North Texas Men's Hoops To Travel To Stillwater for The Next Round of The NIT

It has caused a mini-ruckus

If you have looked at the NIT bracket you see that the 2-seed North Texas is NOT hosting the next round vs Oklahoma State. OSU upset SMU and won the right to host by virtue of a scheduling conflict at the Super Pit.

Having been a follower of the NIT for the last half-decade (for obvious reasons) I am unmoved by this outcome. Managers of these facilities usually schedule something for the post-college basketball season — maintenance, events, whathaveyou. There is no telling what the basketball season will bring about and things need to get done. The athletic department does not manage the Super Pit — officially the UNT Coliseum — as it is merely a tenant. For the most part that arrangement has been fine, all things considered. As we get progress through this era of college basketball we can see that there are limitations on that arrangement. See this scenario.

Would it be better to host OSU in Denton? Yes! They have a large fan base and would help fill up the arena and it would be a good time. North Texas is 17-1 at home this year and that would improve the odds a bit for advancing. Should we excoriate the administration for this scheduling conflict? No, we should not.

North Texas averaged 3,609 in 2023 according to the NCAA’s report. OSU averaged 7,532.

Back in 2007, North Texas hosted the Cowboys in Denton and the Pit only managed to host 6,793 people for that game that North Texas won.

Texas, DFW, Denton simply do not go crazy for basketball. It is known. I’ve read or heard many excuses reasons for why it is difficult to get to the Pit, or why it is is easier to choose to NOT go to games. I will not argue with them, as I am of the argument that people are free to choose what they will. They do not have to defend their choices to me, some guy. I will say that I will argue against logical inconsistencies. Do you like basketball? Then why not this winning basketball? Do you like North Texas? Then why not this North Texas team? Do you have disposable income? Why not spend it on this cost-effective past time?

I make a little money. I choose to spend a good amount of it on North Texas related things. I travelled to Dallas from MGN HQ (St Louis) for the bowl game. I am planning on a trip to Hinkie Fieldhouse for the games in Indianapolis. A couple of years a go I did the same for the Vegas NIT Final Four. I believed. I put my money where my heart was. It was a good time and I was rewarded with fun memories for having done so. Do you have to do the same thing? No, you do not.

I *like* basketball. I had season tickets to St. Louis’ Billikins basketball. I only let those go this season to save a little cash for this and that. I enjoyed going to basketball games. I had a good time. If I lived in the DFW area, I would have NT season tickets. They are cheap! I would do basketball and football and do all the stuff. I enjoy it and it is a good time.

I come from a family that enjoyed sports — playing them, competing in them, rooting for our favorite teams, and all the rest. It was shared with me, and I am sharing with my children. We went to Billikens games and they like yelling and buying snacks and rooting for “our” team and the whole deal. We go to St. Louis Cardinals games and St. Louis City games. They come to my rec league games and cheer for me, and root against the other team. When they compete in T-Ball and soccer, and basketball and the rest we all go out and cheer for our family (and team) and it is good fun. I am a corny believer in sports’ ability to help teach you life lessons about perseverance and effort and adversity. I still hear my coach telling me about digging deep, and trying hard, and finding the ability to finish what I started even though my body is screaming at me to stop. It helped later when I had life situations that seemed difficult but I … dug deep, found the ability to finish what I started even though circumstances were such that it would have been easier to quit. Silly aint it?

All this to say that I cannot be your parent or friend or uncle and take you to the ball game and tell you why its fun and important and cool and you wouldn’t be crazy (in my eyes) to spend a little cash and have a road trip with close personal friends (or even strangers!) and have a good time yelling in Stillwater. I would NOT spend a lot of time yelling at the administrators for scheduling a luncheon on Tuesday. Seems like misplaced anger.

There ARE levels to this whole thing. UNT cares more about basketball than say, UIW in San Antonio. But UNC, Duke, Kentucky, Michigan State and so on and so forth care MORE about basktball than we do. And by “we” I mean “we.” Jared Mosley cares because it his job, and if someone comes along with a fat paycheck and says “care about it, but over here” he will do so and not think too much about it. I will still be caring about North Texas the same way I did when it was Rick Villareal, or Wren Baker, or Jared Mosley doing the leading. I assume it is the same with you. So we need to expand the we — that is to say we need more people on this bandwagon. And we need to care more — with our wallets. I could spend another 3000 words on how university athletics are an extension of the old elite patronage status displays but suffice it to say that the athletics department does reflect on the community. Right now Denton says “we care a little about music and that’s kind of it” and if we want to change it, we need to change it.

Is it hard? Yes. But so is anything worth doing.

GMG!