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Re: Trajectory of SMU Basketball

PostPosted: Fri Jan 24, 2020 5:48 pm
by Charleston Pony
Way too early "bracketology" speculation by CBS writre has Houston, Wichita State and Memphis all in the tourney but all playing in the 8/9 games.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-baske ... cketology/

We lost an opportunity at Houston and probably need to win at Memphis tomorrow and then at Cincinnati to even start getting noticed. Right now, I would expect Tulsa to get noticed before SMU

Re: Trajectory of SMU Basketball

PostPosted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 6:33 pm
by JasonB
Tulsa, Houston, Memphis, Mitchita State, Cincy, SMU. Clear top 6 teams in the league this year.

They are going to beat up on each other the rest of the way. Top 2 will get in the tourney. If Houston, WSU, or Memphis are third, then we get a third team. Otherwise a third team will need to win in the tourney.

So, to make the tourney, we need to finish 1 or 2, or we need to win the conference tourney. I don't think we make it if we finish third.

Tulsa looks like a really good team right now. But everyone in conference is struggling on the road. Road wins are huge and going to be the difference.

To me, Houston looks like "that damn team". They play good defense and can grind games out and find a way to win.

Re: Trajectory of SMU Basketball

PostPosted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 6:39 pm
by mustangxc
I see 4 tournament teams

Re: Trajectory of SMU Basketball

PostPosted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 6:59 pm
by Charleston Pony
mustangxc wrote:I see 4 tournament teams


Not if the Big 10 gets 12 teams in!

I do think the AAC will have at least 6 teams participating in the NCAA and/or NIT this year (Houston, WSU, Memphis, Tulsa, SMU & Cincinnati all looking pretty competitive). The question is how many will make the NCAA and right now, I think we have more NIT level teams than NCAA qualifiers.

Re: Trajectory of SMU Basketball

PostPosted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 1:03 pm
by Charleston Pony
ponypatrick wrote: No NCAA or NIT bid until we have a coach who believes in and teaches tough , physical defense. In the long run , consistently good defense always wins out over offenses built on shooting (see Baylor, TT, KU,etc.)


Jank has been saying all year that this is a pretty good offensive team that needs to become a really good defensive team in order to be "great". Pretty clear from the Memphis game that he has been emphasizing defense as Jasey and Bandoumel, two of our better defensive players, cut into Hunt's and Chargois' minutes pretty significantly yesterday.

Re: Trajectory of SMU Basketball

PostPosted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 3:33 pm
by sadderbudweiser
A bunch of ifs:

Bando and CJ stop turning it over
Mike and Jolly dont go cold.
C4 and Jasey continue to progress.
Feron and Chaggy get the message.
Davis just does Davis.
Everyone rebounds and plays D.

It’s not out of the question.

Re: Trajectory of SMU Basketball

PostPosted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 4:00 pm
by BUS
The announcers sure had a ton of good things to say about our Coach. I don't know much about Bball but they are getting better AND they are having some fun doing that.

Things take time and I am willing to see how this grows for the rest of the season.

Re: Trajectory of SMU Basketball

PostPosted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 5:15 pm
by Charleston Pony
For all of Jank's complaining and whining about the probation and then injuries that kept this team from practicing 5 on 5, next year is going to offer the opposite challenge as there aren't going to be enough minutes to go around. Guys are really going to have to sacrifice their own egos for minutes/numbers for this team to be special, but they could absolutely be 10 deep that would allow this group to play fast and play with a defensive intensity that could help them challenge for an AAC title...assuming everyone comes back and continues to improve

Re: Trajectory of SMU Basketball

PostPosted: Sat Feb 01, 2020 10:30 pm
by Charleston Pony
So our guys move to 16-5 and 6-3 to finish the 1st half of conference play. Would we be happy with another 6-3 2nd half to AAC play and a 22-8 regular season finish? That has NIT written all over it unless our guys can win the AAC Tourney. Play like they did in the 2nd half tonight against Tulane and they can play with anyone in this conference.

Five of our 2nd half games are against teams in the lower half of the American, but unfortunately 4 of those 5 are on the road which sets the stage for some disappointing losses. Our guys do have good opportunities with home games vs Houston, Memphis & WSU and what has become a huge opportunity for a road win at Tulsa

Re: Trajectory of SMU Basketball

PostPosted: Sun Feb 02, 2020 11:36 am
by smitty329
Charleston Pony wrote:So our guys move to 16-5 and 6-3 to finish the 1st half of conference play. Would we be happy with another 6-3 2nd half to AAC play and a 22-8 regular season finish? That has NIT written all over it unless our guys can win the AAC Tourney. Play like they did in the 2nd half tonight against Tulane and they can play with anyone in this conference.

Five of our 2nd half games are against teams in the lower half of the American, but unfortunately 4 of those 5 are on the road which sets the stage for some disappointing losses. Our guys do have good opportunities with home games vs Houston, Memphis & WSU and what has become a huge opportunity for a road win at Tulsa


The 6-3 in the first half probably exceeded expectations given the un-known of the non-conference schedule. Team needs to gel and improve as the season continues - it now appears we have our starters and minutes sorted. If we lose 3 it needs to be to the top of the conference, not equal to or below. And no blowouts - we need to be in it until the final buzzer. That should give this team confidence going into the conference tourney (all home games for us - be there, be loud) and a run at the championship and consideration for the tourney.

Re: Trajectory of SMU Basketball

PostPosted: Sun Feb 02, 2020 2:27 pm
by One Trick Pony
The path followed by a projectile flying or an object moving under the action of given forces.

"the missile's trajectory was preset"
Does this really sound like us?

Re: Trajectory of SMU Basketball

PostPosted: Sun Feb 02, 2020 2:43 pm
by mustangxc
smitty329 wrote:
Charleston Pony wrote:So our guys move to 16-5 and 6-3 to finish the 1st half of conference play. Would we be happy with another 6-3 2nd half to AAC play and a 22-8 regular season finish? That has NIT written all over it unless our guys can win the AAC Tourney. Play like they did in the 2nd half tonight against Tulane and they can play with anyone in this conference.

Five of our 2nd half games are against teams in the lower half of the American, but unfortunately 4 of those 5 are on the road which sets the stage for some disappointing losses. Our guys do have good opportunities with home games vs Houston, Memphis & WSU and what has become a huge opportunity for a road win at Tulsa


The 6-3 in the first half probably exceeded expectations given the un-known of the non-conference schedule. Team needs to gel and improve as the season continues - it now appears we have our starters and minutes sorted. If we lose 3 it needs to be to the top of the conference, not equal to or below. And no blowouts - we need to be in it until the final buzzer. That should give this team confidence going into the conference tourney (all home games for us - be there, be loud) and a run at the championship and consideration for the tourney.

6-3 meets expectations. We have no excuse for losing to one of the worst teams in all of college basketball in ECU. Beating Memphis at Memphis was unexpected so we are barely meeting expectations.

Re: Trajectory of SMU Basketball

PostPosted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 10:37 am
by Pony ^
color me as a pessimist, but I still don't think we've really beaten anyone. Beat Houston, Tulsa, and WSU and we can talk. Memphis isn't in top 4 of conference (at the moment) and they seem quite overrated.

Re: Trajectory of SMU Basketball

PostPosted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 10:48 am
by JasonB
From an expectations perspective, I would say that getting to the NIT this year would meet expectations. NCAA would be above expectations (given the performance of the last two seasons).

So, probably need to finish top 4 to meet expectations. Finishing 5th or worse probably pushes us out of the NIT. Going 6-3 would certainly allow us to finish top four. I see us going 5-4, which at 11-7 overall would put us right in the 4/5/6 group and on the NIT bubble.

Wichita State and Memphis both have difficult schedules from this point forward. I could see a scenario where Tulsa, Houston, and Cincy finish in that order, and get NCAA bids, we finish 4th and WSU and Memphis finish behind us but get the NIT bids over us, because they would outdraw us in the NIT. IF that scenario plays out, then I think it is everyone's right to come out and really complain about the OOC costing us an NIT bid.

Next year, with added experience, I think it is NCAA or bust, which is where our expectations should be moving forward.

Re: Trajectory of SMU Basketball

PostPosted: Tue Feb 04, 2020 11:38 am
by indianmustang