Mean Green

The University of North Texas Mean Green extended its winning streak to 11 games and defeated the Troy Trojans 66-63 Tuesday night in the championship game of the Sun Belt tournament to earn an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
UNT improved its record to 24-8 on the season and set a new school record with the 24th win of the season.
UNT trailed by two and halftime but then led by as many as eight in the second half against Troy, the tournaments No. 1 seed.
Read more about the game in Wednesday's Denton Record-Chronicle and online at www.dentonrc.com/sports

My father passed away this evening in Longmont. Fortunately, both myself and my brother made it back home in time to be with him when he died.

I appreciate all the thoughts and notes from you guys out there who follow UNT. It has been a tough year since my father was hurt doing what he loved, driving karts in races in Colorado.

Over the years, I almost felt like my dad became an honorary member of the Mean Green Nation that I have tried to serve by covering all that has gone on through the years. He and my mom came to at least one football game every year when they came to Texas to visit.

He and my mother also accounted for at least 17 percent of the crowd for UNT-Denver games in Denver through the years. They always came.

Great win by the UNT men, by the way. I got a chance to listen to the end of the game after leaving the nursing home.

Thanks again,

Brett Vito

My father has been sent to a hospice center and only has a few hours to a few days to live. I am going to rush to Denver to see if I can see him before he passes.

The DRC will still have UNT content through the rest of the tournament, whether it is from some friends in the league who are covering UNT games because the teams they cover are playing UNT or from freelancers.

I hate that I have to leave now, but my family needs me to be back home at this point.

I took a look back at least season's Sun Belt Conference women's tournament while putting together a feature on Brittney James for tomorrow's paper when something in the box score from the Mean Green's first-round win caught my eye.

This relates to the men's tournament. Hang with me.

Yari Escalera had one of the best games of her career in UNT's upset of Arkansas State. The senior hit four shots from behind the arc and was UNT's leading scorer.

What does that say about this year's tournament? The same thing it says just about every year. It's all about the seniors or longtime veterans who step up at the end of their careers.

UNT won the whole ball of wax in 2007 when Calvin Watkins, Kendrick Davis and Rich Young were seniors. That team also had two veteran post guys in Keith Wooden and Quincy Williams.

Western Kentucky has been loaded with veteran guys while making runs to the tournament title the last couple of years as well.

It's one reason UNT should have a really good shot at the title this year. UNT has just one senior in its lineup in Eric Tramiel, but the guys on this team say he is their emotional leader. Three of the other guys in the lineup -- Josh White, Tristan Thompson, George Odufuwa -- are juniors who showed up a year after UNT's NCAA Tournament run. Shannon Shorter rounds out the starting five and is also a junior.

Collin Mangrum actually played in UNT's last NCAA Tournament game.

That kind of experience is what makes a difference this time of year.

One of the reasons WKU was so good the last couple of years in the tournament was the play of Orlando Mendez-Valdez, who basically willed the Hilltoppers to the title.

Most people expect WKU to win the tournament again, while Middle Tennessee is also a popular pick because of its veteran guys led by Desmond "Boogie" Yates.

Don't discount the Mean Green, though.

UNT has guys who have been around, know what it takes to win and are hungry to get it done.

History shows that is a huge factor this time of year.

I am going to make the trek over to Hot Springs in a few hours, but before I do, I haven't talked a whole lot about the UNT women on the blog in a while.

I posted some thoughts on the men's tournament and UNT last night.

The Mean Green women have had a down year at 8-21, and barring an unexpected run in the tournament will finish with fewer wins than they had last year, but speaking of last year, UNT did pull off an unexpected upset of Arkansas State in the first round.

And that game came at ASU.

This time around UNT gets Florida International, which might be about the worst matchup the Mean Green could have drawn in the first round.

FIU is really long and plays a European-style game. The Golden Panthers run their offense and shoot it really well.

UNT will be a whole lot more athletic and will have Ni'qky Hughes and Tamara Torru back. Both have been forced out of the lineup with health issues the last few weeks.

Brittney James had 10 points in the upset of ASU last year, when Yari Escalera had a big night with 18 points in the second-to-last game of her career with the Mean Green.

UNT will hope that James can go out in style like Escalera did last season. The senior is UNT's best perimeter scorer and is also a good defender. UNT will need her to have a big game if it is to get past FIU.

UNT needs three wins in the tournament to match its win total of last season when it went 11-20.

I am going to make the trek over to Hot Springs in the morning for the Sun Belt basketball tournament.

It's a lot of work, but it's also a good time.

Maybe the most interesting aspect of the whole deal -- which is true about every conference tournament -- is that it is nearly impossible to figure out what is going to happen.

Troy is the No. 1 seed no one expects to win.

Western Kentucky has to be the about the only No. 4 seed in the country everyone expects to win its conference tournament.

UNT and Middle Tennessee are expected to meet in an epic semifinal and everyone is wondering what team will come from nowhere.

Here are a few thoughts:

If I were UNT, I wouldn't mind seeing Louisiana-Lafayette lose to Louisiana-Monroe in the first round. Tyren Johnson is the best player in the league and the Cajuns have a great front line. Those factors make ULL dangerous as a second-round opponent.

Everyone likes WKU, but the Hilltoppers would have to win four games in four days. That's a lot to ask.

UNT might be as good a pick as anyone at this point. The Mean Green is playing really well and has maybe the best starting five in the league. The keys could be Tristan Thompson and Eric Tramiel. When Thompson is scoring in an efficient way, UNT is really tough to beat. Tramiel is a great post defender and can also score. He is the kind of guy who can shut down any post scorer in the league.

Here's a link to Ken Pomeroy's picks. He has UNT No. 3 on his odds among the teams in the league to win it all. The Sun Belt is near the bottom of the listings. His formula favors WKU: Pomeroy

Be sure to pick up a copy of tomorrow's paper, which will have a feature on Shannon Shorter and his bodybuilding grandmother. She is a neat lady.

This has been coming down the pipe for a while, but it is worth mentioning that former Illinois and TCU offensive coordinator Mike Schultz has taken over in the same capacity at Middle Tennessee.

Schultz was one of the names that came to mind when UNT was looking for a new offensive coordinator. I am not saying that UNT had an interest. It just seemed like a logical coach to think about considering he was at TCU for a long time.

He ought to be a good hire for MTSU, and he will have an easy transition there. It shouldn't be really hard to figure out what to do with the Blue Raiders' offense during the transition after Tony Franklin left for Louisiana Tech. Just let Dwight Dasher do what he did last year, which was run and pass MTSU to a bowl win.

Here's a link: Schultz takes over at MTSU

I ran across this story this morning as well while the wife was getting ready for work on New Orleans dropping out of Division I. It's a tough deal for the Privateers, who will play in Division III now along with schools like Hardin-Simmons, Mary-Hardin Baylor and McMurry (those are Texas examples of DIIII schools).

The story has the rankings for attendance in the Sun Belt this year. UNT ranked sixth in the league. It's all a matter of perspective. It's good considering UNT played no one at home anybody cares about in nonconference play, not real great considering UNT won 21 games and the Sun Belt West Division and still didn't average 3,000 for the year.

Here's a link: New Orleans/Sun Belt attendance rankings

It looks like the UNT women will have Ni'qky Hughes back for the Sun Belt Conference tournament. Hughes had been out with an illness, but practiced today and should be ready to go on Saturday when UNT faces Florida International in the first round.

Hughes is just the type of player UNT needs for its game against FIU. She is long and really athletic.

FIU is what you would expect from a school called Florida International. The Golden Panthers play a European-style game. They shoot the ball well and have a high basketball IQ. UNT will try to out-athlete FIU. Hughes gives UNT a better chance to do just that.

Nor much is going on in the football world, but I did see that Todd Dodge appeared on the Rivals.com Coaches Hot Seat list heading into spring practice. He was on the non-Big Six list: Here's a link: Coaches Hot Seat

As far as the mailbag goes, I mentioned that UNT has over signed its class in men's basketball before and I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen again. The question is how does UNT determine who departs stage left. It usually works itself out. One of the guys who doesn't play or is unhappy decides to leave.

UNT will face either Louisiana-Monroe or Louisiana-Lafayette in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference tournament on Sunday night.

The Mean Green swept ULM and split with ULL.

So just who would be the better matchup for UNT?

If you ask me, UNT fans should be pulling for the Warhawks when the tournament opens on Saturday.

Yeah, UNT barely beat ULM in its regular season finale 74-71 and would have to play the Warhawks in back-to-back games, but ULL would be a scary matchup. The Ragin' Cajuns beat UNT by two at the Cajundome and have the league's MVP in Tyren Johnson, a 6-8 forward who is a matchup nightmare.

ULL also has the kind of size up front that could give UNT problems and a whole lot of reasons to be motivated for the tournament.

Robert Lee's head appears to be on the chopping block, which is too bad. He is a good coach to deal with as far as Sun Belt coaches go. ULL could be playing to save its coach's job. UNT also got into a bit of a verbal spat with ULL after the Mean Green won the teams' game at the Super Pit.

ULL's Lamar Roberson ended up being suspended for a game at Denver because of that verbal altercation.

ULM just doesn't have the guys up front to match up with George Odufuwa and Eric Tramiel. UNT could blow by the Warhakws if it is playing like it is capable of in the tournament.

It might not be as easy against the Cajuns.

Post your thoughts on the blog. Does ULL scare you as a quarterfinal matchup for UNT?

I traded text messages with City College of San Francisco defensive end Frank Gaines a couple of days ago. It does not look like he will sign with UNT. He said UNT moved on after a while and Todd Dodge said he was still sitting on a scholarship when we talked about his new assistant coach this week.

It's too bad. I thought Gaines would have been a good fit for UNT's needs.

There also seems to be some confusion over the number of scholarships UNT has to give in men's basketball. A couple of people e-mailed to ask about it. UNT was going to have two scholarships to give to fill the spots left by the graduation of Eric Tramiel and Dominique Johnson. Richard Thomas left the team, which opened up another spot, but UNT expects Johnson to receive a medical redshirt from the NCAA.

In the end, UNT ends up with two spots, one of which is going to Alonzo Edwards.

Johnny Jones has said he would like to sign a high school backcourt player to fill that last slot. Kevin Olekaibe out of Nevada and E.J. Jefferson out of Irving Ranchview seem like possibilities. Don't discount Navarro JC guard Matt Pressey, though.

There is also a chance UNT over-signs its class. UNT has done it before and it wouldn't surprise me if it went that direction again. UNT is going to load up for a run at the NCAA Tournament next year before losing a huge senior class of really good players, including Josh White, Tristan Thompson, George Odufuwa and Johnson.

If UNT over-signs, it would have to part ways with a player before next season.

UNT had four players selected for the All-Sun Belt team today.

George Odufuwa was a second-team pick, while Josh White, Tristan Thompson and Eric Tramiel were all third-team picks.

You could make a case that Odufuwa should be a first-team guy, but it's hard to find fault with a 15-player team with four UNT guys.

They all deserved it, by the way.

The selections show just how balanced a team UNT is this season. Any of those four guys could jump up and have the big game on any given night. That is what helped UNT to be so consistent this year.

You can bet that Steve Shields voted for Thompson, who torched UALR this season, Tramiel probably got a vote from Western Kentucky coach Ken McDonald after hitting the game-winning shot against the Hilltoppers. White hit the big shots against a number of teams throughout the season and Odufuwa had a double-double just about every night in league play.

Tyren Johnson of ULL was the player of the year, which was interesting. Johnson was a good pick, but AJ Slaughter of WKU would have been just as good a choice.

John Brady of ASU was the Coach of the Year. He's a good selection. ASU was picked to finish sixth in the West, but ended up second. ASU is a young team and will be good as long as Brady is there.

Jasmine Godbolt was the Freshman of the Year on the women's team that also included Brittney James as a third-team pick. Godbolt was as good a freshman as there was in the conference. It was nice to see her recognized even though she played for a UNT team that struggled all year. James was also deserving. She has been a rock for UNT through some tough year and is statistically one of the better players in school history.

Here are the teams:

Men
First Team All-Conference
Nate Rohnert (Denver, SR, G/F)
Tyren Johnson (Louisiana-Lafayette, SR, F)
Desmond Yates (Middle Tennessee, SR, F)
Brandon Hazzard (Troy, SR, G)
AJ Slaughter (WKU, SR, G)

Second Team All-Conference
Brandon Reed (Arkansas State, FR, G)
George Odufuwa (North Texas, JR, F)
Tim Williams (South Alabama, JR, G)
Michael Vogler (Troy, SR, G)
Steffphon Pettigrew (WKU, JR, F)

Third Team All-Conference
Greg Gantt (Florida Atlantic, FR, G)
Ray Taylor (Florida Atlantic, FR, G)
Tristan Thompson (North Texas, JR, G)
Eric Tramiel (North Texas, SR, F)
Josh White (North Texas, JR, G)

Player of the Year: Tyren Johnson (Louisiana-Lafayette, SR, F)
Defensive Player of the Year: Brett Royster (Florida Atlantic, JR, F)
Freshman of the Year: Brandon Reed (Arkansas State, FR, G)
Coach of the Year: John Brady, Arkansas State

Women
First Team All-Conference
Chastity Reed (UALR, Jr., F)
Kaetlyn Murdoch (Denver, So., F.)
Alysha Clark (Middle Tennessee, Sr., F)
Brandi Brown (Middle Tennessee, Sr., F)
Arnika Brown (WKU, Sr., F)

Second Team All-Conference
Ebonie Jefferson (Arkansas State, Sr., G)
Britteni Rice (Denver, Jr., G.)
Elisa Carey (FIU, Jr., F)
Jackie Pickel (Middle Tennessee, Sr., G)
Amy McNear (WKU, Jr., G)

Third Team All-Conference
Kim Sitzmann (UALR, Sr., G)
Brittany Bowe (Florida Atlantic, Sr., G)
Brittney James (North Texas, Sr., G)
Shakira Nettles (South Alabama, Sr., G)
Donette McNair (Troy University, Jr., F)

Player of the Year: Alysha Clark (Middle Tennessee, Sr., F)
Defensive Player of the Year: Jackie Pickel (Middle Tennessee, Sr., G)
Freshman of the Year: Jasmine Godbolt (North Texas, Fr., F)
Coach of the Year: Joe Foley, UALR

I thought it was interesting that Todd Dodge landed another assistant coach that he had a prior relationship with from his days in the high school ranks, when numerous college assistants came through his office while recruiting the Dallas area.

Peterson recruited the region for Colorado State and Kansas State.

Coaching is really important, but recruiting is also a big part of the job. Peterson should help a lot in that regard.

He is also the latest in a long line of assistants who have joined the staff the last couple of years who have some skins on the wall at the college level. Peterson has been coaching wide receivers at the college level for more than a decade. He was at Kansas State for about 10 years and coached wide receivers that entire time with the exception of his first year when he was an graduate assistant on the offensive side of the ball.

Todd Dodge said he received a glowing recommendation from Bill Snyder, the legendary head coach at Kansas State. Snyder is one of the most well-respected guys in the business. He took a terrible Kansas State program where no one won to national prominence.

What Snyder has to say carries a lot of weight with anyone in the game.

Quick aside -- There are little instances in this job that stick with you. One of those times for me came after Kansas State blasted UNT up in Kansas. UNT had yet to come out of its locker room when up walks Snyder. One of UNT's assistants (I think it was Kenny Evans) talked to Snyder for a second and then ushered him into the locker room.

Before Snyder went to talk to the media, he came to talk to UNT's players and encourage them to hang with it the rest of the season.

Snyder has to be one of the biggest class acts in the game.

Anyway, UNT picked up a guy who has shown that he knows what he is doing as a college coach and has proven to be a good recruiter in an area the Mean Green is trying to pull most of its players from, Dallas-Fort Worth.

It' hard to imagine UNT finding a better fit for its needs that Peterson.

UNT essentially added more than 50 years of college coaching experience from places other than UNT where it has zilch when it added Peterson and new offensive coordinator Mike Canales.

UNT released its schedule for the 2010 football season today.

I don't think UNT could have asked for a better slate when it comes to how it sets up. UNT will open the season with the annual "opportunity game" against Clemson. "Money game" has been stricken from UNT vernacular, but you get the idea.

After that, UNT has a chance to get something going with a home game against Rice and then a game against Army, followed by its Sun Belt Conference opener at Florida Atlantic.

UNT had better take advantage of at least a few of its opportunities early because it is going to be tough to make up ground in the pursuit of seven wins late in the year with a closing run of Troy, at Middle Tennessee, at Louisiana-Monroe and then Kansas State.

Granted, Rice went 2-10 last season, but look at who those two wins were against and when those games were played. The Owls beat UTEP and Tulane in back-to-back weeks before being drilled in its regular season finale against Houston. Rice also returns 17 starters, nearly as many as UNT.

Yeah, UTEP and Tulane were terrible, but Ball State and Western Kentucky didn't exactly strike fear in the hearts of opposing coaches, either. Don't overlook the Owls, which would seem to be hard to do considering Rice won 77-20 the last time the teams met.

UNT should have beaten Army last year, but the Black Knights pulled it out in the end. UNT is 2-18 on the road in the last three years and that is a long trip to West Point.

UNT is also 0-6 against Florida Atlantic. UNT follows up its game against the Owls at home against Louisiana-Lafayette, Arkansas State and Florida International before playing at Western Kentucky. UNT has beaten WKU three times for three of its five wins in the last three years.

If UNT doesn't get it done early, it could get ugly late with games against Troy, at Middle Tennessee, at Louisiana-Monroe and then at home against Kansas State.

The bottom line is that baring a miracle, UNT isn't going to win at Clemson or at home against Kansas State, especially since the game is at the end of the season. Middle Tennessee is loaded and Troy, is, well, Troy. The Trojans have hammered the Mean Green to the tune of 50-26, 45-17 and 45-7 the last three years.

To me this breaks down into three distinct sections

The Survive-and-Advance Section:
Hey, it's hoops season.

UNT needs to come out of its first four games with hope and at least a 2-2 record. The Mean Green isn't going to beat Clemson, so that means winning two out of three against Rice, Army and Florida Atlantic.

The Do-Or-Die Section:
UNT was in close games with ULL, ASU and FIU last season, and beat WKU. UNT needs to win three of four or probably four of four. ASU is changing offenses and WKU is a must-win. Watch out for FIU. Wesley Carroll should start at quarterback for the Golden Panthers. He was a member of the All-SEC Freshman Team a couple of years ago at Mississippi State. FIU also has maybe the Sun Belt's best recruiting class coming in. FIU has beaten UNT three years in a row.

The Run Through the Ringer
UNT closes with Troy at home, at MTSU, at ULM and home to KSU.

ULM is a mystery since it will have a new coach, but a 33-6 loss last year doesn't bode well. That's the only game of those four that looks winnable on paper.

UNT had better have six wins coming into those four games.

Todd Dodge has made it official and gone with former Colorado State coach Greg Peterson.

I will have more later.

UNT is still in the process of hiring a wide receivers coach. It could take a day or two for the paperwork to clear.

We should know something in the next couple of days.

There have been a couple of questions posted on the blog about when spring practice will be this year. UNT will work out from March 23 to April 15. The spring game will be on April 11.

UNT practiced a couple of times after the spring game last year as well.

It should be an interesting spring with several mid-term junior college guys trying to carve out a niche and a few position battles going on.

The regular season is over and the Sun Belt tournament is about to begin.

Over the next few days, I will take a look at the potential matchups between UNT and Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana-Lafayette, the teams who will play in the first round for the right to face the Mean Green in the quarterfinals.

For tonight, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at who will be on the All-Sun Belt team for UNT. I sent in my vote tonight.

Now that I have looked through who the teams nominated, I think one can make a very good case that UNT ought to have multiple players on the team this year. UNT has historically not fared very well when it comes to the all-league team. Calvin Watson was UNT's only pick in 2007, when the Mean Green won the league tournament. And he was a third-team pick.

There are a few good reasons UNT doesn't do all that well, but the best is the Mean Green tends to be a very balanced team. UNT had four players finish averaging double figures this year.

Josh White, George Odufuwa, Tristan Thompson and Eric Tramiel all have a chance of making the team.

What I am interested to see is if Johnny Jones is named the Coach of the Year. Troy coach Don Maestri is the likely pick, but one can also make a good case for Jones. UNT was picked to win the Sun Belt West Division, but lost Dominique Johnson for the season after he played just four games and lost Tramiel for four games in the middle of the conference season. UNT still won the SBC West, shared the overall conference crown and finished with the best overall record in the Sun Belt during the regular season at 21-8. UNT also finished the regular season having won eight straight games.

Jones will likely get bumped off due to Troy winning the tiebreaker for the league title and taking the No. 1 seed in the tournament, not that the tiebreaker makes any sense.

If I had to guess, Josh White and George Odufuwa will be UNT's two picks on the all-conference team.

Odufuwa averaged a double-double 11.5 points and 10.2 rebounds on the season. He averaged 10.4 rebounds and 12.4 points a game in Sun Belt play. Odufuwa has to be a lock.

White ranked 10th in the Sun Belt with an average of 14.9 points a game and handed out 102 assists. He was a preseason All-Sun Belt pick and has a good reputation for a good reason. He should be UNT's second pick.

A case could also be made for Thompson and Tramiel. Thompson ranked second in the Sun Belt in scoring during conference games at 17.0 points a game. He was the guy teams tried to take away most of the year, and he hit plenty of big shots.

There were a lot of times this season when Thompson was UNT's best player. Louisiana-Monroe was just the latest team to go to a box-and-1 or diamond-and-one defense to try to keep the ball away from him. You just wonder if UNT can get three players on the all-league team.

Which brings us to Tramiel, who might be the best power forward in the Sun Belt. He averages 13.0 points and 5.3 rebounds a game and is a great post defender. I just wonder if he isn't going to end up being passed over after missing four Sun Belt games due to injury.

We will find out when the team is announced at the tournament.

There was a good reason UNT was picked to win the Sun Belt Conference's West Division at the beginning of the year.

UNT had three of the best guards in the league in Josh White, Dominique Johnson and Tristan Thompson and two of the top big guys in George Odufuwa and Eric Tramiel.

What was so impressive about the way UNT reached expectations with a 74-71 win over ULM that clinched the division on Saturday was that the Mean Green got there in a season where so much went wrong.

UNT lost Johnson, who averaged 11 points a game as a junior, to a broken ankle, saw Eric Tramiel suffer a wrist injury that kept him out for four games and saw one of its key reserves who started for much of the season in Richard Thomas leave the team for personal reasons.

And still, UNT is sitting there at 21-8 with the division title and the second seed in the conference tournament that begins next week. UNT will play the winner of a game between Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana-Monroe on Sunday night.

This has to be the best coaching job Johnny Jones has done at UNT. He came up with the second-line idea that continues to pay dividends and has his guys playing well at the right time.

UNT's veterans continue to be clutch in close games. Thompson, and especially White, were huge down the stretch today.

So now it's on to the conference tournament. UNT has as good a shot as anyone to win the title.

Middle Tennessee would be a tough matchup in the semifinals, but it is a game should be favored to win, especially on a neutral court. It's tough to tell what will happen in the finals.

When it comes to the postseason, I am sticking by my opinion that the Sun Belt's tiebreaker system is, well, broken. There is no way the league should not break the ties in a division before breaking the tie for the No. 1 overall seed and the guaranteed NIT bid, especially when there is a rule that says the division winners get the top two seeds.

It does make one wonder if UNT doesn't win the tournament if it will have a shot at an NIT bid, though. UNT has 21 wins that count as far as its record, but the selection committees will only count 19 as of now. UNT played two non-Division I teams.

UNT is sitting at 139 in the realtimerpi rankings and has a strength of schedule of 282.

It should be interesting to see how it plays out.

UNT has a very, very good shot to win the whole ball of wax next week and head to the NCAA Tournament again.

UNT is still hasn't won back-to-back games since late November. UNT is going to have a tough matchup in the first round of the conference tournament.

UNT is trying to mount a comeback late. The Mean Green is within four. Ravven Brown just hit a layup and has a chance to convert a 3-point play at the line. with 3:56 left.

UNT was down 11 just a few minutes ago.

UNT is falling apart down the stretch. ULM has scored the last eight points and is up 11. UNT is having one of its worst games offensively of the season. UNT has just 14 points in the second half.