IMO THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THE LEVEL OF PLAY THUS FAR

[Diehard Pony]

As I and several other posters have previously noted, these are the same players (minus Kris Lowe) that beat two ranked teams (T.Tech and Purdue), and took Wake to the wire. Knowing that leaves me pretty disappointed with Coach Tubbs thus far.

You may recall this team layed down after Ok State trashed them and Dement could not get them back, but Lineburg had them playing well for the last 5 games.

I don't think there is any excuse for how poorly they have played thus far based on the returning talent and the veteran nature of the team. I am not calling Coach Tubbs a bad hire this early, but I am shocked by the extremely poor early results.

[PK]

To be fair, the team was off for eight days and had finals this week...BUT, Hopkins has been terrible for most of this season. The same team you talk about last year had Hopkins as the team leader on points per game and was well over 80% on his free throws. He made 18 attempts to night...18 attempts maybe someone else should have made. Don't know the final stats, but late in the game Hopkins had made only one assist. If your supposed lead player can't get it together, it makes it difficult trying to work around him. Perhaps it's time for the sports psychologist to be brought in.

All things considered, Castro and Simpson had good games tonight, but without Hopkins running on all eight, there was no hope.

[KnuckleStang]

Can't dispute anything you say, Diehard. I just don't get it. I'm not ready to pick on Tubbs yet, but all I can think is, this team seems to lack floor leadership. Nobody wants to step up. People can say what they want about Kris Lowe. He was never a marquee player. But he was a leader on this team last year. I believe he had a respectable game against Purdue, and played a pivotal role in that win, by the way. We need somebody to take that role, and Bhop, alas, is not the guy. He's got immense natural talent. But Tubbs himself said he needs to be more of a leader on the floor. He's just not. He's quiet, and doesn't seem to want to communicate much, that's not his style. He just wants to play. He commits turnover after turnover and throws up brick after brick. So who does that leave? Simpson and Castro. These guys are decent players. But not leaders. Or, if they ARE leaders, they need to prove it. Soon. Whatever it is, we're looking at a complete absence of team chemistry, and somebody needs to step to the fore and right this team, or we're looking at a very, very long, hellish season. Who's it gonna be?

[Pony_Fan]

It really disturbs me that the level of play is below last year (which wasn't good either).

As I said before, this team cannot score. I'd rather have Roberts making more attempts than Hopkins. Hopkins does not really have the ability to seperate himself from defenders without a forced shot nor can he score at will. The final point totals this year and most of last year are awful.

At this point, Ross, Hanc0ck and Sasser were much better players than Hopkins and they didn't cost us 2 ships.

Ugh, I am starting to feel like Old Pony. Help me. I was excited with the Tubbs hire but this is making me nausea.

[bubba pony]

we need better recruits, extend tubb's contract.

[Diehard Pony]

My expectations coming into the season with Tubbs as coach were as follows:

1. We would finally see the Hopkins everybody raved about coming out of HS. This alone would add a huge lift to the team.

2. Isham would develop into a potential marquee player.

3. Improved play from both Simpson and Castro if for no other reason than an additional year of experience.

4. Improved conditioning that would allow us to play pressure defense for the whole game, and uptempo offense to score and add excitement. All of these items are those that Coach Tubbs himself said he would bring.

All of this, plus the fact that this is a veteran team, should have added up to a much better season. I was thinking NIT with an outside shot at the Dance. Instead we have this?????

We don't seem to be getting any of the things I thought might make this season very interesting and exciting.

[RGV Pony]

SMU is quickly become something of a Vanderbilt-type school. That is, name a sport & first thing into anyone's head (outside of those of us on this website and a few on the Hilltop & around Dallas) is a doormat athletic program.

Is there a Sears trophy for crappiest across the board?

[rich_alum]

Vanderbilt? If we could be so lucky......they were in the sweet 16 last year and usually have a solid basketball team every year.

[RGV Pony]

Rich alum, you know what I mean. When Nick Saban was interviewed about LSU's take from going to bowl games, he responded, "even Vanderbilt will get the same we get," referring to splitting bowl $$ amongst even the sorriest schools.

Used to be, Rice would be the example of a crappy team first in someone's head. Or Kansas football.

Remember Barry Switzer, coaching the Cowboys, when discussing playing a cupcake? "When I was at OU, h*ll, even Iowa State was someone once in awhile you'd need to watch out for if you're not prepared." I'm afraid now in most settings, it's "even SMU can have a good game once in awhile.

[Hoop Fan]

I'm struggling to make sense of this, but i do have some opinions. All of you guys who keep waiting for Bryan Hopkins to be the kind of player you expected can forget it and quit agonizing and ripping on him for something that I think is out of his control. If you didn't see him in high school you will never understand. I dont care what anybody tells me, either injuries damaged him for good or his body changed when it matured. He looks like a 35 year old compared to the lively BHop I saw in high school. He labors to do everything now. A guy who I once would have called one of the top 10 most dynamic dunkers I had EVER seen, can now barely dunk. Thats the truth. I dont know why. His shooting is awful all of a sudden and he makes bad decisions too often, but John Stockton wouldn't have many assists with this bunch.

Castro and Simpson played beyond horribly in my opinion tonight, as did everyone, but they are seniors. For seniors, they were totally lost and unaggressive out there. Really sad. Maybe they were "Dement guys" at heart or maybe they just don't comprehend a different offense with more motion expected. I don't know what it is, but they are embarrassing themselves and their coaches out there right now. If you can't play for yourself as a senior and against your rival, I have a hard time relating to that. Isham shows some flashes, but has way too many lapses for a senior and letdowns on the court. Roberts looks tenative too, the lack of veteran leadership is probably rubbing off on him. I'd like to see him start taking his shot and asserting himself more. There is quickly becoming nothing to lose.

This group is just not as good as some people wanted to believe, including me. Tech and Purdue may have been top 25 teams when we played, but they subsquently proved they were not very good. Didnt Knight give back his salary their season was so bad? And Keady practically got fired after 25 years at Purdue their season was so disappointing. Those wins were fools gold really.

Our guys are good kids, smart kids, but as a team really flawed. As basketball players, they do things that only freshmen should do and they fail to do things that should be second nature to players with experience. Tubbs is doing things differently that Dement and maybe that is hard for seniors to accept even if they like the guy. I hope Tubbs forges forward and puts the system in place that he needs. By seasons end these guys will either improve or move aside for the younger guys like Roberts, Pearson and Ike.

[stangalum]

I'm speechless after listening to the game tonight. 21 turnovers? Are you kidding me? So much talent...... what an embarrassment!

[Col. Nathan R. Jessep]

[quote="RGV Pony"]SMU is quickly become something of a Vanderbilt-type school. That is, name a sport & first thing into anyone's head (outside of those of us on this website and a few on the Hilltop & around Dallas) is a doormat athletic program.

RGV, I understand your frustation.
But the 'truth' is Hyndman's soccer program is/has been top-shelf for many years.

[2112]

oh and let's not forget our young Equestrian program is on the rise too! RAH RAH RAH!!!!

[EastStang]

I saw this team last year against Navy and then on TV against OSU. They did not impress me with hustle. I chalked that one up to them quitting on Dement. I haven't seen this year's version. Two things to think about. (1) Are they hustling and just not getting it done? That's a talent problem. (2) Are they quitting when they meet a tough point of the game? That's a heart problem. You can't really coach those two things. Either these guys have to have pride or other players need to step up and take their place. I wouldn't mind seeing anyone on this team ride pine, if it meant a wake up call to them. "You want to play?" "Then act like you want to be out there." If it is a talent problem then the coach needs to see if others can step up, if not, then we play out this season and hope to get some better players in the next few years.

[Mike Damone]

Don't flatter yourselves, people think much worse of us than Vandy. Vanderbilt has a much, much better athletic program than we do. They would beat the [deleted] out of us in football. They have a team that hung with some quality SEC teams this year. Teams that would drop 100 on us. Would double us up in basketball, a la Tech, as the make the tourney on a consitant level,and have a great baseball team that I believe went to the CWS last year, or made it pretty far.