EDITOR’S NOTE: North Texas saw the 2019-20 sports season come to an unexpected end due to the spread of COVID-19 and is turning its attention to the upcoming school year. Over the next few weeks, the Denton Record-Chronicle will look at questions the program faces as college sports resume.
There might not have been a more heartbreaking loss in the recent history of North Texas athletics than a 1-0 season-ender for the school’s soccer team in the 2018 NCAA tournament.
UNT was locked in a scoreless draw with Texas A&M in the second overtime when Ally Watt gathered in a bounding ball, beat a pair of defenders and scored.
NCAA tournament games haven’t always been that close for UNT’s team sports programs, but they always seem to end in disappointment. The Mean Green are a combined 0-for-15 in five sports that conclude with an NCAA tournament. That total does not include football, where the postseason consists of bowl games.
UNT has lost all of its seven NCAA tournament games in women’s soccer, three each in men’s basketball and women’s tennis and one each in women’s basketball and volleyball.
The Mean Green are always wondering if this will be the year they break through. The issue comes in at No. 4 in our rundown of questions UNT is facing in the wake of the shutdown in college athletics due to the spread of COVID-19.
Winning NCAA tournament games is always a challenge for mid-major programs. More often than not, mid-major teams face national powers on the road or at neutral sites. UNT has learned that the hard way over and over.
UNT’s latest NCAA tournament game came last fall when its soccer team won the Conference USA tournament. Its reward was being shipped out on the road to face eighth-ranked Arkansas.
UNT got off just one shot to 26 for Arkansas, which finally cracked the Mean Green’s defense in the second half and pulled away for a 3-0 win.
The Mean Green played really well in the early going in a first-round game against Memphis in the 2007 NCAA men’s basketball tournament. UNT was up six late in the first half before the Tigers stormed back for a 73-58 win.
UNT appeared as if it might have a chance to get back to the NCAA tournament last season under Grant McCasland. The Mean Green won the C-USA regular season title and were the No. 1 seed heading into the conference tournament.
UNT’s chance to win the tournament and earn C-USA’s automatic NCAA bid went out the window when college basketball was shut down by the pandemic.
The Mean Green’s men’s basketball team is one of a few that looks like it will have a chance for an NCAA tournament win when sports start back up this fall.
UNT lost just one key player off last season’s team and returns the C-USA Player of the Year in point guard Javion Hamlet.
Soccer coach John Hedlund’s team has won the C-USA tournament three years in a row and is always a threat in the postseason.
Softball is another sport where UNT appears equipped to win in the NCAA tournament. The Mean Green finished in a tie with Louisiana Tech for the C-USA regular season title in 2019 and were off to a 19-5 start when the 2020 season was called off.
It seems like a matter of time before UNT breaks through for its first NCAA regional appearance. Picking up a win in a regional, which would break UNT’s NCAA tournament drought, seems well within UNT’s reach.
UNT has been on the verge of history often and will look to break through again once college sports start back up.
Here’s our list so far:
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July 28, 2020 at 01:15AM
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North Texas offseason questions No. 4: Can UNT break though for an NCAA tournament win? - Denton Record Chronicle
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