The Cajuns generally don’t lose at home and they knew they had their hands full with North Texas and Tony Mitchell. They started the game with three guards, used zone defense, planned to go inside, get rebounds, run the ball, go after Mitchell, it worked for the first few minutes of the game and the first few minutes of the second half.

The Cajuns got the first offensive rebound of the game resulting in the first two points of the game. They got the first foul resulting in them getting the first points from a free throw. They also got the first block of the game and the first turnover.  

UL-L went right after Mitchell and it worked. With less than two minutes gone he picked up his first foul. Quickly going to the basket and running the ball within the first 18:50 minutes of the game North Texas recorded three fouls.

Brandon Walton got North Texas’ first two points of the game making the score 2-5. Tyler Hall picked up his second foul at the 17 minute mark.

Mitchell was able to tie the score 7-7 on a free throw but with 14:55 left in the first half he picked up his second foul and found himself buried on the bench until half.

Walton got into foul trouble with two fouls.

The game seemed as if both teams seemed to be saying we don’t want this game you take it. Neither team seemed to play particularly well. While UL-L had the manpower in its favor, North Texas in foul trouble, two starters on the bench the best the Cajuns could do in the first half was to get a six point lead. They managed to get a game high ten point lead point lead late in the second half.

UL-L took their first six point lead 22-16 with less than six minutes left in the half.

Walton hit the first three point basket of the game for either team cutting the UL-L lead to 22-19.  After an over the back call on UL-L allowed Walton to hit two free throws closing the gap to 22-21.

Both teams played back and forth before Alonzo Edwards’ dunk with 24 seconds gave North Texas their first and only lead of the game at 27-26. However, seconds later UL-L ran the ball down the court to take a 28-27 halftime lead.

UL-L opened the second half with a dunk followed by a two point bucket to extend their lead. The Cajuns opened the second half like the first half going after Mitchell again. Once again it worked. With 18:39 left in the game Mitchell got his third foul. Then a few minutes later he picked up his fourth to visit the bench. He was there until about the eight minute mark.

North Texas continued to get into foul trouble which allowed UL-L to pull ahead by ten points. After Mitchell came back into the game North Texas was able to close to within four with about 3 minutes left.

UL-L tried to pull ahead but Mitchell got a defensive rebound which resulted in Walton hitting for two to close within two. UL-L pulled ahead a few second later by four before Franklin was fouled 55 seconds left. After hitting both free throws North Texas was down 64-62.

The Cajuns tried to pull ahead by four but with 16 seconds left they missed their shot which was almost grabbed by Mitchell but it went off him luckily it went to Holmen and with 11.6 seconds left in the game Head Coach Johnny Jones called timeout.

North Texas missed several shots but the ball simply would not fall and North Texas falls 62-64.

North Texas drops to 12-9, 5-3, UL-L improves to 11-11, 5-3.

Alzee Williams picked up a lot of slack in the game as he played forty minutes.

North Texas heads home to take on Arkansas State, noon, on Saturday.

North Texas travels to Sun Belt Conference member Louisiana-Lafayette for a Wednesday battle between the two conference members. UL-L, (10-11, 4-3) lost five seniors from last years team but they do have three starters and three contributors returning. Coach Bob Marlin is returning for his second season. Last year the Cajuns went 14-15 but were plagued with injuries. In spite of the injuries, at the end of the season they won eleven in a row to claim part of the West Division Title.

Things revolve around J.J. Thomas who leads the team in scoring with 11 points a game. He has played only 15 games this season with seven starts due to a continuing problem with his knee. He leads the team in free throws and second in three points. He also leads the team in turnovers with 3.1 per game. Last year he was named Louisiana Freshman of the Year and named third team All-Louisiana.

Josh Brown is second in scoring with with 10.3 points a game and is the leading scorer for the Cajuns in three games. The final player in double digits is Kadeem Coleby putting in 10.2 points a game but has been the leading scorer in six games the most of any Cajun player. Just outside double digit scoring is Darshawn McClellan with 9.4 points a game and is the leading scorer in four games. 

They use a lot of players throughout the game. The Cajuns have seven players averaging 20 or more minutes per game. So they have a lot of fresh players at the end of the game.

While they are known as a defensive team they are just as effective on the offensive side of the ball.

They average 70 points a game while holding opponents to 67. From three point range they put in 5.7 shots per game averaging .354% from beyond the arc. They are +2.5 in rebounds per game getting 37.6 rebounds to 35.1. Opponents get 16.4 turnovers per game while the Cajuns only get 14.6 turnovers. 

The key to UL-L is their bench play. It is what wins games for them. In all but six games the Cajun bench has outscored opponents. When they don't it is generally a loss.

What is unique to UL-L is the scoring, they have several players to count on. When one player is in a slump another player is there to pick up the slack. So when an opponent is able to shut down one shooter there are three more capable of putting the ball in.

UL-L likes to score inside the paint using the three point shot to loosen up the defense. If forced to go outside they have the shooters that are able to hit from downtown.

North Texas can expect a team that will be in their faces every time they shoot. UL-L will be all over Roger Franklin and Tony Mitchell forcing other players to win the game. North Texas' bench has to answer the UL-L bench point for point to have a chance to win. When UL-L gets out-rebounded and shoots below 30% they lose. So, look for North Texas to be aggressive under the basket on both ends of the court, they can't give UL-L anything.

UL-L got a lot of national exposure this year when they beat Western Kentucky 72-70 in overtime with six players on the court which led to the firing the next day of the WKU's head coach.

North Texas, 5-2, is in a three way tie for first with Denver and Arkansas-Little Rock. UL-L is one game behind at 4-3.

North Texas Basketball got some premium time on Channel 8 Sports Monday January 23. Dale Hansen introduced the piece by saying “Hey North Texas is starting to win again and they are doing it with local kids.”

The story was done by George Riba with the line “North Texas has had some good basketball teams in the past but this years team might have a chance to top them all.”

The success of this years team is built around local talent and Alzell Williams said “we all take pride in it” that fact most of the players are from the Dallas area.

Williams was supported by Tony Mitchell when he said “it was like high school” with all the Dallas area fans coming out to watch the team. “It feels really good.”

Mitchell added he is listening to what his coaches are teaching him on offense and defense. “He loves the game” and “plays with a great deal of passion” stated Head Basketball Coach Johnny Jones and that is why Mitchell has been so successful.

It was pointed out Mitchell was the player of the year when he played at Pinkston High School. His college career got sidetracked because of academic woes but Channel 8 pointed out “he is back on track.”

Mitchell gave praise to lord and stated “he blessing me in a major way.”

Roger Franklin said Mitchell was really funny and sometimes you don't know what he is going to do. He's going to eat up all the food or he is going to share the food.” He added “I'm glad I'm his roommate.” 

North Texas Head Basketball Coach Johnny Jones credited his players for they way “they were able to come together” after a challenging week when Chris Jones and Jordan Williams were declared academically ineligible.

After the bad news, North Texas played and won the exhibition game against Huston-Tillotson and fought a very determined Sun Belt Conference member Denver to win in overtime as the clock expired. 

“We always talk about playing every second, every play” and Jones felt North Texas did exactly that in the Denver contest. It wasn't a perfect game because “there were breakdowns” but “at the end of the day we were able to make enough plays to out of there with a win.”

Jones pointed out Denver was a very solid team and were “right there at the top” of the conference standings and were off to their best start as a Division I program.

“Now we have to roll up our sleeves” and take to the road as they travel to take on Lousiana-Lafayette on a Wednesday night contest.

After scoring 30 points and grabbing 17 rebounds, Tony Mitchell was named the Sun Belt Conference 'Player of the Week' for the third straight time and only the second player in conference history to do so.

Jones pointed out that Roger Franklin added 18 points and pulled in ten rebounds. He's been drawing a lot of defensive attention from opponents and has “done an excellent job competing extremely hard in the post area.” Franklin also is defending the better offensive players from the other team and is winning the battle.

The team has been playing together for awhile and that is why the team is playing better. Still, “they are trying to find each other” and each one is starting to find their niche in the team. “Roger really has found his.”

Jones pointed out the Mitchell is keeping things in check. When informed he won the SBC Player of the Week three times in a row “he turn[ed] his head because its almost like he's embarrassed or ashamed because he is such a team guy.” The coach stated Mitchell wants to see his teammates get the praise for what they do. “He's one of the most unselfish players I've been around” the coach.

The rest of the players on the team understand what Mitchell can do and they “have become a great supporting cast around him.” The result is every player is getting better.

Even though Mitchell and Franklin's numbers are up, Jones stated “if you look around” the rest of the team's numbers are up. Brandan Walton has been shooting the ball better from the perimeter. Tyler Hall was inserted into the starting lineup and the last two games he has been shooting better from the perimeter. Alzee Williams numbers are improving. Their numbers are improving and if they continue to do so they team will be successful.

Mitchell is help garnering attention to the North Texas program as Channel 8 and Channel 33 were at Monday's practice to interview him. Jones felt this will help put some fans in the stands and for North Texas fans to come out and see him because no one knows how long Mitchell will be at North Texas before turning pro. There is a lot of speculation he will probably only spend this half year with North Texas before moving on. Jones laughed and stated Mitchell needed to stay with the program three more years for the coach to help Mitchell get better.

Jones said after the season is over, Mitchell will have to evaluate what has happen this year to see how he has progressed and to talk to some professional NBA people to see where he might be projected to be drafted. Jones pointed out when he was at LSU, Shaquille O'Neal could have left school early and would have been picked in the top five in the lottery. He decided to stay two more years resulting in him becoming the number one draft pick.

Whether Mitchell stays or goes, Jones said “that is something we don't worry about every day” because they are concentrating on making sure Mitchell is the best he can be on and off the court and in the classroom. The coach felt Mitchell would benefit by staying another year but the decision is up to Mitchell and his family.

North Texas needed someone to step up with the loss of Jones and it appears Hall is ready to answer the bell, broken nose and all. Jones stated when Hall got the first shot of the Denver game to go for three putting North Texas up 3-0 “I thought it gave him a great deal of confidence” and he became a threat in the game. “He made some incredible passes inside to Tony” that led to Mitchell getting a lot of points. Although the stat sheets said Hall had two assists, he really had about six. On about four baskets, Mitchell dribbled once before scoring.

Jones said he was proud of the way Karen Aston has turned the woman’s basketball around. He goes to the practices and games and says she has really changed the attitude among the players and the program.

North Texas knew they were facing a tough game when they hosted Denver on Saturday at the Super Pit. With one starter, Chris Jones and one force coming off the bench, Jordan Williams, two of the top scorers out because of grades, Head Coach Johnny Jones had to go to the bench to pull up Tyler Hall to the starter’s role. Jones had been trying to get Tony Mitchell to take charge of the game and to be a “little more selfish”, in this game there was no choice. Another thing Mitchell had to do was to stay out of foul trouble.

With nine players at his disposal, HC Jones had to pull out all his coaching skills and that of his assistant coaches to pull out a win. A loss would set the tone North Texas was giving up and playing out the rest of the season. A win would state North Texas is not giving up and will still battle for the Sun Belt Title.

Hall opened the game by hitting a three and then Mitchell’s two gave North Texas a 5-0 before Denver got their first points of a game on a three point shot. It was one of the nine that went in during the first half for them

Denver took their first lead of the game with 12:52 left in the first half. Roger Franklin gave North Texas a one point lead before Denver answered with a three to give them an 18-16 lead. Mitchell tied the game at 18 all before Denver took the lead on a three point shot and they pulled away to 24-18 lead.

With 7:13 left in the half and Denver up by three, Hall tied the game on a three point shot before Denver was able to pull ahead by six points. They answered any North Texas challenge hitting three pointers. Still, North Texas was able to cut the lead to four at half 39-35.

The second half started out with Franklin cutting into the lead with three points the old-fashioned way, a basket and a free throw. Mitchell carbon copied Franklin with a basket and free throw to give North Texas a 40-39 lead.

With about ten minutes left in the game, the intensity was turned up by both teams. The players were flying everywhere fighting for the ball, going after rebounds, stealing the ball, altering shots and getting turnovers by any means possible.

The two teams traded baskets before Denver recaptured the lead and moved in front by six points. North Texas came back to tie the game at 52 all on a Franklin basket. Franklin then gave North Texas a 54-52 lead after hitting two free throws.

When Mitchell pushed North Texas up 56-52 on a reverse dunk the crowd of about 5,000 were on their feet. North Texas went up by seven points 61-54 before Denver started a comeback with 2:56 left in the game. They hit their first three point shot of the second half to close the gap to 61-57.

Brandon Walton answered with a three to give North Texas another seven point lead. Denver was able to stay within striking distance and with 44 seconds left in the game they hit a three for a 66-62 North Texas lead.

After a timeout was called, Denver got a steal was fouled but got only one free throw to fall. Denver then scored again, was fouled and tied the game 66-66 when they hit the free throw. North Texas called a timeout  with16 seconds left. With one second left in the game, Mitchell tried a three which did not go in forcing the game into overtime.

The overtime period started out with Franklin getting a reverse dunk to get the crowd into the game and giving North Texas a two point lead. Denver tied the game before Franklin gave North Texas a one point lead after hitting one of two free throws. Mitchell stuffed the ball home to give North Texas a three point lead. After hitting two free throws Denver was behind by one with 50 seconds left.

After a timeout, Denver took the lead on a basket but Mitchell’s dunk gave the one point lead back to North Texas. With 15 seconds left Denver hit a basket giving them a one point lead. North Texas played for the last shot, but with one second left the ball bounced off the rim but Alzee Williams got the tip back at the buzzer to give North Texas the 75-74 win. The win was not official for another a minute or so as the officials reviewed to the tape to make sure the Williams put-back was with time on the clock.   

North Texas is in a three way tie for first in the Sun Belt West.

Trey Norris was the only bench player to score for North Texas. Mitchell ended the game with 30 points and 17 rebounds.

While the other players may have had more baskets, rebounds, rejects and won MVP, it was the defensive play of Trey Norris that affected Denver enough to help North Texas to a 75-74 overtime buzzer beater win.

North Texas (11-8, 4-2) will be taking on Denver (15-4, 5-1) this evening 6 PM at The Super Pit. Denver was selected to finish third in the west division just ahead of North Texas. Last year one of their players Rob Lewis and another player where lost with injuries. Lewis is back and giving Denver the support they need. Denver is off to their best start in their history as NCAA Division I.

North Texas is going the opposite direction. Two of their top three scorers, Chris Jones and Jordan Williams are out because of classwork. The good news is Forrest Robinson has returned and doing well. 

Denver runs the Princeton offense which is not used by many teams. North Texas Johnny Jones said “we can't let them get into their rhythm” or it will be a tough evening for the home team. One of Denver’s strengths is “they have a lot of experience.”

The Princeton offense doesn't really have set players. They have four players outside the arc and one at the top of the key. By using motion and passing they find the mismatch which will allow a cut to the basket or an unoccupied area. It requires a strong presence in the middle for back door cuts. The idea is to get a player between the basket and defensive player to get a clean layup. If the defense packs the center to stop the layups, then the team has to have players who can hit from the arc. Denver has the players who can hit from outside.

Denver is putting in 67.4 points a game ranking them 195^th in the nation, they get 25.2 rebounds a game putting them 344^th in the nation. Because they use a lot of passing they are rank high in assists at 16.1 per game putting them 23^rd in the nation. They hit for .494 on field goal attempts ranking them 11^th in the nation, third in free throws with .798, and 13^th in three point shooting at .403.

It will be bombs away as Denver is expected to shoot from beyond the arc forcing North Texas to come out to defend the shots. It will be a tough assignment for North Texas since Denver moves the ball around the perimeter before taking their shots.

Denver dominates the Sun Belt in three point shooting. Royce O'Neale is first in the Sun Belt hitting .477 % of his three point shots. Brian Stafford is second hitting .470 and Brett Olson is third hitting .444. Throw in Chase Hallam with .426% he is in ninth place so four of the Denver's players are in the top ten in the conference in three point shots. Each game they average 8.3 three point shots a game.

Chris Udofia provides the defense getting 2.4 blocks a game putting him second in the Sun Belt. The team averages 4.3 blocks a game.

Udofia not only blocks shots he is fifth in the Sun Belt with 14.3 points a game. He is second on the team in scoring with Stafford leading Denver with 14.7 points a game.

Denver is averaging 67.4 points a game and are allowing 60 points a game for a plus 7.4 points a game.

They are out rebounded a game for a negative 4.5 rebounds 25.2 to 29.7. This expected since they shot so much from the three point line.

With the loss of Jones and Williams to classroom failures North Texas is in dire straights. Even though North Texas has an overall record of 15-9 and 9-2 in Denton, this is going to be a tough one to overcome two of the top double digits scorers.

There is a local feel to Denver with O'Neale, Udofia and brothers Travis and Chase Hallam hailing from the metroplex area.

This will be the last conference meeting in Denton for the two teams since Denver will be moving to the WAC conference next season.

Former North Texas Running Back Lance Dunbar got some attention from some NFL Scouts after his play in the Casino Del Sol All-Star Game. Dunbar was the leading rusher in the game carrying the ball ten times for 59 yards leading his Stripes team to a 24-21 victory. The Stripes team won with 22 seconds left on a pass from San Jose State QB Matt Faulkner to Division II Minnesota State's WR Lamark Brown who won the MVP Trophy.

Dunbar was not invited to NFL combines but maybe things might change. Here is what one scouting report said about Dunbar. They look at him as being a little undersize but has a good 2^nd level burst of speed. He also impressed some scouts because on one cutback he found a big hole to run through resulting in a great gain. When the middle linebacker came in to tackle him, he lowered his shoulder and got an extra five yards. When he took a screen pass he was able to made the defender miss which resulted in a seven yard gain.

Dunbar got some attention before the game when he was listed as one of the top ten players to watch. Considering there were close to 100 players at the game, he got some people to notice him before kickoff.

North Texas traveled to Monroe to take on Sun Belt Conference member University of Louisiana-Monroe. On paper it looked like a possible close game until the second half. But from the start of the game North Texas notified everyone that wasn't going to happen. Even though they went up big during the first half, they got sloppy during the second half allowing ULM to close to within eleven before finally pulling ahead to win 68-55.

Tony Mitchell got the opening tip-off, followed it up on a feed to hit a three and North Texas was off to the races, leading wire to wire. ULM couldn't hit a shot, they turned the ball over, couldn't get a rebound, had several charging fouls while North Texas seemed to everything right in the first half.

North Texas was up 15-2 at the 13:27 mark and with about 11 minutes left in the game seven North Texas players had scored.

When ULM tried to mount a comeback North Texas kept answering and at the 7:38 mark in the first half North Texas was up 23-8. ULM hit two threes in a row before half but Jones stopped the 6-0 run when he added a basket to make the halftime score 37-18.

Forrest Robinson got a lot of action in the first half as he got a rebound and added to the point total.

Mitchell opened the second half North Texas scoring with a three. Then for the next few minutes both teams basically traded baskets. North Texas able to pull ahead but then started to get sloppy allowing ULM to close the gap. With under five minutes left the score was 64-51 and it felt like ULM was starting to mount a comeback when the score was 66-55 with about three minutes left in the game. ULM had opportunities to cut into the North Texas lead but they missed their shots.

Even though North Texas had the opportunities they could not seem to pull away from ULM because of their sloppy play. Neither team could build on their score until Franklin hit the final basket of the game with about two minutes left to make the final score 68-55.

Franklin led North Texas in scoring and rebounds with 16 points and 15 rebounds. Mitchell missed a double-double ending the game with 15 points and nine rebounds. Walton had a career high18 points and stuck in 5 of 8 three pointers.

Normally, three point baskets keep ULM in the game but poor shooting and the North Texas defense in their faces they only put in 4 of 18 attempts.

North Texas improves to 11-8, 4-2, ULM falls to 2-17, 1-5 and now 0-9 at home.

North Texas Head Basketball Coach Johnny Jones stated after the ULM game he “thought we got off to a great start” as his team went up 15-2 within the first few minutes of the game. He felt his team “set the tone of the game” which they held until about halfway through the second half.

Jones was “disappointed in the second half in the last 8-10 minutes” of the game. At that time North Texas was trying to take some “time off the clock” but they didn't play well. The defense allowed ULM to get some baskets and the offense couldn't get some balls to drop. The team was “really good for about 32 minutes tonight.”

Roger Franklin's “15 rebounds is big” but the coach was “mad” at his play during the end of the game. They coach said Franklin “had an opportunity for a 20 rebound night.” Like the rest of the team he let his intensity go down during the last ten minutes which cost him the opportunity to get to the twenty plateau.

“Walton is coming into his own” after getting 16 points and 15 rebounds. Every game his “field goal percentage is improving” and as a result, his teammates are “looking for him and feeding him.”

The next game will be an exhibition game against Huston-Tillotson and is the DISD game. There will be about 2,000 DISD students in the stands for the noon game. Jones felt this was a great opportunity to get the kids exposed to North Texas and “hopefully we can get them to come back to campus.” The kids “do a great job leading our team to victory.”

The next home game after the exhibition game will be against Sun Belt Conference member Denver.

At one time, the University of Louisiana-Monroe (2-16, 1-4), then known as Northeast Louisiana had one of the longest season after season winning streaks in the NCAA with 22.  They had one of the longest winning streaks in a season. They went to or were vying for the NCCA Tournament every year and they were always on top the Southland Conference but that was in the 90’s. They did well into the early 2000 but they started to slip. Since joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2007 they have declined to basically a ten win season team. At home they have won 74.8 % of their games. However, in the last five years they have struggled. In the last 11 seasons, the Warhawks have had only three winning seasons.

ULM is under the direction of Keith Richards now in his second season. In his first year the team went 7-24. Part of ULM’s fall from being a premier program is they have nine scholarship players and are banned from post season play because of NCAA APR sanctions.  Not a good recruiting tool.

While the losses have piled up, they did have a challenging out of conference schedule facing teams like Mississippi State, Tennessee, Texas A&M and UNLV. They were in a lot of games losing five of them by five points or less.

Fred Brown, G, 6-2, 180, Sr., leads the team in scoring with 13.1 points a game. He is a transfer from Kansas State. Charles Winborne, G, 6-1, 185, So., is the second leading scorer with 10.6 points a game and is a transfer from Loyola-Chicago. They are hitting .685 from the free throw line, .355 from three point range and .409 from the field putting them 274 in the nation. When the total points per game are added up they average 58.9 points a game ranking them 324 in the NCAA.

Steven McClellan, C, 6-7, 250, So., leads the team in total rebounds with 7.7 a game. He was supposed to redshirt this season but got his first career start at Stephen F. Austin which was the seventh game of the season. Huge Mingo, G, 6-3, 175, Sr.,  is snaring 4.4. The team is pulling down 30.9 overall rebounds putting them 318 in the nation.

The game was supposed to start at 6 PM today but because the New Orleans Saints are playing about the same time, there was a fear the 1,286 fans that are normally in the stands would stay home to watch the game.  So the game was moved to 1PM.

So a quick look at teams. North Texas 4^th in the conference while ULM holds down the 11^th place slot. North Texas (10-8, 3-2) has a better win/loss record, better RPI 213 to 324, better average per game scoring 70 points to 58 and is a better rebounding team 38 to 30.  

Where North Texas falls short of ULM is the long ball. They hit for 35.5% from the beyond the arc while North Texas averages 29%. Brown’s 32 three point shots that went in beats North Texas’ Brandan Walton’s total of 24.

Last year the two teams went 1-1 with ULM getting the last win.  This year North Texas is 3-5 on the road while ULM is 0-8 at home.  North Texas holds a 28-21 all time record and an 8-1 record in the last nine meetings.

ULM’s two wins were against Nichols State 85-65 and Florida International 54-50.

There are three seniors on the team, no juniors, five sophomores and four freshmen.  A familiar name to Arlington basketball fans maybe R.J. McCray who went to Grace Prep Academy in Arlington.

This should by no means be a rollover game for North Texas. It is shaping up to be a close game until about halfway through the second half. It is about this points ULM fades because of lack of bench depth. What will keep them in the game will be their three point shooting.

Today begins the contact period for NCAA college coaches. Now through January 28^th, North Texas coaches will be on the road hopefully finalizing the final push for this year’s recruiting class. On the 29^th they will be in the quiet period and from the 30^th to the 2^nd it will be in the dead period.  Of course Feb 1st will be signing day. On Feb 3^rd until April 15^th coaches will once again be in a quiet period.

The contact period means college coaches can go to a prospects home, school, talk to a recruit face to face, talk to their high school coaches, guidance counselors, get transcripts etc.  I even knew of one coaching staff that visited pastor at churches.

Under present North Texas Head Coach Dan McCarney recruiting is a little bit difference than in the past. His staff is on the road actually looking at juniors for potential prospects for next year.  McCarney feels he and his staff has given their best recruiting pitch for this year’s crop of players and it is time to look at the future. Maybe they might lose a possible recruit this year but they are trying to harvest a better recruiting class next year. It begins now.

There are NCAA rules about the contact period. They are trying to make a level playing field for every football program no matter what their budget or conference affiliation. During the contact period only seven of the 12 coaches are allowed to be on the road to make visits, the other coaches have to remain on campus.

There are times when more than seven coaches can be on the road. It used to be before any of the coaches on campus can go out recruiting; a coach off campus had to return to campus before he could leave. Now, when a coach is finished evaluating his players and heads back to campus, once he calls in another coach on campus can head out to his territory.

McCarney and his staff have a lot of ammunition to give recruits this year.

First, the brand new stadium, while it is cement and mortar it represents a commitment to the football program.  It is new, it competes with many other programs out there.

Second, while this may seem small it is very important. The design of the new stadium with the fans almost on the field gives a personal inter-reaction between the fans and football players. It builds more excitement between the two. Fouts Field made the players feel they were playing in a vacuum. Fouts made the fans feel they were in a vacuum. Now the two have a feel for each other and they feed off each other and it makes it harder on opponents.

Third, while not having a winning season, the win /loss record was better than the last three or four years.  It shows the program is turning around and a lot of players want to help build a program. It’s just like an employee wanting to go to a new business to help it grow instead of going to an established big business.  Some players want to be part of bringing North Texas back to the top of the Sun Belt, maybe help move it to another conference and play in a BCS Bowl.

Fourth, fan attendance set an all time high. Face it, who wants to play in an empty stadium? Who wants to work for a company when they do not get noticed?  The more fans in the stands the more a player wants to be on the field.

Fifth, freshmen can play. Under the old regime it appeared there was a pecking order. It you were a senior you got a starting position or a feature role even if a freshman was better. Not any more, the best player gets the starting role or will have a honest shot of starting or getting early playing time even if a true freshman. Look at how many played as freshmen this year. No player coming out of high school wants to sit out a year, especially if they feel they are better than upper classmen.

Next will be looking at the other NCAA periods.