PonyFans.com

Here are a few thoughts about Patrick Simpson.

1. I was really pleased with Simpson last season until he hit the freshman wall. That wall was still up for about the first 10 games this season, but now he has broken though and is contributing well. I really like seeing him contributing. His evolution has been almost as important as Bhop's in making us a better team as the season progresses.

2. That being said, I feel like Simpson could be an even better player for us if he would stop getting himself into foul trouble. It seems like we see a lot of lines for him like last night's: 14 points, 9 boards, only 25 or 26 minutes because of foul trouble. If he could stay out of foul trouble and play a consistant 30+ minutes a game, I would be pleased.

3. Simpson's shot blocking has been one of the few defensive bright spots this year.

4. At the risk of revealing my age, does anyone else think Simpson is a dead ringer for that old boxer, Thomas "Hitman" Hearns? At the risk of REALLY showing my age, I'm talking about the 1984-1985 version of Hearns, when he fought Roberto Duran and Marvin Hagler, not the 1981 version who fought Sugar Ray. If Simpson grew out the afro some, I swear he would be Hearns II.

The Simpson/Hearns similarity is there, I guess, but it's a little thin....

To his credit, he got two fouls last night on perfect, clean blocks.

And, as Castro said after the game, we're leading the league (his claim, not mine - I don't know), but then he quoted Coach Dement as saying blocks are the last line of defense. If the defense was playing as it should, there wouldn't be a need for so many blocks. Our perimeter defense has to get better. Especially on 3s!

OP saw Simpson in HS in Denver. He was outstanding and we knew then would be a very good player at SMU. He is still improving and will get bigger with some hard work. He comes from a very nice family and should continue be a credit to SMU in every way. CU is still upset that he signed with SMU (partially because of his brother and his parent's ties to Texas) and a lot of credit goes to Dement too.