Tonight: A Microcosm of Dement's Tenure

[Original Frank]

We have all seen this movie before. Over and over again. Davis, Sasser, Hancock, Q, now Bhop et al. The seasons come with new hopes and they go with disjointed frustration. Let's face a few facts that some may not wish to face:

1. Dement is horrible. What in the world do we do offensively? Does anyone have any idea? What are we trying to do with the ball other than not get it stolen? I asked the same question with Sasser and Hancock and their cronies. It is a mishmash of jumbled nonsense that usually struggles just not to lose the ball. SMU is usually 30 feet from the basket trying just to aviod losing the ball. Hawaii, with a United Nations grabbag of fundamentally sound but not overly athletic talent, completely schools us with screens, backdoor cuts, and pinpoint passing that is a thing of beauty to behold. I love watching teams like Tech, Wake, Hawaii with their great fundamentals that so completely overmatch SMU.

2. I submit that SMU begins each game effectively down by 12 points just based on coaching alone. And when he sends in a sub for his 45 seconds of duty, if he dare make any mistake, he is jerked before he can get up a sweat. This promotes very tentative, fearful play from the players as they would not risk an agressive play for fear of the 30-second-or-one-mistake loss of playing time.

3. Tonight: 16 seconds left and down by 1. Basketball 101 says foul immediately and, even if they make both, you have the ball down 3 with 15 seconds to go. Anyone have a clue what we were doing running around watching the game slip away with nary a chance to pull it out? Dement is a joke of a gameday coach. Truly, it's embarrassing.

4. And let's stop the "nobody attended" weekly excuse. No one was there because of the same reason nobody saw the movie "Gigli". That is, it sucks. Dallas remains a huge opportunity for SMU but with the exceedingly poor quality of play, there are simply many better opportunities for quality entertainment in our fair City. Frankly, I applaud the kids that show up and cheer for the team. It is a whipping watching the same old thing week after week, year after year. Truthfully, how many of you are really pumped-up to go watch again on Saturday night? It's like watching the same bad movie over and over again, yet constantly hoping for a new (better) ending that you know will not come. So let's cut the poor attendance nonsence. Good attendance is a derivitive of good product and success. Whence comes one, thence comes the other.

5. Can anyone tell me that SMU bball has progressed at all in the last 7 or 8 years? Woods, Davis, Sasser, Elsey, Hancock, Ross, Simpson, and of course Bhop were all well-regarded players. I submit that about 10 other players over his tenure had the ability to be above average players. Instead, it appears that we take above-average players and make them into below average players. Certainly, Bhop does not look like a national hotshot with his inconsistent shooting, suspect ball ahndling, and nightly more turnovers than assists. Was Bhop that overrated or is he playing in a "system" (I use the term lightly) that fails to exploit his talents?

6. (For Stallion) And no excuses for lack of JUCOs or lack af administration support. Unlike football, it doesn't take 25 good players to make a good bball team. It takes 3 or 4 standouts and a few average fill-ins. I submit that SMUs talent is consistently better than its record. Further, we can all see the talent on the floor and by no means was SMU overmatched tonight (or at San Diego or App. St. etc. etc.). Don't you think Justin Isham has some talent? Yet he goes "0 for California" on the last trip! Someone explain! Forget where the talent came from or how it got here, there is clearly some talent at SMU, just as there was in the Sasser and Hancock eras. When it arrives, why can Dement can do so little with it?

So, that's my spin. If my kids want to go , I'm sure I'll be there on Saturday, but deep down, I think the rest of the season has already been mailed-in. I'll get excited again when we get a new coach and we can once again realistically hope for a story with a happy ending.

[Diehard Pony]

O Frank,

I found it rather ironic that within a minute we posted basically the exact same message. Your's was much more elequent and supported but, nonetheless, the same bottom line.

Mike Dement's tenure has to be up, pending a miracle, which I hope happens. I don't dislike Mike Dement, but I'm finding a miracle scenario very difficult to buy into.

[Hoop Fan]

Frank, I agree to extent with what you say, and the conclusion. Barring a dramatic turnaround, this program needs a change and Dement does as well. Heres where I would temper what you say about his X and O ability. We have some fatal flaws offensively. We are a team of below average to poor jump shooters. At the same time, we have very little post strenght and presense offensively unless the other team is so thin and short that Castro can bully them. Thats a recipe for bad looking offensive excecution. I actually thought our guys moved and cut more on offense tonight than usual. My HUGE disappointment was rebounding and defense. Hawaii whipped us like step child on the boards and they did not have any great boarders. The putbacks were ridiculous. And the ending of the game was just inexcusable, there is no explanation, but I bet Dement to told them not to commit an intentional foul and they all clammed up and lost track of time. I think Dement might just go someplace else and do pretty well, he clearly has a lot to overcome right now even if his grad rates are impeccable and he should be commended for that and running a clean program.

[angryfan04]

We can live with the offense - even the 3 pointers from Simpson and Castro; I don't agree with those shots, but we can get by with it. It is the defense that loses the games - tonight it was the first half defense. When have Dement's teams played tough defense? It just has never been a priority. I can understand playing zone against Wake Forest - but laying back in a zone and just watching these other teams do whatever they want is nonsense. We switched to man to man defense during the last 6 minutes and finally put pressure on the ballhandlers. Why didn't we do that the whole game - he has the athletes to do that. Lowe, Voc, Bhop, Isham, Simpson, Pearson, Bennett are all athletic enough to pressure WAC teams. Putting pressure on the ball is basketball 101; and it looks we forget that and just stand around a lot of times watching the game go by

[EastStang]

I agree that someone should have fouled early on. But young teams make mental errors, no matter how you try and coach it out of them. I remember coaching a JV game one time, and we went into overtime, flu season had hit we started the game with 8 players, all but 5 players had fouled out and two had four fouls. I told the team if you get the openning tap, stall four corners until 30 seconds and call time out. What happens, ball get into gunner's hands, he launches a brick from the three point range, then fouls out. Now we're 4 on 5. I repeat the plan, 3 corners, center at high post, knowing we're looking at double teams. Again, kid tries driving the lane, puts up an unbalanced shot. Another basket for the other team. At that point I just sat down and stopped trying. So the moral is, that players sometimes do what they are going to do, no matter what the coach tells them to do.

[PG]

EastStang, we are by no means a young team. Not even close. We start 4 upperclassmen and a soph that has started since day 1. This group, other than Isham, has started together for 2 years now. They've had a ton of experience together. We did have a freshman out there on that final play but even he should know to foul.

That "young team" excuse can't apply to this team anymore.

[Stallion]

We are MOST DEFINITELY young compared to just about every single team we play in the WAC. Where do you people get your facts. Each year we play about 6-7 kids but never seem to have depth off the bench. You wonder why? Because we bring kids fesh out of high school off the bench while the rest of the WAC is bringing some 23 year old JUCO off the bench.

[couch 'em]

So basically, Hoop fan, we are to congratulate Dement because his program, full of players who either underperform or are recruited in with inferior skills, (bad recruiting? Bad coaching to develop players?) that graduate with the oh-so-amazing majors of sociology, finance, advertising, etc, simply because he doesn't cheat? Does that make sense? "Sorry you lose, but at least you dont' cheat."

[Duke Blue Blood]

I know everyone thinks JUCO's are the answer to everything. Lets face it, most Juco's have established bad habits but due to more game experience they can be somewhat impactful.

I much rather have the raw talent freshmen and a good coach than an average JUCO. I guess herein lies the problem as Dement does not develop players at all.

DBB

[Hoop Fan]

Couch em, sorry but you don't get it. Dement is not getting the results, things have gone stale, but that does not make him an idiot, a bad guy or even necessarily a categorically bad basketball coach. And yes, anybody who tries to do things the right away deserves a thanks, not just a classless kick to the curb.

[LA_Mustang]

Didn’t we have a pretty decent JUCO big man last year that sat on the bench and never played? Now he starts for Arkansas, and possibly is their best player.

[PG]

Actually it was 2 years ago, but yes we did. He transferred because the coach wouldn't play him.

[Ponymon]

That's why I said in another post that I would be surprised if Roberts plays much next year even if he is the top shooter in Houston. Dement seems to ignore most of his freshman, playing them only sparingly. He is especially poor in handling and teaching the big men on the team. These guys should be redshirted (like Reay) if they are not going to get significant playing time! I know we don't like to redshirt in basketball, but it might help overcome some of the Juco maturity of our competition!

[Stallion]

Ponymon -do you realize what you are saying is that SMU should pay for 5 years of scholarships to get (at most)2-3 years of use out of a player like Reay. This isn't like FB when you've got 85 spots-in BB you've got 12-13 only. The vast majority of Division 1A coaches including Bobby Knight, Kelvin Sampson and Eddie Sutton to name the future Hall Of Fame coaches in our area would ask you why the hell they should do that when they can get 2 years of service for 2 years of scholarships from a JUCO player. And each scholarship year is from a mature senior or junior. Our opponents get 2 players for the price of one-that's why you rarely see redshirts in College BB. DISADVANTAGE Mike Dement and SMU.

<small>[ 01-16-2004, 01:24 PM: Message edited by: Stallion ]</small>

[couch 'em]

Originally posted by Hoop Fan:
Couch em, sorry but you don't get it. Dement is not getting the results, things have gone stale, but that does not make him an idiot, a bad guy or even necessarily a categorically bad basketball coach. And yes, anybody who tries to do things the right away deserves a thanks, not just a classless kick to the curb.

I never said he was an idiot, nor did I call him a bad guy. But he is a bad coach - maybe not in all situations... but in the situation he is in, he is not getting the job done. In another situation, maybe he could win the championship, but he isn't here. As he isn't doing his job well enough, he should be replaced. What is classless about that? It is just business. He hasn't gotten it done, and it doesn't look like the situation he is in is going to change, so thus we need to change the coach.