Houston at SMU on Ch. 21

[03Mustang]

I was impressed with Dia tonight. This year isn't going to be much fun, but I think these freshmen, particularly Dia, Malone, and Walker, could be big time players for us down the line.

We just can't hit threes like Houston, and they are obviously a much more experienced team....we'll get there.

[Pony_Fan]

Dia is nice. If Houston had any kind of low post game, they could be really good. Did the old UT teams play like that? I don't remember. It's silly they just look for a 3 any chance they can.

[Pony_Fan]

I'll just fill in for Stallion tonight. Can't compete with this:

3 Div 1 transfers
5 Junior College players

[Stallion]

some of those JUCOs are Div. 1A Throwbacks:

Cousin Seton Hall
Lewis Auburn
Dowell UT
McKiver Providence
Malone DePaul

69 Points and 25 Rebounds from those 5 players and we haven't even mentioned the true JUCOs and Prep School kids yet-if you can really call these schools prep schools. Just about the only guy on their team that doesn't come from an "alternative" source is the freshman Brokeith Payne from Dallas

[Pony_Fan]

excuse me - but they did come from Juco's before Houston. sorry..that is my whole point - which you love to point out after every loss.

[tristatecoog]

Isn't SMU getting a GaTech "throwback"? Any others? Penders went hard after JUCOs and has lately taken more high school players like Brockeith Pane from the Dallas area. It's fun watching Fall and Dia and yeah, Harp played well...at least at times.

I've brought a Hawaii grad to three games at Moody over the last couple years and he always laments the lack of atmosphere. Being a UH grad, I explain that it's tough in big cities. I'll bring him back for the Memphis game and maybe UTEP.

I thought SMU could have made a bigger deal about JJ and given him a better sound setup during halftime instead of the first 12 min timeout.

I thought it was a pretty decent crowd and it's always good to see Gerald Turner at the games. Who was sitting next to JJ?

[tristatecoog]

13 on the roster:

6 direct from high school
4 JUCO transfers
3 direct from Div I programs (UT, Auburn (coach's kid) and Seton Hall)

7 of the 13 played in Texas; two of which went to San Jac from out of state

Penders recruits nationally

[Stallion]

11 Points and 4 Rebounds from traditional freshman recruits- 9 by freshman Brokeith Payne

88 Points and 44 Rebounds from "non-traditional" recruits

Hey I have no problem with non-traditional recruits as long as they are legitimate-just trying to keep it "real"

[PonyDoh]

11 Points and 4 Rebounds from traditional freshman recruits- 9 by freshman Brokeith Payne

88 Points and 44 Rebounds from "non-traditional" recruits

Hey I have no problem with non-traditional recruits as long as they are legitimate-just trying to keep it "real"

Stallion, how many Top 20 teams year in, year out, prominently feature Jucos? The answer is not that many. SMU currently features a few non-traditional recruits as well. Dia/Walker are South Kent kids and Rhodes/Fall did their time at Zion/Oak hill respectively. Zion is a diploma mill and Oak Hill isn't much better.

The juco model holds for football, but its whack for hoops. JUCO ball has never been less influential, on a national level, than it is right now

[Stallion]

Almost all Division 1A Basketball teams in the country prominently feature non-traditional recruits of all kinds-don't bother to cite the institutions that don't have to-I know them just as well as you do-but the percentage of programs going after non-traditional recruits is overwhelming. And if you dug deep enough you'd find that even some of those hallowed programs take their own types of shortcuts. I can tell you that in this part of the country Tech, Baylor, Tulsa, TCU, UT, UH, A&M, UTEP, North Texas, UTA, OU, OSU all take these kids which is almost 100%. So dig out those rosters and take a closer look before arriving at your conclusions.

[PonyDoh]

Almost all Division 1A Basketball teams in the country prominently feature non-traditional recruits of all kinds-don't bother to cite the institutions that don't have to-I know them just as well as you do-but the percentage of programs going after non-traditional recruits is overwhelming. And if you dug deep enough you'd find that even some of those hallowed programs take their own types of shortcuts. I can tell you that in this part of the country Tech, Baylor, Tulsa, TCU, UT, UH, A&M, UTEP, North Texas, UTA, OU, OSU all take these kids which is almost 100%. So dig out those rosters and take a closer look before arriving at your conclusions.

by non-traditional you mean PGs & JUCOs. You are right that most don't view PGs any differently then a traditional HS senior, but JUCOs are a different matter. Pretty much the only teams w/ 2 JUCOs or more, are state factories w/poor academic reps, or academically irrelevant commuter institutions. SMU doesn't fit into those categories.

I'll buy that JUCO hoops is a bigger deal in the SW than the rest of the country, but to say high end teams are loading up nationwide is a fallacy. They are stop-gap and not the backbone of Top 20 programs.

[TheJumpShooter]

11 Points and 4 Rebounds from traditional freshman recruits- 9 by freshman Brokeith Payne

88 Points and 44 Rebounds from "non-traditional" recruits

Hey I have no problem with non-traditional recruits as long as they are legitimate-just trying to keep it "real"

Stallion, how many Top 20 teams year in, year out, prominently feature Jucos? The answer is not that many. SMU currently features a few non-traditional recruits as well. Dia/Walker are South Kent kids and Rhodes/Fall did their time at Zion/Oak hill respectively. Zion is a diploma mill and Oak Hill isn't much better.

The juco model holds for football, but its whack for hoops. JUCO ball has never been less influential, on a national level, than it is right now

Doh ,you about juco relevance being less now than prep schools and are right about Top 20 teams for the most part but SMU isn't anywhere near top 20 in men's basketball. Let's be real here, CUSA is hoops is a mid-major league with Memphis sticking out like a sore thumb. Plenty of mid-majors recruit jucos and if the model wasn't a hinderance, SMU would and should also.

I'm not saying build your program around jukes, just get one or two in a seven man class that can help right away. It balances out your roster and gets you some immediate help.

I know it wouldn't be the difference in a seven-win campaign and making the NCAAs but a coach heading into year three is gonna lose a ton of the recruiting momentum with recruits when he wins 13 games in year one (against one of the worst schedules in the nation) and goes for seven in year two (against another terrible schedule).

Doh dumbed down the schedule last year to win 15 or 16 games to create some momentum. He's playing the dregs of DI college basketball this year for the same reason.

I wish some folks would take off the glasses and realize this hoops program is not on the right track right now. Doh has done some nice things away from the court. There are a couple of players in place, but this thing has a long, long, long way to go.