Possible Transfer ?

[emmitt01]

We're going to be very long this year.

I hear this a lot.

[greenminer]

Look man...I like your enthusiasm, but let's just go ahead and tap the breaks on guaranteeing post-season, national media coverage and an all of a sudden passionate 7500-10,000 strong fan base. Especially in August.

I think we have the potential for a very deep and versatile team, however we return just 4 lettermen and will be counting rather heavily on a group of freshmen and counting on the immediate eligibility of two transfers (Franklin and Patton), something that I've yet to see as set with certainty.

We've no proven perimeter shooters.

We've no proven rebounding presence...at least until late December.

We've two freshmen and a sparingly used red-shirt sophomore pencilled in at the 1.

It takes a lot more than just raw talent to be a successful basketball team...let alone the special one you're predicting. I am very excited to see the product JJ has put together...but again, there a still lots of questions that need to be answered before any of us should be booking flights and hotels for a month long roadie with the Men's team in March.

Also...no grown man should ever use "LOL" for anything other than irony's sake.

CBL is failing to mention Denton's knack for finding a way to not show up to bball games. If we don't average 10K, I (unfortunately) won't be shocked. Disappointed? you bet. but not shocked.

[Green P1]

SCREW THE BRAKES!!! FULL THROTTLE!!!

[Guaranteed22]

Win this year with an exciting team then have Tony come back next year will be the best way to take it to a level we never woulda thought possible.

Mitchell,,, One & Done or 1/2 & Done! I believe he's that good!!!

Edited August 31, 2011 by Guaranteed22

[MeanMag]

CBL is failing to mention Denton's knack for finding a way to not show up to bball games. If we don't average 10K, I (unfortunately) won't be shocked. Disappointed? you bet. but not shocked.

CBL also failed to mention that we play in the Sun Belt Conference. Short of nearly running the Out of Conference table, our conference mates RPI will not help us to get a bid outside of the one we get in Hot Springs. The road to the NCAA for the Sun Belt at this time rolls through a 3-4 game winning streak in Hot Springs.

[Green P1]

Mitchell,,, One & Done or 1/2 & Done! I believe he's that good!!!

Calm down Lev, he'll be around a while.

[UNTMike81]

Look man...I like your enthusiasm, but let's just go ahead and tap the breaks on guaranteeing post-season, national media coverage and an all of a sudden passionate 7500-10,000 strong fan base. Especially in August.

I think we have the potential for a very deep and versatile team, however we return just 4 lettermen and will be counting rather heavily on a group of freshmen and counting on the immediate eligibility of two transfers (Franklin and Patton), something that I've yet to see as set with certainty.

We've no proven perimeter shooters.

We've no proven rebounding presence...at least until late December.

We've two freshmen and a sparingly used red-shirt sophomore pencilled in at the 1.

It takes a lot more than just raw talent to be a successful basketball team...let alone the special one you're predicting. I am very excited to see the product JJ has put together...but again, there a still lots of questions that need to be answered before any of us should be booking flights and hotels for a month long roadie with the Men's team in March.

Also...no grown man should ever use "LOL" for anything other than irony's sake.

Censored by Laurie...Make all the declarations you want about the youth and inexperience of this team, but I've seen JJ and staff take much lesser talented teams to the dance than the one he's currently assembled. So, I'll stand by my prediction that UNT will be dancing. Don't know how good attendance will be this year, but with some committed marketing UNT's attendance numbers should and will improve this year. Provide this team doesn't implode or gel because of your amplified thoughts of their youth.

As far as using LOL in a sentence, I assure you I'm a man!! I've seen RV do the right thing and give JJ and staff raises and contract extensions several times prior to their contract expiration. I commend RV for doing so, I believe JJ and staff are worth every dime UNT pay's them. In my opinion RV will have to reach into UNT's pocket and do it again in the near future. That is if he want to keep JJ and staff intact at UNT. You may disagree, so be it. Time will tell.

[CMJ]

Unless you're Gonzaga, guaranteeing a NCAA berth in a one bid league is nuts.

(And the WCC isn't really a 1 bid league anymore!)

We have a lot of potential, but also too little experience. It's probably gonna take till February for the team to really jell. We'll be dangerous as hell come Hot Springs, but we'll probably have to win four in four. Last year showed how tough that is.

[UNT90]

Censored by Laurie...Make all the declarations you want about the youth and inexperience of this team, but I've seen JJ and staff take much lesser talented teams to the dance than the one he's currently assembled. So, I'll stand by my prediction that UNT will be dancing. Don't know how good attendance will be this year, but with some committed marketing UNT's attendance numbers should and will improve this year. Provide this team doesn't implode or gel because of your amplified thoughts of their youth.

As far as using LOL in a sentence, I assure you I'm a man!! I've seen RV do the right thing and give JJ and staff raises and contract extensions several times prior to their contract expiration. I commend RV for doing so, I believe JJ and staff are worth every dime UNT pay's them. In my opinion RV will have to reach into UNT's pocket and do it again in the near future. That is if he want to keep JJ and staff intact at UNT. You may disagree, so be it. Time will tell.

Your headed for a big disappointment here. These kids will be playing against a whole new talent level. They will have to learn to play together at a much higher level than they did in high school. Ir will take time. I would look for a .500 conference record and, if the stars allign and this team jells late in the year, a possible deep run in the conference tournament may occur.

In a perfect world, Forrest Robinson would redshirt to add some much needed weight to his frame.

Next year is the year, not this year.

Lightening may strike, as I completely agree with CBL. LOL (ironic tag)

[MeanGreenTexan]

Censored by Laurie...Make all the declarations you want about the youth and inexperience of this team, but I've seen JJ and staff take much lesser talented teams to the dance than the one he's currently assembled. So, I'll stand by my prediction that UNT will be dancing. Don't know how good attendance will be this year, but with some committed marketing UNT's attendance numbers should and will improve this year. Provide this team doesn't implode or gel because of your amplified thoughts of their youth.

As far as using LOL in a sentence, I assure you I'm a man!! I've seen RV do the right thing and give JJ and staff raises and contract extensions several times prior to their contract expiration. I commend RV for doing so, I believe JJ and staff are worth every dime UNT pay's them. In my opinion RV will have to reach into UNT's pocket and do it again in the near future. That is if he want to keep JJ and staff intact at UNT. You may disagree, so be it. Time will tell.

How do you know? All we know about SEVERAL of these guys is how they played in HIGH SCHOOL.

You mean to tell me that this team is more talented (without even seeing them hit the floor) than 2009-10? Tramiel, Odufuwa, White, Thompson... Really?

[UNTMike81]

Well time will tell. When we're dancing this year and this young team has reached and even surpassed their expected potential I'm going to pull this post out of the archives. Oh, I seem to remember previous recruits like Josh White and maybe even TT starting as freshmen, and if memory serves I thought those players did a pretty good job gelling as freshman. In addition to all of our earlier recruits we have a proven 6'7" transfer from Grambling (sp). Take a look his highlight film and see how much of it is against UNT. I can't wait for the season to start. Good things if not great things are happening at UNT. Just need to review our schedule so I can make plans to come to Denton. I hope we're playing some good games in the Pit on Saturdays this season.

Go JJ, staff, and team!!! Once again you're going to have to make believer's out of some UNT faithful. Great thing is our team has had a history of doing just that in recent years!!

Edited August 31, 2011 by UNTMike81

[UNTMike81]

Looks like I'll take a Friday off and be at the Pit on 1/12/12 to see UNT play WKU!!

[H-towngreen]

With all the transfers coming in this team really doesn't seem as young as everyone is making it sound.

[Army of Dad]

Patton's Stats

Stat Summary:

Season GP MPG PPG FG% 3FG% FT% APG RPG BPG SPG

2010-11 33 28.2 13.2 40.5 25.4 57.8 1.4 7.1 0.3 1.3

An upperclassman 'shooting' guard that hits slightly more than half of his free throws and only a quarter of his attempts from beyond the arc...

[GrandGreen]

How do you know? All we know about SEVERAL of these guys is how they played in HIGH SCHOOL.

You mean to tell me that this team is more talented (without even seeing them hit the floor) than 2009-10? Tramiel, Odufuwa, White, Thompson... Really?

Basketball is a sport when the really great players show up early. Yes, I think this team is more talented than the 2009-10 team however that team had played together for at least a year and many of the players two years which is a great advantage but is not talent related.

Unless every talent rating group is way off, there is no doubt that there is more talent in this group than perhaps any in NT history. The very top rated player in the State two years ago, in Mitchell who showed in the U19 world championship with even over a year of rust, he is that good. Add two top 10 state players in Jones and Williams from last year high school class, and throw in another 3 star recruit in the 6'10 Robinson. Add to that a transfer from OSU who was another state 10 player in HS and a transfer from Gambling who was an all conference player.

No doubt the group you named were good players and achieved a lot, however a down year last year didn't help their legacy. Tramiel graduated a year earlier and is absence was magnified by last years team. Odufuwa was a double double player, his last two years, Thompson was the best offensive player in the league, and White was one of the most unselfish players I've seen and won a lot of games in the last couple of minutes. Impressive resumes plus they all won at least 20 games every year. Despite all that, I think that this year's class has more potential and yes talent.

There are no sure things, last year's team proved that. Big favorite to win the conference with three different players selected by some publication or group to be pre-season MVP, and they went .500 in conference. I expect this team to do much better than that. No doubt they will be a much deeper team and although they have not proven it yet, I think the odds are that out of Mitchell, Norris, Jones, J. Williams and Robinson there are going to be some very good basketball players, not down the road but this year. Add to that Walton, the Frenchman, Frankin and Patton plus the returning players and this year could be very special.

[greenminer]

Censored by Laurie...Make all the declarations you want about the youth and inexperience of this team, but I've seen JJ and staff take much lesser talented teams to the dance than the one he's currently assembled. So, I'll stand by my prediction that UNT will be dancing. Don't know how good attendance will be this year, but with some committed marketing UNT's attendance numbers should and will improve this year. Provide this team doesn't implode or gel because of your amplified thoughts of their youth.

I think you're short-changing how much in-game experience means in to this game. Those NCAA teams JJ assembled took time to grow. They logged some serious minutes together, getting very familiar with their game over the course of more than one season.

Talent. It's an interesting word. It means you ain't done anything yet. People don't say, "Wow, Michael Jordan! He's so talented." No one is arguing that this is an amazing array of talent on our roster. They're just saying, they haven't done anything yet. And that's a huge wildcard.

Edited August 31, 2011 by greenminer

[MeanGreenTexan]

Basketball is a sport when the really great players show up early. Yes, I think this team is more talented than the 2009-10 team however that team had played together for at least a year and many of the players two years which is a great advantage but is not talent related.

Unless every talent rating group is way off, there is no doubt that there is more talent in this group than perhaps any in NT history. The very top rated player in the State two years ago, in Mitchell who showed in the U19 world championship with even over a year of rust, he is that good. Add two top 10 state players in Jones and Williams from last year high school class, and throw in another 3 star recruit in the 6'10 Robinson. Add to that a transfer from OSU who was another state 10 player in HS and a transfer from Gambling who was an all conference player.

No doubt the group you named were good players and achieved a lot, however a down year last year didn't help their legacy. Tramiel graduated a year earlier and is absence was magnified by last years team. Odufuwa was a double double player, his last two years, Thompson was the best offensive player in the league, and White was one of the most unselfish players I've seen and won a lot of games in the last couple of minutes. Impressive resumes plus they all won at least 20 games every year. Despite all that, I think that this year's class has more potential and yes talent.

There are no sure things, last year's team proved that. Big favorite to win the conference with three different players selected by some publication or group to be pre-season MVP, and they went .500 in conference. I expect this team to do much better than that. No doubt they will be a much deeper team and although they have not proven it yet, I think the odds are that out of Mitchell, Norris, Jones, J. Williams and Robinson there are going to be some very good basketball players, not down the road but this year. Add to that Walton, the Frenchman, Frankin and Patton plus the returning players and this year could be very special.

Yes, but EXPERIENCE augments and increases TALENT. I agree with the rivals ratings, etc... obviously our guys are super talented and I'm really excited to see them play this year. I expect to see some big things. They may just be inconsistent. Experience is the factor.

T.Mitchell is going to be great. No doubt. I really hope he sticks around after this season. If so, then 2012-13 will be the year for the big expectations.

R.Franklin has not even been confirmed to play this year. He played 13 min/game last year. Maybe he wasn't utilized properly, or maybe his heart was heavy with what's going on with his dad... we'll need to see more from him, if we get to see anything this year at all.

J.Patton was an all-conf. player at Grambling. It looks like he was relied upon to score in bunches. We probably won't need him to do that here. His role will probably be different than his role at Grambling. Can he work in JJ's system? JJ seems to think so, but we just don't know. Also, I'm less confident that he'll get a waiver for this season than I am for Franklin.

B.Walton had us scratching our heads when he committed. I hope he can be a McCoy/Mangrum type player for us, but I'm not expecting much more from him.

The Frenchman? He was struggling at Lon Morris. I expect Knox type minutes.

The returning players are injury-riddled (hopefully healthy now) and I expect to see Ked, Holmen, Edwards and Alzee turn it up a notch. That just comes with experience.

The rest of the guys are VERY PROMISING, VERY TALENTED freshmen. They will need that experience to grow at the collegiate level. I expect, with their talent, that the learning curve will be steep, but they're still freshmen. We're expecting a freshman to start at PG. Do you think he'll have his hands full when he lines up against conference foe Raymond Taylor, among others next year? I do. He'll get better though.

Line this years team up against the 2009-2010 team, and I'll bet they lose. Why? Experience has a lot to do with it. Are they more talented *-wise than this years group? Not even close. But they proved it on the court. I just don't want to see the last group of guys forgotten so quickly. Heck, Josh White even mentioned that they heard the rumblings of the incoming class and T. Mitchell while they were still playing last year.

[GrandGreen]

Actually the freshmen have done plenty just not at the college level. Williams and Jones played at about as high level as you can in high school. The really great players are mostly that way from the start. Ratliff, Lyons, and Chris Davis for example were all the best players on their NT teams after a few games. White is another recent example, in fact I think his freshman year was his best.

Another post commented that JJ had to build those teams over a period of several years. Yes, but that is perhaps because those teams didn't have outstanding talent. Talent takes on a lot of meanings but in the case of most of the freshmen on the upcoming team there is a lot of skill that goes with talent.

I don't think the coaching staff or the team looks at this year as a rebuilding year. Especially with Mitchell who may or may not be here for long. As far as the Frenchman struggling at JC, with 9 pts and 6.5 rebounds those numbers are close to what McCoy and Shorter had and much better than Edwards. I don't look for him to be a big factor, but who knows?

Obviously, the team has a lot of unknowns just as last years team was about as solid going into the season as you can get. I really think that Patton is as good as anyone on last year team and Mitchell is much better. Add to that the potential that the other freshmen bring as well as Franklin and I think those happy to settle for a mediocre team this year are way underselling the promise of this team.

JJ has in the last five years always been able to gel the team and play his best basketball in the Belt tournament. I think he will again do that but I also believe this team can perform in the regular Belt season to the level of any he has every had, yest that 2009-10 team.

[CMJ]

I'm not saying we can't win the conference tournament, though I feel it is unlikely. I just highly doubt we win the regular season portion.

[Guaranteed22]

Calm down Lev, he'll be around a while.

Lev?!? Don't know if u know me like that sir?!? But if he (mitchell) does what's expected of him & has a shot at the 1st round, he's OUT! We need a representative in the league anyway! Granted we would all like him to hang around another yr or 2, but let's be real about it. He's that type of talent!

[UNT90]

Maybe on the defensive end, but he has a looooooong way to go to be NBA ready on offense.