North Texas 2007 NCAA Tournament Capsule

North Texas Mean Green - Sun Belt (23-10, 10-8)

Seed: #15 - South Region

Big Wins: 11/21 Tulsa (65-63), 12/19 at Western Kentucky (86-85), 2/3 Western Kentucky (74-70)

Bad Losses: 11/15 Texas Arlington (81-83), 1/18 at Florida International (66-67), 2/8 New Orleans (62-64)

Last NCAA Appearance: 1998, First Round loss to North Carolina

Coach: Johnny Jones (First NCAA appearances)

Probable North Texas Starters:

• Ben Bell, Junior, Guard, 7.4 ppg, 3.0 apg, 1.2 spg

• Calvin Watson, Senior, Guard, 15.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg

• Rich Young, Senior, Forward, 5.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.0 bpg

• Quincy Williams, Junior, Forward, 10.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 1.1 bpg

• Keith Wooden, Junior, Forward, 9.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.0 bpg

Key Roleplayers for North Texas:

• Kendrick Davis, Senior, Guard, 13.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg

• Michael Sturns, Junior, Guard, 12.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg

• Harold Stewart, Sophomore, Forward, 4.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg

• Justin Howerton, Sophomore, Center, 1.8 ppg, 1.3 rpg

Why They Can Surprise:
North Texas has gone through some tough times during the season, especially on the road, but the Mean Green has the best athletes in the Sun Belt Conference and Coach Johnny Jones pulled everything together at the right time. UNT finished off the year with five consecutive wins, their longest streak of the campaign.

The superb athleticism is no more obvious than in the rebounding category. The entire team will hit the offensive glass, but it is Quincy Williams and Keith Wooden who lead the way for the conference’s best rebounding team. Both are decent post scorers, solid defenders in the paint and will run the floor. Starting small forward Rich Young and back-up forward Harold Stewart are good rebounders as well and UNT will not lose much when they have to go to the bench.

Why North Texas Can Disappoint:
The Mean Green is an aggressive team and made 799 trips to the charity stripe in their 33 games heading into the NCAA Tournament. That is a lot, but it does not do much good when the team makes just 65.5% of those attempts. In fact, despite less attempts, UNT’s opposition made more free-throws than the Mean Green. While a conference high 15.7 turnovers does sound like a lot, the team forces more than that. Point guard Ben Bell has done a decent job orchestrating the fast pace offense, but he, and the rest of the team, would need to cut down on the turnovers if they have dreams of a big upset.

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Who To Watch:
Calvin Watson, Kendrick Davis and Michael Sturns are the big scorers out of the backcourt. Watson and Davis are major shooting threats from behind the arc, but will be aggressive and get to the basket too. Sturns only averages 18.6 minutes per game, but is third on the team with 12.4 points per game. The 6-4 junior is the ultimate spark off the bench and can come into the game and immediately make a huge impact.

By the Numbers:

Scoring Offense: 77.5 (30th in nation, 2nd in conference)

Scoring Defense: 71.1 (223, 4)

Field-Goal Percentage: 45.9 (89, 3)

Field-Goal Defense: 41.7 (82, 1)

Free-Throw Percentage: 65.5 (268, 12)

Rebound Margin: 6.1 (19, 1)

Assists Per Game: 12.7 (223, 7)

Turnovers Per Game: 15.7 (243, 13)

Joel’s Bracket Says: First Round loss to Memphis

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