SMU ALLTIME STARTING 5

[Charleston Pony]

He will never be mentioned. He will not even be recognized. But my favorite Mustang MBB (and note, I had a MBB player roommate), is Reggie Franklin. He was our 6'4" center. And he played like David Thompson at NCSU.

He was the best I ever saw in a Mustang uniform. Not because he was the biggest, fastest, quickest or with unreal athletic skills. It was because he was our center 6'4" and played big against players a half foot or greater taller then Reggie. And a nicer guy never played at SMU in any sport. A great player and a great human being.

He player hard, tough and competitive in a position he clearly was too undersized to play. But he played big and hard and smart.

Reggie was a classic undersized big man who played much bigger than his actual height. Guy could jump out of the gym. Will always remember his tip in at the buzzer to beat Houston.

[SMULaxer]

No offense to all you olds out there, but any of today's players would humiliate those old timers back in their prime. Put last year's Yanick back in the sixties and he is player of the year. With better technology, better training and sports medicine, improvements to the game itself....if the top five doesn't come from the last 5-10 years its probably nostalgia.

[mrydel]

Wrong. So wrong. Gene Phillips would out shoot most of today's players. The basket was the same height, court the same size. I cannot speak for the others I did not watch personally, but aside from SMU, look at Pete Maravich. He would be scoring 50 a night today just like he did in his day. I bet Bill Russell would argue your point. I am glad we did not have Wilt Chamberlain in our conference. Believe it or not your generation does not have a monopoly on good players.

[LA_Mustang]

mrydel, ignore that garbage. The brotastic, D--bag generation is the best at everything.

[mrydel]

I may be wrong on Russell and Chamberlain competing today. After all, Russell is 82 and Chamberlain is dead. They may be limited due to today's technology.

[Arkpony]

Jim Krebs hook shot would still be deadly today. He went toe to toe with Chamberlain (I was there!) and outplayed him!

[LA_Mustang]

Ha! Just like if the best starting 5 in today's game (last 5-10 years) played Magic, Jordan, Bird, Malone and Olajuwon in their prime. I'm sure the younger guys would run them out of the gym....

[Charleston Pony]

I cannot imagine how many points Gene Phillips would have scored if he had a 3 point shot when he played. The guy had incredible range and also had moves that allowed him to score in the paint against much taller guys.

[Treadway21]

Butch Moore may not get into the starting 5 but he was as clutch as anyone who wore the SMU uniform. As good as Nic. Anyone who saw Butch play can attest to his greatness.

[Boston Pony]

All supposition however in doing a ranking, you've got to place the player's ability, size & skill against those they played at the time. Basketball has changed over the years (3 point lines, dunking, and diversity) so it's tough to put all on the same table for comparison. Gene Phillips & Jim Krebs were tremendous during their time and competition thus should be on any all-time team, however it's real difficult to compare to playing in today's game as is putting Ben Moore in Converse All-Stars (how did we play in those?). Enjoy the discussion.

[SoCal_Pony]

From my perspective, and I've seen them all since the late '60's, you put Gene Phillips & IT on any list.

Krebs, Phillips & IT are the history of SMU BB pre-Koncak era. Phillips was a 3-time SWC player of the year, how do you top that?

My team:

IT, Krebs, Phillips, Quinton Ross and Nic.

MK, Larry Davis, Konack, Sasser & Kato come off my bench.

[MustangStealth]

yahoo is doing a series on alltime starting 5 at blue bood programs
why shouldnt we do one for our team.
since i was aware of SMU since 2001
i will pick from them only.

Nic moore
yannik moreria
bryan hopkins/damon hancock
Quinton ross
patrick simpson

Ok, that one can't be serious. I don't care when you started.

[LA_Mustang]

Ok, that one can't be serious. I don't care when you started.

Why not? Damon was a really good player for us. He averaged 17 pts a game his Jr year and 22 pts a game his Sr year (second leading scorer in the WAC). I believe he was first team all-WAC his senior year.

[PoconoPony]

yahoo is doing a series on alltime starting 5 at blue bood programs
why shouldnt we do one for our team.
since i was aware of SMU since 2001
i will pick from them only.

Nic moore
yannik moreria
bryan hopkins/damon hancock
Quinton ross
patrick simpson

Come On

Jim Krebs
Ira Terrell
Gene Phillips
Jon Koncak
Nic Moore

Final Answer

I would agree with Krebs at the 5, Ira at the 4, Phillips at either the 2/3 and Nic as the point, leaving another 2/3 position which would really be a tough call. Koncak would probably be 2nd team at the 5. I like Butch Moore as 2nd team PG behind Nic, but Kato and even Billy Allen deserve consideration. BHop might qualify as a 2 guard, but Q Ross and Sasser might fit as 2/3 guys. Charlie Beasley was a pretty good 2 guard, Carl Wright was a 2/3 guy, Dave Phieler was a "lights out" 2 guy as I recall. I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting. I just wouldn't put two 5s in my all-time starting 5.

Yes, Charlie Beasley a great shooter particularly from the corner with what would be a 3 today. Great eye sight whose passing skills were extraordinary. Played in the ABA for Dallas in Moody.

[MustangStealth]

Ok, that one can't be serious. I don't care when you started.

Why not? Damon was a really good player for us. He averaged 17 pts a game his Jr year and 22 pts a game his Sr year (second leading scorer in the WAC). I believe he was first team all-WAC his senior year.

He was all-WAC his senior year, and yeah he had a good senior year. But not even close to an all time great, even taking out players before 2001. He was not a good 3pt shooter (33%), not a very good FT shooter (69%), not a great distributor for someone who was playing at the point (2.5 APG), not a great defender (0.8 SPG, 4 career blocks). He was a good player, not great, and basically one dimensional as a guy who could cut to the basket and score.

Give me anybody on the current team.