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Bottom line up front: I'm curious of perspectives about what folks think are reasonable expectations for improvements from our basketball PROGRAM. (I capitalize 'program' to call out the distinction from just our team's on-court performance this season.)

I personally don't expect any standard definition of on-court success this season to be achievable at this juncture, with our record standing at 8-15 (3-7) and only 8 games remaining. So, my attention is shifting mostly to where our overall program is, where we are headed, and what we should reasonably expect over the next 12-24 months, all things considered.

Ultimately, I'm eager to hear others that have optimism about how we're positioned (if some folks are), relative to things within our program's control (setting aside conference affiliation movements that could help, but that the program has virtually no control over).

Interested in any thoughts. And, particularly, those relating to the categories below...
Roster construction and talent level: Our talent level doesn't seem to be sufficient to compete even in the AAC, much less nationally. Normally I'd like that of the many transfers we brought in this year, at least 6 of them have multiple years of eligibility. That is good for program-building and continuity. But, even projecting for some skill development, the talent level seems insufficient and we don't have a lot of roster spots opening up soon with all those players having numerous years of eligibility upon their transfer to SMU.
High School recruiting: We don't appear to have much traction or momentum on the recruiting front. This is based on the recruiting websites that show no high or mid-to-high prospects showing much interest in us. Hopefully that changes.
Coaching: I almost left this dimension out, given how briefly Coach Lanier and his staff have been in place AND that on-court performance is a combination of coaching and inherent player talent. But, I'm including it on the basis that 23 regular season games give some reasonable indication of how well coached a team is, provided we look at HOW a team plays in terms of it's choices, the soundness of offensive sets and defensive positioning and focus, and not just fixated on the record. Thoughts on this dimension? I'm not loving the evidence thus far. We're not very careful with the ball. Last night, for instance, we had 22 turnovers against a 14-7 Tulane team. We miss a lot of FTs (last night we shot 44% from the FT line). Our defense has not yet become a demonstrable calling card of our team, despite Coach Lanier's discussion of it becoming one and my hopes becomes true. Great defense, perhaps more than anything, takes buy-in by all the players and maybe that is still coming together.
Overall buzz: I think it is very reasonable to argue that this category is simply a bi-product of the categories above, along with a few others (e.g., scheduling, conference alignment, fan attendance levels and high-profile game attendees, and in-game experience). But, I'm adding it in as an intangible category to hear thoughts on this, particularly since I live 1,500 miles away from Dallas and not privy to some of the day-in-a-life of the SMU basketball program and fandom. Perhaps there is a little of buzz I'm not detecting.

Thoughts? How are we doing and what are our prospects over the next 12-24 months?
(NOTE: I'd love any responses that look at the observables of the program and steer away from merely "I love the coach" or "the coach and/or AD need to go." For my part, that's not what I'm trying to drum up. And, in our world of sometimes unreasonable instant gratification expectations I think coaches need numerous years to make things happen, short of there being massive performance issues on all dimensions or abuse or worse.)

I would say D-F in every category. I have no faith in our current roster providing any answers and our recruiting has nothing to inspire me that we will be any better next year. Given that Jankovich was not renewed off of back to back NIT appearances and was constantly criticized for not recruiting well I would think a reasonable expectation for the program would be to sign at least 1 top 150 national HS recruit every season and 2 equivalent transfers every season. Minimum wins, expectation should be 20 wins for a 31 game schedule followed by post-season 4/5 seasons with at least 2 NCAA appearances every 5 seasons. I think Jankovich was Mike K. next to what we have now.

Do they have a single commit for next season?

What we can’t allow to happen is striving for mediocrity, which is often the case. The perception of the talent pool “improving” will take effect next season with a watered down and depleted AAC. Lanier and staff’s evaluation should be based on their success recruiting both incoming freshmen and within the transfer portal. Other conferences can’t be to excited about potential inclusion in their respective conferences given the poor showing on the hardcourt.

This year has gone about how I thought it would. We lost about 85% of our scoring and all of our leadership. Coach didn't have a whole lot of time to put together a roster. Not having a true point guard really hurt us a lot. I suspect that things will improve next year. We shall see from there.

It's hard for me to follow SMU sports. I really have to work to watch games without seeing the score first. Football makes me want to put in the effort. Basketball doesn't even inspire me to look up the score or standings. I just want the team to give me a reason to care.

My expectation is that we are a perennial top 3 in our conference and regularly competing for the championship with the occasional NCAA tourny win.

Another "wait until next year" season

Y'all wanted Jank gone and now we have a new coach who had some success in other places. This year is a bust. There are some good but not great players on this team. They need a natural point guard and improvement in the paint. Hopefully, he signs some players that will shine next year. Not going to give up on him yet.

The handful of supporters I've spoken with who are more positive say it's premature to judge Lanier's recruiting until next season when he has the support of a fully functioning NIL machine. This year was mostly about getting it rolling for football, and basketball will get more next time. Hopefully true.

Bigger picture, Lanier was hired because boosters believe that he can eventually land top in-state high school talent, much like Baylor, and also capture local guys who go out-of-state initially but can be brought back in the transfer portal with NIL. Assumption is there's enough high school talent in TX that even if SMU remains in the AAC a bit longer, and Baylor and Texas get first bite, that SMU can still land significantly more than was possible under Jank. There's recognition the coaching and support staff may need to be upgraded to better balance recruiting with player development and gameday performance, but no one seemed concerned about that at the moment.

For me, the best thing about SMU basketball right now is clear: the Women's Team!!!

Pretty pathetic considering the average money each player is making here. Some of these guys wont even make 36k a year playing professionally when they leave.

It is shameful that UT, Tech. TCU, Baylor, Houston. etc have programs that are playing at an elite level annually while our fans are disappointed year after year. Given our resources we should outshine those programs. Baylor? Even after that scandal?

Nm

Not may were satisfied with what Jank was able to do with this program after Larry Brown had taken us to heights we had not known since the Dave Bliss years so Lanier was brought in to build the program and hopefully he can do that. I remember when Bliss came in the plan was to recruit at least one of the top players in DFW every year and I think Reggie Pink was the 1st guy he brought in as part of that plan. Hopefully Lanier can do that and retaining Zhuric was undoubtedly a high priority, but it will be interesting to see what roster changes are in store for next year.

We have only 2 guys (Nutall and Agunanne) who will have exhausted their eligibility so unless there is more turnover there are only 2 'ships to give. My expectation is that this program needs to show improvement year after year until they are competing for conference championships and post season bids almost every year (preferably NCAA bids) but considering the disaster this season has been, I would not anticipate reaching that level until at least year 3 or 4. It took Bliss a few years and I remember his 1st couple of years at 7-21 or 6-23 or something like that and Larry Brown did not have immediate success and it wasn't until he got some DFW kids as H.S. recruits and/or transfers. In both cases, a PG was instrumental (Butch Moore and Nic Moore) to the development of the program so I'm hopeful Lanier can find that PG for next year but he will probably have to come via the portal.

I believe Efie has exhausted his eligibility. Also, McBride is in his fourth year, though he has been hurt much of that time. I expect that he may move on after this. So my expectation is that they will have 4 or more scholarships available.

Charleston Pony wrote:Not may were satisfied with what Jank was able to do with this program after Larry Brown had taken us to heights we had not known since the Dave Bliss years so Lanier was brought in to build the program and hopefully he can do that. I remember when Bliss came in the plan was to recruit at least one of the top players in DFW every year and I think Reggie Pink was the 1st guy he brought in as part of that plan. Hopefully Lanier can do that and retaining Zhuric was undoubtedly a high priority, but it will be interesting to see what roster changes are in store for next year.

We have only 2 guys (Nutall and Agunanne) who will have exhausted their eligibility so unless there is more turnover there are only 2 'ships to give. My expectation is that this program needs to show improvement year after year until they are competing for conference championships and post season bids almost every year (preferably NCAA bids) but considering the disaster this season has been, I would not anticipate reaching that level until at least year 3 or 4. It took Bliss a few years and I remember his 1st couple of years at 7-21 or 6-23 or something like that and Larry Brown did not have immediate success and it wasn't until he got some DFW kids as H.S. recruits and/or transfers. In both cases, a PG was instrumental (Butch Moore and Nic Moore) to the development of the program so I'm hopeful Lanier can find that PG for next year but he will probably have to come via the portal.

All the other coaches inherited bad to terrible situations prior to the existence of the transfer portal and NIL. Lanier inherited a decent to pretty good program, with the ability to reload immediately thanks to the transfer portal, and NIL which is a huge competitive advantage for us thanks to our generous alumni. So far, this has been a disaster of epic proportions. I have zero faith in Lanier and this staff.