North Texas sophomore Jordan Williams soars above the rim in the dunk contest at Basketball Madness on Monday at The Super Pit (Denton Record-Chronicle/David Minton)
In case one hasn’t noticed, the UNT men’s basketball program has risen to rock star status by Texas standards.
Don’t believe me. Well, about 3,000 people showed up on Monday for UNT’s tip-off event.
That would have been unheard off a few years ago.
And in other news, UNT is going to be good, really good, not that we didn’t already know that.
Jordan Williams, fresh off a semester off along with Chris Jones, was the star of the night. He had the dunk that was the difference in the men’s scrimmage and also won the dunk contest.
UNT is freakishly athletic across the board.
We didn’t see P.J. Hardwick tonight because he’s dealing with a minor groin injury, but everyone else played on the men’s side.
I was pretty impressed with the way Clarke Overlander shot the ball tonight. He could fill a role for UNT, especially with T.J. Taylor having to sit out this year.
Overlander and Hannah Christian paired off in the 3-point shootout to face Brandan Walton and Laura McCoy.
I thought right from the start, well this is an M&Mer (mismatch). Brandan can flat shoot it and he was paired with McCoy.
Don’t ever underestimate the Blonde Bomber.
McCoy hit six 3s in the first round, two in a playoff to tie Overlander and then hit a 27-footer in double overtime to win it.
Mike Petersen called in when it went to the deep 3. UNT’s new head coach said Overlander was toast if he didn’t hit one of his first three attempts from deep.
He was right.
McCoy dropped one. I think it was her second try.
In a very important side note, Jasmine Godbolt will be out at least a month while continuing to recover from knee surgery. Alexis Hyder is out a couple of days with a concussion.
There were some important visitors on the UNT men’s side that were spotted by a couple of UNT fans already, but here are the ones who have been mentioned and one I don’t think has been.
By the way, Erven Davis of Dallas Showtyme was on hand.
Quick Dallas basketball primer — Big E is the man when it comes to Dallas hoops. If you are a UNT fan, you want Big E to have your program on his radar. Davis was good to UNT when Johnny Jones was around. I don’t think that will change with Tony Benford taking over the program because Benford is (A). Friends with Big E (B). A successful coach who has recruited Texas (and Dallas specifically) well and (C). Smart.
If you think A, B and C are related, congratulations. You are right.
Tonight’s visitors were Trent Brinkley, a small forward from Dallas Kimball in the Class of 2014 who plays for Showtyme, Elbert Robinsona forward from Garland Lakeview Centennial, the same school that produced Chris Jones and Kevin Booze, a point guard from Irving I believe is also a Showtyme guy.