From the Hart

[CoxMustangFan]

On behalf of our program, I would like to thank everyone who contributed to our inaugural (half) season in the new and improved Moody Coliseum. Overall, it was a success! Of course, we are always seeking ways to get better. Please let us know if you have questions, concerns or ideas regarding your Mustang Basketball experience. We value your feedback!

We are currently in the process of determining ticket prices and donation levels for next season. It is our goal to carefully and thoughtfully balance the need to develop resources in support of our program with the financial demands on our fans. Differentiating seat types to maintain value and accessibility is an important component. We expect to have more information to share soon.

After some needed time to reflect on the events of Selection Sunday, and digesting the commentary locally, regionally and nationally, I thought I would share a few thoughts on the topic…

We accept that we could have played better in any of the nine games we lost and eliminated any doubt about our postseason destination. We are moving forward and, as Coach Brown asked of our student-athletes and coaches, we will do all we can to take advantage of this opportunity to extend our season – to finish the right way! There is one issue, however, which I feel needs to be addressed with our fans – our out-of-conference strength of schedule.

A number of factors influence our non-conference schedule. When developing the 2013-14 schedule, considerations included the make-up of our team (young, unproven), having to play our home games at several different venues (American Airlines Center, Curtis Culwell Center, Dr. Pepper Arena and Moody Coliseum), and entry into a new, more competitive conference. It is an inexact science, but we did our best to build an appropriately challenging slate of opponents.

The result was a schedule which included road or neutral court games against teams from the A-10 (Rhode Island), Mountain West (Wyoming), SEC (Arkansas, Texas A&M), Big 12 (TCU) and ACC (Virginia). These games, when coupled with our schedule in The American (SMU was picked to finish 6th in the preseason) and opponents such as NCAA perennial powers Louisville, UConn, Memphis, Cincinnati and Temple – all twice – appeared at the time to offer an appropriately challenging slate.

Looking back, I believe our schedule did appropriately challenge our team. We collected 23 wins, 12 in the conference, and were competitive in every game we played – within “striking distance” at the last media timeout of our nine losses. Our team ranked in the top-15 nationally in offensive FG% and defensive FG%. We played nine teams in the NCAA tournament field (with a 4-5 record in those games), collected four victories against ranked opponents – the most since the 1955-56 campaign, and finished tied for third in the conference.

Many droughts ended this season: we beat a ranked team at home, beat a top-10 team at home, beat a ranked team on the road, hosted seven sellouts at Moody Coliseum (including the final six games), earned a national ranking (as high as 18th and finishing at 25th/23rd), and, while we didn’t end our NCAA tournament drought this year, we are in the NIT for only the third time in school history, and the first time since 2000.

We have a chance to play up to three more games in front of our home crowd on national television. We have a chance to win our first NIT game ever. We have a chance to advance to NYC and play in The Garden. We have a chance for our two seniors – Shawn Williams and Nick Russell – to end their playing careers as champions. That is where our focus is now; and I invite you to join us for the last leg of this journey.

Tickets and info for Wednesday’s NIT matchup with UC Irvine are available here . Due to the quick turnaround time and the uncertainty surrounding game dates/times, we are only able to offer season ticket holders in premium seating areas – suites, loge, club and floor – the opportunity to purchase their same seats. All of the blue seats located above the concourse are general admission. This practice has been successfully implemented at schools such as North Carolina, Arizona State and Oklahoma and allows us to move the maximum number of tickets in a short period of time. If we learn there is a better way to allocate tickets in the future, we will modify our approach.

Again, my comments about our schedule are not aimed at the selection committee or anyone sharing the belief that our “body of work” was not deserving of a ticket to the Big Dance. We had opportunities to solidify our position. Our student-athletes, coaches and fans accomplished a lot this year; and those achievements should be celebrated.

[ponyboy]

high road

[Grant Carter]

Well done.

[ponyte]

Somebody help me. I missed the part where we are going to sue the mapnts off the NCAA and their selection committee.

[Pony ^]

I thought he explained the scheduling greatly. Such a shame the committee only looks at numbers and not situations

[CoxMustangFan]

Well done.

I agree. Since the L'ville loss at home I've tried to avoid posting very much. I'm just SO excited about the future of SMU basketball, and I've tried to focus on the very bright future. Getting into the NCAA (this year) was playing with house money (for me). I don't blame them one tiny bit for scheduling as they did. They had to create a level of excitement and that's hard to do with a 12-18 team. It came at a cost in the end. I'm personally focused on the opportunity ahead for all of us and I'm really excited to cheer on the Ponies Wednesday.

All that said, I completely understand why some would tell me to F off.

[Grant Carter]

I think we scheduled hoping to sneak into the NIT and unfortunately it worked.

[LHS81]

Well done.

I agree. Since the L'ville loss at home I've tried to avoid posting very much. I'm just SO excited about the future of SMU basketball, and I've tried to focus on the very bright future. Getting into the NCAA (this year) was playing with house money (for me). I don't blame them one tiny bit for scheduling as they did. They had to create a level of excitement and that's hard to do with a 12-18 team. It came at a cost in the end. I'm personally focused on the opportunity ahead for all of us and I'm really excited to cheer on the Ponies Wednesday.

All that said, I completely understand why some would tell me to F off.

I won't tell you to F off

[CoxMustangFan]

I won't tell you to F off

I would absoluately understand the response.

[2ndandlong]

Well done.

I agree. Since the L'ville loss at home I've tried to avoid posting very much. I'm just SO excited about the future of SMU basketball, and I've tried to focus on the very bright future. Getting into the NCAA (this year) was playing with house money (for me). I don't blame them one tiny bit for scheduling as they did. They had to create a level of excitement and that's hard to do with a 12-18 team. It came at a cost in the end. I'm personally focused on the opportunity ahead for all of us and I'm really excited to cheer on the Ponies Wednesday.

All that said, I completely understand why some would tell me to F off.

+1

[Fresno Mustang]

At first I didnt know how I felt about Hart but he has really grown on me with how accessible he is to the alumni / students. Im still interested to see how he handles football though

[Treadway21]

Good letter as far as I am concerned.

Cox. No need to apologize. I don't see where any of your comments were unfair, and most if not all was helpful in getting outside perspective from a fan of an elite program. Of course most of it was wasted on me.


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[East Coast Mustang]

At first I didnt know how I felt about Hart but he has really grown on me with how accessible he is to the alumni / students. Im still interested to see how he handles football though

I think he will do the right thing. Remember, his dad Dave is the AD at Tennessee and just recently went through a football coaching search and appears to have hit it out of the park with Butch Jones (even though he wasn't their first choice), so I'm sure he'll have some solid counsel on which candidates to interview

[The PonyGrad]

The unanswered question, but the implication is that next year the schedule will be tougher. LB said we will be playing Indiana at their place.

[hoop]

Part of Rick's column picked up and reposted on SI.com. I like his response and so did Sports Illustrated...

http://tracking.si.com/2014/03/19/smu-b ... hart-ncaa/

#BeatUCI