We started another periodic series on the blog this week, one looking back on the year in UNT sports now that it is finally over.

Right off the bat, we looked at one of the good aspects of last season — the program’s overall success in the Olympic sports realm. UNT made the NCAA tournament in women’s soccer, tennis and men’s golf. Steven White finished third in the 400 hurdles at the national meet. Rodolfo Cazaubon made the final rounds of the NCAA golf tournament as an individual.

The women’s volleyball team made the Sun Belt tourney final and Kimmy Phillips made the NCAAs in swimming.

And that brings us to the first tough turn of events from last year — the one that corresponds to our first highlight:

UNT didn’t break through for a win in a team sport at the NCAA level.

One could make the argument that Cazaubon making the NCAA finals was a breakthrough in golf and Phillips advancing a breakthrough in swimming.

They were, but there were times last season when it felt like UNT was in position to break through as a team.

The UNT soccer program has been the best and most consistent the school has in team sports if one looks at it from a long-term perspective going back close to two decades.

UNT faced Texas Tech in the first round of the NCAAs this year. Tech is a team UNT has been beaten in the past and had a shot to beat again. UNT just couldn’t quite break through and lost on the road.

While UNT’s soccer team has been the most consistent over the years, the school’s tennis team has been the most consistent when it comes to getting to the NCAAs recently. UNT has been to the tournament three of the last four years and drew a TCU team it was competitive with in the regular season. UNT lost that match.

And while golf is a little off the radar, UNT appeared as if it had the chance to get to the final round of nationals. UNT came up short there as well, finishing 12th in the Pullman Regional.

It was a tough turn of events for UNT. A breakthrough at the NCAA tournament level would do a host of UNT programs a lot of good.

Here’s our list:

The Good
1. A solid year across the board in Olympic sports

The Bad
1. Failing to break through as a team at the NCAA level

And on the recruiting front, we mentioned yesterday that running back Vic Enwere was announcing his college destination last night. Enwere was one of the top rated prospects UNT has offered who was still on the board. Enwere committed to Cal.

Just a quick note on the recruiting front, Vic Enwere, a running back out of Fort Bend Austin, is set to announce his college destination tonight.

Enwere is ranked No. 53 among running backs nationally by Rivals.com.

UNT is one of more than a dozen schools that have offered, but is a long shot at best. Colorado and Cal seem like the likely destinations. SMU is also in the hunt.

It will be interesting to see where he ends up considering he is one of the top-rated prospects on the board and the type of player UNT is looking for who would be a game-changer.

I stopped to chat with Dan McCarney for a minute or two after the first stop of UNT’s summer camps tour a few days ago. He brought up a good point — the the college sports season was pretty much over at that point.

The only UNT sport left going was track, where Steven White and a couple of others were getting ready to run in the NCAA championships.

I bring it up because it seems like a good time to take a look back at the year that was in UNT sports now that its over.

Since it’s a pretty broad topic, we’ll turn this into another one of our summer blog series, along the lines of our on-going post-spring football questions series.

There were a lot of good things that happened for UNT this past year, some of which were overlooked, particularly the program’s all-around good performance in the non-revenue sports.

Most people tend to forget them as a group, especially when things don’t go well in the Big Three (football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball).

Consider:

– UNT’s women’s soccer team won the Sun Belt Conference regular season title for the second straight year and then won the conference tournament to get to the NCAA tournament. UNT lost at Texas Tech in the NCAAs, but the Mean Green also beat Houston and tied Baylor in the regular season.

– The UNT tennis team won the Sun Belt tournament for the second straight year and the third time in the last four seasons before falling to TCU in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

– The UNT men’s golf team won its second straight Sun Belt title. UNT didn’t make it out of the Pullman Regional as a team, but Rodolfo Cazaubon made it to the final rounds of the national tournament as an individual.

– The UNT women’s track team won the Sun Belt title and White went on to finish third in the 400 hurdles for the UNT men at the NCAA meet.

– The UNT volleyball team advanced to the Sun Belt finals, where it was swept by Western Kentucky.

– The UNT softball team tied the school record with 29 wins.

And I’m sure I’m forgetting an accomplishment or two. I don’t know if one considers it a highlight or not, but swimming coach Joe Dykstra and volleyball coach Ken Murczek landed jobs Utah and Wake Forest, respectively, and moved up in the world of college athletics.

When one looks back on the year, the across-the-board success of UNT’s program outside the Big Three has to rank among the highlights of 2012-13.

Cole Hedlund, the second son of UNT soccer coach John Hedlund, picked his college destination today.

Arkansas offered and Hendlund committed.

Chad Hedlund, the first of the kicking Hedlunds, is at Vanderbilt.

UNT tried to get in on both and had checked in on Cole recently.

When the SEC calls, that makes it a tough battle for UNT to win.

John Hedlund is pretty much a living legend at UNT with 18 straight winning seasons and three NCAA bids in women’s soccer, one short of the four NCAA bids of both basketball programs combined, despite the fact the soccer program has only been around 18 years.

UNT is placing former signee Tony Nunn, a 6-8 center out of Oldsmar Christian, over at Odessa College. We talked a little bit about it when the news came down this week.

Now that we have had some time, we can delve into what the news means in a little more depth.

UNT picked up a commitment from the Florida prep school product pretty early on in a move that was a little out of the norm for the program historically.

UNT has taken a lot of transfers and junior college players through the years, but very few high school players who have signed with the Mean Green have been from anywhere but Texas or a neighboring state.

Nunn was an instance where UNT tried to cast its net a little farther.

It didn’t work out in the end, largely due to Nunn’s injury problems. He barely played his senior year.

UNT’s coaches said they wanted to place Nunn so he would have a chance to play next season. He could end up at UNT the following year.

There’s nothing wrong with the way it all played out, and it ended up opening up an extra spot in UNT’s class, one the team will look to fill shortly. There are a few guys who might come in on a visit in the next few days. One way or another UNT will fill that slot (Maurice Aniefiok, cough, cough).

Losing Nunn and the post presence he would have provided didn’t turn out to be a problem because UNT added Cincinnati transfer Kelvin Gaines. Throw in Josh Friar and Collin Voss and returning forward Keith Coleman and UNT will have plenty of size.

Head coach Tony Benford likes what he has. He told me this week that feels good about the outside shooting he has added and the size he has inside. He pointed out that UNT will be bigger inside overall and that he will have more players who can stretch a defense with the addition of T.J. Taylor and Vertrail Vaughns and the return of Brandan Walton.

There is a lot to be said for that.

Here’s the concern:

UNT is betting a whole lot on high-risk, high-reward types of players on a largely reconstituted roster with six new players.

Vaughns is a pretty safe bet. He’s a guy who has played at a high-level program and is coming home to play one last season. Greg Wesley, an Arlington Seguin product who signed with UNT out of high school, is also a pretty safe bet to work out over the long-run, although he might need time to adjust as a freshman.

Armani Flanigan and Collin Voss came from the junior college ranks, which makes both a bit more of a short-term solution and gamble.

UNT has been hit-and-miss on junior college players through the years (Eric Tramiel, hit; Mark Wilson, miss).

Flanigan and Voss were both worth signing. Mid-major programs sign junior college players. It’s just part of the deal.

The concern has to be how a few of UNT’s risk-reward players turn out. A lot of mid-major programs have them. The way I see it, UNT has three, which is a pretty high number.

Keith Coleman (we will talk about him in more depth later) has been improving in practice, but still averaged 1.3 points and 1.6 rebounds a game while playing sparingly last season after Benford called him a Big East quality center.

I have been told by numerous people from his high school coach to the guys who covered Cincinnati that Gaines is a freak athlete who can jump out of the gym. He’s also a guy who averaged 0.5 points and 1.4 rebounds while hardly playing at Cincinnati and he’s coming off a shoulder injury.

UNT’s coaches compare Gaines to George Odufuwa, but here’s something to keep in mind — Odufuwa spent a year at UNT as a redshirt after transferring from Arizona State, learning the ropes and adjusting to his teammates. UNT spent a year developing him. UNT will be counting on Gaines this year.

Josh Friar also looks the part, but came off the bench for his high school team and averaged about three points and three rebounds a game.

Those guys will look great in the layup line, but here’s the question that will hang over UNT heading into next season, and this would have been true with or without Nunn:

UNT will have a ton of guys who look the part or have the athletic ability to be impact players on the Conference USA level next season.

Can any of them play basketball at the C-USA level?

Most people (me included) would be comfortable saying Jordan Williams, Chris Jones, Alzee Williams, Brandan Walton and Vaughns can.

There are just not a lot of other proven commodities UNT will have at its disposal next year, which was going to be the case whether Nunn made it to UNT or not. Roger Franklin may have been short for a forward. UNT will have guys who will look the part a little more, but Franklin could play.

How those UNT’s three high-risk, high-reward guys, plus a few newcomers in Flannigan, Voss and Wesley fare right off the bat will determine how the Mean Green’s season goes.

I posted a blog late yesterday with a short story on new UNT women’s basketball signee Janis Peterson before I sat down and did all the research for the full story in today’s paper.

I got Peterson on the phone, added in what UNT head coach Mike Petersen had to say and talked to UNT assistant coach Wesley Brooks, whose connections in California were how the Mean Green found out about Peterson in the first place.

What I came up was this story in today’s paper that also covers the fact that UNT placed 2013 signee Tony Nunn over at Odessa JC.

Both are topics worthy of significant discussion, and since there is not a whole lot going on this time of year, I’m going to split them up into separate posts.

We’ll save the discussion of Nunn for later since there is more to the Peterson story we can add now that might add a bit of clarity to how this all went down.

UNT lost a couple of players to transfer in the process of building next year’s roster and was looking to add a key piece or two late.

UNT was out there digging when assistant Wesley Brooks contacted a friend in the coaching business by the name of Ramaundo Vaughn, the head coach at Diablo Valley, a community college in Pleasant Hill, Calif.

It turned out that Peterson was working out with Vaughn’s team at the time while sitting out the season after finding out that she had not qualified academically after signing with San Jose State.

That’s when UNT became involved.

The way Peterson’s career played out is a little confusing. Here’s the timeline:

Peterson played her freshman season at City College of San Francisco and was named the Co-California JUCO Player of the Year after averaging 22.6 points a game. She returned for her sophomore season, averaged 17.9 points a game and was named the Northern California JUCO Player of the Year.

In a side note, the California JUCOs are not members of the NJCAA, which makes finding accurate stats on players from the state something of a challenge, especially at night after coaches have gone home for the day. I believe the numbers I found on Peterson are correct, but I did pick them up from a couple of different sources.

Peterson signed with San Jose State during her time at City College of San Francisco, but didn’t qualify academically. Instead of trying to find another spot where she could play, she sat tight at Diablo Valley, took classes and tried to improve her academic standing.

That is where UNT came in.

Brooks went to Petersen with the information he had on Peterson. UNT’s head coach liked what he saw and decided UNT should try to add the 6-1 guard/forward.

The problem was Peterson’s academic issues were a little bit complicated. UNT thought it was worth the time to try to work through them and brought Peterson in on a visit.

Peterson spent some time with UNT’s players, specifically Alexis Hyder. Peterson and Hyder struck up a friendship. Peterson really liked the rest of the members of the team and the staff and decided UNT was where she wanted to be.

By the middle of the summer, Petersen felt confident enough that the situation with Peterson would work out to float the idea that he probably had a big-time player coming in front of a host of UNT fans at the school’s coaches caravan.

Petersen just didn’t feel confident enough to talk about it on the record and put it out there in print until he was pretty sure Peterson would qualify. The lag time tried the patience of a few UNT fans, but it did give everyone something to talk about for a few weeks.

Peterson cleared enough hurdles by last night that Petersen felt good enough about the situation to talk about it and for UNT to release it in the next few days.

Petersen gave Brooks a lot of credit for the way it all played out. UNT was out there turning over every rock it could find in the hope that a key player would show up on the radar late.

Brooks found the rock that finally proved fruitful halfway across the country.

One can look at the story for additional information on Peterson and how she will fit in. She is supposed to be a great athlete and defender who can also score.

She’s just the type of player who should thrive in UNT’s system.

Considering what UNT has coming back with Hyder, BreAnna Dawkins, Laura McCoy and a host of players who sat out last year, not to mention the addition of point guard Candice Adams, an ESPN top 100 selection and former Texas commit, UNT appears to be building what could be a pretty competitive team in Conference USA.

And that — as they say — is the rest of the story.

UNT head coach Mike Petersen said a few weeks ago that he was on the verge of signing a top prospect who could make an immediate impact on the program.

Petersen confirmed today that player is Janis Peterson.

The 2011 California Junior College Co-Player of the Year is in the process of finishing her two-year degree and will enroll at UNT this summer.

Peterson originally signed with San Jose State but did not qualify academically.

She sat out last season and will have two years of eligibility remaining at UNT.

“Janis will give us great position flexibility and gives us more scoring and length on the perimeter,” Peterson said. “She is a long athlete who can run score and make threes. She can also cover ground defensively. She has a really diversified skill set.”

The highlight video at the top of this post is from her sophomore season in junior college.

Check back for more later.

Now that I’m back at the office, here’s a little more on the situation with Tony Nunn, which I will cover in tomorrow’s paper.

Nunn, a 6-8 center, committed to UNT and signed during the early period before his senior season at Oldsmar Christian in Florida. He struggled with knee issues last season, which limited his playing time and development.

UNT head coach Tony Benford said that the staff and Nunn eventually came to an agreement that it would be better for his development to head to a junior college, where he could play significant minutes immediately.

UNT assistant coach David Anwar has a working relationship with the staff at Odessa Junior College. UNT helped Nunn secure a spot there.

The change in plans with Nunn answers the question that came up over the last few days after UNT landed Cincinnati transfer Kelvin Gaines. Benford spoke over the summer and in the last few weeks about adding a wing player, another post player or maybe one of each. UNT was at a full 13 scholarships with Gaines, which raised the question of where UNT would fit another guy in.

The scholarship that is open is the one that Nunn was set to take.

Benford reiterated that all of UNT’s players who are scheduled to return next season are still slated to come back.

As far as players who could potentially fill that final slot, the one name that is floating around there is former Collin County wing Maurice Aniefiok. I talked to Aniefiok after he stood and watched UNT work out at its new basketball practice facility last week.

Aniefiok said he was planning to enroll at UNT.

There are other prospects out there. I would expect UNT to host a few over the next couple of weeks.

Aniefiok just makes a lot of sense for UNT. He’s a 6-5 wing who was committed to Tulsa for a while after originally signing with Ole Miss.

He’s very athletic and would be good in the open floor. UNT is planning to play more of a full-court style next season

Ivan Delgado, shown in a loss to Troy last season, was one of a few key contributors North Texas must replace in 2013 (Denton Record-Chronicle/David Minton)

Phil Steele came out with his annual list of the percentage of total offense each team in the country has returning today.

UNT came in at No. 42 nationally with players returning who accounted for 79.2 percent of its offensive yards.

And that brings us to question No. 7 in our post-spring blog series — Did UNT fill a few key holes adequately?

I have been accused over the years of over estimating the value of returning players and underestimating the potential of newcomers to dramatically impact the prospects of a team immediately.

That’s a fair point.

I do value experienced players over newcomers.

UNT doesn’t have a ton of guys to replace when it comes to next season (there are eight players coming back on both offense and defense), but it does have some key players to replace.

How the Mean Green fares in doing just that will have a big impact on how UNT’s season goes.

K.C. Obi was not one of the elite defensive linemen in the Sun Belt last season, but he played pretty well for UNT, leading the team in sacks (5.5) and tackles for loss (10.5).

UNT hoped that Quenton Brown would replace him after transferring in from junior college. Brown blew his knee out in spring practice and is out of the picture for at least the first part of the season. UNT has Aaron Bellazin, Brandon McCoy and converted linebacker Chad Polk to fill the void left by Obi.

Can that trio handle the job? Probably. But can they improve on the production Obi provided and help UNT improve? That’s another question.

UNT is also replacing center Aaron Fortenberry, its only first-team All-Sun Belt player. Walk-on Kaydon Kirby and JUCO transfer Shawn McKinney will likely fill that spot, but will they be able to handle the calls and make the impact Fortenberry did?

UNT also has to replace under-valued tight end Andrew Power, a terrific blocker who played a key role in the running game.

Chris Loving will arrive in the fall and is expected to take Power’s place and add something to the passing game.

Ivan Delgado led UNT in receiving with 42 catches for 570 yards, Jeremy Brown rushed for 505 yards and four touchdowns.

Texas transfer Darius Terrell and Purdue transfer Reggie Pegram should help fill those voids. Pegram is a proven commodity, but Terrell never played a major role at Texas before transferring.

Linebacker Jeremy Phillips graduated after last season. He’s a player UNT appears to have replaced adequately, but he’s another contributor who is gone.

UNT didn’t lose a whole lot of top-end players in the Sun Belt last season outside of Fortenberry, but it did lose several guys who contributed in key spots.

The hope is that UNT upgraded its talent overall.

The question of whether that is the case is one that will linger until UNT proves that is indeed the case this fall when several valuable players will no longer be around.

Here’s our list:
No. 1 — Is Mac still the same old Mac?
No. 2 — Can Derek Thompson get it done?
No. 3 — Is a tough schedule a killer for UNT?
No. 4 — Can UNT find some help at wide receiver?
No. 5 — Is UNT in trouble up front defensively?
No. 6 — Can UNT improve its efficiency?
No. 7 — Can UNT replace a few key seniors who graduated?

The NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate report came out today.

It was barely noticed when it came to UNT.

And that’s a good thing.

A few years ago, it was big news because UNT was hammered with scholarship reductions in football, just like it was big news when the men’s basketball team lost a couple of key players to grades not too long ago.

The report came and went today without much fanfare. That’s because UNT fared well.

All of UNT’s programs finished above the 900 mark that they have to stay above to avoid penalties.

The UNT football team’s score of 966 for the 2011-12 school year was a dramatic step forward over the 938 the team scored last year.

UNT’s overall score of 951 was also safely above the 900 mark.

The UNT basketball programs also did well.

One had to give UNT credit, from its coaches to its academic support people to the athletes themselves. It’s critical these days for schools to have their athletes fare well. The penalties get tougher and tougher every year teams don’t reach the benchmarks the NCAA sets.

Take Florida International for example. The Golden Panthers received a postseason ban in men’s basketball.

UNT was out of the news today.

The school and the people behind the scenes deserve a lot of credit for that.