Over the 32 days leading up to college basketball season, we’re profiling 32 different teams who could be in the NIT mix, aided in this effort by those who know them best (or the closest we could get). Today, Harry Miers responds by email to our questions about North Texas.
Harry Miers owns and runs GoMeanGreen.com, a fan website for UNT sports. He also runs an NIL collective called Mean Green Collective. Mean Green Collective was started about a month ago and has already raised upwards of six figures for Mean Green men’s and women’s basketball. You can find more about Mean Green Collective at this link.
Here’s the full list of 32 for 32’s published so far, with links:
- Auburn, with the Sickos CBB Committee
- BYU, with Mitch Harper
- Cincinnati, with Zach Fries
- Dayton, with Tyler Cronin
- Duquesne, with Tristan Freeman
- Indiana, with Matt Cox
- Iona, with Sam Federman
- Iowa State, with Joe Stunardi
- James Madison, with Bennett Conlin
- Loyola, with Ky McKeon
- Michigan, with the Sickos CBB Committee
- Missouri, with Jim Root
- North Texas, with Harry Miers
- Northwestern, with John Templon
- Notre Dame, with Stuart McGrath
- Ohio State, with Mark Titus
- Oregon State, with Andy Dieckhoff
- Penn State, with DJ Bauer
- South Carolina, with Brian Rauf
- St. Bonaventure, with SBUnfurled
- St. John’s, with the Sickos CBB Committee
- Syracuse, with the Marshall Street Podcast
- Texas, with NIT Stu
- Utah, with Andrew Crowley
- Virginia Tech, with Ken Pomeroy
- Washington State, with Dave Andersen
- Wisconsin, with Cole Amundson
The Barking Crow: Let’s start with the big thing. North Texas is, of course, the defending NIT champion. With some significant pieces moving on, though, expectations are a bit lower this year. What needs to happen for the Mean Green to finish this season where they finished the last one?
They need to play well obviously. Everything depends on injuries, chemistry. To have a run like we had last year is real difficult thing to do. We won a ton of close games including teams like Oklahoma State. We did not get a fair shake from the NCAA last year as there should have been 3 teams garnering spots last season. This American is a very good league and you have to have a lot of things go right. I do believe this is the deepest team we have had on paper since I have been here (a long time). I expect we could lose a fair amount of games this year just due to the conference being tougher and our schedule and tournament draws being more difficult.
TBC: The NIT title has only been successfully defended twice: St. John’s did it in the 40s, and South Carolina did it in 2005 and 2006. What would it mean to North Texas athletics as a whole for the men’s basketball team to repeat as NIT champions and join that historic cohort?
As honored as we were to participate and win the NIT, we will always expect to be in the NCAA tourney every year. It would obviously be great to repeat though if the NCAA’s were not in the cards. The NIT is a very good tournament and fun.
TBC: I think I speak for NIT fans more broadly (there aren’t a ton of us, so I often do) when I say we fell in love with North Texas’s “toughest team wins” identity last year. With Grant McCasland gone to Lubbock but Ross Hodge promoted from within, how should we expect that identity to change, if at all?
It will not change at all. Hodge was the architect of the defense last year and so we expect the defense to be a strength of the team again. I really think our identity will remain the same despite a change in head coach. Hodge was a big part of what was accomplished here.
TBC: The “mid-major” label is used widely in college basketball, ranging from programs who sell out every home game to those which struggle to get their average attendance above 1,000. How does North Texas compare in its basketball following to conference opponents like UAB, FAU, and (for this year) SMU? How did last year’s performance affect this?
Attendance has been trending up lately as we have been winning in consecutive seasons. I don’t have an exact number in front of me but I would say we are somewhere in the 4K range average for say 22 games at home a season or whatnot. Certainly could be better and I think it will really jump this season as we are the defending NIT champs and get some good home games in the American, against teams like Memphis, FAU, UAB and SMU. The only challenge we face is winning consistently and also the competition being in DFW is intense with so many professional and college teams you are competing with for butts in seats. I also think ESPN plus and having every single game televised for 10 bucks a month makes things hard on modern attendance as well.
TBC: Who would be the Mean Green’s dream NIT opponent? Who would North Texas most like to avoid in a hypothetical NIT matchup?
Dream NIT opponent? Any Power 5 program with history and tradition would be great I suppose.
TBC: What do you wish more people knew about North Texas, as an institution and a community?
Great question, we really have a lot to sell. It is a good academic institution located in one of the fastest growing areas in the country right now here in DFW. We are at 45K enrollment now and will be >50K in the next 5-10 years. Denton is a cool town to live in but not too big. But you have big cities like Dallas and Fort Worth close by. The fan support is growing and will only continue to grow as time goes on. It is a fun time to be a fan.
TBC: Dare we dream of a repeat Mean Green NIT title?
Sure, I mean if we are not able to get into the NCAA tourney we certainly would like to be a part again. I was fortunate enough to get to watch last years final four in Vegas and had a blast. I think it is a very fun tourney and expect that it will continue to grow in the years to come.
