DMN: SMU bball a top 10 local sports story in 2014

[LA_Mustang]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas ... r-more.ece

9. Under Larry Brown, Mustangs become a hot-ticket success



Dallas Morning News photo by Louis DeLuca

The SMU men’s basketball team returned to the refurbished Moody Coliseum on Jan. 4 and sold out nine of the 13 games in the more compact facility. The Mustangs surpassed that this season by selling out all 18 home games before taking their first shot.

Before this surge of interest and success, SMU had not sold out a home game since 2001.

Credit the phoenix-like rise to the presence of coach Larry Brown. In less than three full seasons on this job, Brown has brought life to where there was none.

This is different from Brown’s previous stops. At Kansas and UCLA, Brown carried the torch. Each school had established itself as a basketball power well before Brown arrived.

SMU basketball had been silent for nearly 30 years.

Before last season, SMU had not shown up in the national rankings since the spring of 1985. The Mustangs went 4-1 against ranked teams, with a sweep of the two-game season series against eventual national champion Connecticut. It marked the first time SMU had multiple wins against ranked teams in a season since 1984-85.

“This program was highly thought of, but it was a long time ago,’’ Brown said. “We were hopeful coming here we could be a really terrific program that played at a high level.’’

A first-round loss to Houston in the American Athletic Conference tournament may have kept SMU out of the NCAA field. The Mustangs overcame that disappointment and reached the final of the NIT, losing 65-63 to Minnesota.

[Treadway21]

Still makes me mad that we neglected the program for so long. 30 years is a long time to wait for any kind of success. It shouldn't have taken Larry Brown to show the potential of Moody and SMU Basketball.

Glad we are back and am excited that 2015 will surpass 2014 in success. With all due respect to JTstang, it is nice to be able to have high expectations rather than no expectations for a SMU team.

[FriscoPMG]

Norm, Mike Doocy and Mike Sirois went over this list on the Ticket this morning and gave Moody and SMU all kinds of love. Sounds like Mike Sirois is a regular attendee.

[LA_Mustang]

I've seen Sirois there a couple of times. Junior Miller is a season ticket holder and goes to almost every game. Just about all the guys on the Ticket rave about Moody.

[Treadway21]

Norm, Mike Doocy and Mike Sirois went over this list on the Ticket this morning and gave Moody and SMU all kinds of love. Sounds like Mike Sirois is a regular attendee.

I have seen Junior Miller at at least 3 games so far this year. When you get sports guys going to the games on their own time, you are doing something right. As I say in almost all my hoops posts - it's hard to believe how far SMU hoops has come since Coach Brown came aboard. I fully expect the same for Coach Morris in football. Better late than never.

[LA_Mustang]

Junior is a HUGE basketball fan. He is genuinely excited there's big time college bball in Dallas which is why he bought season tickets. He frequently mentions on his show how he's excited for conference play to start so he can see UConn, Cincy, Memphis and Temple at Moody.