San Antonio forward Tony Lewis talks visit to UNT

Harry · September 4, 2014

San Antonio Central Catholic power forward Tony Lewis started out with a list of 25 schools that offered him a scholarship.

The 6-foot-9 power forward will head to Denton on Thursday with that list trimmed to about a half dozen and said on the eve of his trip that UNT is well positioned as he prepares for a series of official visits.

Lewis will visit Weber State on the 19th and Santa Clara later this month following his visit to UNT. After those visits, Lewis plans to visit two schools out of a group that includes Kansas State, Creighton, New Mexico and Washington State.

Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2014/09/san-antonio-forward-tony-lewis-talks-visit-to-unt.html/

NT03 · September 5, 2014

Big time visitor.

Harry · September 5, 2014

Big time visitor.

Agreed -- and again, for all the Benford haters he still is able to recruit. I am not saying that his recruits always pan out (Keith Coleman) but he is still able to get pretty highly regarded guys to commit to this program which is encouraging,

My prediction is J-Mychal will be eligible in December similar to Tony. If they can get him eligible this Fall it would be a huge boost.

BillySee58 · September 5, 2014

Agreed -- and again, for all the Benford haters he still is able to recruit. I am not saying that his recruits always pan out (Keith Coleman) but he is still able to get pretty highly regarded guys to commit to this program which is encouraging,

My prediction is J-Mychal will be eligible in December similar to Tony. If they can get him eligible this Fall it would be a huge boost.

Benford has to win recruiting battles to be deemed a good recruiter. Getting guys on campus is a good step, but he needs to real them in.

Last season we signed 4 guards who didn't have any other offers, besides Greg White-Pittman who had a New Orleans offer. Jeremy Combs was a good get, and Muhammad Ahmed claimed other offers but hard to be for sure, since nobody else showed up on his recruiting profiles. As for Reese, he was a great get but he got kicked off A&M and needed a home. Not sure we really beat out a bunch of other schools for his services. But yeah, getting him eligible, even for just half a season, would be huge.

Lewis sure would be a big step in that direction though.

Edited September 5, 2014 by BillySee58

emmitt01 · September 14, 2014

Agreed -- and again, for all the Benford haters he still is able to recruit. I am not saying that his recruits always pan out (Keith Coleman) but he is still able to get pretty highly regarded guys to commit to this program which is encouraging,

My prediction is J-Mychal will be eligible in December similar to Tony. If they can get him eligible this Fall it would be a huge boost.

I seem to remember Vic Trilli being a pretty good recruiter.

And I'd still take Trilli's coaching over Benford.

CMJ · September 14, 2014

I seem to remember Vic Trilli being a pretty good recruiter.
And I'd still take Trilli's coaching over Benford.

Damn, I don't think I'd go that far.

KRAM1 · September 15, 2014

I seem to remember Vic Trilli being a pretty good recruiter.
And I'd still take Trilli's coaching over Benford.

That's racist!

:-)

Mean Green Matt · September 16, 2014

Damn, I don't think I'd go that far.

I'm surprised that Vic's hair alone has not put him in a hall of fame somewhere.

UNT90 · September 16, 2014

Never saw Trilli coach, but he'd have to be one hell of a bad coach to beat out what has happened the last 2 years.

MeanGreenHoops · September 16, 2014

Never saw Trilli coach, but he'd have to be one hell of a bad coach to beat out what has happened the last 2 years.

He was. So far both are different kinds of awful. Picking one is pointless, neither have been fun.

CMJ · September 16, 2014

Never saw Trilli coach, but he'd have to be one hell of a bad coach to beat out what has happened the last 2 years.

He was 20-87.

We lost by 75 to Maryland.

I can't even remember all the low points.

KRAM1 · September 17, 2014

Never saw Trilli coach, but he'd have to be one hell of a bad coach to beat out what has happened the last 2 years.

Just one reason why your Benford rants lack just a tad bit of credibility. You were not here to suffer through Trilli....so, you really don't know what a bad BB coach hire looks like. Those of us who sat through those years, and still actually supported the players by showing up deserve Purple Hearts. You just gave no idea.....

UNT90 · September 17, 2014

Just one reason why your Benford rants lack just a tad bit of credibility. You were not here to suffer through Trilli....so, you really don't know what a bad BB coach hire looks like. Those of us who sat through those years, and still actually supported the players by showing up deserve Purple Hearts. You just gave no idea.....

Ya, I won't drive 3 counties for a home BB game or pay for season tickets when the AD won't fire someone because he can't admit a mistake.(or because we are too cheap to buy out a contract). I also won't pay for season tickets for a program that refuses to give it's kids the best chance of success as possible.

I have a feeling you will see mainly those 900 people from the Trilli years at the Superpit again this year, and few others. Even though I admire your perseverance, at some point you may want to consider that something needs a change.

And if Trilli was worse than Benford, then we are 1 for 3 in basketball coaching hires the last 15 years....

Andrew · September 17, 2014

Trilli was by far worse. Benford is just a bit behind JJ. He has only been here for two years. He has a chance to catch up to JJ or fall far behind. This year will show us a lot on where Benford is. Next season will show even more (all players will be his recruits).

BillySee58 · September 17, 2014

Did Kram just nominate himself for a Purple Heart for attending college basketball games?

TheTastyGreek · September 17, 2014

Did Kram just nominate himself for a Purple Heart for attending college basketball games?

Don't be fooled by the stigmata; it's self-inflicted.

CMJ · September 17, 2014

Vic Trilli's first game we lost by 48 to Iowa. I mean the Hawkeyes are a good program, but that was a sign of things to come. It was his own UAH game.

UNT90 · September 17, 2014

Vic Trilli's first game we lost by 48 to Iowa. I mean the Hawkeyes are a good program, but that was a sign of things to come. It was his own UAH game.

Did he ever lose to a D2 school?

CMJ · September 17, 2014

Did he ever lose to a D2 school?

I think that is one thing he managed to avoid. The amount of blowout losses he had dwarfs anything we've experienced under Benford. I'm not just talking about 15-20 point pastings either. I'm talking about annihilations of 30 or more points. It was routine.

Edited September 19, 2014 by CMJ

Greendylan · September 19, 2014

I think that ia one thing he managed to avoid. The amount of blowout losses he had dwarfs anything we've experienced under Benford. I'm not just talking about 15-20 point pastings either. I'm talking about annihilations of 30 or more points. It was routine.

Man, I'm starting to really respect you guys who survived that era and are still fans today.

CMJ · September 19, 2014

Blowouts of 30+ in the Trilli era:

97-98

Iowa 64-112

Oklahoma State 60-98

TCU 74-113

Pacific 53-83

98-99

TCU 69-122

Tulsa 69-103

Maryland 57-132

Utah State 61-92

99-00

Oklahoma State 65-103

Texas Tech 70-100

Tulsa 77-113

TCU 91-134

Long Beach State 63-100

00-01

Alabama 55-94

MTSU 71-105

WKU 63-107

I left off plenty of losses in the 20-29 point range too - that might have been only been under 30 because of garbage time buckets.

DeepGreen · September 19, 2014

Gawd! Those are some awful stompings.

EagleD · September 20, 2014

I believe Trilli's team almost lost to Abiline Christian. Almost.

Edited September 20, 2014 by EagleD

meangreen16 · September 21, 2014

Hank brought Tony by KNTU. Apparently Tony is interested in the RTVF program.

untjim1995 · September 24, 2014

I lived through those Trill years--I even liked him. He was the Todd Dodge of basketball coaches in an incredibly eerie fashion. Both had strong UT ties, both were extremely upbeat and positive, and both could talk a great game to fans. But your below average YMCA coach could draw up x's and o's better than Trilli could. Dodge, in college anyway, was about the same.

The thing with Trilli was that he didn't take over a great program, but it wasn't bad either. Then, he got with Helwig and said we have to make a schedule that can garner attention from the local media and fanbase, so we scratched out every game against Jackson State or West Texas State and we replaced it with an unbelievable road schedule--one that RV would think was too ridiculous. Basically, John Wooden himself couldn't have built this thing up against the schedule Trilli ran up against.

Benford is a special kind of loser, though. The talent he took over here was the best the school has ever offered. His x's and o's strategy of innovating the hockey-line-change into a basketball game hasn't exactly caught on yet. His teams look like they couldn't hit the ocean from a ship, plus their defense is just awful, whether in half-court or full-court. Of course, its hard to be very good when you are coming out of the game after 45 seconds, too...Benford and Trilli, to me, are very different in coaching style, but they are also the same in that they are both losers. If Trilli got the schedules that Benford has had so far, its my belief that Trilli's record would look a lot more like Benford's has. It's not supposed to be difficult for UNT to beat Northwood or Ouachita Baptist or Alabama-Huntsville (ouch), but we weren't ever going to be able to beat a schedule of road games like Trilli got as the coach here. @Iowa, @ Alabama, @NC State, @Okie State, @UAB, @TCU (they made the NCAAs this year), @Oklahoma, and @ Georgia Tech in year 1, with a home against a Texas team that was NCAA bound, as well. Year 2, @ Texas A&M, @TCU, @Iowa State, @Tulsa, @Maryland, @ Arkansas, and a home loss against Texas Tech. Year 3, @Okie State, @ Texas Tech, @Baylor, @TCU, and @Wyoming (NCAA bound), with a home win over A&M. Year 4, @ Tulsa, @ Texas A&M, @ Missouri State, @Arkansas, @Oklahoma, and @ Alabama, plus a home loss against Baylor.

After three years, Vic Trilli, against a true Murderer's Row of a schedule, had a record of 16-63. He had lost almost all of his highly recruited players. He had two years left on his contract. And we said, lets keep him!! He rewarded us by winning 4 games against these juggernauts (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M--Kingsville, Hardin Simmons (D-2), and Florida International). Unfortunately, he lost the other 24 games, with exactly one loss--to ULaLa (by 4)--by less than 10 points. All of this is to illustrate that if a coach cannot do anything in the first three years of a contract, it ain't gonna magically change in Year 4 when a buyout becomes more manageable to your bottom line (see Dodge, Todd, and Trilli, Vic as prime examples that the university has dealt with in the last 20 years).

Edited September 24, 2014 by untjim1995