PonyFans.com

#3 on the top 10 most forgettable moments at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Yes, younger fans, there was a day when SMU took 3 of 3 vs. UNLV.

http://www.rivals.com/content.asp?cid=614340

3. SMU, March 4, 1999 WAC Tournament
Head Coach: Bill Bayno

In spite of having talent with Mark Dickel, Shawn Marion, Kaspars Kambala (was out for the second half of the season) and Kevin Simmons, UNLV probably never underachieved more than in this season. But still, there was hope. After all, UNLV had run the WAC tournament the year before in glorious fashion. The tournament was again at home, so it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility that the Rebels could repeat the feat. But that came to a screeching halt when after a mad scramble for a loose ball, Chad Elsey hit a three pointer out of the corner at the buzzer for a 71-70 SMU victory. It was the third time that SMU had beaten the Rebels that season. The game ended with Mustang superstar Jerryl Sasser shouting "This is our house!" after dominating Shawn Marion.

Hard to believe that 10 yrs later this program would be where it's at. I first started following SMU basketball when Dement brought in that local crop of Sasser, Davis, Elsey, etc. and the UNLV game at Moody was a great one to attend. Sadly those early years are also the glory years of my short stint as an avid SMU basketball fan...

While I have not been a mustang fan for as long as others on here...I have been a fan since 2003. It is disgusting to look at where this program is now even in relationship to my first few years as a student when when the student section was packed (relatively speaking) at moody and we gave the ponies a pretty nice home court advantage. I specifically remember texas tech and bobby knight hating the smu student section when we beat the red raider team that had andre emmet. That smu team with b hop, isham, simpson, castro was so much better than what we are putting out on the court now.

I was at that game and it was really fun. The second it left Elsey's hand, it was down. Good look, silky shot. Those were our best teams from 93-now, but some of Vegas' worst. We are a bad program, even when we're ok. Lon Kruger vs Bill Bayno is a mismatch, not unlike what we saw last night. Now Cremins lol.

That was my second year at SMU, loved going to Moody to watch Sasser, Willie etc...Those UNLV games along with Tulsa and the TCU ESPN late night game on ESPN were greatness...

UNLV was pretty darn good that year. Marion was the best player in the conference (sorry Sasser).

The year prior to this Dement's team almost knocked off Keith Van Horn's Utes (who later played in the final four).

Had Willie Davis not Dribbled the Ball off his foot as he tried to run out the clock vs. Tulsa - they would have been dancing in the NCAAs one of those years.

PonyTime wrote:UNLV was pretty darn good that year. Marion was the best player in the conference (sorry Sasser).

The year prior to this Dement's team almost knocked off Keith Van Horn's Utes (who later played in the final four).

Had Willie Davis not Dribbled the Ball off his foot as he tried to run out the clock vs. Tulsa - they would have been dancing in the NCAAs one of those years.

and that's what I'm saying, no tangible results from our best teams. I'm sorry, but we should be Gonzaga in basketball. Everything is there for a Top 25 program in terms of facilities. Our grassroots infrastructure has been broken in DFW for 20 years. You almost have to dedicate an entire hire to making SMU cool locally. I've never seen a program so hated on, so often, in hoops circles.

Basketball hires are a vastly different beast then football hires. If Doh goes, Orsini needs basketball industry help in making the next hire. He needs to consult w/our apparel folks at Adidas. Survey local grassroots programs, not DISD coaches etc.

PonyDoh wrote:

PonyTime wrote:UNLV was pretty darn good that year. Marion was the best player in the conference (sorry Sasser).

The year prior to this Dement's team almost knocked off Keith Van Horn's Utes (who later played in the final four).

Had Willie Davis not Dribbled the Ball off his foot as he tried to run out the clock vs. Tulsa - they would have been dancing in the NCAAs one of those years.

and that's what I'm saying, no tangible results from our best teams. I'm sorry, but we should be Gonzaga in basketball. Everything is there for a Top 25 program in terms of facilities. Our grassroots infrastructure has been broken in DFW for 20 years. You almost have to dedicate an entire hire to making SMU cool locally. I've never seen a program so hated on, so often, in hoops circles.

Basketball hires are a vastly different beast then football hires. If Doh goes, Orsini needs basketball industry help in making the next hire. He needs to consult w/our apparel folks at Adidas. Survey local grassroots programs, not DISD coaches etc.

Why can't we hire a successful mid-major coach who's just a few years away from getting a major job? Pay him June Jones money, give him major support and control. Fly him around on GF's jet. Have the Circle of Champs woo him. I know June Jones is an outlier and we're not likely to get someone like that but why shouldn't we be shooting that high?

PonyDoh wrote:Basketball hires are a vastly different beast then football hires. If Doh goes, Orsini needs basketball industry help in making the next hire. He needs to consult w/our apparel folks at Adidas. Survey local grassroots programs, not DISD coaches etc.

I agree but I think it'll be very interesting to see if Steve O is willing to go against his own mantra of finding that big name "safe" hire. Hopefully the failures of Doh will increase the odds that he takes a different approach, but until a hire is officially made, I fear another retread hire that will get national attention but will do very little to appeal to the Dallas hoops scene.

PonyDoh wrote: You almost have to dedicate an entire hire to making SMU cool locally. I've never seen a program so hated on, so often, in hoops circles.

I thought that was what the Tubbs hire was supposed to do? He couldn't even recruit local talent.

FriscoPMG wrote:

PonyDoh wrote:Basketball hires are a vastly different beast then football hires. If Doh goes, Orsini needs basketball industry help in making the next hire. He needs to consult w/our apparel folks at Adidas. Survey local grassroots programs, not DISD coaches etc.

I agree but I think it'll be very interesting to see if Steve O is willing to go against his own mantra of finding that big name "safe" hire. Hopefully the failures of Doh will increase the odds that he takes a different approach, but until a hire is officially made, I fear another retread hire that will get national attention but will do very little to appeal to the Dallas hoops scene.

It's funny, people around here mention Fraschilla as coach, who I'm vehemently against. That said, I'd love to see Orsini ask Fran to be part of a search committee, if it comes to that. Bring in a grassroots Adidas heavy and listen to his say and recommendations. Hire someone like the Pumps consulting service to help get the best applicants for this position, given our standing in the local community.

RE Tycoon wrote:

PonyDoh wrote: You almost have to dedicate an entire hire to making SMU cool locally. I've never seen a program so hated on, so often, in hoops circles.

I thought that was what the Tubbs hire was supposed to do? He couldn't even recruit local talent.

To me, that was loyalty hire. He was a program guy and he got rewarded. Many make the mistake of talking about the DISD & how they didn't support Tubbs w/talent, only lip service etc. That would be true, if they had that power to begin with. Club teams and academies are the new high school. SMU is not a street brand, and in those circles, we have no cred. Even when we hired a DISD legend, he was older and a career foot soldier at the college level. It's a new age

tubbs had limitations, he needed a support system, but his tenure if even mildly successful could have been a building block in slowly changing smu's horrible hoops image. I never thought local recruits were just going to line up at our doorstep from day 1. It was going to be hit or miss and situational just like it was when we landed Sasser in the late signing period after getting Willie D, and we all know Hopkins special circumstance with his twin bro. Point is the door was open (both ways) with a guy like tubbs and we stood to get some Dallas kids who wouldn't normally look our way. tubbs only had 2 years, so its not like we know what would have happened. It couldnt have been any worse than last night no matter what. I still think Doh might have been great for our park cities image but he was one of the worst hires possible for local street cred and public relations at the time. He just has that big naive white guy image and he was the ultimate dallas outsider. I knew his chances at local recruiting were in big trouble when he sat behind the HIghland Park bench at a Kimball v. HP game in semis of the Coca Cola tourney down at Ellis Davis fieldhouse.

Hoop Fan wrote:tubbs had limitations, he needed a support system, but his tenure if even mildly successful could have been a building block in slowly changing smu's horrible hoops image. I never thought local recruits were just going to line up at our doorstep from day 1. It was going to be hit or miss and situational just like it was when we landed Sasser in the late signing period after getting Willie D, and we all know Hopkins special circumstance with his twin bro. Point is the door was open (both ways) with a guy like tubbs and we stood to get some Dallas kids who wouldn't normally look our way. tubbs only had 2 years, so its not like we know what would have happened. It couldnt have been any worse than last night no matter what. I still think Doh might have been great for our park cities image but he was one of the worst hires possible for local street cred and public relations at the time. He just has that big naive white guy image and he was the ultimate dallas outsider. I knew his chances at local recruiting were in big trouble when he sat behind the HIghland Park bench at a Kimball v. HP game in semis of the Coca Cola tourney down at Ellis Davis fieldhouse.

This is a pretty measured response and fair. I didn't expect much from Tubbs, just better success locally. As for Doh, he was a great park cities hire, helped fundraise, and got things built. As far as local grassroots circles are concerned, Doh was a lily white hire, that's only rep was for not being player friendly. Like I've said before, the issues w/the hoops program in local circles, absolutely dwarfs what we saw in football. Getting out of this mess locally requires industry savvy, not orsini being a bull in a china shop