Offseason Memo

[Digetydog]

Ryan needs to find 3 spots on the court that he has confidence in shooting-wise. 2 spots outside the arc and somewhere around the elbows. Hoist up 100 shots per day from those 3 spots…………...

Exactly! He doesn't need to be a great shooter. He just needs some outside shots that will keep defenders honest.

[The PonyGrad]

Next year:
#1 NMoore/EMudiay (basically 100% of the time)
#2 NMoore/EMudiay/Manuel (Frazier/SBrown/Head/Recruit if not Turner/JMudiay to play some with this brother)
#3 SBrown/Frazier/Head (#4s in tall lineup)
#4 BMoore/Tolbert (#5s in tall lineup, definitely Kennedy/Cunningham)
#5 Turner if he comes to SMU/Kennedy/Cunningham/Moreira

[Zman89]

Good list. I think everyone needs to work on their outside jumper (Sterling, Nic, Eman and KF). Eman is going to draw so much attention that outside jumpers are going to be there all game. There's a reason UK fans are pulling their hair out because they didn't get Mudiay. Every school in the country would love to have a PG who draws that much defensive attention.

Nic's outside jumper is fine. Defense should be worked on.

[LA_Mustang]

His jumper is fine but my point is with Eman's ability to penetrate, Nic, KF and Sterling are going to get a lot of open looks next season. I hope all the guys work on their outside shot during the summer. btw, considering the pressure Nic was under with his shots, he shot incredibly well. Almost every outside jumper he took was contested.

Regardless, with Nic and Eman we will have one of the best backcourts in the country.

[jimhagle]

Eman is already an amazing dribbler.

[PonyKris89]

Team needs to learn how to cash in on Live ball turnovers, those should almost always result in points. SMU gave away easily 5-10 points per game this year by not executing their odd man rushes.(sorry for the hockey term)

They need to spend many hours on 3 on 2 drills. Good, athletic players love using their athleticism and talent on the break. No excuse for SMU to suck at this next season. Mudiay will help dramatically, but need our wing guys to fill their lanes and attack!

Teams with talent have zero trouble scoring on the fast break off of live ball turnovers. Improvement in this area alone could vault SMU deep into the NCAA tourney.

[StandUp]

Don't get me wrong I am extremely proud of this year's team, but our team definitely has a lot to work on this summer...

We need more "go to" options on offense. Nic Moore, Markus Kennedy and who? We need to get to the basket more often. Show the ball, shoot, pass or drive to the basket. Frazier and Sterling showed signs. Mudiay will definitely bring a new dimension to our offense. Someone who will not be afraid to get to the basket. We need our guys to really work on their ball handling (insert joke here)... Keith Frazier, Sterling Brown, Ben Moore, Ryan Manuel.

On defense we really need to defend the three a lot better. We played good team defense, and rebounded well on both ends, but teams really lit us up from behind the arc (Louisville, Houston, UC Irvine, Temple, Minnesota). On a different note, we need to play with more urgency throughout the game, not just playing 5 minutes here or one half there. The games we lost, we lost because we beat ourselves, not because the other teams were necessarily better than us (Maybe with the exception of Louisville). Our guys really need to value the ball more and play better in transition. There is no excuse for blowing a 3 on 2 fast break. opportunities.

[The PonyGrad]

Don't get me wrong I am extremely proud of this year's team, but our team definitely has a lot to work on this summer...

We need more "go to" options on offense. Nic Moore, Markus Kennedy and who? We need to get to the basket more often. Show the ball, shoot, pass or drive to the basket. Frazier and Sterling showed signs. Mudiay will definitely bring a new dimension to our offense. Someone who will not be afraid to get to the basket. We need our guys to really work on their ball handling (insert joke here)... Keith Frazier, Sterling Moore, Ben Moore, Ryan Manuel.

On defense we really need to defend the three a lot better. We played good team defense, and rebounded well on both ends, but teams really lit us up from behind the arc (Louisville, Houston, UC Irvine, Minnesota). On a different note, we need to play with more urgency throughout the game, not just playing 5 minutes here or one half there. The games we lost, we lost because we beat ourselves, not because the other teams were necessarily better than us (Maybe with the exception of Louisville). Our guys really need to value the ball more and play better in transition. There is no excuse for blowing a 3 on 2 fast break. opportunities.

Sterling Moore != Sterling Brown or Nic Moore or Ben Moore

[blackoutpony]

Don't get me wrong I am extremely proud of this year's team, but our team definitely has a lot to work on this summer...

We need more "go to" options on offense. Nic Moore, Markus Kennedy and who? We need to get to the basket more often. Show the ball, shoot, pass or drive to the basket. Frazier and Sterling showed signs. Mudiay will definitely bring a new dimension to our offense. Someone who will not be afraid to get to the basket. We need our guys to really work on their ball handling (insert joke here)... Keith Frazier, Sterling Moore, Ben Moore, Ryan Manuel.

On defense we really need to defend the three a lot better. We played good team defense, and rebounded well on both ends, but teams really lit us up from behind the arc (Louisville, Houston, UC Irvine, Minnesota). On a different note, we need to play with more urgency throughout the game, not just playing 5 minutes here or one half there. The games we lost, we lost because we beat ourselves, not because the other teams were necessarily better than us (Maybe with the exception of Louisville). Our guys really need to value the ball more and play better in transition. There is no excuse for blowing a 3 on 2 fast break. opportunities.

Sterling Moore != Sterling Brown or Nic Moore or Ben Moore

I guess sterling moore would technically have eligibility left if he were to join the bball team

[ojaipony]

The games we lost, we lost because we beat ourselves, not because the other teams were necessarily better than us (Maybe with the exception of Louisville).

This I actually agree with . . . somewhat. I think the away games at Cincy and Memphis we were not the better team on those days. With the exception of those 2 games and the Louisville games, we were the better team on the floor (maybe throw in the Houston tourney game as well - they just looked better than us in that game).

Of course, one could argue that anytime you lose, you ARE the lesser team on that day but we really beat ourselves clearly against Minnesota, USF, and Temple. The Arky game was one of those fluke games where the other team just goes off (is "acceptable" once a season) and the UVA game was a toss up really. I can't think of any other losses where we just got flat out whipped by an obviously better team. Biggest loss was 13 points to a Pitino coached Louisville team (honestly, I think "pitino" has LB's number for whatever reason - some coaches just have them . . . sounds stupid, I know, but I've seen it happen enough times).

[StandUp]

Obviously meant Sterling Brown, not Sterling Moore. Completely agree that we were definitely not the better team at Cinci. We lost that game to the better team that day.

[EastStang]

Bulking up comes with some risk of injury and loss of touch on shots. That said, we could have some folks put on a few pounds. My main point is free throws. They have to do better on that. There were some games that if we had hit more free throws, we would have easily won those games and made it a scarier endeavor to foul us late in the game. Otherwise, everyone should have an outside spot that they own 15-21 feet out. That beats any zone any time. Mine was the right corner jumper. 80% from there. Anywhere else, it was an adventure. With Mudiay coming, you're basically moving Nick to 2 since Mudiay is a pure point guard.

[friarwolf]

The games we lost, we lost because we beat ourselves, not because the other teams were necessarily better than us (Maybe with the exception of Louisville).

This I actually agree with . . . somewhat. I think the away games at Cincy and Memphis we were not the better team on those days. With the exception of those 2 games and the Louisville games, we were the better team on the floor (maybe throw in the Houston tourney game as well - they just looked better than us in that game).

Of course, one could argue that anytime you lose, you ARE the lesser team on that day but we really beat ourselves clearly against Minnesota, USF, and Temple. The Arky game was one of those fluke games where the other team just goes off (is "acceptable" once a season) and the UVA game was a toss up really. I can't think of any other losses where we just got flat out whipped by an obviously better team. Biggest loss was 13 points to a Pitino coached Louisville team (honestly, I think "pitino" has LB's number for whatever reason - some coaches just have them . . . sounds stupid, I know, but I've seen it happen enough times).

I don't think Pitino has Brown's number. He had much better guards............

[LA_Mustang]

Russ Smith played out of his mind against us. And Jones was almost as good.

[StandUp]

Too bad we did not have E-man this season. I believe Russ Smith graduates this season. Would have been really fun to watch E-man go against Russ Smith. Russ Smith is definitely a special talent. That guy, regardless of his size, took over games. That guy could drain the deep 3 and get to the rim at will. Probably one of the most confident players I have seen in the past few years. Russ could take over games.

A guy who can take over games is definitely something our team needs. We had guys who would get hot, but no one who we could say really took over games. Hopefully that guy is E-man. No doubt Nic Moore is good, but we need a "go to" guy. Someone who can take over games.