Gerry Fraley: 'Baylor should shut down' hoops program

[SMUguy]

<A HREF="http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/colleges/baylor/stories/073003dnspofraley.b58f3.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/colleges/baylor/stories/073003dnspofraley.b58f3.html</A>

Interesting idea.
Not that it will happen, but it's a really interesting idea.

[Hal]

You're right - never happen.
But it sure paints a pretty grim picture of the goings-on inside the BU hoops program.

[Lefty]

I wonder if that Fraley guy will be welcome in Waco to cover games. That can't be a popular point of view. I know if someone suggested that about my school, I'd want nothing to do with him.

[OldPony]

That is a pretty good article. We get upset with Dement's lack of post-season play and SMU on its stance on JC transfers but Dement has rebuilt the right way. I'm glad we don't have Bliss' and Baylor's problems.
Our players eem to be very good young men for the most part and represent SMU well (excepting maybe a couple of embarrassments during the Sasser era). I am ready to see progress in moving the program up a notch and I believe it may be coming this year or next. I hope Dement is the right guy to take the step because everything but the lack of big wins should make us proud of the basketball program.

[Johnny Rock]

Old Pony is obviously a 'half full' kind of guy. Our basketball program is average at best. It has been average for several years. Dement has failed to make the NCAA tournament. Dement must be replaced with another coach. After all, I believe Turner and Copeland were selling an idea called the 'Commitment' How long can a coach continue to coach a team and not make the NCAA tournament? I guess we will find out here at good old SMU. But you are not alone Old Pony. There are several other 'half full' kind of guys that post on this board. They too will say...our basketball team is not that bad after all because our players do not murder each other.

[Pony_Fan]

I am a certainly glad we don't have a mess on ours hands to that extent. I am sure the Big 12 is not happy that Baylor is in the league at this point but they are whipping boys for everyone.

OP - Call me "half empty" but I haven't seen much improvement in half court offense, defense, TO/assist ratio in long time - aside from Ross, nobody has been consistent. Practially every game we got schooled by the 3 pointer yet there were no adjustments to the 1-3-1.

I will look forward to seeing Simpson improve and Hopkins - hopefully they can start communicating with each other and Hopkins can find ways to dish him. We got completely embarrassed last year by several opponents. The highlight for me was the Rice game where the execution was flawless in the 1st half..best Ponies hoops since the Tenn game 1st half with Sasser.

[OldPony]

I am a half full type of guy and I am very happy that it isn't SMU people are writing about instead of BU.
I think we all may have gotten excited a little prematurely with Sasser and Davis. They were very good players although Davis couldn't shoot to save his life and he had to play out of position most of the time. It is extremely hard to rebuild a program from what Dement inherited under the restricitions that he has had to work.
We all got excited last year because we knew that Q was the real deal and we had Hopkins coming in. We have to remember though that that team was 1 freshman and 3 sophomores to go with Q. Simpson and Castro showed a lot of improvement between there freshman and sophomore years but were still sophomores. BHop was nearly a non-factor although he played much better as he got well. We have still never had a true good big man to go with the guard and forward talent. Is that Dement's fault? Maybe but I'm not sure because the competition for those guys is intense from programs that have more to sell and those who can really take JC transfers.
This team is now 4 juniors and a sophomore. Hopkins is well. This is the telling year for Dement. If he can't do it this year, he probably can't get us to the next step. I will wait til this coming year is playing out before I say that though. Keep the faith 1 more year. We may be very happy we did.
I saw many good teams get lit up last year from the 3 ppoint line. If you protect the passing lanes and underneath, it takes exceptionl quickness to get back to the 3 line on D. With Hopkins playing hurt most of the time, that perimeter defense suffered. This year is the make or break year.

[SoCal_Pony]

I’m with JR,

We have yet to seriously compete for a WAC title; in fact our all-time conference record is only 63-59.

Our OOC record is inflated by playing weak opponents, yet we still lose to almost all tournament-worthy teams (remember Tech and Wake last year?)

Between the NCAA and the NIT, there are 100 openings annually for post-season play, yet all we have managed under Dement is 1 NIT loss.

While I fail to place all the blame on Dement, I do not classify our performance as average.

[OldPony]

maybe it just looks good when compared to the gridiron.

[FloridaMustang]

For some reason, I still have that Wake-SMU game on tape. I don't believe I'll ever be watching that one again. I hardly believe Bhop would have made very much difference in that one. Q stopped Howard, but the rest of the team stepped up on both sides of the ball.

[Charleston Pony]

I'm with Old Pony on this one. Dement is slowly upgrading the talent in our hoops program and I look for us to be very competitive this year, although maybe not post season materiial quite yet.

I agree Simpson and Castro showed good progress between their frosh and soph years, but you usually expect the biggest improvement in that year. That's why I look for significant improvement from BHop this year. I'm a little surprised nobody has mentioned Justin Isham. All he did was lead our guards in assist/turnover ratio and shooting percentage last year. He showed real development and maturity I thought, while playing in Q's shadow. I liken Isham to Damon Hancock and see him becoming a real force this year, without having to carry the team like Q did at times.

If we get any significant contributions from the Rack or the incoming frosh, this year's team just might end up in the NIT.

[SoCal_Pony]

I don’t see how anyone can view last years’ recruiting class as an upgrade, as all three signees ranked between #150 to #200 best in the country. It was a step backwards and is particularly hard to take since there appeared to be zero momentum from the BHop signing.

We will not win the WAC title next year. Our chances of playing in the NIT will be about like last year, a few key games will determine our fate, with attendance at Moody working against us.

The following year we have a legitimate shot at our first WAC title and NCAA tournament play. That will be great, but there are no guarantees as Sasser and Davis’ senior year proved.

Then what about the year after that? With the loss of Simpson and Castro, I suspect we will return back to ‘average’.

I see no forward momentum but will concede that Old Pony had a very funny post.

[Pony_Fan]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by OldPony:
<B>I am a half full type of guy and I am very happy that it isn't SMU people are writing about instead of BU.
I think we all may have gotten excited a little prematurely with Sasser and Davis. They were very good players although Davis couldn't shoot to save his life and he had to play out of position most of the time. It is extremely hard to rebuild a program from what Dement inherited under the restricitions that he has had to work.
We all got excited last year because we knew that Q was the real deal and we had Hopkins coming in. We have to remember though that that team was 1 freshman and 3 sophomores to go with Q. Simpson and Castro showed a lot of improvement between there freshman and sophomore years but were still sophomores. BHop was nearly a non-factor although he played much better as he got well. We have still never had a true good big man to go with the guard and forward talent. Is that Dement's fault? Maybe but I'm not sure because the competition for those guys is intense from programs that have more to sell and those who can really take JC transfers.
This team is now 4 juniors and a sophomore. Hopkins is well. This is the telling year for Dement. If he can't do it this year, he probably can't get us to the next step. I will wait til this coming year is playing out before I say that though. Keep the faith 1 more year. We may be very happy we did.
I saw many good teams get lit up last year from the 3 ppoint line. If you protect the passing lanes and underneath, it takes exceptionl quickness to get back to the 3 line on D. With Hopkins playing hurt most of the time, that perimeter defense suffered. This year is the make or break year. </B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

OP< I am not sure you watched many games actually at Moody, the boys were lazy, yes lazy on the perimeter defense, especially Hopkins..even at the end of the season.

[EastStang]

I will give Coach Dement some credit for recruiting with those tight restrictions we had. I will be the first to admit that I have not caught very many games and when I have most have been on television. What I have noticed are two things: Over the last two years, we've had a tough time winning close games against tough competition. UNLV, Tech come to mind. Secondly, his game strategy seems to be lacking or his control over his players seems to be lacking. I see lots of undisciplined shots, styling turnovers, and loss of composure. I don't see this as often in the ACC and Big East games I get up here. I know Dement has a great pedigree for coaching and he certainly gets some great players. What he needs to do now is to move up to the next step which means to work on his game plans. He hasn't had the luxury of having the depth of talent that Coach K had at Duke, thus he needs to be a bit more creative in his game plans. With Duke, every player could kill you. At SMU one, two or three players can kill you. That requires working on schemes to get those players open for their shots which the other teams know are coming. Until that happens we'll stay in the middle of the pack.

[OldPony]

Lazy play is often the result of poor conditioning and even more often the lack of credible subs. When Simpsona and Castro and Isham graduate it will be a big, big loss. That is a chaleenge to Rack, BHop and the others remaining to be better. I hope that we will get a few food players over the next few years to replace them also.
I'm really not defending Dement very strongly. I just don't know yet even though he has had 7(?) years. I did live in Dallas during Shu's last 2 years and there is vast improvement. That's not a particurlaly high hurdle though. I think Dement has labored under tougher recruiting than Shu. Shu had the SWC going for him most of the time and a pretty decent recent history going for him too. Had he stayed in Dallas and recruited locally, he might have made a big difference. I think he only got one Dallas player during his tenure though.
I think that SMU must reach post season play this year or change out Dement. It may not be fair to Dement but it may take a new coach to get other improvemnts done to Moody, changes in transferrable hours from JC's etc. Bennett seemed to get some promisies before signing and a new b'ball coach might extract a few more.
I inadvertenly left Isham out in my first post here. He had flashes where he played as well as anyone but seemed to disapppear at times also. Maybe with the extra year of maturity and not playing in Q's shadow, he will step forward to be a really good one. He has great athletic ability so most will depend on him and his work ehtic. BTW- I think he was a top 150-200 or so recruit but I'm not positive. Top 150's occassionally turn out pretty good. A lot of very good players are overlooked and dement seems to find some of those.
Let's just all be behind these guys strong this year and save up the carping until we see.