I Was Afraid of This

[Original Frank]

As stated in a previous post, I was afraid that SMU eeking-out a win or two down the stretch would dilute the necessity of a coaching change. You see, a coach is not judged good or bad based upon results from game to game or from time-out to time-out; he is judged good or bad based upon his overall coaching schemes, his organization, his ability to adapt during the game, his ability to bring out the best in his team for a whole season, his ability to exploit his competitive advantages and camoflage his competitive disadvantages, and his ability to manage a roster and a game clock. Dement is the same coach whether he is losing to Rice by 40 or beating Nevada in OT. In both situations, he displayed his inabilities regardless of the result of the individual game.

Don't let the trees cloud your view of the forest. Dement has had his chance, he has lost every team at some point during the season, teams that had more talent and were picked to win the WAC before the WAC breakup (the Sasser years)always underachieved, and his on-court coaching ability is horrendous. Again, no one out there can tell us what SMU is trying to do offensively other than throw it around the perimeter and hope not to turn it over before one of our 35% shooters throws one up. We have no offensive flow, we have no continuity, we have no organized scheme. Just like the Sasser or Hancock years, SMU's offense is usually one-on-five as indicated by a team that is near the league leader in turnovers and is near last in assists.

Does anyone think that Bhop has the ability to be so much more with quality coaching? Does anyone else think he is underutilized as a 30%-35% shooter with 7 TOs and 4 assists a game?

My point is this: What you have seen with Dement for nine years is exactly what you will see with Dement. I grant everyone that he is a good guy and he has had an unlevel recruiting field. Clearly, recruiting and enrollment standards should also be examined so as to offer all of SMU's coaches the chance to be competitive. Even so, Dement remanins a poor coach and he should be replaced this year so as to offer SMU the opportunity to start anew and try to inject some enthusiasm back into what has become a very stale program.

And spare me with the constant attendance whining! Truthfully, why would one not of the "loyal 1500" bother to come watch this unorganized mahem and yearly collapse? Attendance comes with success and Dement has never had the abilty to achieve any real success. Just like in football, let's win a few games in a row, let's actually be in contention for a league title in the last 1/3 of the season, let's play a meaningful game down the stretch, and only then let's complain about attendance. In this entire generation we've never been there so who really knows about SMU's ability to attract good attendance!

With regard to replacing the bball coach and with all due respect to all involved, what's to lose in trying?

[OldPony]

Original- I think most agree that Dement must go because things aren't getting better and this team quit for about 4 games. He does seem to have them back but the lack of effort through that stretch cost him his job. When you say that he can't coach, you ignore his history. He will get fired. He will be back to kick our butts. He will go somewhere that supports basketball. We haven't supported good teams in the past so why think we will in the future even if we win. The SWC masked our lack of support by selling to the enemy. When SMU had no professional teams to contend with and was winning the SWC most every year in the late 60's, there were about 3-4000 SMU fans. Never any more. Yes - we had games where we sold 8000 but 4000 were the other teams fans. No matter who is the coach and no matter if they go to the tourney every year, we won't sell out Moody. In order to do that, we have to win National Championships or at least be final four material. That is a fact of life and one of the reasons that this is a very undesirable coaching job. If we could hire Coach K, then maybe we could turn this around quickly. I don't think he or Roy are coming. Duke found Coach K when he was relatively unknown though and that is our only hope. How good are those chances? Better than not taking a chance but they are very slim.

[Hoop Fan]

I believe its time for a change, but I also think Dement will go do fine someplace else, maybe very well. As for BHop, the guy is not a 30-35% shooter. Lets not let facts get in the way of making a point about everybodys favorite whipping boy, BHop. The stats through the Fresno game show Hopkins shooting 42.5% overall from the field. Thats not too bad for a guard. If you break it down, he is shooting 47% from two point range and 38% from 3 point range. Neither are bad at all. He has taken 250 shots and generated 261 points. Thats a pretty good ratio if you think about it.

[EastStang]

I suspect there will be a buyout at the end of the year, since he has one more year on his contract. With no extension probable, he would be seriously handicapped recruiting next year. I think you'll see a new coach this summer.

[Hoop Fan]

I've stated my opinion. But we all might be surprised. I'm not so sure this is a foregone conclusion at all.