What is the consensus...

[PonySnob]

It seems like we have been "building for the future" for the last 10 years......

[Pony81]

We will be lucky to win a CUSA game this year.
We will get blown out by Memphis, UH, UAB,

It is going to be very ugly. Hopefully, Doherty has conditioned his incoming recruits to how bad it will be before it gets better - so they don't completely lose faith and feel foolish for coming to SMU.

I think Doh made a mistake not bring in a JUCO or two this year.

Watch this team get totally deflated when they realize how far they need to come to be competitive in a mid major conference.

It will be a coaching miracle if he can get confidence in this team.

NIT in 3 years would be a streach long term goal.

[papawasamustang]

I think we will see a big difference in next years team when the younger players are going to have to step up their play on the court & become the team leaders. By the middle point of this years conference season Walker, Papa, Harp & Malone should have most of the freshman excuses out of the way & be playing more like sophmores. I hope I can say that about Rhodes too.
Doh is doing & saying all the right things about the senior leadership.
Doh is committed to playing them right now. However, its best for the future to give all the young players as much playing time as possible.

I see this program turning into a NIT type team when this years class are juniors. They should make a run for the dance by their senior year.
If Dubois & Otis are everything as advertised, then maybe the NIT next year.

My concern is when this freshman class graduates we are right back to another team of freshman starting all over again. Doh has to find away
to space out the scholarships for the future. That's why a couple of JC players would have been nice to incorporate into this years class. Reshirting another player or two next year could possibly help as well.

I really think Doh can get it done.

Moody is a great place to watch a game !

[gregkinzer]

dont underestimate the positive experience that getting whipped over the course of the year provides. The only way to get better is to play against better competition and take your lumps.

This team will be bruised by the end of the season, and hopefully they can take that and turn that into experience in 2008-2009 and beyond.

[EastStang]

I think by CUSA tournament time, we will see where the holes are in this group. I think Doh is not one to suffer bad teams lightly. I know at UNC his team had a miserable regular season one year, yet played well in the ACC tourney. No, we won't be likely to beat Memphis this year and this team will make mistakes. I said we'd be lucky to win 12 games and that we'd be fortunate to win many conference contests. That said, I think Doh is on schedule to some degree. And is holding off on JUCO's until he sees how good or bad this team is.

[TheJumpShooter]

there are three areas in which Doh can be graded/judged/critiqued, etc. in my opinion. They are:
1) In game coaching
2) Recruiting
3) Off the court (PR, academics, program adminsitration, etc.)

Off the court, Doherty has done an outstanding job with the blog, being visible in the Park Cities and city of Dallas, etc. Seems like the program is on solid academic footing and Doh, I'm sure, has been a huge assistance in fundraising for the Crum Center, etc.

In game coaching, I'm not really sold in this area. He gets conservative with leads, I often wonder about the offense and what SMU is trying to do, and I can't believe that SMU has lost to some of the programs it has so far this year -- SC Upstate, Southern, Alabama State, Centenary. What would some of the folks on here be saying about Dement or Tubbs if they lost to some of these schools. I wouldn't give him a passing grade here.

As for recruiting, obviously it is very early to be evaluating these guys but I'll go ahead and do it. Doh has signed eight guys while at SMU -- Spencer, Kwaitkowski, Harp, Rhodes, Dia, Walker, Malone and Nyakundi.

Spencer won't ever do anything at SMU and it looks like Nyakundi, Kwaitkowski and Rhodes are a long ways away. Dia looks like he could be a very good player along with Malone. Walker looks to be serviceable as well. Harp has shown a bit of promise in between spurts of looking lost.

I'd say he is batting .500 on the 8 kids he has signed so far. Thing is, with 13 scholarships to be alotted, he doesn't have much room for error anymore unless he runs some kids off.

Couple of other things on recruiting: First, I wish he'd get more involved with local kids. I'm sure he is trying but so far, not so good.

Second, for those that don't believe Stallion's claims that SMU has a model problem, ask yourself this question: Do you really think Doh wouldn't have liked to pull a couple of JUCOs in this seven man recruiting class? Certainly not build your program with them, but a couple of guys that could come in right away and help, win a few more games to give the program a little more creidbility and space the roster out a little bit.

[gregkinzer]

Yes to JUCOs, but how many JUCOs have we had at SMU over the past 20 years. Ike UPshaw, Keith Chambers, Carlton McKinney.....I am sure I am missing a few....

Obviously the staff, past and present, are getting the message that you don't go JUCO.....

[Alaric]

Yes to JUCOs, but how many JUCOs have we had at SMU over the past 20 years. Ike UPshaw, Keith Chambers, Carlton McKinney.....I am sure I am missing a few....

Obviously the staff, past and present, are getting the message that you don't go JUCO.....

add in Ike Ofoegbu. that makes 4 in the past 20 years. not many. No JUCO's has to still be part of the directive from the top or he surely would have signed some (hopefully)

[gregkinzer]

i agree. Didn't realize Ike was a part of that list. Where would that team have been had he not been a part.......scary.

[EastStang]

We'll see how these freshmen mature. The question is whether your recruits are going to be starters or guys who can come off the bench. We still don't know the answer to that question. We clearly had some projects in this class, but guys like Kwiatkowski who are over 7' are worth burning a scholarship for the potential because they are so, well, tall. Probably our best big man in the last 30 years Jon Koncak was a project as well. Sometimes they work out, other times they don't. But clearly a risk worth taking and is more of a test of Doh's coaching/teaching ability.