UNT visit to LSU will have many eyes on The Bullet

Jones, still popular in Baton Rouge, La., returns home as an opposing coach for the second time when North Texas (9-2) visits LSU (7-4) at 7 p.m. at the Maravich Center. Jones was last there on an opposing bench as an assistant at Alabama.

He runs the show at UNT, and people at LSU know it. They haven't forgotten Jones, nicknamed "The Bullet" when he starred at nearby DeRidder High School, or when he played for LSU's 1981 Final Four Team and coached alongside Dale Brown at another Final Four team in '86. The Bullet landed Shaq and Chris Jackson and Randy Livingston, along with a ton of other impact LSU players that came and went.

So, what does that make tonight? An audition? Perhaps.

For LSU to already be losing patience with Trent Johnson, who nudged out Jones for the job last time, seems a little out there. But LSU and Big Bubba Booster programs like it have lost patience for less, and three of the Tigers' four losses this season were to Wichita State (minor sin), Coastal Carolina and Nicholls State (both probably inexcusable). Falling to No. 19 Memphis, well, that happens.

Johnson won 27 games and an SEC title in his first season and then went 11-20 in last season's rebuilding. He had won at Nevada and Stanford before LSU, and given the chance, he'll win again in Baton Rouge. Losing at home to UNT, to an LSU favorite son, won't buy him any goodwill if it happens.

For UNT, this is a teeming pit of distraction, not to mention an atmosphere that's difficult to duplicate at the Super Pit. The Texas Tech game went a long way. The program has gotten some good road education in recent years at Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas, etc. Getting a veteran team like UNT to block out distractions isn't too much to expect.

Few, if any mid-major teams could visit LSU and have as direct local ties as the Mean Green will. Whoever from DeRidder can get a ticket will. Jones' wife is from Baton Rouge, and his popularity should bring out some closet Mean Green fans. Guard Josh White (Baton Rouge) and forward Kedrick Hogans (New Orleans) will attract more fans on the UNT ledger. Both will want to play their best in front of those who know them best.

"I have to understand what I preach to these players," Jones said. "You have to keep your blinders on and stay focused. This is a business trip."

White, who many believed would eventually play for LSU - he talked frankly about transferring there after his freshman season when Jones interviewed for the job - knows three of the Tigers players well from prep ball and has that added dimension at play.

"I'll know a whole bunch of people at that game," White said. "I'll have a lot of support there. That's where everybody thought I was going to go. I want to come out and play a good game in front of my family and friends. For us, it's one possession at a time."

Where LSU basketball goes, there seem to be two sides: Those who line up behind the program's dean, Brown, or those who don't. Jones considers Brown another father and won't ever distance himself. Top programs in any sport go through periods of attempts (successful or failed) to forge new directions away from old ways or icons.

At times, LSU has seemed to try to distance from the Brown era, especially when it came to former coach John Brady. Now at Arkansas State, Brady made way for Johnson when he couldn't maintain a level of success - another Final Four in 2006 and six current NBA players - that left LSU too spoiled.

Brady critics said he left too many native-Louisiana blue chips on the recruiting table, either by choice or not. However it happened, White was one of them. Jones, his backers argued, could recruit circles around the Brady in Louisiana and should have been given the chance.

Johnson, though, wasn't a Brown guy. Stanford obviously played in a better conference than UNT, and Jones' success in Denton had only recently taken hold. Their appearance in expensive suits, that was a push.

Not to say it'll happen, but if Johnson were chased out after this season, would Jones, coach of a gritty mid-major with a modest fan base, top the short list? Given what Jones gets done with a short bench, he and his team's well-forged reputation and the recruiting chops that staffers Shawn Forrest and Bill Foy have shown lately, he should. If LSU needs a reference, it should ask Pat Knight.

Expect LSU to do what it can to protect the home court tonight, and if UNT pulls off a signature road victory, the dump-Johnson/hire-Jones train will fire up. Either way, they'll always love The Bullet in Baton Rouge. Whether it ever gets Jones the center seat at LSU's gumbo boil, we'll see one of these days.