Southern Mississippi (1/9/14)

[Mean_Green09]

I don't deny that we are indeed shooting the ball better from beyond the arc.

But wait a minute. Did some people not just point out that free throw shooting and boxing out were not executed well tonight? How is that an improvement over last year? If we had made just 4 more FTs that were misses and boxed out like we should have preventing 3 easy points possibly, we might have had a much better shot at winning the game.

TIME SOUTHERN MISS                      SCORE   NORTH TEXAS
10:43 Michael Craig missed Jumper.      44-41   
10:43 Aaron Brown Offensive Rebound.    44-41 
10:34                                   44-41   Foul on Kelvin Gaines.
10:34 Jeremiah Eason made Free Throw.   45-41 
10:34 Jeremiah Eason missed Free Throw. 45-41 
10:34 Aaron Brown Offensive Rebound.    45-41 
10:33                                   45-41   Foul on Maurice Aniefiok.
10:33 Aaron Brown made Free Throw.      46-41 
10:33 Aaron Brown missed Free Throw.    46-41 
10:33 Michael Craig Offensive Rebound.  46-41 
10:31                                   46-41   Foul on Colin Voss.
10:31 Michael Craig made Free Throw.    47-41 
10:31 Michael Craig made Free Throw.    48-41

Just some food for thought -- tonight we shot 55% on FTs. For the season we are averaging 65% and last year we averaged 71%. We're not doing better from behind the line.

How about other areas where we have improved? FG% Rebs Steals PPG TOs per game. Just better overall effort. I've seen better ball movement this year. I've seen less standing around on offense. Defensively seen better effort. Not as much funneling to one guy hoping he blocks the shot. Instead guys actually staying in front. More active hands in the passing lanes. Not just being lazy

[UNTFan23]

How about other areas where we have improved? FG% Rebs Steals PPG TOs per game. Just better overall effort. I've seen better ball movement this year. I've seen less standing around on offense. Defensively seen better effort. Not as much funneling to one guy hoping he blocks the shot. Instead guys actually staying in front. More active hands in the passing lanes. Not just being lazy

I'll break down the numbers after the Tulane game.

[aztecskin]

Well I'm out for tonight. Let's go beat Tulane and continue to get better. I definitely saw an improved team today. They didn't quit and they started to work more as one unit. Always room to grow, but I see some good conference wins in our future.

Same. I agree with Mean_Green09 about the active hands and movement on offense. I expect we'll see a pretty decent team come February.

[Green P1]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. It is not the coach's job to teach fundamentals is my new favorite. Also, better call Hudson Houck and let him know he wasted his life on middle school BS.

You expect a coach to make 20 year old kids better? You realize the playes read this board? Vomit.

[emmitt01]

Aaaaaaand it's official. Benford is the basketball Dodge. The apologists have now resorted to basically saying "well, I think the guards graded out really highly today" and the "if it weren't for one or two plays here or there" posts are in full force.

Is the Marble Falls basketball coach on solid ground right now?

[Censored by Laurie]

Has he been fired yet?

[oldguystudent]

There was a game?

[filmerj]

You expect a coach to make 20 year old kids better? You realize the playes read this board? Vomit.

There really isn't a need for a coach... just look at the Rec leagues.

[BillySee58]

I know I will be judged harshly, but I see a lot of fans on here talking basketball like you would expect fans too. A lot of upset people with the loss which I understand, but don't claim to know how to fix things. Don't claim you know how to attack the 2-3 or 1-3-1. Because there are all kinds of different ways depending on personnel and matchups.

There is not much basketball analyzing on here just lots of complaining.

It was a tough loss. I think we all can agree on there is talent on the team. It's just not always working as a collective unit right now. I think we can also say this team is ahead of last yrs group.

I think they can be a threat down the stretch if things go right.

As a fan I'm happy with the effort and displeased with the execution, but I think they are worth watching.

I'll be honest, my area of expertise is in football and baseball as far as knowing the ins and outs of the game. I played both on a 5A varsity level, still play club baseball at UNT, and I stopped playing basketball for my school once I got to high school. I've been intently following all three sports professionally and college since I was 7, but I'm not going to pretend like I can explain all the zones or hybrids like box and 1 or diamond and 1. But it doesn't take that to understand what our issues are.

I'm not screaming for our coach to be fired, but it's pretty obvious that it was a bad hire whether you can coach college basketball or not. Our player's have not developed well under him and many regressed, we consistently get off to slow starts, we have bad fundamentals, we don't have good rhythm or shot selection on offense, and out of the 5 high school kids who have been committed the last two years 0 are playing on the team right now. Not to mention according to Tasty, who knows as much about college basketball as anyone, has said that Benford has been shady on the recruiting trail, committing violations that could hurt this program down the line. Those are the reasons a lot of people want him fired, and it doesn't take a division 1 basketball coach or analyst to see that.

We have looked better this year as a team, granted I can't say we've played a team that's indisputably more athletic than us. We do have a chance to make some noise in CUSA play and it should be fun to watch, and we should give Benford a chance and support. We are pretty close to being a good CUSA team especially of USM is at the top of this conference.

[GrandGreen]

I have been among Benford's many critics and think the AD made a very bad choice to led what could have been one of the greatest teams in NT basketball history.

There have been a lot of bombs laid this year also such as BYU, Northwood, and SFU.

But maybe it is time to forget all that and enjoy the current season. Benford is coaching better and the team is responding. This team has talent and a lot of potential. They havn't sleep walked in a game in some time and played IMO very well against USM and A&M.

Aniefiok and Jordan Williams can be stars in this league. Jones has turned in a distribute first point and Alzee is always steady. Taylor still is not anywhere near were he should be on the court, but the talent is there. If Gant and Colemen can gain control over their fouls than they can really elevate this team. Voss is the most dependable big and should continue to improve.

I am not predicted a run for the CUSA championship, but this team is not nearly as bad as some of you are portraying. When it comes to NT men's basketball; Lets ignore the past, enjoy the present, and hope for the future.

[andrewrozell]

i think if someone just jumped into this thread on page 8 it would seem like an Andrew vs the board war going down. man oh man, hang there good buddy (and be smart with your battles).

i saw great improvement tonight. i saw much to be worked on too (including training refs).

also, IF what benford said is true about having players shot 100 free throws every practice, then i don't blame him on the FT last night. also, i think we have the depth to run harder, longer. i want to see the pedal down from tip to buzzer.

let's see what happens tomorrow, yeah?!

[Rudy]

What's this on recruiting vioations? We DO NOT need that!

[Andrew]

What's this on recruiting vioations? We DO NOT need that!

Stirring the pot.....?

[rws69]

--- In the good old MVC days when we played in the Men's gym... you could not get a seat unless you showed up very early at least during the week. We often weren't that good but the crowd was wild and games were fun.

Didn't miss many of those games. Fun times!