Conference USA Basketball: Preseason rankings for 2020-2021 season

2. North Texas Mean Green

The 2019 North Texas Mean Green and Head Coach Grant McCasland were riding high after a 20-11 overall record a 14-4 record in the CUSA and outright won the CUSA regular-season title, for their first conference title in 31 years. The Mean Green had their ticket to the dance in their grasp and even could have made some noise in the Big Dance, but that was all taken away as the pandemic ruined their incredible 2019 season.

Statistically, for the most part, North Texas was in the middle to top of most offensive and defensive categories. There were several categories that stood out, as they were first in scoring defense (63.3), second in scoring margin (+7.8), first in field goal percentage (.483), first in 3 point goal percentage (.379), and first in rebounding defense (29.3).

Coach McCasland in the 2020 – 2021 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook was quoted as saying “I never thought I would be in a place where we had so many guys unselfishly excited about the team and talking team goals in the middle of the summer like they did”. The 2020 Mean Green are ready to defend their title.

North Texas has four of its top six scorers returning and the leader of the 2020 Mean Green is returning CUSA player of the year and first-team all CUSA player 6-4 redshirt senior Javion Hamlet (14.6 ppg, 3.0 rpg, and 4.7 apg). Hamlet is a 2020 preseason first-team all CUSA player as voted by coaches and media. Hamlet led the CUSA in assists with 95 and led the CUSA in scoring (17.9 ppg). Hamlet is just the second player in school history to be named to the preseason first-team all CUSA, as well as being the first player of the year since 1989.

Hamlet has an experienced supporting cast surrounding him in 2020, as 6-4 senior James Reese (8.6 ppg and 3.0 rpg), 6-1 senior J.J. Murray (1.5 ppg and 0.4 rpg), 6-5 redshirt sophomore Larry Wise (1.3 ppg and 0.8 rpg), 5-11 sophomore Jalen Jackson (1.0 ppg and 0.4 rpg), 6-10 senior Zachary Simmons (8.8 ppg and 5.2 rpg), 6-6 senior Thomas Bell (6.5 ppg and 5.8 rpg) and 6-4 senior Jahmiah Simmons (1.3 ppg and 1.2 rpg).

Coach McCasland also welcome a transfer and several freshmen to Denton. 6-6 junior transfer Terence Lewis II (18.9 ppg and 9.3 rpg, from New Mexico Junior College), 6-4 freshmen Rubin Jones from Jack Yates High School in Houston, 6-7 freshmen Mykell Robinson, from Sunrise Christian Academy also from Houston) and 6-9 freshmen Abou Ousmane, from Scotland Performance Institute in Pennsylvania.

You can never bet against a player of the year and in particular one that is talented as Hamlet. The Mean Green have a lot to prove to the rest of the CUSA. They need to prove that last year’s regular title was not a fluke, but more importantly they need to prove that they belonged in the tournament last year.

North Texas goes as Hamlet goes and if the supporting cast can play up to their potential, then North Texas should be dancing and becoming the two-time and defending CUSA Champs.