Official SMU-Marshall Game Thread

[Harry0569]

I thought Doherty reverted to his old ways in the 2nd half subbing Otis for Nykundi which resulted in Marshall taking the lead and building a cushion. The guys recovered and got back within 2 after he finally sat Otis, but never could get over the hump. Frustrating game, Marshall is pretty good.

I think that was because Rob had 3 fouls.... DW will obviously favoring his ankle, and it showed.

[PonyPride]

SMU Postgame Notes – March 6, 2010
Conference USA Game
Marshall 73 at SMU 57
Marshall Thundering Herd (23-8, 11-5 C-USA), SMU Mustangs (14-16, 7-9 C-USA)
Moody Coliseum
Dallas, Texas

NEXT GAME: SMU finishes tied for seventh in Conference USA, but will receive the No. 8 seed on the virtue of a tiebreaker with Houston. They play No. 9 seed UCF in the first round of the GMC Sierra C-USA Basketball Championship on Wednesday, March 10 at the Bank of Oklahoma Center in Tulsa. Tip is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. SMU won the only meeting with UCF this year, knocking off the Knights, 65-43, Jan. 27 at Moody Coliseum.

TEAM

-SMU finished the season at 7-9 in C-USA, their best record in C-USA since joining the league in 2005-06

-SMU will be the No. 8 seed in the C-USA Tournament, its highest seed in the C-USA Tournament since joining the conference in 2005-06.

INDIVIDUAL

Papa Dia
-This is his 10th double-double of the season, and sixth in C-USA play.
-This is his 12th double-digit rebounding effort of the season, and he has reached the 10-rebound plateau in 7 of 16 Conference USA games
-His 12 rebounds mark the sixth time this season he has 12+ rebounds in a game.
-He has reached 10 rebounds in six of his last 11 games.
-He now has reached double-digit rebounds in his last six Saturday games.
-He has now has scored in double-digits in 10 of his last 12 games, and 22 times this year.
-This is his 10th 15+ point scoring game of the season.

Mouhammad Faye
-Reached double figures in scoring for the seventh time in the past eight games, and the 16th time this season.
-With 10+ points, SMU has now had a senior score 10+ on Senior Night for the 4th straight year (2006-07: Ike Ofoegbu 21 & Devon Pearson 16, 2007-08: Jon Killen 16, 2008-09: Bamba Fall 16)

Derek Williams
-With 40 minutes played tonight, and 627 for the season, he finished the C-USA season as the leader in Minutes Played in league games.
-Played 40 minutes tonight, his tenth 40 minute game in C-USA play this season.
-He sat out only 13 minutes in C-USA play this season.
-He has 15 straight games with 35+ minutes played, and 17 of the last 18.
-Scored 8 or more points in every game this season, and has scored 8+ in 34 straight games, dating back to last season
-He now has 499 points this season, and one point in the conference tournament would make him the 17th player to reach 500 points in school history, and the first for SMU since Bryan Hopkins (514) in 2003-04

[Charleston Pony]

and this little tidbit sums up the recent fortunes of SMU basketball:

-SMU will be the No. 8 seed in the C-USA Tournament, its highest seed in the C-USA Tournament since joining the conference in 2005-06.

I noticed our average home attendance this season was something like 2600 (bolstered by the A&M game). Is that the lowest we've ever had for a season?

[Charleston Pony]

I had to go back and look it up; the 2688 average home attendance this season was not the worst on record. Doherty's 1st year saw only 2328 average attendance, thanks in large part to the dumbed down schedule that year (the 962 who came out to watch Paul Quinn may have been the key).


In the post death penalty era, SMU bball coaches have struggled to put together winning programs. It took Shumate 5 seasons before any of his teams had winning records in conference play (and of course he followed that championship season with 2 losing seasons before being shown the door). Since the break up of the SWC, more of the same (with fewer fans attending the games). Dement saw his 1st winning season in year 5. Tubbs never got the chance, and now Doherty is preparing to cap a 4th straight losing season.

History suggests maybe next year?

I'm just hoping the guys can win a game in Tulsa. UCF will be looking for payback.

[Hoop Fan]

CP, thats the problem, next year is not it. we'll be lucky to finish next year with a better record than this year or even as good. In Dements 5th season we were legitimately disappointed with not making the NCAAs. We were something like 23-5 coming down the home stretch against a top 20 tulsa team, and tcu that season. Dement finished his SMU tenure like 18 games over .500. Doh would have to win like 25 games per year for the next several years to come close to catching up on winning %.

[mr. pony]

by the way, who was it that said ealier this week that tonight was a huge game? That was pretty funny, you could sure tell by the game thread with 9 posts. People are really excited/hopeful.

yeah, I said that - before the Tulsa game, and it could have been a huge game.

[EastStang]

But Dement hit the wall his last season and lost the team. The fact is that he had a good set of players who quit on him (as shown by some wins they had early). Also after he lost Tubbs as an assistant, his recruiting trailed off to a degree. When Tubbs arrived, the cupboard was pretty bare. Shumate had to survive early on in a very solid SWC, then WAC with UNLV, Utah and BYU. Dement was in a watered down WAC with Fresno and Nevada as tough teams. Doherty has been a pretty weak conference except for Memphis and hasn't had a winning conference record, yet. Remember, CUSA has been a one bid conference for the past three years.

[ontheedgeofmyseat]

Dement's 5th season found us "riding high" with the season winding down. With a 21-5 record, we lose to tcu, then to #15 Tulsa, lose in the first round of the WAC tourney to a weak Hawaii team, and limp into the NIT with a loss to SW Mo St.....a bummer year.
BUT, I ALWAYS felt like we were competitive with Mike.
Fifth seasons have historically been good for the Ponies...Shumate brought us a SWC crown in year 5...Bliss took us to the NCAA's in year 5...Run Sonny Run beat KU in year 5...Big Bob Prewitt won the SWC title in year 5...and thank those in charge that we gave E O "DOC" more than 5, before he worked his magic...

[RGV Pony]

damn, can you imagine if we ever got to 21-5 again? Man, how expectations have changed.

We'd be having weekly MC luncheons w/ Doh at the Radisson

[PoconoPony]

Anyone else find it curious that the extent of the interest in the Marshall game was limited to a total of 2 pages of PonyFans game thread????? I watched the second half and could find little on which to comment.