So Painful!

[Duke Blue Blood]

If you have followed the Mustangs in the Dement era, you have learned to expect mediocrity.

Last night as I sat their watching a pathetic ASU team, I am reminded how much the players don't like Dement. He is not a players coach and these guys don't care.

I have never seen a team that has some real athletes get beat so bad. ASU wanted this game and we were already in the lockeroom with 4:00 left.

Maybe we can turn it around on the road.

[Arkpony]

Amen..but then we at SMU accept poor performance nowadays. The adminstration must know how bad Dement is, but for whatever reaosn they are content to ride with a loser..and ride..and ride..and ride

[Waz]

In reading some of the other posts, it is interesting to note that more than one poster mentioned no leadership on the team. Also Red Horse gave us his top four ranked reasons for last nights loss, and then tossed in a disclaimer that Dement can't be held accountable for not blocking out, rebounding aggressively, soft play, mental errors, etc. Who is? If you don't hold a coach accountable for either bringing in players that have these abilities or teaching the players that are brought in how to play the game, why do you need a coach at all? Dement is directly responsible for the leadership or, developement there of, on this team and for the fundamental excecution of the skills and strategies necessary to perform with proficiency on the court. Of course the players make mistakes and they are accountable for them, but, if they make the same types of mistakes over and over again, it goes full circle back to Dement. Dement will never develope any type of leadership on this or any other team he coaches. He is fortunate when he finds a player like Q that has inner strength and a passion that transfers to others. That's as close as you will ever see a Dement team come to having leadership. The players do not play for Dement and never have. They would have to be blind not to give him credit for his dedication to the game, but he doesn't relate well, and when he does it is only in short stretches, ie for a few days after positive outputs, ie the Tech game and most likely through the Wake game. You would'nt want to be sitting too close on the ride to Purdue though. None of us as coaches would be too happy with the App performance, but a feeling of disrespect and near hatred of the team for underachieving would not exude from our bodies. We wouldn't go into 'communication isolation'. The kids pick up on this and chemistry is shot until something positive happens. Instead of bouncing back after a loss, they recover after a loss. Other teams can come back after a game like App State and get back to where the left off after a good positive performance, we get almost back to where we left off. Three steps forward, four steps back. Two steps forward, two more steps forward, two more steps forward, four steps back, etc. etc. Year after blooming year.

Good news coming though. Miami isn't all that hot, 3-3 this year, although they came within 6 at Dayton, the got clobbered by Xavier. Their 3 pt shooting is not strong as of yet. Also even if we loose, the home team always picks the weakest foe, so our next opponent should theoretically be worse than Miami. Then comes Navy. They have won two games this year, both over D III schools and one of those wins was only by a point. Those two wins may be the only two that Navy gets this year. So, our schedule is setting up nicely and we should get back in 2004 with our .500 record. I will be in DC over New Years and will try and make the Navy game.

[Red Horse]

Waz -

I agree with you totally that Dement does not seem to build rapport with the players and that he does not seem to be a motivator. (I can't be adamant about these factors because I don't have any inside information.) I am only judging from appearances at the games and the few practices that I have seen.

If you'll check my earlier post - I did say that Dement must bear some of the blame for the poor fundamentals - no blocking out, not positioning, not playing with intensity and effort. He is also to blame for the lack of an effective offensive scheme in the half court game. He also
does not play enough man to man or all-court press defense. He sticks to long at a time with 1-3-1 zone or 2-3 zone and does not vary the defense to keep the other team off guard. You can trace the other team's success on 3-pt shots to his zone defenses.

I can't believe that the players don't have pride. I think they play to win, but Dement doesn't seem to be able to get the best out of them. Most of the time they underachieve. I am
willing to see what happens the rest of this year,
but my confidence in and support for coach are diminishing with each loss to a team we should beat.

[PK]

Originally posted by Red Horse:
I am willing to see what happens the rest of this year, but my confidence in and support for coach are diminishing with each loss to a team we should beat.

What happens to your confidence in and support for the coach when we beat or almost beat a team we shouldn't beat? (Tech and Wake)

I feel your pain (God I hate that trite saying), but are not the players part of the problem too? Are our player at the same level of talent of the Techs and Wakes of the world or did we just try harder in those games much as ASU did playing us?

[Waz]

PK you have always seemed to have a pretty solid understanding of the team and perhaps some contacts that others don't. What do you think of Dement's relationships with the players? Do you think that they play for him or just grudgingly respect him because of his fanaticism to the game? I have never questioned Mike Dement's will to win, preparation to win, and time invested. I have always questioned his abilities to transfer his will and preparation to the players. What I have long feared is that we may have one of the best assistant coaches in America as our head coach.

[Diehard Pony]

PK, I agree with your conclusions totally. As a friend of mine and I left Moody last night, we remarked that "Dement gets less out more" than any coach we have observed. Hence one pitiful NIT appearance (1st round out), and no conference championships (in the WAC no less) in his eight seasons. This year will probably make nine.

[PK]

Originally posted by Waz:
PK you have always seemed to have a pretty solid understanding of the team and perhaps some contacts that others don't. What do you think of Dement's relationships with the players? Do you think that they play for him or just grudgingly respect him because of his fanaticism to the game? I have never questioned Mike Dement's will to win, preparation to win, and time invested. I have always questioned his abilities to transfer his will and preparation to the players. What I have long feared is that we may have one of the best assistant coaches in America as our head coach.

You flatter me, but quite frankly I know very little about the team or basketball for that matter other than what I see at the games. Posters have said that Dement doesn't have a good relationship with the players...not sure what that means, but immediately brings Bobby Knight to mind...now there is a supposedly great coach, but I doubt his players would walk accross a field of broken glass for him except if necessary to keep their scholarship. Perhaps Dement needs to throw some chairs around to get our player's attention.

It just looked to me last night that the team didn't have their heart in the game. Why is something only they know.

[Red Horse]

PK - obviously I get ecstatic when we beat a team that we probably shouldn't beat, but it doesn't happen very often. I can think of many times since Dement has been here when I have been crushed such as Tulsa here when Willy Davis dribbled the ball out of bounds in the last seconds and we lost; Utah in the Wac tourney semifinals when we didn't guard their star and he tipped the ball in with .3 seconds left; and several others.

I think Tech is overrated this year, but let's see how they do the rest of the year. I think our players are as good as his and our bench is just as deep. Wake was probably looking past us to No. Carolina tomorrow. We barely beat Baylor in Waco, a team we should have beaten by 20 points even in their place. We should have beaten San Diego, we should have beaten ASU last night. We should beat Miami tomorrow - I'd go beserk if we got to play Purdue and beat them.

I like Mike Dement and I pull for him and hurt when he loses. I want him to succeed. I have never liked his style of play. I have written him emails back to the days of Erion Harris when he first too over pleading with him to get more players in the game, to press full court, to play tight man to man and switching man to man and use a zone when judgement dictated it was needed. Give me Billy Ball (Billy Tubbs of Lamar & formerly TCU) or Nolen Richardson's 40 minutes of Hell anyday. Give the passing and cutting and little dribbling that I see out of Duke, Wake, UNC or NCState. Teach the big men to get better position - use playing time to increase player intensity.

We don't have Top 20 players - but we have very good players who could win a great many more games if they were motivated and we utilized what we have better.

Hell - I almost sound like I know what I am talking about. Truth is - I won't lose my job if he implements all of my ideas but he might. He might anyway, but I still pull for him.

If anyone on this board has any inside information we would all like to hear whether the rumor is true that he doesn't have good rapport with the players and that he may not know how to motivate them. I think the truth might really be that almost every basketball player I have ever know wants to place race horse, in-your-face basketball - slam, shoot 3's, and play man defense and press to create turnovers. When they don't get to play that way, they don't like it. They also don't like it when the coach let's one or two players dominate the action while taking bad shots and dribbling between their legs and doing 360 spins. This is a team game and unfortunately, Sasser was a one man gang, Hancock became a one man gang, Q was a natural team player or he might have become selfish (but he wasn't that way); and BHOP is heading in that direction, although I think the chemistry and teamwork on this team is better than the past few years.

Man - I should feel good but I don't feel any better. Please Mustangs win the Purdue tournament and ease my pain.

Go Mustangs.

[Waz]

The Knight equation is a good one, except there is a missing piece there. I believe the majority of players that have played for Knight WOULD walk across glass for him. That is what has made him a great coach. I have met and spoken with him several times, the first being after Jordan beat Georgetown in the NCAA's. I was in a hotel elevator by myself and in pops Knight. He takes up most of the elevator by himself and I was hesitant to say anything, but just had to. I said something like 'great ending'. He looked straight at me and said 'Brodenaux should never have had the ball.' The door opened and out he went. You know what, he was dead right, the wrong man had the ball at the end of the game. I am in heaven because I just saw a great game, and he is pissed and analyzing another team because he eats and poops basketball. He and Dement are much alike in that regard. HOWEVER, Knight, as daffy as he is becoming, is a student of psychology. I won't argue that in his last several years he may also be a great study for a Psychologist, but that said, he pulls most of his stunts for a calculated effect. I'm not talking about chair throwing and his little tirade the other night, and even those I wouldn't rule out. I am talking about his dealings at practice and one on one with players. His players know that he really cares about them and that there is a method to his madness. He also is smart enough to recruit kids that are tough enough to handle his type of personality. It isn't an accident that most of his kids stay with him and that most graduate. Dement may like our players, but I am not so sure that they know 100% that he does and with his type of hard core personality, you have to be certain that you are liked and respected before you will perform.

[PK]

Originally posted by Waz:
PK you have always seemed to have a pretty solid understanding of the team and perhaps some contacts that others don't.

Hey WAZ, it just occured to me over the weekend that you may have meant that post for PX (Prof X)and not me, PK. Now PX, if he hasn't fallen off the face of the earth, would indeed have more insight than most folks. I haven't seen a post from him in awhile, so I'm not sure what his deal is these days.