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I was happy to see the team win yesterday against A&M. It may not have done a lot for the resume but it was a win that wasn't pretty and the better team held on. While SMU has missed two chances to add tournament caliber wins to the resume in the non-conference, they are taking care of business right now in the games they should win and that's all you can ask. At this point, focus on closing out the out of conference slate and head into conference play at 11-2 with a chance to get a quality road win against Cinci on New Years. The quality wins for the tournament are going to have to come at the expense of some of the teams in the league. Obviously there a few teams better than SMU in the conference.

On the flip side, given that SMU is playing in a tougher conference, what they will have the opportunity to do that they haven't been able to do in the past, is get marquee wins in conference play. A few upsets, taking care of business against the bottom feeders and what not, there will be plenty of opportunities to get resume building wins on a national stage. This is what I see, it would do wonders to upset either Cinci or Uconn on the road and force the national media to take a good look at SMU when going through what games they will put on national TV. All it takes is a 13-2 SMU team to make sure that UConn game gets bumped into a prime time spot in front a national crowd.

Again, yesterday's win isn't much to hang the hat on, but SMU did it's job and won a game that they probably wouldn't have or been expected to in the past. This is encouraging, continue to stock pile the wins until conference season gets here and then make some noise.

Anyways, my Bucks won yesterday and Bama lost in football, so I'm a happy camper. I hope you all enjoyed Thanksgiving and enjoyed that win over A&M yesterday. Maybe can't beat them on the football field but they got the Ace in the Hole in basketball and a bit of bragging rights now haha.

Thanks OBF for this post and all your others. I appreciate your support of our program. As we continue to improve this program, I'd love to keep TCU, aTm, and I'd really like to add Texas to the schedule. It would be good to beat these guys consistently in one sport at least (and I'm sure it would help with recruiting). I don't fear any of them in bball. But I LOVE that Larry Brown is looking PAST them (he wants to schedule KENTUCKY!). I have a feeling we'll be a little disappointed this year simply because so many of us have been in the desert for so long and we want SO MUCH for this program to be an elite one that our expectations might be a little unfair to the guys right now (well, ok, I'll just speak for myself and say MY expectations). However, I feel that (especially if we can get 1-2 more elite recruits) NEXT year will be something special and I hope we can ride that momentum for decades to come (it has already started of course but I think we'll see even more results on the court next year).

it was ugly but that will be quickly forgotten. I think stealing a win on the road at Cinn or Conn is unlikely, but i think we have a decent chance to steal a win vs Cinn, Memphis and Temple at home. we drop both games with both Lousiville and Conn IMO - but have a shot with the other 2-3 top AAC teams.

They key for this team is not to let some lesser team jump up and slap you by surprise. A&M would have been an example - they were clearly out matched in the athlete department. We take care of business below us and grab three wins somehow from our six games with Cinn, Memphis and Temple and we could be in pretty good shape.

gostangs wrote:it was ugly but that will be quickly forgotten. I think stealing a win on the road at Cinn or Conn is unlikely, but i think we have a decent chance to steal a win vs Cinn, Memphis and Temple at home. we drop both games with both Lousiville and Conn IMO - but have a shot with the other 2-3 top AAC teams.

They key for this team is not to let some lesser team jump up and slap you by surprise. A&M would have been an example - they were clearly out matched in the athlete department. We take care of business below us and grab three wins somehow from our six games with Cinn, Memphis and Temple and we could be in pretty good shape.

Exactly. Take care of business against the teams that SMU should beat. As for Cinci, I'm not overly impressed and I think SMU matches up pretty well. UConn is at home on January 4th (that's what I was referring to), I think they're a damn good squad but anything can happen. It's not like SMU doesn't have talent, just need to get the most of the talent on a given night. As for Temple, not sure how much you've been paying attention to them in the early going, but they're not a good team, it should really be a sweep this year. They got some bad losses. I forget their record, but I've seen two of the losses against Kent and Clemson and they weren't pretty.

As for ojaipony, definitely agree with your assessment of the non-conference schedule. It will need to be considerably beefed up next year because SMU should really be looking for quality wins at that point to reinforce their ranking and/or seed come Selection Sunday. It would be nice to see a couple quality programs roll through Moody in the non-conference. It's hard to get excited when Sam Houston State, McNeese St, ect are on the home non-conference slate. They're blow-out wins and generally just fillers/preseason basically. I know when OSU has a team like American at the Schott, I watch it, but it's not something fans generally care to go out of their way to see. When a team like Maryland, Duke, Kansas, ect are in the Schott for the non-conference, you can bet your butt people are pumped and want to see those games. I think you're right that it will get better next year when Brown has the "ponies" to play with some of the more elite programs.

ojaipony wrote:Thanks OBF for this post and all your others. I appreciate your support of our program. As we continue to improve this program, I'd love to keep TCU, aTm, and I'd really like to add Texas to the schedule. It would be good to beat these guys consistently in one sport at least (and I'm sure it would help with recruiting). I don't fear any of them in bball. But I LOVE that Larry Brown is looking PAST them (he wants to schedule KENTUCKY!). I have a feeling we'll be a little disappointed this year simply because so many of us have been in the desert for so long and we want SO MUCH for this program to be an elite one that our expectations might be a little unfair to the guys right now (well, ok, I'll just speak for myself and say MY expectations). However, I feel that (especially if we can get 1-2 more elite recruits) NEXT year will be something special and I hope we can ride that momentum for decades to come (it has already started of course but I think we'll see even more results on the court next year).

Well said.

Temple is 2-3 with wins over Georgia and UAB.

My take is we will be very tough at home, so I can see us pulling a good upset or two at home. We need to protect Moody big time and it will be a good season.

Three or four years ago we would have never beaten the likes of an A&M like we did the other night. We are moving forward like nothing before.

Treadway21 wrote:Temple is 2-3 with wins over Georgia and UAB.

My take is we will be very tough at home, so I can see us pulling a good upset or two at home. We need to protect Moody big time and it will be a good season.

UAB has a pretty decent team. I think Temple like us will get better as the year goes on. Fran will have them playing better imo. Only real bottom feeder might be Rutgers but we can't overlook anyone nor assume any victories in the AAC but I like our chances against certain teams like Rutgers and possibly Houston.

NavyCrimson wrote:Three or four years ago we would have never beaten the likes of an A&M like we did the other night. We are moving forward like nothing before.

I agree.

This will be a grueling season. I expect us to lose a couple of games we're not supposed to. But I also expect that we'll have a few "upset" marquis wins, too. It will be nail-biter of a year as far as making the NCAAs but we have a lot to look forward to. It's good to be optimistic and to have something positive to look forward to.

birddogger wrote:This will be a grueling season. I expect us to lose a couple of games we're not supposed to. But I also expect that we'll have a few "upset" marquis wins, too. It will be nail-biter of a year as far as making the NCAAs but we have a lot to look forward to. It's good to be optimistic and to have something positive to look forward to.

Agreed.