a thread so that we can hash out our plan to land a top flight 5.

GrayEagle · July 27, 2011

If Alzee has been working hard on improving his outside shot, then I would definitely see him starting at either the one or two. If not, I suspect we'll have new guys at both positions. Of course Walton's shooting numbers are pretty suspect as well, so I guess that JJ's going to have a lot of tough personnel decisions to make this year.

I hope that Alzee has been working hard over the last year as well because they were pretty bad the last year that he played. He plays great defense but his offensive numbers haven't cut it so far.

Walton's numbers at Casper weren't sensational but fairly solid. He was their leading scorer and had 3-point scoring percentages in the upper 30s both JC years. Williams had a 3-point percentage of .161 his last year played. I know that it's hard to compare due to the level of competition but Alzee has had virtually no competition in the past year so he'll be rusty also.

http://www.tbirds.cc/mbb/downloads/mbb_newsletter.pdf

GrandGreen · July 28, 2011

I hope that Alzee has been working hard over the last year as well because they were pretty bad the last year that he played. He plays great defense but his offensive numbers haven't cut it so far.

Walton's numbers at Casper weren't sensational but fairly solid. He was their leading scorer and had 3-point scoring percentages in the upper 30s both JC years. Williams had a 3-point percentage of .161 his last year played. I know that it's hard to compare due to the level of competition but Alzee has had virtually no competition in the past year so he'll be rusty also.

http://www.tbirds.cc..._newsletter.pdf

As you stated A. Williams was not a big offensive threat his freshman year, but he was something that could be a lot more valuable on this team. He was the best guard defender on the team and was often used to shut down the top guard from other teams. His outside shoot wasn't there but he showed he could drive the ball to the basket and was an adequate ball handler. He has had a year to gather rust but also hopefully to get stronger and to improve his outside shooting.

I think he will see a lot action maybe even start because of his defense, this team should be loaded with offensive players but good defenders may be a lot more rare. I don't think he see much time at the point but will play the off guard.

Walton has been largely ignored with all the more touted recruits. However, his juco stats are better than McCoy, Shorter and most the juco guards that JJ has brought in. With the lack of true off guards on this team, he could be a key to success. Franklin and J. Williams are listed at guards but really played more inside and although they should be able to easily play the wing on offense, can they keep up with quicker guards on defense. NT went hard for Walton committing very early, there must be a good reason.

TheTastyGreek · July 28, 2011

NT went hard for Walton committing very early, there must be a good reason.

This is the main thing that keeps me optimistic about Walton. The fact that we wanted him, and him specifically, enough to make him a focus during early recruiting makes me think the coaches see something we can't get from stat sheets.

As far as Alzee goes... He and Holmen were polar opposites as freshmen. Alzee passed up open shots and seemed reluctant to take a shot himself if there was anywhere else he could distribute the ball. Hopefully, now that he's not worried about deferring to guys like Josh and Tristan, he won't hesitate when shots are there for him to take.

Army of Dad · July 28, 2011

This is the main thing that keeps me optimistic about Walton. The fact that we wanted him, and him specifically, enough to make him a focus during early recruiting makes me think the coaches see something we can't get from stat sheets. As far as Alzee goes... He and Holmen were polar opposites as freshmen. Alzee passed up open shots and seemed reluctant to take a shot himself if there was anywhere else he could distribute the ball. Hopefully, now that he's not worried about deferring to guys like Josh and Tristan, he won't hesitate when shots are there for him to take.

I hope so too, but I wonder if it was also just a way to keep our freshman class from being too big. Add a little veteran experience and keep from having 90* freshman on the team at the same time.

*some exaggeration, but this is GMG!

GrayEagle · July 31, 2011

Another factor as to how far we'll go is whether Roger Franklin will be eligible. If he is then I believe that this young team can win the SBC. If not, I see them in third place.

From what little I could find I don't see the Frenchman as being much help offensively but maybe he plays good defense.