Still Have the Team to Make a Run

[smumustang11]

Long time reader, but first post.

Losing Mudiay is absolutely brutal solely due to the fact that he is a program changing player from Dallas, further elevating our already lifted up status as a basketball program locally. With that being said, the cupboard is far from bare and the sky hasn't yet fallen.

We are still LOADED with talent. Looking at the potential 2-deep for this team will make you soon realize that we flat out don't have enough minutes for the level of talent that is on this team. Sure, there is certainly a hole at the backup PG position which hurts, but it's not like Manuel can't improve from last season and we all know he, at a minimum, is a phenomenal athlete that can play D. We were consistently a preseason top 15 team with Mudiay, but I believe that was BEFORE Martin and possibly Tolbert. These are two experienced, high-impact transfers that make us a more deadly NCAA tourney team where experience matters.

At the end of the day, this loss only pushes our Final Four aspirations forward by one year in my opinion. With all of the returning players, McQuaid, Barefield, the VT transfer and a ton of 4/5 star talent (Gilder, Thomas, Davis, etc) still on the board for SMU, there is no reason to panic. As long as Larry is here, panic should not be part of the equation.

Should you have any concerns, fear not, we still have an entire football season to realize just how good we still have it in hoops. Cheer up Stang fans, STILL going to be a special season.

[StallionsModelT]

I do worry about Nic Moore wearing down. We really needed Mudiay to take the pressure off and give Nic a rest from time to time. God help us if Nic gets hurt.

[East Coast Mustang]

We were a Final Four contender with Mudiay. We'll be very, very lucky to be playing on the second weekend of the tournament now. Teams with only one established PG usually don't go far in the dance.

[East Coast Mustang]

Oh and God forbid if Nic gets hurt, we're NITing again

[SMU 86]

Long time reader, but first post.

Losing Mudiay is absolutely brutal solely due to the fact that he is a program changing player from Dallas, further elevating our already lifted up status as a basketball program locally. With that being said, the cupboard is far from bare and the sky hasn't yet fallen.

We are still LOADED with talent. Looking at the potential 2-deep for this team will make you soon realize that we flat out don't have enough minutes for the level of talent that is on this team. Sure, there is certainly a hole at the backup PG position which hurts, but it's not like Manuel can't improve from last season and we all know he, at a minimum, is a phenomenal athlete that can play D. We were consistently a preseason top 15 team with Mudiay, but I believe that was BEFORE Martin and possibly Tolbert. These are two experienced, high-impact transfers that make us a more deadly NCAA tourney team where experience matters.

At the end of the day, this loss only pushes our Final Four aspirations forward by one year in my opinion. With all of the returning players, McQuaid, Barefield, the VT transfer and a ton of 4/5 star talent (Gilder, Thomas, Davis, etc) still on the board for SMU, there is no reason to panic. As long as Larry is here, panic should not be part of the equation.

Should you have any concerns, fear not, we still have an entire football season to realize just how good we still have it in hoops. Cheer up Stang fans, STILL going to be a special season.

No one is in panic and we are not 2 deep at point guard. Everyone knows well be fine in 2 years but the concern is when Nic goes out of the game this year. Yes, Louisville is not in our conference anymore but we saw what happened last year when he went out and now we do not have Russell. But yes will will still have a good team next year.

[MFFL02]

Too late to acquire a PG via transfer this year?

[smumustang11]

I agree that when Nic goes out we are in trouble. Most teams would be when their returning 1st team All Conference point guard exits the game. I think that, with a few exceptions (Kentucky, Duke, etc), we are drastically overestimating the depth of teams in college basketball today. While losing our starting point guard or having him head to the bench to catch a breather is an issue, there is very little reason to believe we turn into a completely inept team. For every beautiful clank that Manuel may throw up this season, fortunately, we have at least 8 guys that are going to be dying for playing time, let alone a rebound, that can all really really play. At the end of the day, we will win the way we have so far under Larry's tenure. DEFENSE and REBOUNDING. These two cornerstones are the foundation of what we do.

I think my viewpoint comes from asking myself if we are a better team than last year. My answer is yes, and I may be berated for this, but I don't think it's that close even without Mudiay. First, I love Shawn Williams and couldn't be more thankful for his part in the run last year and that he is on staff now. However, the fact that he was playing significant minutes and starting is something I may never understand. Nick Russell certainly contributed more than that and his ball handling will be missed, but at the end of the day Nic was carrying the load as a ball handler and Nick played more 2 guard than anything. As said before, nothing but respect for Nick and Shawn, but Martin and Tolbert are bigtime upgrades in my opinion.

[stangsup4]

Wish Barefield could come right now. Dude can ball.

[SMU 86]

While losing our starting point guard or having him head to the bench to catch a breather is an issue, there is very little reason to believe we turn into a completely inept team.

If you saw a good amount of games last you you saw this happen more than once. You are being an optimist and that is fine. I am trying to be a realist and believe we could use a backup point guard even with upgrades at SG and PF (if Tolbert is declared eligble). We had DEFENSE AD REBOUNDING the first year Coach Brown was here without a pg and where did that get us. Now we have only one pg which got us to the NIT but you are sounding like we are in the NCAA finals game with no backup point guard. We could but the probability is low imo. Again. I think we make the NCAA tournament.

[smumustang11]

While losing our starting point guard or having him head to the bench to catch a breather is an issue, there is very little reason to believe we turn into a completely inept team.

If you saw a good amount of games last you you saw this happen more than once. You are being an optimist and that is fine. I am trying to be a realist and believe we could use a backup point guard even with upgrades at SG and PF (if Tolbert is declared eligble). We had DEFENSE AD REBOUNDING the first year Coach Brown was here without a pg and where did that get us. Now we have only one pg which got us to the NIT but you are sounding like we are in the NCAA finals game with no backup point guard. We could but the probability is low imo. Again. I think we make the NCAA tournament.

Certainly not trying to act like we are in the Final game, I would be happy this year with a trip to the Sweet 16. I just really don't think we are worse than last year so that is somewhat the floor in my opinion. Comparing year 1 of Larry to year 2 of Larry is a bit of stretch though. See: Moore, Kennedy, Moreira, Moore, Sterling, Frazier. With you on the Tourney bid for sure.

[Harry0569]

As I stated in my comment on Eamonn's article on ESPN, I'd love to see the drop off in points-per-possession when Nic sits vs. when he plays. I imagine there is a monstrous difference. We can't go 3-5+ minutes with little to no quality shots in a possession, and I fear that without a second ball handler, we will continue to see that next year. Here's to hoping that LB puts in some sets when Nic is out that relies on moving the ball and getting quality shots.


IMO Russell is a huge loss that will be evident once the season begant. Guy guarded the opponent's best guard every night and knocked down countless corner 3s in conference play.

[SMU 86]

Yes, we will be better than last year but not as good as if we would have had EMan. The point of comparing year 1 and year 2 was the impact a pg can have on a team but not having a backup pg will hinder us from just being better than last year as opposed to being a lot better and a potential final 4 team, which a lot of people thought we were with EMan. No one on the board is saying we would be worse than last year but we all know where the need is now. And yes, not having EMan you should be happy with a trip to the Sweet 16 but it could have been much more and everyone knows it.

[Glenn Sosbee]

I know this, we won't be sneaking up on anybody this upcoming season and UCONN certainly won't be taking us lightly. I think being an unknown commodity last year probably helped us a little. That will no longer be the case. Man, teams are gonna be gunning for us now and we just lost our new beast. Very troubling development here.

[Charleston Pony]

this year's team will still have plenty of depth although I agree with those who are concerned about PG depth. We managed last year with just Nic and then a big drop-off after that, but if everyone improves over last season, we still have enough talent to make a run at an AAC title and NCAA bid. Program is still on a major upswing with the group that appears headed our way for 2015-2016. As for this coming season, I'm anxious to see how much Sterling, Ben and Keith might improve because I think you see the most improvement between guys' FR and Soph years

[JasonB]

One thing that might help is that we have more offensively capable players this year. Between transfers and maturation, the point won't have to create for others. So if Manual or Head are backup PG they don't really have to be difference makers.