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November 20
"Oh and Three"

Saturday was a bad day for our team as we lost to Centenary. Starting the season off 0-3 isn't fun! I think about that Southern game and how losing that lead may have effected our psyche and carried over to our last two games? When you lose three straight, you question a lot of things. However, I don't question our philosophy. Our philosophy is to play good man-to-man defense with some zone and, offensively, we want to push the ball into an organized "secondary break" flowing into a motion offense. The repetition is critical in teaching these young kids how to play. In a normal year, the freshmen would hardly play, but this season is unique as we need them to be key players for us as freshmen. As we play and show our team game tape clips of their mistakes along with the good plays you can see the carry over to practice. It will take some time, but these players will grow up and be fun to watch.

Enjoy the holiday week!

Pony Up!

Coach D

if they want to push the ball up in transition I wish we'd see some matchup zone instead of the "please take three pointers as you wish" zone.

However, one can't watch a Duke game and become a fan of strict man-to-man. Watch those guys D up...it would be nice to see our guys man up that way.

I attended the Centenary-UALR game last night. Centenary (one of my alma maters) was much more dependent on the 3 pointer and ran a perimeter type offense. I can see where that may cause problems for SMU with young people learning an intense man to man defense. Centenary was also well coached and discipline. Very few turnovers and a lot of hustle. SMU will improve. It may be a long season but we are incredibly young with some good raw talent. I am willing to be patient with Coach Doh as he is building for the long term success of the program.

Why is everyone willing to be patient with Doh, but not with Tubbs?

Patient?! We already predictably have those coming out of the woodwork to jump on Doh's case three games into a season. Too much patience ain't the issue.

abezontar wrote:Why is everyone willing to be patient with Doh, but not with Tubbs?

Because he speaks better, does blogs and looks better in a suit with a hanky. Nothing against Doh, but thats the truth. Most SMUers had already given up on Tubbs by about this time in his short tenure. Biggest complaints were Xs and Os, ostensibly not being able to get more out of mediocre talent and not being more interactive with the big donors.

Hoop Fan wrote:

abezontar wrote:Why is everyone willing to be patient with Doh, but not with Tubbs?

Because he speaks better, does blogs and looks better in a suit with a hanky. Nothing against Doh, but thats the truth. Most SMUers had already given up on Tubbs by about this time in his short tenure. Biggest complaints were Xs and Os, ostensibly not being able to get more out of mediocre talent and not being more interactive with the big donors.

You are exactly right, Hoop.

For starters, speaks better is an understatement. Doherty is a great speaker and great face of a program compared to anyone. When compared to Tubbs, whose speaking and being a handshaker/baby kisser were clearly not his strong suits, it makes Doherty look even better. His image and pedigree do buy him a lot more confidence from fans I would think, but then again can you blame us? UNC as a player, Kansas, ND, and UNC as a coach (FAU too which obviously is not very prestigious) gives you reason to have faith in a guy.

You often say that SMU didn't decide to dedicate to hoops by giving Tubbs adequate facilities etc that they are now giving to Doherty. Doherty is working to get those upgrades. His skill in glad handing and baby kissing is a reason we are getting donations for these upgrades. With Tubbs that simply would not have happened because his personality was not polarizing enough to bring it in. All Tubbs had was wins and losses because he didn't bring anything to the table in the way of image and perception. Thats the unfortunate truth of the matter. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and these two coaches are obviously very different.

I for one, among many others I think, was very disappointed in the job Tubbs did with the talent he has. If you call the talent he inherited mediocre then I am not sure how you would classify the talent that Doherty inherited. Tubbs took over with senior four year starters at the 4 and 5 in Castro and Simpson- both of which were much better than the average post players in the WAC- coming off seasons in which they averaged 10+ pts and 6 boards each. He had one of the best individual talents in the WAC in B-Hop, a junior, who averaged 18/4/4. Isham a fourth returning starter, also a senior, 8pts 4 boards. Tubbs also got D-Rob, a freshman, then a couple Sophs, Rack and Devon, that Doherty later inherited as Seniors. That was a very solid team he took over, in my opinion (which i realize you may not agree with).

Also, you failed to mention Tubbs' inability to keep players eligible and his not being ready to run a D 1 program on his own, which has been noted. And if you know any players who played for Dement first then Tubbs or for Tubbs and then Doherty, ask them to compare their perception of the two coaches ability at coaching basketball. See what answers you get.

Not to mention, burgers and Tide. If anyone expected this team to be good the first half of this season, they don't understand basketball.

EastStang wrote:Not to mention, burgers and Tide. If anyone expected this team to be good the first half of this season, they don't understand basketball.

good? or not absolutely horrible? quite a difference.

abezontar wrote:Why is everyone willing to be patient with Doh, but not with Tubbs?

How are all of the "Tubbs" recruits doing on the team right now?

PonySnob wrote:

abezontar wrote:Why is everyone willing to be patient with Doh, but not with Tubbs?

How are all of the "Tubbs" recruits doing on the team right now?

I would say not good, but the answer is much more complicated than that. John Killen, Derrick Roberts and Paulius Ritter are partly Dement's and partly Tubb's recruits. Bamba Fall is Tubb's. Cameron Spencer is Tubb's and Doherty's. Dez Willingham was Tubb's, but graduated and is now at UNT. Judge his record based on what he did while he was at SMU. Who do you blame for the current senior class? Dement? Tubbs? circumstance? The junior class is definitely Tubb's responisbility. Since Bamba is the only junior I would say not good. I am not criticizing Bamba. The criticism here is that he has no peers in his class. The sophmore class is also difficult to judge. Whose fault is it that Cameron Spencer is our only recruit? Tubbs? Doherty? circumstance? With 3 coaches in a 4 year span it is difficult to evaluate individual recruiting records over these 4 years. If you want to attack Dement now or Doherty in 2-3 years that is more reasonable. While Tubbs didn't give me the impression that he was head coaching material, and I wasn't pleased with the on-court results I would give his recruiting record as head coach an incomplete.

Roberts, Killen and the senior class are entirely Dements. Remember, Tubbs had been at Oklahoma for the last two or three years of Dements tenure.Tubbs had nothing to the do with current senior class. Tubbs flawed by getting two jucos in Epps and Ike who were not impact players . but i guess tubbs knew he had only two years to turn it around and not time to build, i dont know.

Hoop Fan wrote:Roberts, Killen and the senior class are entirely Dements. Remember, Tubbs had been at Oklahoma for the last two or three years of Dements tenure.Tubbs had nothing to the do with current senior class. Tubbs flawed by getting two jucos in Epps and Ike who were not impact players . but i guess tubbs knew he had only two years to turn it around and not time to build, i dont know.

Thanks for the clarification. As I said, I don't fault Tubbs for the current senior class. I do fault him for the mediocre records in 2004-04 and 2005-06 and the fact that Bamba is the only junior on the roster. I don't know who to blame that for the sophmore class.

Shouldnt it be titled.."Doh and Three"?

[quote="MustangIcon"][I for one, among many others I think, was very disappointed in the job Tubbs did with the talent he has. If you call the talent he inherited mediocre then I am not sure how you would classify the talent that Doherty inherited. Tubbs took over with senior four year starters at the 4 and 5 in Castro and Simpson- both of which were much better than the average post players in the WAC- coming off seasons in which they averaged 10+ pts and 6 boards each. He had one of the best individual talents in the WAC in B-Hop, a junior, who averaged 18/4/4. Isham a fourth returning starter, also a senior, 8pts 4 boards. Tubbs also got D-Rob, a freshman, then a couple Sophs, Rack and Devon, that Doherty later inherited as Seniors. That was a very solid team he took over, in my opinion (which i realize you may not agree with).quote]

I completely disagree. Castro and Simp were nice kids, among the best around as people, but they used to get abused defensively by average WAC/CUSA competition. Don't just tell me points scored and rebounds, tell me what their opponents did to them and whether our bigs could ever get the key rebound or defensive stop. I don't know how many games we lost because we could not stop the other team from getting a big offensive rebound and putback late in the game. It happened alot. That team was a flawed team, not a "very solid team" as you state. That team could not shoot a lick other than BHop and could not make key stops defensively, including the glass. Throwing in 10 points a game is not that impressive at all.