I had a couple of stories to write and some stuff to get done away from the office, but I’m back with some follow-up notes on T.J. Taylor committing to UNT.
Specifically, I thought I needed to address UNT’s scholarship numbers. UNT does have 14 players for 13 scholarship spots.
The situation is one UNT will look to resolve as the season gets closer.
It’s not uncommon in college basketball, and don’t forget UNT has been in this boat plenty of times in the recent past.
UNT will either have a player end up on an academic ride, have a player pay his own way for a year or someone will end up moving on.
In other notes of the day, Chris Jones missed practice with a minor injury. He was watching workouts.
UNT worked on defense and moving the ball effectively the entire time I was at practice. There wasn’t a single shot put up, and I was there a while.
It’s a bit of a cultural change. I’m not saying Tony Benford isn’t going to put a good offensive team on the floor or that UNT didn’t play some good defense at times in the past. UNT was always one of the top scoring teams (and one of the best teams) in the Sun Belt during the Johnny Jones era.
With all the talent UNT has coming back offensively — we know Tony Mitchell and Chris Jones can put the ball in the hole — UNT might not need to work a whole lot shooting the ball. It might just be a matter of moving the ball to get the shots Benford feels confident his guys will make.
It will just be interesting to see what UNT’s personality as a team will be under a new coach this season.