Thoughts on where UNT stands after placing Nunn

Harry · June 15, 2013

UNT is placing former signee Tony Nunn, a 6-8 center out of Oldsmar Christian, over at Odessa College. We talked a little bit about it when the news came down this week.

Now that we have had some time, we can delve into what the news means in a little more depth.

UNT picked up a commitment from the Florida prep school product pretty early on in a move that was a little out of the norm for the program historically.

UNT has taken a lot of transfers and junior college players through the years, but very few high school players who have signed with the

Mean Green have been from anywhere but Texas or a neighboring state.

Nunn was an instance where UNT tried to cast its net a little farther.

It didnt work out in the end, largely due to Nunns injury problems. He barely played his senior year.

UNTs coaches said they wanted to place Nunn so he would have a chance to play next season. He could end up at UNT the following year.

Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2013/06/thoughts-on-where-unt-stands-after-placing-nunn.html/

NT03 · June 15, 2013

Odessa JC will be interesting to watch this season. Will also have Texas Tech transfer Josh Grey

UNT90 · June 16, 2013

"Those guys will look great in the layup line, but here’s the question that will hang over UNT heading into next season, and this would have been true with or without Nunn:"

"UNT will have a ton of guys who look the part or have the athletic ability to be impact players on the Conference USA level next season."

"Can any of them play basketball at the C-USA level?"

Close, Mr. Vito, very close, but you got it wrong.

The question is whether this coach can develop these players into being D1 college basketball players in his system (whatever that system may be).

I think we should all cross our collective fingers a say a prayer nightly.

BillySee58 · June 16, 2013

"Those guys will look great in the layup line, but heres the question that will hang over UNT heading into next season, and this would have been true with or without Nunn:"
"UNT will have a ton of guys who look the part or have the athletic ability to be impact players on the Conference USA level next season."
"Can any of them play basketball at the C-USA level?"
Close, Mr. Vito, very close, but you got it wrong.
The question is whether this coach can develop these players into being D1 college basketball players in his system (whatever that system may be).
I think we should all cross our collective fingers a say a prayer nightly.

Hit the nail on the head. Especially as many of these guys will be playing their first season of D1 basketball. Can these guys have marked improvement over the year? The players decide some of this on their own, obviously, but the coach obviously plays a huge role. Didn't see very much improvement over the year last year. That needs to change.

UNT90 · June 16, 2013

Hit the nail on the head. Especially as many of these guys will be playing their first season of D1 basketball. Can these guys have marked improvement over the year? The players decide some of this on their own, obviously, but the coach obviously plays a huge role. Didn't see very much improvement over the year last year. That needs to change.

Actually, we saw deprovement (like that is even a word) from just about every player last year.

Where many on here and I disagree is that it's the players' fault if the coaches can not get the maximum out of that player. I fall squarely in the camp of that being a coaching issue. Part of coaching is motivation. If you can't motivate your players to want to be the best that they can be at a game they love, then you don't deserve to be a head coach.

You would think with the experience we have at the assistant level, this would not be a problem, yet it was a HUGE problem last year. While having experienced assistants is nice, they still answer to the head coach, who dictates the overall direction of the program. If there is an issue at the head, there will be issues throughout the team.

Again, cross your fingers and say your prayers.

GoMeanGreen1999 · June 17, 2013

Actually, we saw deprovement (like that is even a word) from just about every player last year.
Where many on here and I disagree is that it's the players' fault if the coaches can not get the maximum out of that player. I fall squarely in the camp of that being a coaching issue. Part of coaching is motivation. If you can't motivate your players to want to be the best that they can be at a game they love, then you don't deserve to be a head coach.
You would think with the experience we have at the assistant level, this would not be a problem, yet it was a HUGE problem last year. While having experienced assistants is nice, they still answer to the head coach, who dictates the overall direction of the program. If there is an issue at the head, there will be issues throughout the team.
Again, cross your fingers and say your prayers.

It's a leadership issue and the last time I checked, the players were not getting paid as the coach. If there is little talent, that is one thing, but we all know there was talent here last year.