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Re: We are as terrible as I thought

PostPosted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 4:15 pm
by sadderbudweiser
Stallion wrote:Coaching Staff has had this team ready to play in just about every game- home and away- except for that horrible, no-good, atrocious performance against Georgetown and that night we just ran into a buzz-saw, sizzling basketball team. I felt SMU was the better team throughout the Georgia game that we simply fumbled away-several times. The biggest negative for this team's chances for the tournament in the next 2 years is that Jassey does not yet appear to be the tough, inside defender/rebounder that scouting reports suggested. Otherwise, I think this recruiting class will prove to be among the top recruiting classes-maybe top 5- in SMU history and I think if everybody stays, Jank will have recruited 3-4 kids who should, with natural development, be strong contenders for 1st or 2nd string All-AAC in the next 2 years. Mike, Jolly, Davis and Hunt. Not as bad as some paint the picture of his misses during the probation.

I think these guys at least deserve some support and let's see what they can accomplish. Now where to find a 6-11 big who can run the floor, defend the paint and protect the rim. We're a pretty strong rebounding team (No. 16 in the country)already which is encouraging. Most of those guys will be either rising Seniors in the 4th or even 5th years and will likely be graduate transfer eligible with immediate eligibility any where they may want to go. So you need to throw that factor into the equation

Here's the deal-if Jank wins 22-24 games there is no way in hell during the Transfer Portal Era that SMU will or should fire Jank with no seniors and a heavy upper-class because this program will implode before the next coach blows his whistle




So you’ve given up on Chaggy leaving early for the NBA?

Re: We are as terrible as I thought

PostPosted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 9:05 pm
by Topper
First, I am a football guy. I have followed SMU basketball days since the Beasley brothers, but I am not a student of the sport per se. Two questions for those of you who are: First, we had some really scary bad runs in a couple of games, notably Georgetown and last night when we blew a big lead to trail by 15 at one point. Did anyone notice lineup changes or problems that could account for these situations? Second, Jolly seems like a go-to guy in tough situations. But his FT shooting hasn't been great lately. Was he a decent FT shooter at his previous stops? And an observational comment: Bandoumel should get a lot of minutes. Can anyone see him as a spot starter at times?

Re: We are as terrible as I thought

PostPosted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 9:14 pm
by One Trick Pony
Topper wrote:First, I am a football guy. I have followed SMU basketball days since the Beasley brothers, but I am not a student of the sport per se. Two questions for those of you who are: First, we had some really scary bad runs in a couple of games, notably Georgetown and last night when we blew a big lead to trail by 15 at one point. Did anyone notice lineup changes or problems that could account for these situations? Second, Jolly seems like a go-to guy in tough situations. But his FT shooting hasn't been great lately. Was he a decent FT shooter at his previous stops? And an observational comment: Bandoumel should get a lot of minutes. Can anyone see him as a spot starter at times?
No one wants to have bad runs.

Re: We are as terrible as I thought

PostPosted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 7:38 am
by JasonB
Topper wrote:First, I am a football guy. I have followed SMU basketball days since the Beasley brothers, but I am not a student of the sport per se. Two questions for those of you who are: First, we had some really scary bad runs in a couple of games, notably Georgetown and last night when we blew a big lead to trail by 15 at one point. Did anyone notice lineup changes or problems that could account for these situations? Second, Jolly seems like a go-to guy in tough situations. But his FT shooting hasn't been great lately. Was he a decent FT shooter at his previous stops? And an observational comment: Bandoumel should get a lot of minutes. Can anyone see him as a spot starter at times?


- We are a bad on the ball defending team against teams who can dribble penetrate well. We have great length on the perimeter, but they can dribble by us. Then we help and leave players wide open on the perimeter for threes. Against teams who can hit that shot and have strong dribble penetration, we are going to have to play a zone defense like we did at the end of the Vandy game.

- IMHO, our free throw shooting struggled in the tough games because we are working so hard defensively in man-to-man defense and playing so many minutes. Band played a lot against Vandy, but it was to cover Davis, who was in foul trouble. So Jolly was out there with tired legs and missed his free throws. We need a better rotation, which means more CJ White in the first half, as well as Ray and Jasey. But Band's recent play should allow for him to rotate in with Davis and Jolly, which will help them keep more legs and shoot FTs well at the end of the game.

- Band started before Davis was available. He has nice length and a nice shot from outside, but wasn't very involved the first several games of the season. He has come alive the last two games. If he continues that level of play, then he will absolutely see plenty of minutes moving forward. Jolly, Davis, and Hunt are your three starters at the guard spots, but Band will get plenty of time off the bench spelling all three.

Re: We are as terrible as I thought

PostPosted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 11:29 am
by mustangxc
All the more reason why the season with the 6-man rotation in 2016-17 was so impressive. No matter how talented a roster is, not many would be able to handle the load those players carried.

Re: We are as terrible as I thought

PostPosted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 12:20 pm
by DanFreibergerForHeisman
JasonB wrote: - IMHO, our free throw shooting struggled in the tough games because we are working so hard defensively in man-to-man defense and playing so many minutes. Band played a lot against Vandy, but it was to cover Davis, who was in foul trouble. So Jolly was out there with tired legs and missed his free throws. We need a better rotation, which means more CJ White in the first half, as well as Ray and Jasey. But Band's recent play should allow for him to rotate in with Davis and Jolly, which will help them keep more legs and shoot FTs well at the end of the game.

Good point.

Hopefully the rotation expands a bit so we can hit more clutch free pitches late in games - it could be the difference in some of the conference games for sure.

Re: We are as terrible as I thought

PostPosted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 1:04 pm
by skyscraper
We have zero quadrant one wins and one quadrant two win at the conclusion of OOC.
We clearly have players who can make things happen, but our ceiling is the NIT because of the schedule we were hamstrung with by a coach who puts in minimal effort.
But go ahead and pop the champagne.

Re: We are as terrible as I thought

PostPosted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 3:59 pm
by JasonB
skyscraper wrote:We have zero quadrant one wins and one quadrant two win at the conclusion of OOC.
We clearly have players who can make things happen, but our ceiling is the NIT because of the schedule we were hamstrung with by a coach who puts in minimal effort.
But go ahead and pop the champagne.


If our ceiling is the NIT, it is because of the talent on the team, not the quality of the schedule. As you have stated before, the AAC is down this year. It could be a 3 bid league if a third team clearly separates from the rest, and Memphis and WSU aren't unbeatable. If the talent is good enough, the league is winnable.

I have concerns about Jank just like anyone, but the fact is that his "minimal effort" got us McNeil, Jolly, Davis and Band, who is looking like a decent player despite the amount of criticism show towards Jank for recruiting him. His minimal effort also switched to a zone late in the game and shut Vandy down and got us a win.

Let the season play out. Hopefully, he takes advantage of the talent he has and gets the team in the top 4 or 5 of the league and ready for a run at the title next year.

If not, and the season flames out, then you can write the 3 million check necessary to buy out the rest of his 3 year contract. Or, more probably, you can come on here and claim that our alumni and the school don't care about sports because they won't buy out Jank. But, rest assured, nobody is going to be thrilled with a 9-9 conference record, even if it puts us at 19-11 overall.

Re: We are as terrible as I thought

PostPosted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 6:03 pm
by Charleston Pony
JasonB wrote:
skyscraper wrote: We clearly have players who can make things happen, but our ceiling is the NIT because of the schedule we were hamstrung with by a coach who puts in minimal effort.


If the talent is good enough, the league is winnable.



Going to be interesting to see how this season plays out. If we have as much talent as these guys have shown at times, the AAC Tournament in Ft Worth just might be winnable so let's not just assume this team is already eliminated from the NCAA Tourney just because of our non-conference schedule. The question is going to be whether these guys (unlike the football team we are all gushing over) can play their best ball and finish strong at the end of the year.

Re: We are as terrible as I thought

PostPosted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 6:25 pm
by SMU_Alum11
I have no problem with the team that Jank may have put together but his coaching skills are generally laughable. Great to hear he was able to adapt to a fairly weak nobody of the SEC. We've all seen him get out coached but true nobodies before which led to the creation of this thread. If Jank somehow knocks off WSU, Memphis and Houston then great. I just have a hard time seeing that.

Re: We are as terrible as I thought

PostPosted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 10:48 pm
by Pony81
I’m just not seeing a very strong AAC this year. WSU and UH are the pride of the fleet.

Memphis isn’t what folks thought with Wiseman out. They got beat at home by UGA who we took to OT in their gym. So Memphis isn’t a powerhouse by any means.

Temple got hammered by a poor Tulsa team. This is a bit of a shock since Temple has played well OOC.

So SMU ....even being very up and down... can win in this league and has a decent chance to be a third place team, I don’t see that being good enough for an NCAA bid.

AAC is trending now as a 2 seed team.

Re: We are as terrible as I thought

PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2020 9:51 am
by JasonB
SMU_Alum11 wrote:I have no problem with the team that Jank may have put together but his coaching skills are generally laughable. Great to hear he was able to adapt to a fairly weak nobody of the SEC. We've all seen him get out coached but true nobodies before which led to the creation of this thread. If Jank somehow knocks off WSU, Memphis and Houston then great. I just have a hard time seeing that.


What I have seen is that he is reluctant or slow to adapt and change.

In the 30 win season, he didn't adapt and adopt positionless and the pick and roll until we got to the winter break. The offense wasn't great up to that point and we were struggling on defense with our numbers. Once the adjustments were made, the team was terrific. But it took us a while to get there.

Same thing with running plays this year. It took the Georgia game to snap us into shape and to take more control of the offense. After that game, the offense has been much better organized. But he almost allows a team to play playground ball until a disaster happens.

Also, the defense this year. I can give a little break on this one because we don't have a ton of small guards that are great off the dribble to simulate in practice. But we had to have the disaster of the Georgetown game and the run from Vandy to put them up 15 before we made the adjustment to go zone. I get that we prefer man, but have to recognize limitations of the team and get the most out of them.

I'm also not sure if I am sold on having the skinny athletic player over the thick banger. Theoretically, having the shake, Foster, Mike, Hunt player makes us more athletic and it is better in today's "no hand check" league and the extended three point line. But the thickness difference between our team and other teams is extreme, and I am not sure if it is viable when conference games slow down and more importantly in a conference or NCAA tournament game.

Those are some actual specifics on where some of my concerns lie. But, on the other hand, even though he is slow to adjust, he does make the adjustments. The team has gotten better over the course of this season. And he has improved this year significantly in his dead ball coaching (outside of the end of the Georgia game). So, I give him the credit there. We will see how the season turns out. If we get top 5 in the league, that meets my expectations with this team. Anything 3 and above, in my mind, he has exceeded expectations and should get credit for it.

Re: We are as terrible as I thought

PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2020 11:42 am
by DanFreibergerForHeisman
JasonB wrote:Also, the defense this year. I can give a little break on this one because we don't have a ton of small guards that are great off the dribble to simulate in practice.

This is a great point. I have wondered how bad our defense off the dribble would be if we weren't able to practice five-on-five this season.

Re: We are as terrible as I thought

PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2020 12:30 pm
by JasonB
DanFreibergerForHeisman wrote:
JasonB wrote:Also, the defense this year. I can give a little break on this one because we don't have a ton of small guards that are great off the dribble to simulate in practice.

This is a great point. I have wondered how bad our defense off the dribble would be if we weren't able to practice five-on-five this season.


:). I meant that I bet our man defense looks outstanding in practice because Davis is the only player who can break it down and cause problems.