Moving forward with UNT Basketball

[Harry]

Putting the Benford argument aside for the purposes of this discussion, what does this basketball team need player wise to get more competitive on the court next season in C-USA?

Whether Tony is here or not (I hope he stays) it seems to me rebounding was a huge problem this season. I really think losing Kendrick hurt us in that area and I shudder to think what would happen with Tony being gone.

At Point guard I think we are ok with a healthy CJ, more experienced PJ and Alzee for the near future.

Shooters: this has to be the biggest area of concern. Jordan showed an improvement but this team is in desperate need of consistent outside shooting. Having Walton back will help that but we need more depth. I keep thinking back to that Lehigh game -- or perhaps even UTA -- there were 3-4 guys on that team I would have taken in a heartbeat...guys that weren't the fastest or tallest but just could sink a jumpshot from anywhere on the court consistently. Until we get these types of guys to mix in with our athleticism we will continue to struggle as a program.

TJ Taylor? What type of player is he? I know he's a damn good athlete and I hear he can shoot but what will he bring to Benford's system and what role could he play?

Greg Wesley? Does he replace Tony or is he a different type of player. I love his athleticism and dunking but I wonder where he would best fit in.

Supposing Benford has 2-3 spots to give, taking the ships we've already given (Friar/Wesley/Nunn) and assuming Tony goes into the draft - where would you Benford to go with the remaining spots. Does he need to go juco or hs?

[MeanGreenTexan]

Putting the Benford argument aside for the purposes of this discussion, what does this basketball team need player wise to get more competitive on the court next season in C-USA?

Whether Tony is here or not (I hope he stays) it seems to me rebounding was a huge problem this season. I really think losing Kendrick hurt us in that area and I shudder to think what would happen with Tony being gone.

At Point guard I think we are ok with a healthy CJ, more experienced PJ and Alzee for the near future.

Shooters: this has to be the biggest area of concern. Jordan showed an improvement but this team is in desperate need of consistent outside shooting. Having Walton back will help that but we need more depth. I keep thinking back to that Lehigh game -- or perhaps even UTA -- there were 3-4 guys on that team I would have taken in a heartbeat...guys that weren't the fastest or tallest but just could sink a jumpshot from anywhere on the court consistently. Until we get these types of guys to mix in with our athleticism we will continue to struggle as a program.

TJ Taylor? What type of player is he? I know he's a damn good athlete and I hear he can shoot but what will he bring to Benford's system and what role could he play?

Greg Wesley? Does he replace Tony or is he a different type of player. I love his athleticism and dunking but I wonder where he would best fit in.

Supposing Benford has 2-3 spots to give, taking the ships we've already given (Friar/Wesley/Nunn) and assuming Tony goes into the draft - where would you Benford to go with the remaining spots. Does he need to go juco or hs?

I'm a fan of the Mean Green. I'm also a fan of Tony Mitchell, and for his sake, I hope he goes now. If he decides to come back, we're extremely lucky.

Outside shooting hurt us this year. That role should be filled by Walton's return, the improvement of J.Williams & Overlander, and the introduction of TJ Taylor.

PG and SG is going to be fine if TJ is the player we think he is. I've heard TJ is a shooter with range.

Greg Wesley's highlights remind me alot of Jordan's coming out of HS. If we have two of that type of player on the floor together, it could be exciting. He seems to like to slash to the basket. Of course, Jordan's highlights had him slashing alot, but he wound up developing more of a transition and mid-range/long-range shooting game. I guess we won't know until he gets on campus.

Based on Tony & Rog leaving and what we saw from Coleman this year, I would think that both scholarships should go to bigs and probably one from the JUCO ranks, just in case Nunn & Friar are Coleman 2.0 & 3.0...

COLEMAN MUST IMPROVE and get on the floor more. It doesn't appear that he lacks effort, so this must be reliant on coaching this offseason.

EDIT: Unless we can add Shirmane Thomas. Then I'd take him and a JUCO Big.

Edited March 11, 2013 by MeanGreenTexan

[island eagle]

Good analysis on both your parts. Yeah, the Lehigh game was painful to watch. They made shooting three's look like the most natural and easy thing on earth, we made it look more complicated than a manned mission to Mars.

[UNTFan23]

I would like to see the perimeter defense improve. We allowed 209 3-pointers on 581 attempts (36% with 6.5 threes made per game).

[oldguystudent]

I really don't know if you can put the Benford argument aside. I really don't. And honestly, I have no opinion of him either way because I just don't watch or understand basketball enough.

I do know that for the games I went to, I saw these immense, hulking figures who had track speed, wearing North Texas jerseys, who couldn't have beaten Denton Middle School.

So, there is, in my uneducated a opinion, one of three possibilities:

1) The problem lies completely with the players attitudes and unwillingness to play

2) The problem lies with the coaching staff and its inability to get players to buy in or formulate effective game plans

3) Some crazy combination of the above two that lies somewhere in the middle.

I have no idea. I just shake my head in bewilderment at what could have been and what really happened.

[Mean Green Matt]

I agree with old guy. Taking Benford out of the discussion makes it completely pointless.

[rws69]

I understand that you want to take the coach out of the equation so we can focus on player needs.

That said, I suspect Benford inherited some discipline issues; and injuries reduced depth enough that working around discipline issues seriously impacted his ability to manage those issues. I don't know the players, but benching players so frequently is the smoke that screams fire. A really good motivating coach probably could have managed that better than what we experienced this past season.

It is hard to get past the coaching and focus on player needs when we don't know if we can count on some of the current players who may continue to have conflicts with the coach. It is one thing to work around injuries, but going into a "win or go home" game without Alzee Williams shows how little we can assume about the current roster. How many key players were benched at one time or another this season?

That aside, good shooters and perimeter defense are the biggest needs. If Mitchell leaves, and I hope he doesn't, then that is a lot more talent that needs to be replaced. Even with Mitchell, it would be nice to have a player who can dominate under the basket offensively and defensively so that Tony can be more versatile as forward.

[Army of Dad]

Also, I don't think you can simply count on everyone with eligibility left being here next season. You could make the case that several players don't like Benford and may transfer as a result. Benford comes from a program that routinely cuts players before they exhaust their eligibility so that may play a big role too (trey Norris)

[Andrew]

Also, I don't think you can simply count on everyone with eligibility left being here next season. You could make the case that several players don't like Benford and may transfer as a result. Benford comes from a program that routinely cuts players before they exhaust their eligibility so that may play a big role too (trey Norris)

The core group of players will be back. I still do not understand where people get off making these comments... Tony may go to the NBA and PJ may transfer to FIU but everyone else is coming back. The only other one I am curious about is Alzee. He needs to get it back together and be our 6th man next season.

* Clark may be questionable for the future as well but the addition of Shirmane Thomas gives us even more depth at the guard position.

Edited March 11, 2013 by Andrew

[Mean Green Matt]

Where is the PJ to FIU talk coming from?

[Censored by Laurie]

Where is the PJ to FIU talk coming from?

Same place all Andrew's posts come from...

[UNTFan23]

PJ may transfer to FIU but everyone else is coming back.

PJ would have to burn a year of eligibility because there is no way the AD will release him to a conference opponent.

[Mean_Green09]

Regardless if Tony Mitchell comes back or not they need to develop a true post presence. Someone who can play with his back to the basket. Doesnt matter if that guy is a 4 or a 5. They also need a pure defender rebounder in the post. I think they have the guard play to be an average team, but with no true post presence then its a moot point. If a miracle happens and Mitchell comes back I would like to see him more as a wing, his true position.

All the Tony Benford critics out there probably don't know much about the game of basketball. Trust me I'm just as mad as everyone else, but I'm not going to blame everything on him. Injuries plagued this team and disrupted rythm just as much as selfish play on the court. I dont know how many times on the court I saw countless mental errors from every player. At what point do you put some blame on the players? I can teach you everything tell you how to do it, but if you dont buy in to my program then its useless. So my guess is that Benford was much stricter than Jones and some players couldnt handle that so they just couldnt and chose not to respond. Does that make Benford a bad coach? No. It makes that player selfish, he put himself before the team. So in the end the team struggled to play as team and struggled to buy into Benford system. If players need to go to make it work then so be it. To me the only guy I believe is ireplaceable is Mitchell. You cant replace talent like his (Top Ten NBA Draft). As for the rest there is not one guy on the team who is worthy of a look. Maybe D League or overseas MAYBE.

Here's to next year hoping our players can put it together.

[UNTstormchaser]

Regardless if Tony Mitchell comes back or not they need to develop a true post presence. Someone who can play with his back to the basket. Doesnt matter if that guy is a 4 or a 5. They also need a pure defender rebounder in the post. I think they have the guard play to be an average team, but with no true post presence then its a moot point. If a miracle happens and Mitchell comes back I would like to see him more as a wing, his true position.

All the Tony Benford critics out there probably don't know much about the game of basketball. Trust me I'm just as mad as everyone else, but I'm not going to blame everything on him. Injuries plagued this team and disrupted rythm just as much as selfish play on the court. I dont know how many times on the court I saw countless mental errors from every player. At what point do you put some blame on the players? I can teach you everything tell you how to do it, but if you dont buy in to my program then its useless. So my guess is that Benford was much stricter than Jones and some players couldnt handle that so they just couldnt and chose not to respond. Does that make Benford a bad coach? No. It makes that player selfish, he put himself before the team. So in the end the team struggled to play as team and struggled to buy into Benford system. If players need to go to make it work then so be it. To me the only guy I believe is ireplaceable is Mitchell. You cant replace talent like his (Top Ten NBA Draft). As for the rest there is not one guy on the team who is worthy of a look. Maybe D League or overseas MAYBE.

Here's to next year hoping our players can put it together.

I understand what you're saying about the players. I live in the same dorm as them. And trust me, your judgment isn't far off.

But the blame is always the coach. If JJ won with these guys, Benford can win with these guys. If he wants to be a stubborn jerk who won't continually change his coaching/motivating tactics to suit the situation and players he has, then he doesn't deserve to be a head coach. It's as simple as that.