Tony will be back

[emmitt01]

The upcoming draft is loaded and his performance tonight against a good, not great, LSU squad was not NBA ready.

[Censored by Laurie]

Gagree. Zactly.

[Green P1]

Hopefully. Pretty early hook you've given his chances though.

[Mean Green 93-98]

Hopefully. Pretty early hook you've given his chances though.

This. He's not even in game shape yet, he's still learning to play with his teammates, and he hasn't played much organized basketball in almost two years. I'd wait until a little closer to the end of the season before starting to make this kind of assessment.

[Andrew]

He is already projected as a mid to late first round pick in the 2013 draft. e is not leaving North Texas next year and that is a fact. There is a huge difference between a second round pick and a lotto pick. I would say at least 10 million!

[Grant.UNT]

I was so pumped about seeing T-Mitch tonight. He looked completely lethargic and uninterested in being there. He had a couple good hustle plays, but I saw a ton of room for improvement. No hands up on defense was a huge issue. He loafed up and down the court, and he was surprised anytime a teammate with pass him the ball at the top of the key. Jones, #5 was awesome! He needs work and practice. You can't teach the God given athleticism he has, but I sure hope Coach Jones can get his head right. They were selling #13 Nike t-shirts. Let's tap the brakes on busting out the anointing oil. It's obvious that he has the ability to dominate college kids, but does he have the drive, passion, and commitment to put in the work that it will take.

I HOPE SO!!

[mgfan]

I don't know if he will be back or not, but in these first few games his shots have been ugly. the last one he took hit the side of the backboard. I hope that he just needs more time to shake the rust.

[Andrew]

I was so pumped about seeing T-Mitch tonight. He looked completely lethargic and uninterested in being there. He had a couple good hustle plays, but I saw a ton of room for improvement. No hands up on defense was a huge issue. He loafed up and down the court, and he was surprised anytime a teammate with pass him the ball at the top of the key. Jones, #5 was awesome! He needs work and practice. You can't teach the God given athleticism he has, but I sure hope Coach Jones can get his head right. They were selling #13 Nike t-shirts. Let's tap the brakes on busting out the anointing oil. It's obvious that he has the ability to dominate college kids, but does he have the drive, passion, and commitment to put in the work that it will take.

I HOPE SO!!

He does not get the ball when he wants it... I am not justifying his walking up and down he court I completely agree, but when he is one on one in the post the ball needs to be lobbed up every time to him! If the D is in man either he has the open dunk or they collapse on him and the corner three should be open. If it is not then your cut off a screen up top and have an open lay up. Everyday buckets!!!

[NT03]

I don't think any of us understand the amount off pressure TM is putting on himself. He wants to do great things here and people are expecting him to walk on water. All that pressure and the fact he hasn't played in nearly 2 years will wear down a body pretty quick. Let's all just be patient and let time work it out.

As far as the NBA , TM will have to play a SF at the next level. He has to work on his outside game if we wants to be a lottery pick. I hope that the wrong people don't get in his ear and tell him he ought to go pro. The longer he stays here , the more it will benefit him in the long run

[Andrew]

I don't think any of us understand the amount off pressure TM is putting on himself. He wants to do great things here and people are expecting him to walk on water. All that pressure and the fact he hasn't played in nearly 2 years will wear down a body pretty quick. Let's all just be patient and let time work it out.

As far as the NBA , TM will have to play a SF at the next level. He has to work on his outside game if we wants to be a lottery pick. I hope that the wrong people don't get in his ear and tell him he ought to go pro. The longer he stays here , the more it will benefit him in the long run

I completely agree... He could still play the 4 like Brandon bass did under sized but he is most profitable as a 3. I would love to see a back court of jones, williams and mitchel!!

He is definitely ridding himself hard and I can see him getting frustrated with the amount of touches he gets in the post

[Roadruner]

He does not get the ball when he wants it... I am not justifying his walking up and down he court I completely agree, but when he is one on one in the post the ball needs to be lobbed up every time to him! If the D is in man either he has the open dunk or they collapse on him and the corner three should be open. If it is not then your cut off a screen up top and have an open lay up. Everyday buckets!!!

Yes - you would think you would see alot of that - it didn't seem to happen much- most of our points are still coming off on ball screens - LSU is just very talented and 2 deep at every position

[Andrew]

My dream is CJ and Mitchel/Niko is a nice pick and roll.... Terry and Dirk style!

[emmitt01]

This. He's not even in game shape yet, he's still learning to play with his teammates, and he hasn't played much organized basketball in almost two years. I'd wait until a little closer to the end of the season before starting to make this kind of assessment.

Make no mistake, I think he will grow a lot this season. I just look at his overall game and see the flaws. He is a BEAST near the bucket...so LSU pushed him out and he was ineffective. He jumps out of the gym...so LSU got better position than him and took the boards. He is still playing defense with his hands and going for head fakes....four fouls this game and fouled out against Grambling.

And I agree that the hype machine has buried him under expectation. This team wi grow and allow him to get his when the opportunity is there, not when we force feed him. If not getting the ball on the block really can exasperate him then he needs to get his mental toughness up too.

ALL of the tools for lottery consideration are in his toolbox. I just think he will need next year to refine them.

[cl_1_2008]

He could use another year to refine his game. However, I'm not sure he really wants to go to school for another year. Also, in the NBA, your second contract is the one that matters. Unless you're a top 5 pick, rookie contracts aren't worth a ton. Look at Wesley Matthews. He was a second rounder who signed a 1 year deal. He played well that year, and got a $35 million contract that offseason. I'm not sure draft position will play a huge part in whether he leaves. It just depends on whether or not he wants to go to class for another year.

[GrandGreen]

Tony was schooled by another freshman, a McDonald All American and a very good senior player from LSU. Both LSU players have had the benefit of not only all the practices but a lot of games, not to mention a surrounding cast of 6'9 to 7' players in the front court. Tony will get much better with practice and play and I would expect a difference result if the teams played later. Not projecting that NT would win, LSU will continue to get better, but Mitchell would be the best player on the court.

I still stand by my prediction Tony will be the Belt MVP. I know a lot of you must expect superman but Mitchell has already greatly improved the team with a lot more to come.

[greenminer]

3rd game in 5 days for the guy who hasn't had the luxury of preseason practice or the previous games.

No excuses for tonight, but I anticipate him being less lethargic going forward.

[KRAM1]

Expectations can be a tough act to follow. Tony is seeing and feeling that right now. I don't agree with Skiver that he should get the ball every time in the low post because he cannot seem to get position in the low post...you saw him have the ball just taken right out of his hands last evening by a LSU player when he did get it....Should he get it more often? ABSOLUTELY...but, to do so he must work harder to get open, to get up and down the floor quicker...hard to lob it in to one of the last men down the floor who also has their back turned to the ball. If he does get it, he needs to look for the open man as the opponents may have sagged down on him and left open men with much better looks at the basket. Right now, when he does get it, he wants to do something spectacular with the ball such as that turn around dunk when he was pretty open and could have easily just laid the ball in the basket. The ball almost rolled out because he was looking for the spectacular play...that's what has been expected of him, and how I sense the pressure of those expectations is weighing on him a bit. His jumper is pretty terrible right now...can you spell air ball from about 6 feet last evening? That will come, and it will need to if he has NBA expectations.

JJ is a pretty good judge of basketball talent and he fully believes that this class is something very special, but one that needs a good bit of work.

OK, now I say...so what? He's not even in basketball shape yet and he has yet to figure out who will be where and when on the court with him. He'll relax and he'll get better and better with each game when he realizes he doesn't have to try to carry the team. It will also help when he is in shape enough to really hustle and get some fire in his belly (and facial expressions for that matter). That easy going trot down the floor and back and that blank stare on his face most the time doesn't help the "expectation" thing at all. I am sure that JJ will know how to work that angle.

I will stay on the T Mitch bandwagon because this young man is something special. Yes, there are more than a few with the same or better skill set playing college ball right now, but TM has the potential (potential is such a big word) to be the best player to ever don the MEAN GREEN GREEN. Give him time...give Williams and Jones time...give Alzee, Holman, etc., etc. time to adjust to these new and YOUNG players, and then lets see what we have in this team.

THIS TEAM IS GOING TO BE SOMETHING SPECIAL....and oh so very fun to watch. For one, I definitely plan on enjoying the ride...while I get a bit frustrated at times this season as well...LSU game that UNT clearly could have won!

See you at the Super Pit! Fun times!

[UNT90]

Make no mistake, I think he will grow a lot this season. I just look at his overall game and see the flaws. He is a BEAST near the bucket...so LSU pushed him out and he was ineffective. He jumps out of the gym...so LSU got better position than him and took the boards. He is still playing defense with his hands and going for head fakes....four fouls this game and fouled out against Grambling.

And I agree that the hype machine has buried him under expectation. This team wi grow and allow him to get his when the opportunity is there, not when we force feed him. If not getting the ball on the block really can exasperate him then he needs to get his mental toughness up too.

ALL of the tools for lottery consideration are in his toolbox. I just think he will need next year to refine them.

Good points. People need to realize that TM has always been able to out-athlete everyone on the defensive end. He was able to do it against Jackson St and Grambling (2 horrible college basketball teams) to an extent. Hopefully LSU will be an eye opener and TM will get that he can't get away with just using his length and athleticism on defense and will begin to use his feet much more. Playing a bunch of sub-collegiate competition at the PEB (or rec center) only added to these bad habits. What some on here see as laziness is just the lack of being in basketball shape, plain and simple. Fatigue also greatly contributes to TM's sometimes poor defensive effort.

The facial expressions and body language I saw from Tony last night indicated much more self-frustration than frustration wit not getting the ball or frustration with teammates. Tony is also going through what CJ, Jordan, and the other freshmen have already been through. He is having to adjust to major college competition. And yes, it is an adjustment, even for TM.

I also don't like an offense that never allows TM to step out to between 15 to 20 feet, get the ball, and take his man (who, especially in SBC competition, will be far more slow afoot than TM) off the dribble to the hole without a another post clogging the lane and bringing their man to TM. Something needs to be done about this. I always have hope.

TM will be here next year, and this team will have the most talent of any team in UNT history.

[Quoner]

I will stay on the T Mitch bandwagon because this young man is something special.

Kram, you would stay on the bandwagon for a box of Kleenex wearing a North Texas jersey, but I'm sure tony appreciates the reassurance.

I agree with a lot of what UNT90 and you just posted. I doubt we're still having these same conversations about Tony and the offense in 2-3 weeks and I'm optimistic last night taught these kids a great deal. You bet your Aston I can't wait to get back out and see them keep improving next week.

Oh, and if we are still having these issues in 2-3 weeks, I hope the forum allows for solid, intelligence and constructive criticism.

[TIgreen01]

Too many knee jerk opinions in this thread...the dude hasn't been a member of the team for even a week. I say we hit 'pause' on this thread and reconvene in mid-February.

[Green Mean]

This had me thinking the last couple of days...if Tony is projected and is most likely to be a 2nd round pick this year does that entice him to declare for the draft anyways? I know there is a big money difference but it is definitely substantial either way.

That said he certainly is very very raw even for the college game right now and I would think with his talent combined with playing a couple of seasons of college ball in our conference...he could seriously dominate the opponents at some point and have the advantage of being a high first round pick given the level of competition he'll be playing.

[Andrew]

This had me thinking the last couple of days...if Tony is projected and is most likely to be a 2nd round pick this year does that entice him to declare for the draft anyways? I know there is a big money difference but it is definitely substantial either way.

That said he certainly is very very raw even for the college game right now and I would think with his talent combined with playing a couple of seasons of college ball in our conference...he could seriously dominate the opponents at some point and have the advantage of being a high first round pick given the level of competition he'll be playing.

He is not even projected to go in this years draft and no Freshmen or Sophomore ever leaves to be a second round pick. They are either lotto picks or hold off till their Junior or Senior year. Only 5 or 6 freshmen are coming out in this years draft and they are all lotto picks

[CMJ]

He is not even projected to go in this years draft and no Freshmen or Sophomore ever leaves to be a second round pick. They are either lotto picks or hold off till their Junior or Senior year. Only 5 or 6 freshmen are coming out in this years draft and they are all lotto picks

Tell that to the 2 UCLA kids who left last year and were picked in the 2nd round. Happens more than you'd think.

[Dr. Seuss]

He is not even projected to go in this years draft and no Freshmen or Sophomore ever leaves to be a second round pick. They are either lotto picks or hold off till their Junior or Senior year. Only 5 or 6 freshmen are coming out in this years draft and they are all lotto picks

I cant belive im saying this but Skiver is correct... He wont leave unless hes a lotto pick... This one game wont make a big difference, its all about what you do in March

Edited December 23, 2011 by Dr. Seuss

[UNTLifer]

Too many knee jerk opinions in this thread...the dude hasn't been a member of the team for even a week. I say we hit 'pause' on this thread and reconvene in mid-February.

This.