Some thoughts on this years team

[edcollopy]

The struggles of this team are very similar to what U of H is going through. They have alot of young athletes that can't close games and have a tough time shooting from the outside. This team will continue to struggle on offense w/o a bona fide outside threat. That is what separates the top programs and the rest...they have athletes that can drain the 3 ball....while others have athletes that can just get to the rack or look good on fast breaks.

Williams wants to be that threat but his smooth jumper is erratic at best. He really reminds me of a young Scottie Pippen. Really nice defender and athletic, but the jumper took a long time to develop.

When the offense bogs down I think we need to continue the high pick and roll 30 ft from the basket w/ Jones and whichever big. It worked against Tech and worked last night...we just didn't do it soon enough during our long scoring drought.

Mitchell is very athletic but he is a dime a dozen in the NCAA. Go around to the top 75 teams and I can assure you they have an athletic 6' 8" with no jump shot. All of you that want to talk NBA are wasting your time. The show requires guys his size to be able to knock down 15ft jumpers and have nifty post moves. Look at Renaldo Balkman and Jordan Hill...both 1st round players that are complete busts. You have to be extremely special to just come in and be a Ben Wallace type. I'm not saying Tony can't develop it...I'm just saying lets give him time to get his conditioning and see where it goes. I hope he is smart enough to realize that he needs to stay and work on a ton of stuff before he starts dreaming of the big leagues. You are nowhere near NBA ready when you are the 3rd or 4th best player on the court on a night like last night.

BTW, the crowd looked & sounded great on the much improved Mean Green Premium.

[meangreenacct]

The struggles of this team are very similar to what U of H is going through. They have alot of young athletes that can't close games and have a tough time shooting from the outside. This team will continue to struggle on offense w/o a bona fide outside threat. That is what separates the top programs and the rest...they have athletes that can drain the 3 ball....while others have athletes that can just get to the rack or look good on fast breaks.

Williams wants to be that threat but his smooth jumper is erratic at best. He really reminds me of a young Scottie Pippen. Really nice defender and athletic, but the jumper took a long time to develop.

When the offense bogs down I think we need to continue the high pick and roll 30 ft from the basket w/ Jones and whichever big. It worked against Tech and worked last night...we just didn't do it soon enough during our long scoring drought.

Mitchell is very athletic but he is a dime a dozen in the NCAA. Go around to the top 75 teams and I can assure you they have an athletic 6' 8" with no jump shot. All of you that want to talk NBA are wasting your time. The show requires guys his size to be able to knock down 15ft jumpers and have nifty post moves. Look at Renaldo Balkman and Jordan Hill...both 1st round players that are complete busts. You have to be extremely special to just come in and be a Ben Wallace type. I'm not saying Tony can't develop it...I'm just saying lets give him time to get his conditioning and see where it goes. I hope he is smart enough to realize that he needs to stay and work on a ton of stuff before he starts dreaming of the big leagues. You are nowhere near NBA ready when you are the 3rd or 4th best player on the court on a night like last night.

BTW, the crowd looked & sounded great on the much improved Mean Green Premium.

Thanks for your thoughts on Mitchell. It's clearly only the UNT super fans who think he's got a shot at the NBA. I mean it's not like ESPN's draft Guru has him rated 40th in the country or NBADRAFT.NET has him slated to go with the #8 pick in the 2013 draft or anything like that. It's clearly just our fans pumping our players full of praise as usual.

Also if you think players like Mitchell are a dime a dozen...then you must only watch teams like UNC, Duke, Syracuse etc.

Also really hard to call Jordan Hill a bust when he is only starting his 3rd season and spent his first season split between two teams.

[KRAM1]

I know there will be some who post here that will disagree with you. I will not be one of those. You pretty much nailed my observations on the team so far. This is going to be..."going to be" being the operative words here, a very exciting team to watch develop over the next couple of years. In the meantime, the Mean green faithful will just need to be patient and enjoy the ride...win or lose. This team will lose games it should have won...last night against LSU being a prime case in point...and it will win some games it probably should have lost. This is a bunch of young players surrounded by a couple of solid, but not spectacular experienced players. AND, it will take time. How many missed jumpers last night? How many turnovers? How many missed open shots?

So, really, this will be a case of the "good, bad and ugly" for awhile all wrapped up in a nice package of exciting and fun basketball to watch. Frustrating, yes indeed...but, fun none the less. Everyone just needs to be patient and enjoy the ride. So far, Chris Jones is showing that he is the "real deal" while Jordan William and Tony Mitchell have some work to do on those jumpers and in adjusting more to the college game. A year playing rec ball where you are clearly the best player going is showing as Tony tries to adjust to the speed and pace of the college game. These other players are simply not rec ball players. They are good, fast and skilled....pretty much all of them or they would not be on a D-1 court.

I am having a blast watching this team and realizing that every game will show some signs of improvement while I await the "experience factor" that can only come with time. I left the game last evening both happy and sad. Sad that UNT lost a game it could definitely have won, but happy to know that this is a team and a program that will be something to watch for some time to come. AND, the "good news" is that the "time" will definitely come.

GREAT crowd of over 6000 last night at the Super Pit. Got to hand it to the student section...pretty darn good showing for a holiday break period. Well done! And, the "alumni and fan" crowd...while seeing transfere a few in purple and gold...are to be commended as well. Two observations from the crowd for me...ONE: It shows what can happen when UNT plays "known" teams, and TWO; It shows the size crowd that should be filling the Super Pit each and every game. No reason why this team should not average 5000+. Good start on the support this season folks...keep it coming.

Yes, it will take some time and some patience from the fan base, but have no doubt about the abilities of this team and the coaching staff to get it done. UNT is on the rise, and some folks are definitely beginning to take notice.

Yep, lost last evening...yep, should have won...could have won, but it was a great evening at the Super Pit and the hint of many good nights to follow in the Super Pit.

SHOUT OUT TO THE BEST SIGN (Well, maybe the only sign)...two young women holding a sign that read: "You Have Just Been MITCH Slapped". No where near as great if it were being held by two guys. Nicely played, ladies!

Thanks to all who made it to the Super Pit last evening...great fun, great atmosphere. You helped to make it so!

[GrandGreen]

Frankly, I think everyone should give Mitchell at least a couple of weeks before pontificating on his future. Of course I declared he could be the best player ever at NT after one game, so I am just as guilty but on the positive side.

Everyone who watched any of the games of his on the USA team against foreign competition should have expected exactly what he has shown thus far. Super athletic player with not much of an offensive game. What I have been very happy about, is that Tony is far from a selfish player and even with very limited time with the team has shown that he is going to be a defensive force. I see a very coach-able player who is going to get better and better. I may be wrong but I don't see anyone in the Belt stopping him down low once the team gels around him.

We had a solid debate preseason about how good this team would be this year. My view is that the talent on this team was so great that they should win the conference. Other perhaps more sane thought it would be slow build and NT would be about a break even club in the Belt. My opinion has been buoyed by what I have seen so far, although I had expected Patton to be a major factor. I thought Jones would be good, but he is better. Jordan Williams is up and down but he will be a star, the question is how good will he get this year. Alzee is currently playing better than anybody except Jones. Hogans in the last few games is coming on.

I have little doubt, that NT will be the team to beat in the conference tournament; but I will also be disappointed if they don't win at least the Western Division.