SMU's guard play...

[RGV Pony]

So our guard play stunk up the court last night, according to DMN. 12 of 20 t.os from Willingham, Hopkins, and Killen.

My question is this: Haven't several people on this board said it all has to do with recruiting? Remember that crap...y'know, that the good teams are good teams b/c they have four and five star players all the time? I know we usually hear it applied to football, but is it lost on anyone that...

our starting backcourt is comprised of a RIVALS FIVE STAR and a RIVALS FOUR STAR?

I can hear the replies aleady. "Two players don't make a team," etc. Truth is, 40% of the starting lineup is made up of the 4 and 5 star players. If that were to happen in football, we'd have 4 such starters. Does anyone think SMU football would be a little better with, say, a five star qb, four star wideout, five star linebacker, and four star dback?

I'd like to hear some discussion on this paradox. 11-11 with our starting backcourt being 4 and 5-star. Underperforming? Coaching? Stars don't mean anything? I think blaming the supporting cast would be the easy way out.

[Stallion]

..let's spread it around. SMU got 4 baskets in 62 minutes from the trio of Fall, the Rack and Ofuegu-plus they got significantly beat on the boards 45-37. Not only do none of them have Division 1A offensive skills this is another in a growing trend of opponents big men having career nights against SMU. The guards had a bad night-UH has some nice guards. If you were coaching against SMU do you think it would be difficult to design a defense which took SMU out of its offensive game? SMU has no down low threat. They get some production from the undersized Pearson but that's it. A lot of you guys want to talk about Falls shot blocking but this is 7-1 project who averages 4 rebounds a game-heck he ought to get 4 rebounds a game but sticking his hads in the air and waiting for the ball to hit them. SMU had a glaring need to recruit some JUCO big men this year and instead signed Epps who offers nothing different than the other 5 guards on the team. As for UH how was that team built-of the players on the Houston squad averaging at least 10 minutes per game they have 5 JUCOs, 1 college transfer and 3 High School recruits. So after yet another loss, SMU fans are treated to yet another "This is still a young basketball team" quote for about the 10th straight year. Folks its always going to be that way. We are not a very good basketball team-we are No. 248 in the Nation according to RPI. Our record against teams in the Top 200 is a pathetic 2-8.

[PK]

For the most you are right Stallion, but just for another perspective, in the games that I have seen, our big men spend a lot of time out on the high post trying to create screens. You aren't going to get many rebounds playing out there. Furthermore, it is up to the guards to get the ball into the big men in order for them to take shots...with fricking 20 TO's by our guards, the big men only got to take 10 shots of which they only made 4, but then on the other hand, our guards made 12 3-pt attemps and made only 1. So with the turnovers and poor shooting by the guards, I would say they have to carry the majority of the blame.

http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/sch ... ouston.pdf

[angryfan04]

On the other hand, maybe Bhop is not as good as all his hype. He was quoted in the DMN the other day as saying that he is handing the torch to Fall. What torch is that? He's also been quoted as saying that the guys are now getting used to his passess. Which ones? The ones around the ankles through traffic that bounce out of bounds? He's a good player but not a great one. One guy is able to guard him and essentially take him out of the game. He is quick but there a lot of othe quick guys who can guard him by themselves. His steal stat is impressive, but how many times have we seen him steal the ball only to see him throw it away as he races down court with it? He erases a bad steal with a bad decision. Would he really have been rated as high as he was coming out of high had he not played with Bosh? Don't get me wrong; I would love to Bhop live up the hype and be the senior that carries the team at crunch time - but it does not seem to be in the cards for him. The only thing you might lay on the coach is possibly using his guards (Bhop, Roberts, Killen, Willingham) to put more pressure on the ball - some traps either half court or full court and set up players like Pearson to pick off errant passes. I know we don't have a deep bench to play like this a lot - but how about just doing it every once in a while or just pushing the guys the edge.

[Stallion]

Its too bad so many of you were under the illusion that Hopkins could carry this team to the post season. We ain't even close-never were-wake up and deal with reality. We are in 11th place in the 15th best conference in America. Our "winning record" is padded by some of the worst basketball teams in America.

[Sam I Am]

The honeymoon ended last year and Tubbs is now in the long haul. He was supposed to recruit the metroplex talent that would save the program. Where is it? The team is weaker this year than last year, not a good sign for the future.

[GrapevineMustang]

He graduated three good seniors last year in Castro, Simpson and Isham, and he brought in Bamba Fall, who shows great promise, Brian Morris, who has shown some very good signs and is now hurt, and Matt Williams, who has been hurt all year. Even if they were healthy, they're still freshmen. Anyone watching the program knew the season was one of question marks, because we didn't know what we had aside from Hop, and he missed the first part of the season. I didn't expect a better record than last year, and I don't think a lot of folks did. But I'm encouraged by the promise of Fall and Morris, and Killen has come along recently. Still waiting on consisitency from Willingham, and of course Darrell Arthur next year .

[SoCal_Pony]

He graduated three good seniors last year in Castro, Simpson and Isham,

Good is a Funny Word GV.

By SMU standards, I agree that Castro and Simpson were good...(Isham, not as certain).

Problem is these 3 'Good' players, along with arguably our best player over the past 20 years, Q, and another really good player in BHop, were never able to compete for a lowly WAC conference championship, let alone win one.

Point is we have set a pretty low standard around here for far too long.