Green Gang: Unfinished Business
4/22/2012 12:00:00 AM | Return to Play
By Steven Bartolotta, April 22, 2012, 10:33 p.m.
Back in Alabama. Unlike the last time when we rolled through Alabama for a battle with the eventual national title champ Crimson Tide last September, this one feels different. This feels like the return to a crime scene.
The first crime was by Mother Nature. Nearly one year ago an outbreak of tornadoes ravaged nearly every part of the state. It was the day, or what was supposed to be the day, of the final round for the guys going after the SBC title. It never happened. The tornado sirens started whaling at four in the morning and didn't stop until we landed back at DFW around 11 that night.
Along the way, downed trees, black clouds, and eventually a sprint off an American Airlines flight (second place trophy stayed) back into the Huntsville International Airport to avoid a tornado, all of that was overshadowed by the other crime.
The second crime was committed by the North Texas men's golf team themselves. Instead of putting the final stamp on the program's return to national prominence, they came home with a second place trophy better to use for kindling than anything else.
Head coach Brad Stracke had told his guys each round that the tournament very well could be shortened to 36 holes. Everyone knew going into that second round. And after letting chance after chance slip away during that round, they also knew there chance at the title might be lost. It was. As nasty as Mother Nature was that April afternoon, the Mean Green could do nothing but think about what could and should have been.
That team made it to regionals, but bowed out just shy of reaching the national championship. A successful season indeed, but something felt missing.
Fast forward to this season. North Texas is going to regionals again. That is guaranteed thanks to their national ranking.
This team however is different. It bottomed out early but is peaking late. They began the year with perhaps the most un-glorious moment in the Stracke era. Playing in the Golfweek Challenge, a VERY prestigious event that you get into by invitation only, the Mean Green laid an egg. Finished in 13th place. Yikes. It was the senior prom where the pretty girl asks you out, and then leaves the dance with someone else.
North Texas was left on the dance floor that day in Iowa. But Stracke's guys didn't have a post-prom hangover. They finished the fall strong. In the spring, after some major overhauls to his game, Ty Spinella found it. Granny, aka Curtis Donahoe, was a new-born golfer. Carlos Ortiz and Rodo (Cazaubon), the two stalwarts the last three seasons for North Texas, now had equals. The 5-spot was rotated between Marco Scarola and freshman Jason Roets, and they both started to figure things out.
As the spring went on, North Texas was playing with the big-boys of college golf. Stracke doesn't believe in the "dumbing down" of the schedule concept that others do. The Mean Green faced off with top-25 teams. And they were winning. Seven top-25 wins as a matter of fact. North Texas started the spring ranked No. 39, heading into Muscle Shoals; the Mean Green is two spots away from the top-25 at No. 27.
A coach from the SEC said after one event this spring that "if you're not careful, North Texas will beat your butt all the way to the finals."
The chemistry is right and confidence is riding even higher. It's the highest ranking this late in the year for North Texas since the rankings started back in 1998.
But to cement the Mean Green's rise back to national relevance, one last thing needs to done. They have to erase the awful sting of defeat from last year against their fellow Sun Belt brethren. And that means a return to the crime scene from a year ago.
While the rebuilding and recovery continues here on the Tennessee River from the crimes of Mother Nature a year ago, North Texas can make all the pain they suffered go away in the next three days by winning the Sun Belt Conference title.