After winning the Sunbelt Conference Tournament Title, getting the automatic bid to the NCAA Big Dance and winning the Most Valuable Player Award for the tournament, you would have thought Eric Tramiel would have been beside himself. Instead, he was controlled and complimentary to Troy, the North Texas coaches, the university, the fans and Josh White.

One of the first things Tramiel stated was Troy had a great team. Normally, players do not come out and recognize the play of their opponents. Rather, they simply talk about how great their team is, how great their coaches are and how great their program is.  It is a testament tohis character and to the type of players Head Coach Johnny Jones recruits to North Texas.  

Concerning the jump shot in the lane by Josh White to put North Texas up 65-63 with seconds left on the clock,Tramiel stated with a smirk “I knew the whole time it was going in.”  He stated he and White talked about the shot the whole game so he knew it was coming. Troy had been blocking White’s layup shots so when the time was right he was goingto pull up and put the jumper in. “I had the confidence he would make it and he made it” stated Tramiel.

As for the future of North Texas Basketball Tramiel said “this program is on the rise.” Why? Because according to him, the coaches are doing “a great job recruiting.”

With the players on the team coming back next year and the players waiting in the wings Tramiel felt North Texas could be right back in the same position next year.

A couple of other reasons he felt the program was on the rise was because of the support of the fans and the community. “I feel with this program the sky’s the limit.”