NIT Consolation Bracket

[oldguystudent]

UNT sports fandom is like an 80s Howard Jones song.

You can look at the menu, but you just can't eat

You can feel the cushion, but you can't have a seat

You can dip your foot in the pool, but you can't have a swim

You can feel the punishment, but you can't commit the sin

No one ever is to blame

[CurveItAround]

When starting 4 guards and a forward, it will be hard to win many rebounding battles unless the other team is doing the same. It will also be hard to run much of a half court offense when the other team simply packs it in the paint and dares you to make outside shots (especially if can't hit an outside shot). This type of lineup running a weave against a packed in defense will make it look like you have 3 guys running around oustide the 3 point line doing nothing in particular (if we can't make a shot, why go out and guard us?) until the shot clock gets low and we have to throw up a tough, contested shot.

If you are going to go with a small athletic lineup then run their arses in the ground and take shots in transition before they have time to pack it in. It seems we are trying to play a lot of half court sets with up tempo personnel. The substitution pattern we are following is somewhat understandable when you are running full speed up and down the court every possession and playing hellacious D, the guys will need quick breathers. It doesn't make as much sense when running a lot of half court sets and soft D.

I am confident (hopeful?) that things will settle down and players and coaches will learn what works/doesn't work, and I plan to support the team, but losing to to DII school that gets beat by 60+ the next night?

C'MON MAN!

[Army of Dad]

No one is absolving the players entirely. On the whole they shot horribly and played lethargically. This team, well coached however, should be able to shoot horribly and play lethargically and worse case have a tight game with a D-2 team for 35 minutes before opening up a comfortable lead and winning by +10.

To this point, this team is not well coached. Coach Benford mentioned four points of emphasis at the start of the year...winning rebounding battles, getting paint touches, playing intense, full-court defense and getting into transition on offense. We've regressed in all four of those areas. That's on coaching. The half-court offense...it's atrocious(worse than JJ's ). I've never seen 6 straight passes between just 2 players...seen(or heard) that twice already this year. I've never seen a 3-man weave atop the key with no movement by the two low-men...seen that numerous times already. Either Benford has failed to completely install his half-court offense or his players don't get it. Both are on coaching.

And yes...then there is that effing ridiculous, middle-school gimmicky substitution pattern.

Players need to make shots...but coaches need to put those players in the position to make them. We're not a good perimeter shooting team and that's not going to change this year (or next if all our verbals sign)...but lots of poor shooting teams have been successful by utilizing an offense (or defense) that suits the strengths of their team. For me, that means using this team's depth and athleticism and playing 94 feet of pressing defense, getting out and running at every opportunity, having CJ and Tony run some two-man at the top of the key with wings cutting-in off penetration rather than just spotting-up and adding more size in the form of Coleman to the interior, freeing Tony to drift and play more perimeter-ly.

And yes...keeping players on the floor for longer than shot-lock shifts.

Don't forget that this team got more practice time than in years past because of rules changes and all if these deficiencies are still here!

[glick1980]

In an earlier, contradictory post you claimed nervousness kept us from moving our feet on defense effectively, and then stated this was not due to being nervous but to bad coaching. Interesting. Care to clarify or will you continue to play both sides of the fence?

Please read my post with the quote I was referring to. I was being sarcastic in regards to someone claiming that we were to nervous and stressed to hit our shots. I asked if we were to nervous and stressed to defend and rebound.

[UNT90]

UNT sports fandom is like an 80s Howard Jones song.

You can look at the menu, but you just can't eat

You can feel the cushion, but you can't have a seat

You can dip your foot in the pool, but you can't have a swim

You can feel the punishment, but you can't commit the sin

No one ever is to blame

UNT sports will ALWAYS nad kick the hell outta you. And if you are a girl fan, UNT sports will find your itty bitty girl nads and gorilla kick the crap out of them, also.

ALWAYS.

It is the price of being a UNT fan.

Edited November 15, 2012 by UNT90

[Keith7]

Lucky for them, we are a pushover.

[MeanGreenHoops]

No one is absolving the players entirely. On the whole they shot horribly and played lethargically. This team, well coached however, should be able to shoot horribly and play lethargically and worse case have a tight game with a D-2 team for 35 minutes before opening up a comfortable lead and winning by +10.

To this point, this team is not well coached. Coach Benford mentioned four points of emphasis at the start of the year...winning rebounding battles, getting paint touches, playing intense, full-court defense and getting into transition on offense. We've regressed in all four of those areas. That's on coaching. The half-court offense...it's atrocious(worse than JJ's ). I've never seen 6 straight passes between just 2 players...seen(or heard) that twice already this year. I've never seen a 3-man weave atop the key with no movement by the two low-men...seen that numerous times already. Either Benford has failed to completely install his half-court offense or his players don't get it. Both are on coaching.

And yes...then there is that effing ridiculous, middle-school gimmicky substitution pattern.

Players need to make shots...but coaches need to put those players in the position to make them. We're not a good perimeter shooting team and that's not going to change this year (or next if all our verbals sign)...but lots of poor shooting teams have been successful by utilizing an offense (or defense) that suits the strengths of their team. For me, that means using this team's depth and athleticism and playing 94 feet of pressing defense, getting out and running at every opportunity, having CJ and Tony run some two-man at the top of the key with wings cutting-in off penetration rather than just spotting-up and adding more size in the form of Coleman to the interior, freeing Tony to drift and play more perimeter-ly.

And yes...keeping players on the floor for longer than shot-lock shifts.

Great points CBL. I'd like to expand on the offense point. From watching the Creighton game, I noticed two things. We were running alot more offense sets and plays. The weave you mentioned, as well as others. I remember thinking, this is more offensive planning than we'd see from JJ's teams (not a shot). On the other hand, once we got down double digits, it turned into guys trying to break their man down one-on-one and then throwing up a very bad shot. It seemed like they didn't know what to do.

It would appear, they don't trust in the system yet, or don't get it or both.

[wardly]

Don't care still pissed about the losing in the first round.

I was at the game. We have some good individual players, but they are not yet a team. UAH plays the same style of basketball that Denver does, which gives us fits. We got zero fast break points, could not hit from outside so they packed it in on Tony, and lost the game in the end at the line,missing a 1&1, and both 2 shot fouls. This basically is the same UNT team that lost 14 games last year, and has a new coach this year. We are going to be really good later in season, but now there is a learning curve.Don't give up on this team, but realize that early on we probably will lose a few games along the way to schools such as UAH.

[UNT90]

I was at the game. We have some good individual players, but they are not yet a team. UAH plays the same style of basketball that Denver does, which gives us fits. We got zero fast break points, could not hit from outside so they packed it in on Tony, and lost the game in the end at the line,missing a 1&1, and both 2 shot fouls. This basically is the same UNT team that lost 14 games last year, and has a new coach this year. We are going to be really good later in season, but now there is a learning curve.Don't give up on this team, but realize that early on we probably will lose a few games along the way to schools such as UAH.

You make good points, but my fear is this ends up being exactly like last year's team.

That would be a terrible disappointment from the view of preseason expectations.

[wardly]

You make good points, but my fear is this ends up being exactly like last year's team.

That would be a terrible disappointment from the view of preseason expectations.

At this early point in our season, I don't know if our expectations are realistic. Time will tell.

/quote]

[UNT90]

You make good points, but my fear is this ends up being exactly like last year's team.

That would be a terrible disappointment from the view of preseason expectations.

At this early point in our season, I don't know if our expectations are realistic. Time will tell.

/quote]

Keep in mind, they weren't just our expectations, but the expectations of many national "basketball guys" like Franchilla.

I do agree with you about not knowing whether those expectations are realistic. At this point, I would say they are anything but.

[GangGreen]

Any chance these games will be televised on the google machine?

[GrandGreen]

The consolation round will give NT a great chance to redeem themselves. Two wins and the green kool aid will be flowing. A split and more debate, two loses and the melt down will be full tilt.