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Williamson and Foster are studs. I worry about Foster's durability, but we'll see. Zuric is solid, but we'll struggle at PG at times. I'm not sold on Todo but the forward transfers we got all look really solid. I agree that our defense should be good (especially internally when Foster is healthy) but we'll struggle against great shooting teams. I do think the team has tons of athleticism all over the place and we will see some exciting moments. I also think we'll lose a bunch of games due to everything being new, especially early, which will put us in a pretty big hole. I think we'll win 20+ games but not much more than 20. Keeping my expectations low but watching every game with excitement.

JasonB wrote:Are we going to be bad? No. Are we going to finish 7th in conference as predicted? No. The defense is going to be way too good for that. And the intensity of the team, length, and defensive effort is going to bring a buzz back into Moody - that is what always sparked us during the LB years. It will be a fun team to go and watch from that perspective, and we are going to "look the part". I wish I was able to have season tickets this year, because the games are going to be really enjoyable. I think Moody is going to be really hard to play in, and get us a couple of wins that we might not deserve. Do we have a good enough offense to be able to play with the better teams on the schedule? I don't think we are quite there yet, but there is potential. I would probably place odds on us having over 20 wins and finishing 3rd or 4th in the league. There are too many bad teams on the schedule to end up with only 16 wins, and I really do think this team will be good enough defensively that we won't lose to bad teams.

The non-conference home schedule is pretty soft and I could see this team winning all of those games, including Arizona State which highlights the home non-conference slate but we will have 3 really tough road games with Dayton, A$M and TCU and I'm anxious to see how this team competes in those games. I'd love to see them come together and win the Hawaii event which could allow for a confident bunch as they start AAC play. I agree this should be a really tough defensive team as that has always been a characteristic of Lanier's teams.

I'm intrigued by our depth and length combined with what I'm hearing about the team's focus on playing intensity and defense. That combination can lead to being competitive in most games. And, playing with intensity and good defense doesn't have the "off nights" quite as much as being heavily reliant on outside shooting or one go-to guy can.

I think three key variables to our success will be our team's collective selflessness on offense, passing ability, and good court vision. If they play with the intensity and defense we are hoping they will, they will get their share of turnovers. And with their length, they will get their share of rebounds. Both can lead to easy buckets. If we have good and willing passing that includes good court vision we can convert on a lot of those easy bucket opportunities. This could be a key to producing consistently on offense that we'll need if we don't have those go-to guys on offense and instead score more by "committee."

It will be interesting to see how our outside shooting is, and I think it could be decent. Todorovic is outstanding from outside, and I felt he was under-utilized last year. Jalen was pretty good, and was money on some clutch 3s in his first year. Nutall seemed off with his shooting mechanics last year. I've heard the coaching staff has been working with guys on their shooting mechanics this preseason and that could pay dividends.

The aforementioned selflessness on offense will also need to extend to playing time. Good depth can't be accretive to the team unless it is a) used, and b) doesn't lead to team culture-damaging resentment about playing time.

The last thought I have is the upside our three returning sophomores may have this year. I've heard many of the best colleges coaches emphasize the development of college players is always the greatest between the first two years. Todorovic, Smith, and Phelps were all very promising last year. I wouldn't be surprised to see all of them take a step forward and potentially one or more really blossom this year.

The run-up to this season presents one of the more intriguing blends of unknowns and potential upsides that we've faced in many years of Mustang hoops.

Hope you all enjoy the season.

Good stuff. Thanks DC.

A lot to be said about this team's length if they are strong defensively. That length goes a long ways towards cutting down passing lanes and it sounds like we are going to have more rim protectors as well, allowing more aggressive perimeter pressure. It all makes me optimistic that this year's SMU team could be the surprise team of the AAC.

20-9

The team is posting a bunch of individual pics today. Man, these guys sure look the part: Williamson, Foster, Zhuric, Nutall. I’m ready for college basketball.

Phelps is really ripped. Reminds me a lot of Shake

Our guys did not make Matt Norlander's Top 100 list but we have plenty of opponents on this list so at least there are abundant opportunities to prove him and others wrong. I'm always hopeful this time of year

https://www.cbssports.com/college-baske ... 23-season/

We are just so much of an unknown. I wouldn’t know where to put us either.

I want to think this year's team has some decent talent so hopefully it's just a question of chemistry and whether they will play with the kind of defensive intensity that will be needed to compete in the AAC. That's kind of been a hallmark of Lanier's teams, at least it was at Georgia State, i.e., they would come on strong late in the season and were always seemed like a threat to win their conference tournament

At least one writer (Jerry Palm) has Houston as # 1 seed in his preseason predictions. SMU is going to have opportunities to impress this year with this schedule.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-baske ... lso-no-1s/

mustangxc wrote:16-15 (7-11)

Looking more like 12-19 (3-15) or 13-18 (4-14).

So much for my thinking the non-conference home schedule is soft. Our guys were not even competitive against New Mexico so I now expect there are more disappointing if not humiliating losses still ahead. They did not look like a team that can play .500 ball this year

It. Was. One. Game.