candid thoughts

[OldPony]

Tubbs recruits so far are just like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The talent level is no better thn Dement's groups. Bamba is most likely another Rack. Tubbs showed no more coaching ability than Dement. This is not meant to be critical of Tubbs though. He just isn't an improvement. Look again at the RPI ratings of teams we beat this year posted above. Also look at the RPI of those we beat by very slim margins. This year was one of the worst considering the maturity of this team.
Copeland and Turner are the real culprits though. I understood at one time that they had to go slow to convince others that our prgram learned from the DP. Both Copeland and Turner have run the string way too long now and it is obvious that they have failed in sports. It is time to rid SMU of both. SMU sports are worse than they were at the time both were hired.

[Stampede]

OP...have you seen Bamba play. Didn't think so. I have.

Bamba will be fine for the Stangs. Hope you get a chance to see him play. How many games did you make this year?

[Stallion]

I think it would be more accurate to say that Bamba is not likely to contribute in 2006 or 2007. Who knows after that-but from his Club team, high school team experience, his frail build and apparent lack of offensive skills or even playing experience he is not likely to make the contribution SMU requires to compete for even a NIT bid. Bamba is a guy you sign not expecting him to play for 2-3 years. I don't care if he is 7-5 a guy like Michael Harris will toss him around like a rag doll until he is physically able to compete at the Division 1A level.

[Stampede]

Perhaps, Stallion. But it is different attempting to shoot over Castro at 6'8" than a true 7'1" Bamba (with a wingspan of an 8' center) Harris would have had his easy turnaround shots deterred had Bamba or Rack been in. Would have been interesting to see both of them in at the same time. I have to believe Rice would have found it hard to get anything inside with those two in the lineup.

Yes...Coach Tubbs knows he would like a BIG BODY to "protect" Bamba. Coach knows what he wants and will, judging by his own past recruiting prowess, be successful in this regard. We do hav eRack to help in this regard....but his season is just beginning. Donotas will get plenty of HARD work this spring and summer to toughen up and make up for tis season missed.

Too much sunshine in this post?

[Charleston Pony]

O.K., I'm as disappointed as the rest of you with how this season went, but I'm also reminding myself that coach Tubbs alistic enough to know that this group had some really bad luck this year. Our roster would have been very competitive in WAC play if these guys hadn't encountered the injuries they did. It's easy to forget we lost Rack for the season and given the fact our low post play has been a problem for years, we needed every body on the roster to compete. In the end, the loss of Pearson killed any chance these guys had of pulling a shocker in the tourney.

Losing the 3 seniors will hurt next year, and if the rumors about BHop's leaving are true, coach Tubbs will likely suffer a losing season next year, but I'm still hopeful that if everyone comes back healthy next year, we can at least be as good a team as we were this year. There's no question coach Tubbs has to convince one of the DFW area's young studs to stay home and play for SMU...every year...for this program to improve dramatically. Should be interesting to see how many more scholarships will be available for next year and who those go to. I'm expecting at least one more signing and possibly two?

Gotta give coach Tubbs a chance to put his own team together. Then let's see where we are. For those who want to trash Copeland and Bennett, let's see where the football program is after the 2006 season. Then we can judge Copeland's hiring of Bennett over Charlie Waters.