Historical RPI 1999-2006

[Stallion]

I get a kick out of some of you who claim Mike Dement was so incompetent without recognizing that he had this program competing at the highest level any revenue sport has since the DP. Check out the historical SMU RPI from 1999-2006 at www.kenpom,com

1999-110 (DEMENT)
2000-49
2001-98
2002-114
2003-123
2004-170
2005-148 (TUBBS)
2006-268

I supported Tubbs when he got the job-still do but I find it incredible that so many of you have such a harsh view toward Dement when had this program competitive under very difficult circumstances.

[abezontar]

I think you are forgetting that Tubbs got us all of our good recruits during Dement's tenure, so really all the good RPIs are because of Tubbs, and then when Tubbs left, we went downhill, and now Tubbs is having to build up the recruiting depth again....(tongue most definitely in cheek)

[Stallion]

No Tubbs does deserve some of the credit-that's why I thought he deserved the job-but so does the head man. I just think Mike Dement is a lot better coach than he given credit for. This ain't an easy job. I think Dement was almost always beaten by teams whose administration actually made a commitment to the program.

[PonySnob]

We certainly seemed to be much competitive during the early years in the WAC than we have been the last 4 years or so.

[MFFL02]

I remember when under Tubbs we almost knocked off Utah with Keith Van Horn. I think they were number 2 in the country. I can't see SMU now competiting with such a team.

[MustangIcon]

Dement had consistently good teams for a decent strecth while he was here. What killed him was the team completely quit on him in his last season. While I thought Dement was good and kept us a very competitive team, I did not think he would ever take us to the next level of being a regular in the NCAA Tourney. My problem all along with the Tubbs hire was that while I thought he would be a good coach, I did not see him as the guy to take us to that next level. I figured we pretty much made a laterall move for the sake of making a move. To this point Tubbs has proven me wrong. We have in fact taken a step backwards. I really hope to see us make some strides in Tubbs tenure here.

Question for you staunch Tubbs supporters (hello Hoopfan). Say Tubbs does in fact get his 5th season so he can receive his full opportunity to coach "his" players and have his first true recruiting class of this years freshman with him all the way till they are seniors. In that time he never takes us even to an NIT tourneybut has about a .500 record while at SMU. What would you want SMU to do? Give him more time or move on to a new coaching situation. Just curious to hear ya'lls thoughts on that hypothetical scenario.

[EastStang]

Clearly, something happened in the year before they fired Dement. The team quit on him, or they just weren't very good. Either way, it was time to give him a change of scenery. Tubbs won the job over other qualified candidates. Some withdrew their names. But he won the job. Now its a matter of seeing if he can perform. So far the jury is out. With Bennett as we saw, it appeared to be a matter of letting his recruits mature and grow. Let's see what happens with Tubbs' recruits. If he doesn't reel in a big fish in four years, then we need to reassess the situation. Perhaps we need to follow the George Mason model in which we grow a team over four years and once every four years we go dancing. Even that would be a welcome change.

[jtstang]

Stallion makes some good points about Dement, he really wasn't that bad a coach as coaches go. However, speaking as an acknowledged Tubbs apologist, I was ready to see Dement go after his run here. The biggest problem with Dement, as I saw it, and this was even with his better teams, was he never seemed to be able to coach defense. I think Tubbs can and like him better for that reason alone. I mean as bad as we've looked at times this year, I think we still have played better on defense than in recent years. Now if you look solely at RPI to rank coaches, those number speak for themselves....

[Pony_Fan]

I had trouble with the late season losses every year against San Jose State and everyone else. He only played the 1-3-1 defense and every year there was a career high for an opponent...without fail. They jacked up three's all the time at Moody with no defenders in their face. Most of the offense was 1 on 1 dribbling (ie Hanc*ck) - I just think he could have been more creative on offense and defense with the kids he had at the time (not saying it was All WORLD 4-5* talent during '99-00) but it was a TON better than the last couple of years. It's almost like the offense was just playing pick up at Moody sometimes.

He was ok based on what he was going against and yes could have made strides had SMU helped him with admissions/recruiting. Ross and Sasser seem like a helluva a pickup now don't they?

He did write me an email once saying he lost control of Sasser after his freshman year.

Looks like a typical late season collapse - looks to me like he only has 1 or 2 Juco's this year.

http://www.uncgspartans.com/SportSelect ... PSID=28552

[KnuckleStang]

I agree with JT in that I never felt Dement could coach defense that well, particularly perimeter defense. Other than that, not a bad coach.

It's amazing to think that his 2004 team was able to beat Texas Tech and No. 17 Purdue before quitting on him and costing him his job. Things can sure go south quickly at SMU.

[Waz]

You might notice that after raising the RPI, Dement thought better of it as the record started to dwindle and the RPI was trending long before Tubbs took over. We don't need to be playing a strong RPI until we become a stronger team. Chicken/egg? This program needs wins and at this stage, the RPI of those wins is secondary.

Went onto the UNC-G link and some things don't seem to change. 8-3 start, currently 11-18. Giving up 39% on 3pt shots, 1.25 TO's to 1 assist

[Blunt Pony]

You might notice that after raising the RPI, Dement thought better of it as the record started to dwindle and the RPI was trending long before Tubbs took over. We don't need to be playing a strong RPI until we become a stronger team. Chicken/egg? This program needs wins and at this stage, the RPI of those wins is secondary.

Went onto the UNC-G link and some things don't seem to change. 8-3 start, currently 11-18. Giving up 39% on 3pt shots, 1.25 TO's to 1 assist

How strong was our RPI this year? Our wonderful non conference schedule was filled with the "who's that" of college basketball and look where that got us. If we are able to find a weaker RPI than we played this year, then go ahead and cancel my season tickets.

[Stallion]

....can I interest you in about $150 some odd package for a family of 4 to the Sam Houston State or Arkansas State Football games coming up?

[SoCal_Pony]

Well that will be a real challenge for our new AD...how he responds will be very telling...if he takes any steps at all.

BTW, If history is any indicator, we have a real tendency to play down to our competition. I loss to one of these teams wouldn’t surprise me in the least.

[Stallion]

BTW for accuracy sake when I first posted our RPI I had it at 268. Then when I checked it later in the day we were at 191 so I changed it. Now I see today we are back at 268 which I believe to be correct. Must have been a computer glitch or something. If 268 is wrong its not because I haven't tried to get it right.