Baylor

[Pony_Fan]

Anyone going to the game?
Anyone have predictions - do we get completely spanked and dominated again. TCU beat them fairly handly but I am wonder if they have lost ALL confidence at this point. Let's see if they comeback from their underachieving season. Do they play better at home? I wonder if Hopkins will play after Dement said he wouldnt play until Vegas. - what a joke.

[KnuckleStang]

Dave Bliss will come home and try to rub it in our faces. Hopkins apparently says he is "85%," and that's the best we've heard, so sounds like he'll play. Baylor 75, SMU 67? Oh hell, I don't know.

I will say this: I have never been one to beat up on Dement, because despite what anybody says, I think he's a good coach. But the day Hopkins seriously aggravates that injury, from running around on that gimp leg, when he should be sitting on his *ss, THAT is the day we fire Dement.

[Nacho]

I unerstand what you are saying Knuckle but if he is cleared to play by the Doctors then it's hard to blame Dement for playing him. Having the Marshall QB play with an air cast on his leg was a travesty. He was a sitting duck. Luckily he wasn't seriously injured. I hope BHop truly is at 85%, whatever that means. We'll see tomorrow if he is close to being his former self. If he is we may have a chance.

[KnuckleStang]

I realize this is a Baylor thread, but anybody check out Gardner-Webb? They're 1-6, have only been D-1 for three years. So far this year they've lost to Tennessee by 2, and just last night, gave Virginia fits till the end, losing by 7. (I'm having a hard time picturing the Mustangs losing to UVA by only seven.) Anyhoo, just a little wake up call to anybody expecting and easy W on the 28th, or whenever it is we play them.

S-M-U spells SMU! Go Stangs!

[Pony_Fan]

Hey Knuckle,
Off subject. What is it that gives you an indication that Dement is a good coach - just curious. I have given him the benefit of the doubt for a long time now and I am pretty much done with him. Especially after the late season collapses the last several years.

[HorsePower]

We're 0-4 on the road, and 2-0 at home. Baylor's coming to Moody. We're due to bounce back with a win.

[KnuckleStang]

That's okay, PF, I got off subject first. Anyway, as far as Dement goes, it's not that I've seen so much to indicate that he's a brilliant coach, but rather I haven't seen that much hard evidence that he's a bad coach. (stick with me...) Whenever I've watched or listened to the Ponies the last few years, this is the question I end up asking myself: Is this horrific, embarrassing display the result of inept coaching, or just dumb players who don't listen? I have been leaning toward the latter. For example, whenever Sasser or Hancock would dribble the ball pointlessy for 12 seconds, leave two men wide open, drive the lane into heavy traffic, jump athletically up into the air, and commit a charge/horrible shot/turnover, I would always blame the player. I admittedly don't know that much about coaching, but I have a hard time envisioning Dement teaching them to implement that kind of play in practice. There is no way this "play" appeared anywhere in the game plan. Just because you tell somebody to pass the ball, doesn't mean he's going to do it. I'm not saying that Dement is Coach K or anything, but he has worked with Coach K, who has a high opinion of him. Also, I think if you loaded SMU up with a bunch of McDonald's All-Americans, (like Duke perennially has) we wouldn't be having this conversation, and Dement would look like a genius. Same goes with K if you put him at SMU, but the other way around. Go back and check K's record in 1980(?) in his first year when he didn't have all that talent AND BRAINS to work with. They probably weren't too happy with him up there then, either. I guess all I'm saying is, it's easy to blame Dement's coaching, when maybe he really needs to accept some blame for recruiting players who simply don't like to pass the ball and never will like to pass the ball. And it's my opinion that you can't teach people to play with intensity, you either have it or you don't. Apparently he did good with Hopkins, as he is supposedly All-America caliber, and doesn't mind (and actually prefers) to find the open man and PASS THE BALL.

Anyhoo, that's my humble two cents on the matter. Don't hurt me, I'm just a common rube.

[Nacho]

I thought everybody loved Sasser now and hated Dement. When Sasser was here everybody hated him and loved Dement. Get with the times Knuckle.