Last Night's Game

[Original Frank]

A few observations about last night's game...

1. Boise played a zone until the last few minutes of the game. If I coached against SMU, I would always use the zone. Thank goodness that Pearson can shoot at 3-point range with some consistency. Without him hitting a few threes, this would have been ugly.
2. Without Hop, I thought SMU attacked the zone better than I have seen them before. As is manytime typical when a team's "superstar" is sidelined, everyone had to accept and play different roles. No one could just stand around and watch BHop try to score. The result, Pearson, Simpson, Castro, and DRob all with 16 to 19 points. Very balanaced scoring from 4 players for a team that usually has only two guys score.
3. Castro has really come into his own this year. He has really developed into a nice post-up offensive player. He plays with a fire that I like.
4. Simpson comes and goes too much. One game, foul trouble. Next game, not much presence. Next game, he is a superstar. Last night, he was so/so until the end when he hit the two biggest shots of the night under much pressure. I wish he was like that all the time.
5. Jimmy has them playing better ball than Dement ever did. They actually acted like they recognized the zone and they knew how to attack it. I think Jimmy will be OK; he is already ahead of Dement (who, frankly, I could never tell what he was trying to do offensively).
6. Pearson and DRob are players. Maybe Killen and maybe Ritter (jury's still out). We need to find some other good players to go with Pearson, DRob, and BHop next year.
7. We need some big guys and a guard who can shoot lights-out like the Boise guy last night (maybe Williams?). Then we will see what Jimmy has in store. All in all, I like what Jimmy has done with this team.

[LA_Mustang]

We need to find some other good players to go with Pearson, DRob, and BHop next year.

I think Willingham should qualify as another good player. He is actually the second highest rated basketball recruit to sign with SMU in last ten years.

Rivals - 4 stars, 75th ranked player nationally in 03

[Hoop Fan]

plus Willingham has a season of Big 12 experience under his belt. And he played well. He's not just some unproven, raw freshman now.

As for last night, it was good to get a win without Hop, but I thought it typlified our inside problems. We got beaten badly on the boards by Boise. But not only that, the refs allowed a very physical game but our guys seem unable or unwilling to play that style. Boise eventually got into foul trouble because they were on the road. The biggest thing we need is a bruising, athletic power forward. I'm sure Tubbs is trying to find one, Brian Morris from Portland would work. One thing I think we can offer a good player is a starting spot surrounded by good guard play.