University of North Texas Athletics
Green Gang: Five Times Better
9/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Return to Play
By Steven Bartolotta, September 22, 2010, 11:19 a.m.
If yesterday is any indicator, as the golf season moves on here are two websites you need to bookmark and fast. www.golfstat.com and www.golfweek.com. In the world of college golf, there is no USA/ESPN Coaches poll or AP Top 25 poll that ranks the best in the nation. These two sites however do rank all D-I golf schools.
After the Mean Green men's golf team destroyed the competition at UTA, you probably need to keep an eye on the rankings. North Texas put the football equivalent of a 56-0 thrashing of Southern Miss, Louisiana Tech, Rice, etc, etc.
Granted the 19-team field wasn't great. It wasn't even really that good, but Brad Stracke's plan of sending a message to the rest of the region and for that matter the nation got off to a good start this week.
He's ready for his team to climb into the top 50 and higher. Last week everyone around this team told me they were going to be "five times better" than last year's. The additions of Josh Jones and Ty Spinella certainly looked good on paper, but I wondered how good these two would be on the course.
What about a fifth player? Who was gonna fill that role.
They answered my questions pretty quick. Jones is built like a linebacker who can hit the ball a mile. On a par-5 that measured 630 yards, Jones was the only player in the field to reach the green in two shots. Oh and he's got a short game. On a par-3 yesterday, he buried one in the sand. Showing great touch, he blasted the ball out and stuck an 8-footer to save par.
The most pleasant surprise was Curtis Donahoe. As a freshman last year, his results were shaky. His best finish was 28th and the rest were, well bad. So what does Donahoe come out and do to start the season? Beats everyone in the field and finishes tied for the individual championship with three straight rounds of sensational golf.
The two Mexican phenom's from last year didn't slack off either. Spinella, equally as a talented and good.
North Texas now has expectation, which this group seems to embrace and welcome. Talking with Spinella after yesterday, there was hardly any satisfaction with win. The talk was all about improving, getting better, and beating better teams.
Stracke was right. His team is five times better and for the first time has five really, really, good players.
And when the new rankings come out, they will reflect that.
