SMU plays Toledo of the MAC Sunday

[mustangbill67]

We play Toledo of the Mid-American conference at Moody on Sunday at 2 PM. The Rockets are 1-1 with a win over Wright State and a loss to South Carolina. Anyone know how they are supposed to match up against the Ponies?

[PonyPride]

I don't know much about them, but they shot the lights out when they beat us last year. From what I've been told, they're fast and can still shoot. Not sure how big they are.

[giacfsp]

I hope the ENTIRE football team comes out to the game today and leads the noise-making in the student section. Sure, they'll get to revel in a few more pats on the back, and that's fine -- richly deserved. But it also will provide a huge lift for the basketball team to see 80 enthusiastic football players sitting right behind them, screaming and cheering them on.

[Charleston Pony]

boy, this team REALLY misses BHop. Poor quality broadcast, poor play but at least it's only being witnessed by a couple hundred fans. I'm sure that "crowd" will be announced at about 1900 (counting tickets sold/issued)

[Pony_Fan]

I just got back. That was pitiful....had to leave.

SMU had no defense, no hussle, no good screens or picks, no scoring/offense. I really couldn't see any positives. SMU knew that Toledo would be shooting 3's all day yet Tubbs didn't zone much of the game....baffling to me. 45% free throw shooting.

Pearson had an off game. Dez was not impressive at all. I thought Roberts might be the go-to man this year but that hasn't happened yet.

This team really needs Bhop. This team is not good...

[mustangbill67]

I could not take it any longer as well. Although we kept it from being a total rout, we were out coached, out played and could not shoot including 3's and FT's. If this is the best we can do, this is really going to be a long season.

[Pony_Fan]

I could not take it any longer as well. Although we kept it from being a total rout, we were out coached, out played and could not shoot including 3's and FT's. If this is the best we can do, this is really going to be a long season.

I am sure it will get better but that was hard to watch. You can't shoot much worse than that.

[friarwolf]

Man, I hope that isn't what we have to look forward to all year........

Positives: Most of our players are attempting to play defense and some aren't that bad at it. Our post players work hard to get open to receive the ball and we aren't bad at blocking shots.

Negatives: Our offense - if that is what you can call it - is awful. I think it may look worse than it is because of the way Dez tries to run it which is he doesn't look down low enough or try to penetrate and dish - at least not today. When he penetrates, he is looking to shoot - and he got 4-5 of his shots blocked and missed on the ones that didn't get blocked. Most 6 grade teams are better foul shooters than we are. Willingham gives up on defense when he gets picked. We get lazy when we play zone. Our perimeter players did pretty well getting out on the shooters on about the first 2 times the ball got swung -then we quit and that 3 point shooter they had buried it on us. We are woefully short on shooters in our playing rotation. Our poor post players work their butts off but we don't get the ball to them enough. At least today, we forgot the low part of the high-low offense for long stretches.

Jon Amos from Hillcrest looked good for Toledo...............................

[ALEX LIFESON]

It doesn't seem to matter who the coach is, this team is pitiful from the free throw line.

[drummer]

THIS may be the worst SMU basketball team I've seen in a long time.

[Pony_Fan]

Castro and Simpson look like All Stars right now.

[Higher Authority]

Rackauskas really wasn't bad today. He got a bunch of rebounds (maybe a dozen?), had a couple of nice early buckets in the paint, and blocked a few shots. He missed his only outside (nearly three-point) shot, but he has a very nice release and smooth shooting mechanics .... I'd be OK with him putting the ball up more often. If he could get a few early baskets down low in each game -- he doesn't have to be Shaq, just let them know that he can -- that would prevent the other team from stretching too far out on the perimeter and double-teaming Roberts all the time.

[Hoop Fan]

Rack still isnt in good shape and cant seem to sustain the pace for very long, but he is showing some flashes. Brian Morris was probably the only other semblance of a bright spot we had today. I dont know what the deal was with Roberts and Pearson. Maybe they got frustrated I dont know, but they didnt lead the team. Dez also got taken out of his game. It was a pretty physical game and we didnt adjust to it very well. Epps disappeared and Ike just cant do much in traffic.

Biggest thing is we gotta find some leadership and enthusiasm. The team looked lethargic and tired and there is no good reason for that at home besides not much of a crowd. BHop isnt a savior, but he would help alot right now.

[smupony]

Other than the obvious free throw issues, one of my biggest problems was help side defense. I could count on both hands how many times a Toledo player penetrated and no one was there to fill the space. The biggest culprit was Brian Morris. He stepped back from contact on at least five lay-ups. Where's the hard foul? Where's the defensive rotation?

Another major issue was ball movement on offense. There was a lot, I mean, A LOT of dribbling around. Toledo shredded us with their ball movement. They ran a simple zone breaker with rapid passing around the perimeter and killed us. We did nothing but put our heads down and ran into traffic.

Lastly, where is the inside out play. Rack got the ball made his move and made plays early. We should be able to dump the ball inside and at least have the defense sag to protect. This gives our guards more room to move and penetrate. We stopped even trying to get the ball inside late in the first. After that, Toledo only needed to focus on our guards.

When big men get involved, dive cuts become a great weapon. He have Pearson and Roberts who will get easy baskets from that. You don't need great big men to attempt or be successful at this.

We are better than this. He have enough talent to move the ball and not resort to 20 foot fade aways.

Let's go guys! Run some offense. Slow down, call out their defense and set up the play!

[friarwolf]

amen, bruthaaaaa...............................