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I need for Coach Tubbs to get it all together and assure our Ponies of a spot in the NCAA Tourney in 2008. North Little Rock was awarded a first round site for the Tourney in 2008. Of course I expect us to be in the final 64 before then, but would like to be good enough that a seed in this section of the country would be warranted. Just a dream right now but no reason this one could not come true. I would love to have the Ponies here for a game or two.

I'd make that roadtrip. The catch would be whether the NCAA would send us there, or to Boise/Orlando/Boston or some other place that almost no PonyFans could get to on short notice....

I am a lot more optomistic about SMU BB than FB having post-seaosn games in 2008, and maybe before.

If Dement was the problem, we should be in the tourney next year. 3 senior 3-4 year starters and a 3 year junior returning. We'll see if it is material or coaching this year. There are no excuses for b'ball. Football is 0one big excuse

Interesting, OP, that you were ready to give Dement a little bit more time in perpetuity to bring his vaunted recruiting classes to their full potential. Fortunatley Coach Tubbs may be able to make some significant improvements in his first year and if that leads us to the tourney, so much the better. Go Ponies!

Anyone know what Coach Dement is up to? Sitting on his last year of contract would not be his style unless there is a clause that if he accepts employment elsewhere, he loses the payout.

Vaunted recruiting classes? I don't remember saying that. I remember saying that Simpson and BHop were the ONLY top 100 type recruits and that Simpson was probably closer to 150. Many others on this board exalted the material and said it was Dement's coaching that was the holdback to this team making the playoffs last year. This certainly is not a young team by anyone's standards. There is more PT among the starters this year than we will see for quite sometime. If we don't win this year, the excuses next year will be how young we are. That will last for 2-3 years then some will start calling for JT's job. I will not be among them. I didn't think Dement was a bad coach although I do think he lost the team last year. We'll see if it was Dement or maybe some spoiled players. If JT has the same problem, we'll pretty much know. The cupbaord left by Dement is certainly in better shape than the one he inherited. I truly don't know how JT will do. I'm hoping he will do really well and I am holding him to the same standards that I held Dement. There is no grace period just for being new. On a different plateau, how patient do you think KU would be with Self even though he had just lost 2 lottery choices. SMU's team for 04-05 is the best we have had in some time from an experience and talent standpoint-probably only exceeded by Sasser's junior or senior year. A .500 record against the competition we play won't show that a coaching change helped. Let's all hope for at least 18 wins.