North Texas Basketball: Grant McCasland’s Mean Green defensive machine
By Shea Irish
Projected 2022-23 roster
Coming off a 25-7 season that resulted in the most wins in school history and an NIT berth, the Mean Green will look to improve their roster during the off-season so they can return to the real tournament they set expectations to compete in; the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Although starting guard Mardrez McBride has entered the transfer portal and leading rebounder Thomas Bell is set to graduate; North Texas should return plenty enough talent to compete for another C-USA championship in 2023.
1st Team All-Conference selection Tylor Perry, the team’s leading scorer, is set to return for the Mean Green. With multiple game winning shots a year ago, he established himself as one of the most clutch players in all of college basketball. https://youtu.be/zqqgHatU8W8
Other standouts Abou Ousmane (10.2 PPG) and Rubin Jones (8.2 PPG) will be back in Denton as well. Look for athletic forward Aaron Scott to build off his freshman campaign and become a force on both ends of the floor.
Coach McCasland and his staff have already used the portal to their advantage in receiving a commitment from Jayden Martinez, a transfer from New Hampshire. The 6’7″ forward was a 1,000 point scorer for the Wildcats and will add a veteran presence to the team. With the versatility as a rebounder and an exceptional 3-point shooter (42% over the last 2 seasons), he will help to improve the perimeter shooting ability of North Texas, which was an area last year’s team struggled at times.
As of right now, here’s a preview of the possible starting 5 for next season:
G Tylor Perry 5’11” SR: 2022 C-USA 1st-Team selection, C-USA 6th Man of the Year
-13.5 PPG, 2.5 APG, 72 3-PT (41.4%)
G Rubin Jones 6’5″ JR
-8.2 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 2.2 APG, 41 3-PT (34.5%)
F Jayden Martinez 6’7″ SR: New Hampshire transfer, 2x America East All-Conference selection
-14.9 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 42.0 3-PT% over the past 2 seasons (94-224)
F Aaron Scott 6’7″ SO: 2022 C-USA All-Freshman Team
-4.0 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 50.5 FG%
F Abou Ousmane 6’10” JR
-10.2 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 50.2 FG%
Reports indicate that the staff is engaged with a number of other sought-after portal players. According to Adam Zagoria’s Twitter page, they are interested in one of the stars from Saint Peter’s Cinderella run, Daryl Banks III. The team’s recruiting news page (@MeanGreen247) indicates that the Mean Green are also in contact with Josiah Strong, a 6’4″ guard from Illinois State.
On Verbalcommits.com, North Texas has quite a few front-court transfers on its radar. They include D1 transfer Dericko Williams (6’8″ forward from UNC Greensboro), Jonathan Mogbo, a 6’7″ SF who averaged 14.3 PPG and 10.3 RPG for Northeast Oklahoma A&M, and Bryant Selebangue, an athletic 6’9″ Florida Southwest College product who averaged 12.8 PPG and 10.1 RPG.
Next. Top mid-major players in transfer portal. dark
Look for them to bolster the roster with a couple more forwards to add depth to the frontcourt behind Ousmane and Aaron Scott.