Your 2020 wish list for the basketball program

[Treadway21]

I too don’t understand the mindset of many on this board.

EVERY SINGLE FB or BB HC SMU has rolled out over the past 30+ years has been at a severe disadvantage due to either academic restrictions, ‘The Model’, embarrassingly meager attendance (accentuated by the demise of the SWC over 25 years ago), 2nd-rate facilities or overall administrative/alumni/student apathy. Most likely it is a combination of many of these factors.

ALL have had to deal with these disadvantages except for one, Tim Jankovich.

He inherited a team that had the 4th winningest percentage in college basketball. He inherited a team that sold out all its home game. He inherited Moody Madness.

So what does he do when given controls to this luxury jet? He immediately places it in a death spiral for which it cannot recover.

The plane crashes and burns in record time.

And what is the reaction of too many on this board???????????

Let’s see more development from player X
Let’s schedule better opponents
Let’s see if we can get an NIT bid
Let’s see if we can recruit better players
Let’s see if we can be more competitive in conference play
Let’s see if we can bring back LB or some other person to mentor

NEWS FLASH - He can’t recruit. He’s a so-so bench coach. He ain’t the man.

Nothing changes until we have a new HC, period.

Well stated.

[ponyboy]

I get the fear that we will somehow forget Moody Magic and the Mob, that we will forget just how freaking awesome it all was and needs to be again. But simple logic and experience tell you that if you get Michael Jordan to join your pick up basketball team, which is in effect what LB was for us, there's going to be a lot of lamenting about how the team sucks when he leaves. Well, duh. He was MJ/Larry Freaking Brown.

Time for Jank to go? Probably. But let's give him the rest of the season.

[Charleston Pony]

Last night's attendance for what was this team's best performance of the season vs USF was 3,980. I wish this program had better support which in turn would make it easier for ANY coach to recruit higher caliber players. I get that the students aren't back, but not enough local alumni (who actually care about sports) are supporting this athletic program. Must have been because they didn't want to miss the Rose Bowl parade.

[mustangxc]

I think 4,500-5,000 would be outstanding based on the last two season plus the early part of this season so we aren't that far off. We just need a reason for the fans to believe.

[SoCal_Pony]

I wish this program had better support which in turn would make it easier for ANY coach to recruit higher caliber players.

Are you serious CP. ANY coach???????????????????????????????????

SMU had the 4th winningest percentage
SMU had sell-out crowds
SMU had Moody Madness

tank gives us

Nat Dixon - Not Ranked
Everett Ray - ranked 354
Byrce Cook - ranked 344
Darrius McBride - ranked 355
Jahmar Young - 367
Curtis White - Not Ranked

[Charleston Pony]

I wish this program had better support which in turn would make it easier for ANY coach to recruit higher caliber players.

Are you serious CP. ANY coach???????????????????????????????????

SMU had the 4th winningest percentage
SMU had sell-out crowds
SMU had Moody Madness

tank gives us

Nat Dixon - Not Ranked
Everett Ray - ranked 354
Byrce Cook - ranked 344
Darrius McBride - ranked 355
Jahmar Young - 367
Curtis White - Not Ranked

Yes, I'm serious that a packed Moody would help ANY coach recruit higher caliber kids. To be fair, it was the brilliant decision to "reseat" Moody following that 30 win season that did as much to kill attendance as the two 6-12 (AAC) seasons that followed. Given those last 2 seasons, I'm surprised that Jank got Davis and McNeill to transfer and that he was able to get Jolly. I'm not as down on Jank as some of you are but I do agree that if he can't get this roster into at least the NIT this year and the NCAA next year when he will have a JR/SR laden team, then it's time to move on. I would like to see a roster spot or two open up by encouraging some of our bench guys to move on and to go somewhere they might actually be able to get some minutes, but I haven't followed the behind the scenes recruiting efforts.

You Jank haters might be right and I can only hope that 2 years from now, we aren't parting ways with Jank and experiencing bball's version of the JJ exodus with a completely depleted roster because we stuck with him too long. Jank has to know that could happen if he doesn't do anything about this roster's weaker links, but my comment was simply meant to reinforce my strong belief that if SMU had rabid fans and packed Moody (and Ford for that matter) our coaches would have a much better chance of recruiting higher caliber players.

[SoCal_Pony]

I wish this program had better support which in turn would make it easier for ANY coach to recruit higher caliber players.

Are you serious CP. ANY coach???????????????????????????????????

SMU had the 4th winningest percentage
SMU had sell-out crowds
SMU had Moody Madness

tank gives us

Nat Dixon - Not Ranked
Everett Ray - ranked 354
Byrce Cook - ranked 344
Darrius McBride - ranked 355
Jahmar Young - 367
Curtis White - Not Ranked

Yes, I'm serious that a packed Moody would help ANY coach recruit higher caliber kids.

This is like fantasy land.

Jank DID have a packed Moody. That is extremely rare in this school’s history. He responded with some of the most poorly recruited kids in 100 years of SMU athletics (FB or BB). That list above makes up ~50% of his entire roster. A stunning failure by any measurement.

You call people who question his HC failures as Jank haters. I don’t hate the man, he probably is a very nice person. He just destroyed our program.

[redpony]

You call people who question his HC failures as Jank haters. I don’t hate the man, he probably is a very nice person. He just destroyed our program.

and my concern is that regardless of his performance this year the money guys will give him another year. Hence this program will fall further into the giant abyss he created and it will take years to rebuild even with a big name, high profile coach.

[JasonB]

He didn't destroy the program. The facilities, the stadium, and the fans are still there.

He will either win or he won't. If he doesn't, he is out. There are a million coaches interested in this job if it opens up. The program hasn't gone anywhere.

[sadderbudweiser]

He didn't destroy the program. The facilities, the stadium, and the fans are still there.

He will either win or he won't. If he doesn't, he is out. There are a million coaches interested in this job if it opens up. The program hasn't gone anywhere.

I’ll go a little farther than that. He needs to win, make the show, jettison the dead weight and replace it with Feron/Shake-like prospects.

[LA_Mustang]

He didn't destroy the program. The facilities, the stadium, and the fans are still there.

He will either win or he won't. If he doesn't, he is out. There are a million coaches interested in this job if it opens up. The program hasn't gone anywhere.

I think a better way to put it is he destroyed the momentum of the program. Blaming the lack of fan support on the schedule is laughable. Even though our OOC is terrible, our conference is stronger than it has ever been since in the SWC, and maybe 2014.

I don’t think it is a secret that you need to do two things well to be successful as a HC at SMU, win (just like anywhere else) and promote the program/school every chance you get. If you don’t do one well you better be damn good at the other.

[redpony]

He didn't destroy the program. The facilities, the stadium, and the fans are still there. The program hasn't gone anywhere.

Really Jason what are you smoking?? you are claiming the program is as good as when
LB was here- not so!The fans are still here? really, what has been our ave.attendance last year and this year to-date? No where near the attendance of the LB days when casual fans would come to Moody to see and be seen and Moody was typically 'sold out'. Yes, Moody is still here but much emptier than before. When LB was here we were nationally ranked, what is our current national ranking and how does it compare to prior years?
Yes, the program has gone somewhere- much lower than before. If I am wrong please post the statistics that refute my above comments.

[JasonB]

He didn't destroy the program. The facilities, the stadium, and the fans are still there. The program hasn't gone anywhere.

Really Jason what are you smoking?? you are claiming the program is as good as when
LB was here- not so!The fans are still here? really, what has been our ave.attendance last year and this year to-date? No where near the attendance of the LB days when casual fans would come to Moody to see and be seen and Moody was typically 'sold out'. Yes, Moody is still here but much emptier than before. When LB was here we were nationally ranked, what is our current national ranking and how does it compare to prior years?
Yes, the program has gone somewhere- much lower than before. If I am wrong please post the statistics that refute my above comments.

I'm saying to stop panicking. The program is still there. Whenever we start winning again, the fans will come back. We have great facilities and a great stadium to attract high quality recruits.

If Jank doesn't turn things around this year, SMU isn't going away as a program. We have plenty of coaches interested in the position, and a high quality replacement will come in and do very well and bring the winning, players, and fans back with it.

Just let the season play out and support the team. If he gets NIT or more, then he is going to stick around. If not, he is gone. The final record will dictate anything. We already have a high end offer out for next year, so obviously, someone is transferring out, and he is continuing to recruit.

David Miller brought the program back from nothing. I trust that he wants it to be successful. And I trust with his recent donations to the school that he is inline with where we are going. Our administration has done the right thing and made the right hires in literally every sport on campus. Give them a little credit.