Sunday night hoops thoughts (Benford comments)

[Harry]

Well, that didn’t go well.

The UNT men were hoping to bounce back from a 30-point beating at BYU at home against SFA today, while the UNT women were looking to build on a win over rival UTA in a game at Northern Colorado.

The UNT women fell 75-69, despite 27 points from Janis Peterson (we’ll get to that).

The real zinger was that the UNT men were hammered by SFA 87-53.

UNT has had some tough losses over the years, including during the high point of the Johnny Jones era, but this one just felt different.

This was at home and it came at a time when faith in UNT’s hopes for a bounce back year seemed to be fading.

Tony Benford called it the most embarrassing game he has ever been a part of.

Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2013/12/sunday-night-hoops-thoughts-benford-comments.html/

[NT03]

In the Last 3 halves of Basketball , we've been outscored 142-85 ( 67 points). Those are against 2 good, not great, mid major teams

[UNT90]

^{I wonder if the players thought "yep, sounds about right" when Benford told them that everyone thought that he couldn't coach...}

Edited December 16, 2013 by UNT90

[untbowler]

Benford can kiss our a$$es. He has done nothing but run the program into the ground, unfortunately Peterson is not doing much better with the women either, but don't expect any heads to roll.

[UNT90]

And pretty despicable to tell the players that the fans have no faith in them. I think they could be a decent team...

with a different coach...

[Army of Dad]

And pretty despicable to tell the players that the fans have no faith in them. I think they could be a decent team...

with a different coach...

Nah, typical us against the world coach speak.

Which would be fine if Benford were a life raft and not an anchor.

[MeanMag]

The us and me against the world crap worked for Dickey.

[CMJ]

The us and me against the world crap worked for Dickey.

It took four years for Dickey to get that level. Benford is panicking to already be there.

[Greendylan]

The only way for this program to regain any respectability at this point would be to make an immediate coaching change. It might not salvage the season, but it would salvage our pride. We have to send a message that this type of performance is completely unacceptable.

I know I'm not the first person to say this, but now I think it's obvious to all: each additional day that Benford is coaching this team sinks our program further into a hole from which the next coach will have to dig us out. I'm sure he's a decent guy and giving it his all, but for whatever reason, he isn't the right fit for this school at this time. I truly believe that we have some talented players who are ruining their careers by working with a coach whose system seems disorganized at best.

[UNTLifer]

Total embarrassment. Trilli Part Deaux

Edited December 16, 2013 by UNTLifer

[NM Green]

All I kept thinking was how bad we are going to get killed in conference USA play. I might still go to El Paso to watch good bball but it won't be with us. I was clapping for sfa at the end of the game because even their scrubs were playing hard and sound bball. I have to applaud effort and performance. This no excuses squad deserves better. Do they even admit they play bball for UNT on campus? They wear my alma maters uniform and I clapped for them but not for the travesty UNT bball is right now. Foe unlv season ticket holder to watching this. Ouch.

Now beat em in football darn it! GMG

[TheTastyGreek]

Tony Benford called it the most embarrassing game he has ever been a part of.

Then the only thing worse than Tony Benford's coaching is Tony Benford's memory.

#1 - 11/12/12 - Neutral site vs. Alabama-Huntsville. The lowest of the low. The team we advertised as the most talented in North Texas history, the one Benford branded as having "Sweet 16 potential" takes the court for the second game of the season. Our school's very first appearance in the Preseason NIT. Our opponent is a D-2 team, the only one ever allowed in the field, and only as a late substitution that wouldn't count towards anyone's RPI. We lose.

#2 - 1/5/13 - Home vs. Louisiana-Monroe. Against a team on sanctions limiting their scholarships and practice time, so woefully underfunded that they had no DOBO and didn't even have a third assistant the year before (they finally filled the position with a confessed felon, presumably working for a very reasonable salary) came on to our floor and beat us by 13 points.

#3 - 2/2/13 - At Arkansas State. Despite leading by 7 points with just 55 seconds to play, we can't close out and stumble to overtime. Perhaps inspired by Shanice Stephens and her infamous incident of melting down and chasing an official off the court and down a tunnel... Benford gets into a screaming and pointing (cursing? witnesses say yes, Benford says no) match with ASU coach John Brady, earning a technical foul and some very embarrassing video that unfortunately seems to have disappeared from the Arkansas TV station's website. Before that technical foul, it was still a 2 point game. After, Arkansas State dominated, and we wind up losing by 9.

#4 - 1/31/13 - At Louisiana-Lafayette. Three days before the on court incident with Brady... Playing against a 7-15 team, we post one of the worst defensive performances in all of D-1 basketball from the 2012-13 season. We wind up losing, 105-74. At that point in the season, only eight other teams in all of D-1 basketball had allowed 105 points or more in a game, and none of those were against a sub-.500 opponent. But we did it. In their next game, ULL posts a whopping 52 points.

#5 - 2/14/13 - At Louisiana-Monroe. In the rematch, we finally see some progress... We only lose to ULM by 12 instead of 13 points, an improvement on the margin from our defeat earlier in the season. ULM notches their fourth and final victory of the season, half of them having come against Tony Benford.

#6 - 3/8/13 - Neutral site vs. Louisiana-Lafayette. After a year of disappointment, shame, and failure... Benford makes a lot of bold statements about his intentions and ambitions at the SBC Tournament. "I wouldn't want to play us!" "I'm taking four suits!!". ULL blows us out by 19, lowlighted by two technical fouls on our players and a mere 4 points scored in the last 5 and a half minutes. Three suits go unused, and we lose our 20th game of the season.

#7 - 11/8/13 - Home vs. Northwood. A 2nd year NAIA team, playing its first official game against a D-1 opponent, takes us to the wire. Within one point twice in the final minute, missing free throws on two different occasions that could have tied the game.

I'd say that this loss is somewhere between #8 and #10, depending on personal impressions of our losses to BYU and Idaho (double digits, and a rally from 24 points down!).

42 games in, and it would be hard to convince me this is worse than at least 7 and arguably 9 other games he's coached at North Texas.

[UNTFan23]

Then the only thing worse than Tony Benford's coaching is Tony Benford's memory.

#1 - 11/12/12 - Neutral site vs. Alabama-Huntsville. The lowest of the low. The team we advertised as the most talented in North Texas history, the one Benford branded as having "Sweet 16 potential" takes the court for the second game of the season. Our school's very first appearance in the Preseason NIT. Our opponent is a D-2 team, the only one ever allowed in the field, and only as a late substitution that wouldn't count towards anyone's RPI. We lose.

#2 - 1/5/13 - Home vs. Louisiana-Monroe. Against a team on sanctions limiting their scholarships and practice time, so woefully underfunded that they had no DOBO and didn't even have a third assistant the year before (they finally filled the position with a confessed felon, presumably working for a very reasonable salary) came on to our floor and beat us by 13 points.

#3 - 2/2/13 - At Arkansas State. Despite leading by 7 points with just 55 seconds to play, we can't close out and stumble to overtime. Perhaps inspired by Shanice Stephens and her infamous incident of melting down and chasing an official off the court and down a tunnel... Benford gets into a screaming and pointing (cursing? witnesses say yes, Benford says no) match with ASU coach John Brady, earning a technical foul and some very embarrassing video that unfortunately seems to have disappeared from the Arkansas TV station's website. Before that technical foul, it was still a 2 point game. After, Arkansas State dominated, and we wind up losing by 9.

#4 - 1/31/13 - At Louisiana-Lafayette. Three days before the on court incident with Brady... Playing against a 7-15 team, we post one of the worst defensive performances in all of D-1 basketball from the 2012-13 season. We wind up losing, 105-74. At that point in the season, only eight other teams in all of D-1 basketball had allowed 105 points or more in a game, and none of those were against a sub-.500 opponent. But we did it. In their next game, ULL posts a whopping 52 points.

#5 - 2/14/13 - At Louisiana-Monroe. In the rematch, we finally see some progress... We only lose to ULM by 12 instead of 13 points, an improvement on the margin from our defeat earlier in the season. ULM notches their fourth and final victory of the season, half of them having come against Tony Benford.

#6 - 3/8/13 - Neutral site vs. Louisiana-Lafayette. After a year of disappointment, shame, and failure... Benford makes a lot of bold statements about his intentions and ambitions at the SBC Tournament. "I wouldn't want to play us!" "I'm taking four suits!!". ULL blows us out by 19, lowlighted by two technical fouls on our players and a mere 4 points scored in the last 5 and a half minutes. Three suits go unused, and we lose our 20th game of the season.

#7 - 11/8/13 - Home vs. Northwood. A 2nd year NAIA team, playing its first official game against a D-1 opponent, takes us to the wire. Within one point twice in the final minute, missing free throws on two different occasions that could have tied the game.

I'd say that this loss is somewhere between #8 and #10, depending on personal impressions of our losses to BYU and Idaho (double digits, and a rally from 24 points down!).

42 games in, and it would be hard to convince me this is worse than at least 7 and arguably 9 other games he's coached at North Texas.

[Greenrex]

Dr. Rawlins needs to do the right thing and at the very least direct the AD to address this situation or address it himself. Leaving this university with this coach in place is wrong on every level.

[UNT90]

Then the only thing worse than Tony Benford's coaching is Tony Benford's memory.

#1 - 11/12/12 - Neutral site vs. Alabama-Huntsville. The lowest of the low. The team we advertised as the most talented in North Texas history, the one Benford branded as having "Sweet 16 potential" takes the court for the second game of the season. Our school's very first appearance in the Preseason NIT. Our opponent is a D-2 team, the only one ever allowed in the field, and only as a late substitution that wouldn't count towards anyone's RPI. We lose.

#2 - 1/5/13 - Home vs. Louisiana-Monroe. Against a team on sanctions limiting their scholarships and practice time, so woefully underfunded that they had no DOBO and didn't even have a third assistant the year before (they finally filled the position with a confessed felon, presumably working for a very reasonable salary) came on to our floor and beat us by 13 points.

#3 - 2/2/13 - At Arkansas State. Despite leading by 7 points with just 55 seconds to play, we can't close out and stumble to overtime. Perhaps inspired by Shanice Stephens and her infamous incident of melting down and chasing an official off the court and down a tunnel... Benford gets into a screaming and pointing (cursing? witnesses say yes, Benford says no) match with ASU coach John Brady, earning a technical foul and some very embarrassing video that unfortunately seems to have disappeared from the Arkansas TV station's website. Before that technical foul, it was still a 2 point game. After, Arkansas State dominated, and we wind up losing by 9.

#4 - 1/31/13 - At Louisiana-Lafayette. Three days before the on court incident with Brady... Playing against a 7-15 team, we post one of the worst defensive performances in all of D-1 basketball from the 2012-13 season. We wind up losing, 105-74. At that point in the season, only eight other teams in all of D-1 basketball had allowed 105 points or more in a game, and none of those were against a sub-.500 opponent. But we did it. In their next game, ULL posts a whopping 52 points.

#5 - 2/14/13 - At Louisiana-Monroe. In the rematch, we finally see some progress... We only lose to ULM by 12 instead of 13 points, an improvement on the margin from our defeat earlier in the season. ULM notches their fourth and final victory of the season, half of them having come against Tony Benford.

#6 - 3/8/13 - Neutral site vs. Louisiana-Lafayette. After a year of disappointment, shame, and failure... Benford makes a lot of bold statements about his intentions and ambitions at the SBC Tournament. "I wouldn't want to play us!" "I'm taking four suits!!". ULL blows us out by 19, lowlighted by two technical fouls on our players and a mere 4 points scored in the last 5 and a half minutes. Three suits go unused, and we lose our 20th game of the season.

#7 - 11/8/13 - Home vs. Northwood. A 2nd year NAIA team, playing its first official game against a D-1 opponent, takes us to the wire. Within one point twice in the final minute, missing free throws on two different occasions that could have tied the game.

I'd say that this loss is somewhere between #8 and #10, depending on personal impressions of our losses to BYU and Idaho (double digits, and a rally from 24 points down!).

42 games in, and it would be hard to convince me this is worse than at least 7 and arguably 9 other games he's coached at North Texas.

So just about 1/4 of all games coached by Benford have been embarrassments for UNT and it's fans?

Sounds about right.

In a side note, it is good to know you are still paying attention. I was afraid this whole thing may have caused you to lose complete interest. That would be tragic.

Edited December 16, 2013 by UNT90

[oldguystudent]

Is it time for the Tony Benford Equivalent Futility List yet? I suppose it would be much more difficult to correlate when the schedule is chock full of D2, NAIA, and middle school opponents.

Oh, Tina Yothers, I do so miss you.

[Tree]

Wow, "“Everyone thinks that we are not any good, that I can’t coach and they can’t play."

Sounds like he is hearing this message. I am a little surprised he mentioned the coaching thing specifically.

Come on guys turn it around!

[MeanGreenTexan]

Wow, "“Everyone thinks that we are not any good, that I can’t coach and or they can’t play."

Sounds like he is hearing this message. I am a little surprised he mentioned the coaching thing specifically.

Come on guys turn it around!

Almost correct. Fixed for him.

There's really only one guy out there who hasn't shown he can play, but boy has he been improving on his Big East level of play... ever since he got here!

[Rudy]

And pretty despicable to tell the players that the fans have no faith in them. I think they could be a decent team...

with a different coach...

Yeah, that pisses me off. He is not taking any responsibility for this trash. I'm suprised he didn't put it all on the players. That will probably be the next post game interview.

Total embarrassment. Trilli Part Deaux

Hey, I don't remember Trilli ever trying to alienate the fans or blame the players.

[Green Mean]

Bought season tickets and I haven't attended a game yet this season. Last year I would have made it a point to schedule my plans around MBB games but at this point I'm not so sure when I'll be attending.

[CMJ]

I might quibble with the rankings a bit, but Tasty's list is pretty spot on.

[TheTastyGreek]

Is it time for the Tony Benford Equivalent Futility List yet? I suppose it would be much more difficult to correlate when the schedule is chock full of D2, NAIA, and middle school opponents.

Oh, Tina Yothers, I do so miss you.

I've actually done a few futility lists. One after Alabama-Huntsville about losses to non D1 schools. One after we gave up 105 in regulation to a 7-15 team. And one about what happens with coaches who lose 20+ games but get retained.

Think of them as situational, rather than global analyses of a disastrous coaching hire.

[TheTastyGreek]

So just about 1/4 of all games coached by Benford have been embarrassments for UNT and it's fans?

Sounds about right.

In a side note, it is good to know you are still paying attention. I was afraid this whole thing may have caused you to lose complete interest. That would be tragic.

Still love this team, and almost sure that we are seeing the death spasms of a failed and soon to be over coaching era. That makes it all easier to deal with.

[untjim1995]

What was the attendance yesterday for this prison-style assault?

To me, when you tell someone that you lost at home by 34 points, it had better be against a really good team that has name cachet from a good league. Losing by 34 to a school that is widely viewed as pissant (sorry SFA fans, but its the truth) at home is just Trilli-esque.

Even worse, he will be here for another year after this, probably another two years.

[Greendylan]

What was the attendance yesterday for this prison-style assault?

To me, when you tell someone that you lost at home by 34 points, it had better be against a really good team that has name cachet from a good league. Losing by 34 to a school that is widely viewed as pissant (sorry SFA fans, but its the truth) at home is just Trilli-esque.

Even worse, he will be here for another year after this, probably another two years.

If he's here for another year after this one, then we might as well just shut down the basketball program and focus on starting up baseball.