North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 100, No. 41, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 25, 2013 Page: 4 of 6
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Page 4
Sports
Thursday, April 25,2013
Tyler Owens, Sports Editor
tylerwilsonowens@gmail.com
UN basketball loses four players to trans er
Basketball
Tim Cato & Ryne Gannoe
Senior Staff Writers
For fans attending a basket-
ball doubleheader in the Super
Pit next season, some faces will be
missing. In addition to five gradu-
ating seniors, four underclassmen
chose: to transfer from the two
Mean Green basketball teams this
spring.
Men's basketball
The Mean Green men's basket-
ball team has two unexpected
scholarships to fill after freshman
guards Clarke Overlander and
EJ. Hardwick requested releases.
Overlander and Hardwick join
more than 260 collegiate players
transferring around the nation
this offseason.
Overlander has already
committed to Arkansas Tech
University, and Hardwick
said he will be taking visits to
Arkansas State University, St.
Mary's University, Virginia lech
University and one other school.
Hardwick said the coaching
system and style of play at UNT
didn't fit his fast-paced style.
"It is hard because I built a
CLARKE
OVERLANDER
great relation-
ship with all
of my coaches
and the North
Texas family,"
Hardwick
said. "But it's a
business deci-
sion. I had to
make the best decision for me and
my career,"
Overlander said via Twitter that
he only had one comment about his
experience at UNT.
"I loved every minute of being
a member of the Mean Green,"
Overlander said. "And I'm even
more excited to be an ATU Wonder
Boy."
The official signing period for
basketball started April 17 and ends
May 15. Benford said the difficul-
ties in recruiting are both emotional
and logistic.
"You never want to lose kids,
but I want them to be happy,"
Benford said. "You have to be like
a Boy Scout when youre a coach
You always have to be ready. I tell
my guys you have to recruit year
round, and we are. We'll get some
quality players."
Preseason hopes were high
for the Mean
Green, but
injuries and
personal issues
limited UNT's
success. The
team finished
12-20 and was P.J.
eliminated HARDWICK
in the first round of the Sun Belt
Conference tournament. Hardwick
and Benford said tilings would be
different if the season had been
more successful
"If we would have won, tilings
would have gone better," Hardwick
said. "I think I would have been a
little bit happier, coach would have
been happier and I think everyone
would have been happier."
Hardwick said he waited
until the season ended and had
a meeting with his family before
making the division.
"We thought about it and said,
No matter what the consequences
are, you have to live with the deci-
sion/" Hardwick said "I said, 'OK,
I'm comfortable with it.' I opened
up my recruitment and tons of D-I
schools are calling me, SO I think I
made the right decision"
Hie team has already filled a few
vacant holes.
Ye sterday
UNT
announced
that All-Region
IX forward
Armani
Flanniganhas L0RYN
signed a letter GOODWIN
of intent for next season.
Flannigan, who will transfer
from Central Wyoming State
University, is a player with similar
athleticism to that of sophomore
forward Tony Mtchell, Benford
said in a press release
Flannigan joins three other
forwards - one transfer and two
freshman - who have already
committed this offseason.
Women's basketball
As head coach Mke Petersen
heads into his second year with
the Mean Green, his team will be
without freshman guard Loryn
Goodwin and sophomore forward
Braylah Blakely.
Goodwin is leaving UNT asfter
one of the best freshman years in
school history. She was named the
Sun Belt Conference Freshman of
the Year and broke several school
records, including the most made
three-pointers
in a single
season
"I took into
account three
questions,"
Goodwin said.
"Is this the BRAYLAH
highest level I BLAKELY
could play at? Am I showing the
best possible version of myself in
the environment that I'm in? And
last, could I see myself here for the
next three years being happy and
the best possible player I can be?"
The freshman said the answer
to all three of those questions was
"no," which spurred her decision
to move on with her career. She
said she doesn't know where she
will go because it is not official, but
said she is "almost positive" that it
will be out of the state.
Goodwin said she has received
offers from multiple schools
including Butler University and
the University of Hawaii.
"I've gotten my freshman year
out of the way, seemingly the
hardest year," she said. "I think I'm
mature enough to make the move."
Petersen declined to comment
on Goodwin's transfer, saying it
was a "closed book." However, he
said that player transfers are quite
common in women's basketball.
"I don't think there is a common
thread," Petersen said. "Different
kids have different reasons, and
I don't think there's one unifying
thread that runs through all of
them I know this: there are a ton
of transfers right now in women's
basketball. It's too bad, but that's
kind of the nature of our game
right now."
Blakely played in all 26 games
last year, including a 16-pOint,
five rebound effort against Texas
State University in the first game
of the season She is talking to
other schools but said it was too
early to predict where she will
play next year.
"I felt like this fit wasn't good for
me," she said. "Coach [Petersen]
and I didn't connect on the same
page, so I decided to move."
Seven incoming players will be
eligible to j idfct the women's team in
the fall - four redshirt players from
last season, two incoming freshmen
and a junior college transfer. It
remains to be seen if they can fill
in for the departed Mean Green
athletes.
Players value relationship with Benford
Feature
Audra Stamp
Staff Writer
Although head coach Tony
Benford and the men's basketball
team didn't have the year they
wanted, Benford always made sure
to maintain a strong relationship
with the athletes.
Whether it was Benford having
his team over to his house for a pre-
game dinner or the daily check-ins
with his players, he made sure his
team was well-rounded so it could
function well on the court.
"He wants to see us succeed in
life," senior guard Roger Franklin
said. "Not just in the classroom, or
not just on the basketball court.
He's preparing us to be not boys
in the world, but men,"
As a child, Benford's father
served two tours in Vietnam as a
sergeant in the Army, and wasn't
around much for his son
"A lot of the coaches I had
were like father figures to me
because they
were always
around,"
Benford Said.
In high
school Benford
played for
head Coach TONY
Ralph Tasker BENFORD
at Hobbs High School in Hobbs,
N.M, and aspired to be like him
one day.
"He cared about us," Benford
said. "He didn't care black, white,
brown, he cared about kids and
making a difference in the lives of
kids. It was a family atmosphere,
he invested in our lives."
Growing up with coaches like
Tasker and current UNT asso-
ciate head coach Rob Evans, who
recruited Benford to play for Texas
Tech University, Benford learned
the importance of relationships
within a team
Many new coaches have to get
to know their players, but Benford
had been watching many of the
current UNT athletes when he
was recruiting for Marquette
University, So he was already
familiar with many of them.
"He wants us to
succeed in life...
He's preparing
us to be not boys
in the world,
but mm,"
-Roger Franklin
Senior basketball guard
To further bond the team,
Benford hosted dinners at his
house, but also used the time to
be a role model as a husband and
father for the team. The Benford
family even opened its home last
Thanksgiving to senior forward
Niko Stojiljkovic and former-
freshman guard P.J. Hardwick,
who weren't able to go home.
"It was really nice of him to do
that because I was by myself here
on campus," said Stojiljkovic, who
is from Paris, France. "They were
really welcoming and it was a
good time."
Benford also requires all players
to check in with the coaching staff
once a day so he knows about any
stressful events in their lives that
could affect their practice.
He also paid attention to their
class work, monitoring everyone's
grades. To keep everyone on a
similar schedule, all players and
Benford himself got weekly calen-
dars to assure the whole team was
doing what they needed to do to
have a successful college career.
"The only thing I promise you
is that you'll get a great degree,"
Benford said. "But We're going to
invest in you as a player, and if you
invest in your game also, then you
have a chance to do something
with basketball."
Photo by Harris Buchanan/Staff Photographer
Senior pitcher Brittany Simmons winds up in Tuesday's game
against the University of Oklahoma. The Mean Green lost to the
Sooners and again to the University of Texas at Arlington yesterday.
Cat s Corner: Getting
to know your Mean
Green tennis seniors
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Harvey, Holly. North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 100, No. 41, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 25, 2013, newspaper, April 25, 2013; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth336896/m1/4/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.