Dez Willingham for the win....YEEEESSSSS!!!!

[Big10Ponyfan]

Went to the game with my girls and had a great time. Just to share a few thoughts:

1. Great turnout by the SMU fan base. I'd say about 300-400 fans were there. We were pumped and into the game.

2. Loved it after Dez's shot when all of screamed at the top of our lungs -- in Daniel-Meyer -- S-M-U, S-M-U, S-M-U!! We all went nuts.

3. The ball-handling will be an issue with this team. But if you watch, you can see where Doherty appears to have plays run by different people running the point, Killen, Willingham -- who probably played more than any other game this year -- and Roberts.

4. We were not smart in the last 2 minutes with a 7-point lead, defensive breakdowns -- didn't cover Hackett on the 3 to put them up 60-59 -- Killen with a dumb foul with 8.9 seconds -- DRack and Killen 2-of-4 at the foul line.

5. Incredibly frustrating with the number of chippees we missed especially on a fast break in the first half when Ike and Devon had point blank attempts.

6. Even more frustrating was how Bamba and DRack allowed themselves to get pushed out of the lane in the first half. We didn't get many high-percentage attempts. I thought Bamba was too passive. Don't know if he was hurt. I just viewed him as ineffective.

7. Second half execution was better. We made very good adjustments to create spacing in the low block.

8. The observation of Ike is that he can play well against the poorer clubs, but in the games I've watched against Dayton and TCU, he's not the same player.

9. Overall, a great game to win on the road. Second buzzer-beater of the year. See Illinois State. You like to see how your team responds in adversity on the road. That speaks to the mindset Doherty preaches.

10. If you look at CUSA, it's Memphis, probably Houston and 10 guys named Herb. The opportunity is there to split the conference record. And who knows, steal a game or two on the road.

I think this win will define some character for this team. No, they didn't play well and the really haven't since they returned from Florida. Maybe it will be this way the rest of the year.

But there's nothing to suggest we can't be over .500 and compete for something in March. Too optimistic? Maybe, but we're just as good as about 10 other teams in this conference.

Thanks for the early Christmas present, Mustangs! Beat Blow-U.