For me, this is a little bit of a leisurely summer. MGN added one kid to the household and so we have been adjusting to that life. We have taken the parental leave and so my days are filled with making breakfast/lunch/dinner and (occasionally) sleeping in. It is a good life. I have no complaints. 1
Sporting-wise, we are all still basking in the glow of the NCAA tournament win over Purdue and there is a good feeling in the air. If we wanted to complain about something it is possible we can look over at the Marshall men’s soccer team winning the national title and get a little jealous. We can look at ODU, Tech, and USM play some baseball and wonder why Denton is not enjoying the summer time watching some of the great American pastime.
Aside from that we know that the Denton football world revolves around the football squad. That is in a state of … unhappiness. Seth Littrell added some talent at the QB position, and at the WR spot. For all the criticisms we have of Mr. Littrell (not winning big games, adjustments, poor hires, etc) he does believe in the idea of adding as much talent as possible even if it is in a spot you have “covered”. More is better and it forces the good players to compete for their job and that makes everyone better.
As our collective memories of the worst defense in America fade a bit we can reasonably say “that offense can damned outscore anyone we just need some stops” and feel good about the defensive coordinator hire.
The defense does not need to be great, just not the worst in the dang nation. That is an achievable goal. UTSA and UAB are the best squads in the league and well, they are not necessarily world-beaters. UTSA did hand NT their behinds in San Antonio and that needs to be corrected, but even a straight up loss would not eliminate NT if they can handle business elsewhere. The rest of the west is eminently beatable and that means there are some expectations to be had.
Still, it is summer time and so we can just sit back a bit and enjoy the newly reopened world (to an extend). The hoops squad will not necessarily be as good as they were the last two years but the program is in a much better place than it was under the previous coach and that is a great spot. They compete and try to win. That is just so fun.
Best of all is that we (probably) get to enjoy these games in person, without masks, sort of like we did before. I cannot wait.
Photo by Weston MacKinnon on Unsplash
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