thoughts

[LA_Mustang]

The most frustrating thing about tonight's game is that Lewis (North Crowley) and Pane (Carter) from our own backyard are what we desperately need - a guard who can create and knock down a perimeter jumper.

We are a BAD team, but there are a couple of positives:

Dia has big-time college basketball skill. He plays at a different level than his teammates. He has an edge about him, and I like that. I hope we can keep him happy, and at SMU.

Fall continues to improve. He simply has the length and size that most don’t in college basketball. He has developed a decent shot around the bucket and his improvement at the free throw line is very impressive. I wish he would have red-shirted his freshman year because two more years of Fall and Dia in the frontcourt would have been fun to watch.

I just beg Coach Doherty to please find us a backcourt player who can create and score the basketball.

[Hoop Fan]

We were never in the game, not for one second. Dia was our only bright spot. Fall played ok. Some things can be attributed to freshmen inexperience such as not being able to win close games, defensive lapses, and taking ill advised shots at times. Those are things freshman do and are totally understandable. However, the real problem is not those things. Once again we didn't have near the athletes it takes to hang with Houston. We dont have near the athleticism to guard the perimeter on defense, or create open looks on offense. Freshmen or no freshmen, you should see the ability if this is really the class we are going to ride.

We didn't stop Houston from getting an open shot all night. Every possession they got nearly a wide open look if they wanted it. The only reason they failed to score is simply if the open shot didnt fall. We had no pressure on them. When they were on D, UH did a great job of showing and recovering on defense. They were all over us. We are so far away from that its not funny.

Houston is a very respectable team, i didnt expect to win. Never being in the game and getting blown out by 28 is a little much to take at home though.

I was thinking about something on the way home tonight. Its tempting to put stock in young players because we want to believe. But think back 4 years and remember Derrick Roberts. Who did you think was more promising, D Rob as a freshman or Harp and Walker? Malone is doing ok, so I view him about the same category as DRob four years ago, lots of raw athleticism, ability to score in high school, but we'll see. I don't see future starters in Harp and Walker. Not on an NCAA tournament caliber team, and thats the goal right? that why i am worried. How long is this rebuild going to take? How many more nights like this?

[Alaric]

We were never in the game, not for one second. Dia was our only bright spot. Fall played ok. Some things can be attributed to freshmen inexperience such as not being able to win close games, defensive lapses, and taking ill advised shots at times. Those are things freshman do and are totally understandable. However, the real problem is not those things. Once again we didn't have near the athletes it takes to hang with Houston. We dont have near the athleticism to guard the perimeter on defense, or create open looks on offense. Freshmen or no freshmen, you should see the ability if this is really the class we are going to ride.

We didn't stop Houston from getting an open shot all night. Every possession they got nearly a wide open look if they wanted it. The only reason they failed to score is simply if the open shot didnt fall. We had no pressure on them. When they were on D, UH did a great job of showing and recovering on defense. They were all over us. We are so far away from that its not funny.

Houston is a very respectable team, i didnt expect to win. Never being in the game and getting blown out by 28 is a little much to take at home though.

I was thinking about something on the way home tonight. Its tempting to put stock in young players because we want to believe. But think back 4 years and remember Derrick Roberts. Who did you think was more promising, D Rob as a freshman or Harp and Walker? Malone is doing ok, so I view him about the same category as DRob four years ago, lots of raw athleticism, ability to score in high school, but we'll see. I don't see future starters in Harp and Walker. Not on an NCAA tournament caliber team, and thats the goal right? that why i am worried. How long is this rebuild going to take? How many more nights like this?

The program's on the right track, we all knew this would be a huge blowout in September. If you didn't you were delusional. Almost no upperclassman to lead and extremely weak guard play. If we had 2 GOOD senior ballhandlers, these games wouldn't be blowouts. My one big concern is that Doherty seems to place a MUCH stronger emphasis on big men than guards. The big pig in the python that is last years' class has to be figured out but Doherty's going to keep upgrading the quality of each individual player, especially as classes necessarily get smaller. He's not going to rely only on his first 2 classes as every other bball coach in recent SMU history has done.

[PonyDoh]

We are just awful defensively, just awful, and that's a major concern. Being young, and lacking talent this year, is no crime. That said, you have to show grit and the ability to dig in and get stops. Literally, Houston got any look they wanted, and are talented enough to capitalize much of the time.

Athletically speaking, kids like Dubois/Haynes and Otis bring quicks and hops to the table. I like Harp as a glue guy that hustles and knocks down an open look, but his ceiling is pretty low. Faye will help as well. He's a truly athletic big and should help from Day 1. I don't know what type of player Nyakundi is, but he has all the measurables to help the upgrade of size/quicks. Bennie Rhodes as well. No idea what to expect from Clarke.

Seems like 08 is now a bigger class then 09, provided TK gets a medical RS, possibly Rhodes and Nyakundi. I'm not sure what Doh is waiting on, but this team needs an impact PG. Walker is a decent frosh, but we need a talent upgrade at our main ball handling position, that simple.

[MustangIcon]

For starters, I am sure Doherty would love an impact PG who can control the tempo of the game. I am sure he would also like a perimeter scorer who can create his own shot at will. Both of these seem to be what every poster most wants (me included) but these players don't grow on trees and every other team in the country needs them as well. Remember that we got a true impact big in our first class in Dia, which is equally difficult to come across. Now from the good things we keep reading about DuBois, he might be the impact backcourt player we are looking for and then we really have something when you take into account a potentially strong supporting cast.

Second, everyone seems to be so down on Ryan Harp which I don't get. Lets run with Hoop's idea and compare him to D-Rob his frosh year:

Roberts: 7.4 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.4/1 assist/to, 34% fg, 38% 3p- 29 minpg

Harp: 4.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.6/1 a/to, 34% fg, 31% 3p-21 minpg

Remember that Roberts played a couple more challenging OOC teams (OSU, Texas Tech, TCU the two teams of note compared to Dayton this season) but still played plenty of cupcakes like(Texas-Tyler, Montana State, Ark Pine Bluff) and faced no ranked teams all season. Also, Roberts was a freshman on a team that started 3 seniors and a junior that was a legit top scorer. As a shooter, who cannot at this time create his own shot, Harp would be having far more success as a frosh on that team than he is on this team. I would have to say Harp is more promising than D-Rob as a frosh, that is unless your only metric for judging "promising" is how high a kid can jump.

[Horseshoe]

Dia is a stud, that's true. Fall has his moments when he's extremely impressive, and other times when he's ... not. Malone might end up being the best in this freshman class. Harp is getting better every game, or almost every game. Walker has promise.

We all knew this was going to be a long season, and that we not only would lose a bunch of games, but a lot of them would be blowouts. Houston always is a horrible matchup for us, and last night, they could have shot it from the Crum Center and it would have gone in.

Despite the carnage last night, it's clearer than ever that this group will be the foundation of a winning team.

Jon Killen actually played very well, considering he usually was the only guy on the floor old enough to shave.

[Alaric]

Dia is a stud, that's true. Fall has his moments when he's extremely impressive, and other times when he's ... not. Malone might end up being the best in this freshman class. Harp is getting better every game, or almost every game. Walker has promise.

We all knew this was going to be a long season, and that we not only would lose a bunch of games, but a lot of them would be blowouts. Houston always is a horrible matchup for us, and last night, they could have shot it from the Crum Center and it would have gone in.

Despite the carnage last night, it's clearer than ever that this group will be the foundation of a winning team.

Jon Killen actually played very well, considering he usually was the only guy on the floor old enough to shave.

I totally agree. I think expectations are where the complaining is originating - some people were expecting the Fab Five from Michigan and this thinking that freshman can and do contribute is true only if they're surrounded by experience or if they're unbelievably talented. These guys are a bunch of pretty talented players who don't have 5 legit upperclassman to practice and play with...they all have deficiencies but I don't see a reason to disparage them right now. I don't know that it does harm but I don't think it does any good.

[RGV Pony]

I'm still struggling as to whether Harp is still looking for his shooter's touch or if he's the second coming of Bobby Aitkenhead.

Watching McKiver from UH warm up was insane...he must've hit 20 straight three pointers. Harp warming up hit about 3 out of 10 three pointers; wasn't his rep coming in as a sharpshooter?

A lot of compliments were made of Malone by the end of the game; I guess he did better in the second half. For a good part of the game, though, it looked like he was scared to death whenever the UH double team came to him when he got the ball.

[ponyboy]

Count me as one guy who is impressed in Harp's improvement. He was scared silly his first few games and was cool as a cucumber last night. The hustle on the blocked layup was a breath of fresh air. Now if he could just knock down a couple of those treys he'd be a solid player.

[MustangIcon]

I'm still struggling as to whether Harp is still looking for his shooter's touch or if he's the second coming of Bobby Aitkenhead.

Watching McKiver from UH warm up was insane...he must've hit 20 straight three pointers. Harp warming up hit about 3 out of 10 three pointers; wasn't his rep coming in as a sharpshooter?

Bobby Aitkenhead was a non scholarship player whereas Harp was a highly recruited prospect by very good programs. I think you will find their careers turn out quite different.

Yes he was quite the sharpshooter is high school. 54% from 3 as a soph and 44% from 3 as a junior. Not sure what he did as a senior. Big difference between creating open 3pt looks in HS as compared to college though. Harp will be a very good shooter for us, give him time.

http://texashoops.rivals.com/viewprospe ... _key=36181

[mathman]

Count me as one guy who is impressed in Harp's improvement. He was scared silly his first few games and was cool as a cucumber last night. The hustle on the blocked layup was a breath of fresh air. Now if he could just knock down a couple of those treys he'd be a solid player.

I was thinking the same thing. It really gets tiresome hearing some of the things a few of these guys say about him. Again, his stats for the game were good. He had only 1 turnover in 33 mins. of playing time( I think the team had 20 ) and 3 or 4 assists. He also had 5 rebounds and was in double figures in scoring. To me, it is the difference in daylight and dark from the beginning of the year. The only downside was 3-11 from 3 point range (27%), but the team as a whole shot 22% from 3-point range. Hopefully that will get better.

[MustangIcon]

Harp and Walker awere both responsible for that poor 3pt percentage last night. 3-11 for Harp and 0-8 for Walker. That won't beat anybody.

[mavsrage311]

He's not going to rely only on his first 2 classes as every other bball coach in recent SMU history has done.

I'm not sure if he'll have much of a choice. He's not going to have many ships to offer after his first 2 real classes, I'm not counting Cameron Spencer's "class"

[TheJumpShooter]

I want to be positive about Doh because he has really done some great things away from the court but here is the way I see it:

He has signed eight kids since he has been here and I see two that could play on NCAA Tournament type of teams -- Dia and Malone. Hope that walker and harp can improve and get there. The other four are non-factors - Spencer, Rhodes, Tomas and RN. Don't want to label anybody a bust but the only one I might expect anything out of is Rhodes.

Crazy thing is, unless Doh runs some of these guys off, which I know SMU hasn't liked to do in the past, there are only five more spots on the roster over the next couple of seasons. Those eight guys are gonna makeup the core of the roster in the coming years. So far, Doh's hit on maybe three of the eight (I'm being generous) he has signed so far. He needs to improve that percentage greatly if SMU is gonna get much better.

And for those that claim the model has been competitive and that Dement and Tubbs and Cavan and Bennett just haven't been able to coach the boys up, how do you explain Doherty taking the lumps that he has in years one and two with all freshman.

I know that you don't build a program recruiting on JCs but I've gotta believe that Doh really wishes he would have (could have been able to???) take a JC guard and front line player in the most recent recruiting class instead of some of the bottom of the recruiting class.

While it might not be the difference between 7 wins and making the postseason, it could be the difference between 7 and 14 or 15. It would have balanced out the roster as well.

SMU hoops is a joke right now, non-existant to the public. Losing to SWAC schools and USC Upstate, non even competitive with Houston, etc.

The honeymoon period with recruits is gonna close fairly soon - even though the guy has a big name. Winning 13 in your first year and single digits in your next isn't good for recruiting momentum. He needs some guys that can help right away.

[ponydawg]

Any thoughts on the kids he has commits from next year and the GT transfer?

Thanks.