Cold As Ice

5:47 p.m.

Josh White and Tristan Thompson both hit a pair of free throws to ice the game for the green squad in a 37-33 win. If you followed the Mean Green last year, you know that neither one of those players is going to miss a free throw in the clutch. White ranked fourth in the Sun Belt with an 84.8 percent clip from the charity stripe and Thompson wasn’t far behind at 79.7 percent.

That wraps up play from the Super Pit for Thursday. Be sure to come back to meangreensports.com for more live blogging action starting at 1 p.m.

Game Time

5:25 p.m.

The men are engaged in easily their most intense scrimmage of these early practices. The white and green squads are trading big buckets like heavyweight fighters and the action down low is getting heated. Of course that suits the referee (coach Jones) just fine, who loves to see intensity and toughness out of his players.

Josh White and the green squad took a 15-14 lead when he found Adam McCoy for a contested 3-pointer. Collin Dennis brought the white team down on the other end and landed a big trey as well.

George Odufuwa is a scrapper in the paint, which is exactly what the Mean Green need. Odufuwa has been all alone in handling Justin Howerton and Cam Spencer, and has more than held his own. The sophomore came up with a huge rebound and put back just now that was sure to make the referee's mouth water.

Transfers Of Power

5:07 p.m.

What do the following names have in common; Collin Dennis, Adam McCoy, Ben Bell, Dez Willingham, Keith Wooden, Kendrick Davis, Rich Young, Isaac Hines, Jeffrey Simpson and Mike Jones.

Give up? These are just some of the great transfer players that head coach Johnny Jones had brought into camp over the last few years. The Blog will be the first to say that Jones has had amazing success with transfer players, and we think he has the next crop of great transfers in Denton right now.

Dominique Johnson, Eric Tramiel, George Odufuwa and eventually Cameron Spencer are expected to be the next wave of great Mean Green transfers. Just judging by these early practices, we think they will be a slam dunk. You can judge for yourself on Nov. 14 in the season opener against Cameron.

Everything  But The Shoulder Pads

4:44 p.m.

While the guards worked on their 1-on-1 skills, the big men were getting down and dirty in a tough rebounding drill. Each player goes up for the board while assistant coach Charlie Leonard and recent grad Quincy Williams smacked each of them with three-foot long foam pads. And don't kid yourself, these are some serious pads.

Williams did this exact drill for four years as a player, and can teach each one of them what it’s like in the trenches against the Sun Belt’s best. Quincy was just the third player in school history to be apart of four straight seasons of .500 or better.

Early Dunk Of The Day Candidate

4:31 p.m.

I guess Kedrick Hogans was upset about Harold Stewart nabbing yesterday’s Dunk of the Day honors. The sophomore let Stewart, a senior, know about it in the form of a baseline right handed jam that left the backboard shaking. Stewart had the defensive assignment in the 3-on-3 drill, but the youngster was too quick on this play in flying to the rim.

If it holds up for the day, Hogans would have two of this week’s Dunk of the Day honors.

Too Good For His Own Good

4:15 p.m.

Johnny Jones is making it tough on his team in today’s rebounding drill. In this particular exercise, two teams of five players are supposed to do anything to grab the rebound from each 3-point attempt from coach Jones. The only problem is that the ball goes in the hoop almost every time Jones shoots. I guess coach Jones is too much of a shooter for his own good!

Don’t worry though, the drill continues even if coach Jones makes the shot. The ball is considered alive until someone grabs the rebound, and it can be quite a sight watching 10 guys dive and jostle after a loose ball.

The Man In The Middle

4:01 p.m.

The Blog keeps getting questions about Justin Howerton and his development heading into this year. Obviously, with the graduation of some great inside players, Quincy Williams and Keith Wooden, there’s room for the big man to work his way into the lineup. The senior has been pretty solid this week, and his tireless off-season work ethic is showing early. We think he has enough of a defensive presence to see an increase in minutes for NT this year.

On a lighter note, the Blog asked Howerton (nicknamed “Dirk” by his teammates) what was the best restaurant in his neck of the woods Howe, Texas. The senior said that if you are ever up in Denison, check out Huck’s Catfish, home of Mississippi-style catfish and seafood (fried, of course).

Look Out Big Ern’ McCrackin

3:46 p.m.

Since we slighted Cam Spencer on Tuesday, the Blog thought it would pass along an interesting tidbit about the big-man from Orange, Texas. You probably didn’t figure this about Cam, but he is a ringer in the bowling alley. Cam claims a 210 average with a career high of 279, which is just shy of a perfect game. Of course he owns his own ball, but no word on whether he has named it or not.  

I Guess It Wasn’t Cam

3:34 p.m.

The men are taking the floor for their practice, but the Blog has a little housekeeping to take care of before we talk hoops. Apparently in Tuesday’s edition, the Blog gave the Dunk of the Day award to Kedrick Hogans for a nasty flush on Cameron Spencer. The SMU transfer made a point to let me know that he was not the target of said Hogans dunk, and that I must have him mistaken for someone else.

Seeing that Spencer is 6-foot-8 and a formidable 274 pounds, the Blog will recant that previous entry, and simply say that the Hogans dunk came courtesty of an un-named opponent. Sorry for the mix up, Cam!

From Way Downtown
3:29 p.m.
To end today’s practice the Mean Green worked on half-court shots to end a half or the game. In an interesting drill a player would grab a rebound from one end and try and get the ball up the court as fast as possible before launching it to the rim. All of this had to be done in three seconds. No one made it from half-court, but there were a couple of near misses.

Who’s Does Mom Root For?
3:23 p.m.
During some five-on-five scrimmaging we had the unique circumstance of Mansa El guarding her sister, Ninye. Now Mansa is the younger sister while Ninye is her elder by just a few years.

Mansa got the better of Ninye on the defensive end this time, but I think these two have battled quite often.

Move of the Day
3:06 p.m.
Brittney Hudson. On a fast break, Hudson got a pass at midcourt and raced down the right side of the lane past everyone and showed great touch in finishing the play.

Winger
2:48 p.m.
Great rock band from blog’s time, but the latest work being put in by the Mean Green has the players working of driving off the wing’s to the hoop. The catch is there are either coaches or managers there to meet them with football like blocking pads, trying to slow them down.

It didn’t work on newcomer Brittney Hudson as she blew right past the defender to the rim. Hudson, who must sit out this season after transferring, has a lighting quick first step to go along with incredible overall speed. Gonna be tough having to wait to see her in action till next year.

The (Great) Expectations
2:29 p.m.
The blog doesn’t like to give predictions or make guarantees (although we did predict the great run by White Lion in the late 80’s with “Pride”) but one of the players on the cusp of a breakout season this year is looking like Brittney James.

Your thinking, way to go out on a limb there blog, but just give us a few moments to convince you.

As a freshman James had the best season in nearly a decade at North Texas, scoring 233 points. Her encore to that was the best year by a Mean Green sophomore in nearly a dozen years last season with 377 points.

Going into this year James is a preseason second-team all-conference pick and poised for her best year yet. Going off her previous improvement, she’s on pace for the best junior year since, you guessed it, current assistant Coach Jalie Johnson (Mitchell) in 2000-01. That year she went for over 15 points a game as North Texas won 19 games.

Still its very early in the year, but James is looking like a good bet to break some records

A Player’s Coach
2:23 p.m.
This certainly gives new meaning to that term but in five-on-five drills the North Texas staff, comprised of Coach Stephens, Coach Johnson, and Coach Hayes, along with help from managers Tyler Newman and Sid Hearn (males) went up against groups of the Mean Green.

Early assessment, Coach Johnson (formerly Mitchell) hasn’t lost a step, Coach Hayes has good speed, but needs to work on her low-post game, and Coach Stephens passing game is suspect....The girls however are having some fun with this.

UPDATE- Coaches team worn down near the end, and manager Sid had trouble getting outmuscled for some rebounds by Torrian Timms and Kelli Buckley.

BASEketball
2:14 p.m.
Well not necessarily but if you combine football and basketball you come out with some strange combos. However Coach Stephens did use a little football technique when giving out some instruction. Stephens implored her team to go to the middle of the floor and get to the basket, using the football analogy when you break up the middle of the field you know which direction you want to go. The blog wonders if she has any advice for this week’s game against Troy.

Ancient Art
1:57 p.m.
Does anyone else out there think that the jump-shot is a lost art in basketball these days? Well I’m happy to report that Shanice Stephens doesn’t think so. Among the many different drills being conducted was about a 10-minute jump shot sessions. The team split off into groups on different ends but worked on nothing but the mid-range jumper.

Brittney James had a nice looking shot as always and newcomers Jeanee’ Thompson and Ninye El both showed some nice range as well.  

Fresh And Ready
1:30 p.m.
Yesterday was the first off day of the year for the Mean Green women since the full-blown practice schedule started last week. We are a bit eager to see how they look, especially after the first five days of boot-camp. We are going to focus in on a couple of players today and let you know how they are looking and a few other random tidbits throughout the day.

Sit back and enjoy and remember to hit refresh Green Grenade II.