SMU vs Houston - 17.5/18

[Pony_Fan]

It's pretty sad when you know you are going to win a bet against your own team with a 18 point spread. I couldn't get a deposit in or I would have bet a lot of $$.

This team is awful but I do like the Doh man.

[Pony_Fan]

Of course not you nit wit - not against Houston - second best team in the conference.

Anyone who can see the guys on the court and the ones on the bench and not see that this program is on its way up does not know much about basketball. Anyone who thought it would happen year one is also a ninny.

Trying to run with these guys would have been way worse.

I watch a ton of basketball and find it hard to believe we'll be in the NCAA's with this crew by 2011/12. Everything OFF the court is fantastic in this program.

[LA_Mustang]

gostangs, you baffle me. You think this program is on the way up based on our current roster? Are you serious?? Since you know so much about basketball, please tell us, and be specific, what are you seeing?

The freshmen excuse is played and yes, we all know Dia is a player.....but one man does not make a team. IMO, this is the least talented team at SMU since I’ve followed the program (mid 90s). Also, the only freshman who has shown potential, Dia, has regressed the past few games. When everyone was hyping this freshman class as the best we've had in years, I couldn't figure out why. And when I posted on here asking why people felt that way, I never really got a good answer. I think it was just because it was a class of seven guys recruited by Doherty.

Yes, I think there is a light at the end of the tunnel with the Crum Center, the relaxed admission standards for athletes and Doherty, who I think is a good coach, but when you come on here and say something like that, it ticks me off.

[Big Hoss]

We have 9 freshmen on our roster out of a total of 15. They need to develop consistency and chemistry, but that will take time. The coach can only do so much. With that many freshmen, they don't have a large number of upperclassmen to show them how to step it up on the court through their own performance.

I know it sucks to watch it at this stage, but what did we expect this season?

[Charleston Pony]

let's face it...the current state of the men's bball program is about as sorry as it has EVER been. I do remember sitting through some very difficult times during Dave Bliss' 1st two years at SMU (anyone remember losing to Rollins College?), but I wouldn't completely dismiss this FR class. I'd like to think that Dia, Harp, Walker & Malone will all contribute (on a wining team) before they leave...and we really haven't seen enough of Rhodes to know if he might become a player at this level. Kwiatkowski at least has the size and given 4-5 years to develop, I'd like to think he will contribute before he's done. No question Doherty has to continue upgrading the talent and some of these guys may not last the full 4-5 years, but some of them will be a part of a winning program and I do believe it will happen before the last of these guys is done.

I can't help but remember Killen as a FR. Did anyone think he would turn out to be the player he has been (at times) this year? Most "experts" will tell you a collegiate player will show his most improvement between his FR and SO years...we can only hope that's true for this group and that some of next year's FR can contribute. Bamba continues to improve and the addition of Faye next year should help.

I'm looking forward to the day we are a .500 program in CUSA and tough to beat at Moody. Hopefully more people will start caring at that point and we will see Moody 2/3 full instead of 2/3 empty. Then we can start thinking about what it will take to get to a Top 25 level

[Treadway21]

If we had upperclassman and these freshmen were on the bench with limited minutes, but practicing, like in the past, I don't think you people would not be bashing them like you are now. They would still be developing, as freshmen should, but behind the scenes at practice. But since they are playing extensively and are a majority of the team, we are seeing the growing pains up front during the games as opposed to practice.

They don't have the benefit of the upperclassman carrying the load. Killlen was never highly rated. Roberts was but has fought injuries and hasn't quite live up to expectations and then there is Ritter. It would have been nice to slowly work them in and then I think there would have been different expectations of their future potential.

[Hoop Fan]

i agree, which is exactly why Dez Willingham shouldn't have been nudged out of here. I find it very ironic that he was a veteran, who could shoot it a little bit and handle the ball, the things we are desperately lacking yet he was given "our blessing" to transfer to UNT. He wasn't great, but several benefits would have come from having Dez this year, which i have listed before: 1) less pressure on the freshmen 2) we don't lose to teams like SC Upstate at home 3) Guys like Derrick Roberts stay 'up' for competing this year instead of feeling like they are left to babysit 'the future' and 4) competition in practice.

And Charleston, is our goal really getting back to being a winning program who finishes in the middle of the conference pack? Dement did that for years and no one was happy. 17-13, 8-8 in the conference sounds pretty familiar to me. Heck, Dement even got us to the glorious NIT one year in this decade. What is the goal? Gotta be the Big Dance, nothing less.

[Big Hoss]

let's face it...the current state of the men's bball program is about as sorry as it has EVER been. I do remember sitting through some very difficult times during Dave Bliss' 1st two years at SMU (anyone remember losing to Rollins College?), but I wouldn't completely dismiss this FR class. I'd like to think that Dia, Harp, Walker & Malone will all contribute (on a wining team) before they leave...and we really haven't seen enough of Rhodes to know if he might become a player at this level. Kwiatkowski at least has the size and given 4-5 years to develop, I'd like to think he will contribute before he's done. No question Doherty has to continue upgrading the talent and some of these guys may not last the full 4-5 years, but some of them will be a part of a winning program and I do believe it will happen before the last of these guys is done.

I can't help but remember Killen as a FR. Did anyone think he would turn out to be the player he has been (at times) this year? Most "experts" will tell you a collegiate player will show his most improvement between his FR and SO years...we can only hope that's true for this group and that some of next year's FR can contribute. Bamba continues to improve and the addition of Faye next year should help.

I'm looking forward to the day we are a .500 program in CUSA and tough to beat at Moody. Hopefully more people will start caring at that point and we will see Moody 2/3 full instead of 2/3 empty. Then we can start thinking about what it will take to get to a Top 25 level

I am trying to understand the mix messages in your post. You say that the program is as sorry as its every been, then you go on to call out different guys that you think will be players and contribute and that their development is still ahead of them.

Sounds like to me that you think there is some promise in this roster, so if that is the case, the program is not in as sorry a state as you claim it is. If there was zero promise for the future, and we were a team with nothing but upper classmen, I would agree with your assessment. But that simply isn't the case.

[mathman]

If we had upperclassman and these freshmen were on the bench with limited minutes, but practicing, like in the past, I don't think you people would not be bashing them like you are now. They would still be developing, as freshmen should, but behind the scenes at practice. But since they are playing extensively and are a majority of the team, we are seeing the growing pains up front during the games as opposed to practice.

They don't have the benefit of the upperclassman carrying the load. Killlen was never highly rated. Roberts was but has fought injuries and hasn't quite live up to expectations and then there is Ritter. It would have been nice to slowly work them in and then I think there would have been different expectations of their future potential.

Good post. I think this article from Rivals supports what you are saying.
http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/Con ... cid=745359

[Stallion]

its been a bad year for the Captain-abandoning 2 ships in one year.

[George S. Patton]

its been a bad year for the Captain-abandoning 2 ships in one year.

So by saying the season blows that means I've abandoned ship. Hmm. That's interesting. I don't think I ever said I was abandoning the ship.

And I know 1 of us has been going to games at Moody to SUPPORT the program regardless of the season that it is having. And it ain't you.

THE KEEPER OF THE STAR HAS NOT AND WILL NOT SUPPORT SMU BASKETBALL...EVER

Try that on lard [deleted].

[Stallion]

In fact you are correct-after Dement was fired and after about 35 years of going to just about every game- I started a new phase in my relationship with SMU BB-not giving a [deleted] just like SMU's administration hasn't for 20 years. I've found better things to do than pretending the the whole damn program wasn't flawed.

If this university had supported Mike Dement from the beginning he easily could have had us in the NCAAs.

If this university had given Matt Doherty the tools he needed on the date he was hired we wouldn't be in Year 2 of a 5-6 year building program.

Years and years and years later we still can't find a Coach in football or basketball that can perform better than the "great" Mike Cavan or "great" Mike Dement-who told you that at the time? Who told you the essential problem was not a Coaching problem but a Model problem?

Hopefully, they've finally learned that I was correct many years ago and have changed the Model to allow them to compete. But you know I'm still having trouble giving a [deleted] about a basketball program that expected its coach to turn this program without a quick infusion of immediate help from the JUCO ranks or Division 1A Transfers-so I'll just give a [deleted] when they're good again just like 98% of SMU fans-the Truth you don't want to hear.

The day SMU is good in Basketball and Football will be the day our rosters are filled with relatively(CUSA standards) highly recruited Division 1A Transfers, JUCOs, Preps, low qualifiers, late qualifiers etc just like the championship teams in CUSA..

[PonyKai]

In fact you are correct-after Dement was fired and after about 35 years of going to just about every game- I started a new phase in my relationship with SMU BB-not giving a [deleted] just like SMU's administration hasn't for 20 years. I've found better things to do than pretending the the whole damn program wasn't flawed.

If this university had supported Mike Dement from the beginning he easily could have had us in the NCAAs.

If this university had given Matt Doherty the tools he needed on the date he was hired we wouldn't be in Year 2 of a 5-6 year building program.

Years and years and years later we still can't find a Coach in football or basketball that can perform better than the "great" Mike Cavan or "great" Mike Dement-who told you that at the time? Who told you the essential problem was not a Coaching problem but a Model problem?

Hopefully, they've finally learned that I was correct many years ago and have changed the Model to allow them to compete. But you know I'm still having trouble giving a [deleted] about a basketball program that expected its coach to turn this program without a quick infusion of immediate help from the JUCO ranks or Division 1A Transfers-so I'll just give a [deleted] when they're good again just like 98% of SMU fans-the Truth you don't want to hear.

The day SMU is good in Basketball and Football will be the day our rosters are filled with relatively(CUSA standards) highly recruited Division 1A Transfers, JUCOs, Preps, low qualifiers, late qualifiers etc just like the championship teams in CUSA..

The answer is right in front of you. We obviously need to hire someone named Mike.

[Charleston Pony]

i agree, which is exactly why Dez Willingham shouldn't have been nudged out of here. I find it very ironic that he was a veteran, who could shoot it a little bit and handle the ball, the things we are desperately lacking yet he was given "our blessing" to transfer to UNT. He wasn't great, but several benefits would have come from having Dez this year, which i have listed before: 1) less pressure on the freshmen 2) we don't lose to teams like SC Upstate at home 3) Guys like Derrick Roberts stay 'up' for competing this year instead of feeling like they are left to babysit 'the future' and 4) competition in practice.

And Charleston, is our goal really getting back to being a winning program who finishes in the middle of the conference pack? Dement did that for years and no one was happy. 17-13, 8-8 in the conference sounds pretty familiar to me. Heck, Dement even got us to the glorious NIT one year in this decade. What is the goal? Gotta be the Big Dance, nothing less.

I was really just responding to earlier posts by GoStangs (who seems to have some faith in this FR class) and Pony Fan (who seems to think there is very little talent among them and that they have no chance of seeing the post season during their tenure at SMU). I think there is enough talent to believe they could be part of SMU's return to post season play, but I can also see that SMU men's basketball has hit rock bottom and we have driven what little support and interest there ever was in the program away from Moody. If SMU had a hard core faithful, fanatical fan base that packed Moody, my guess is that this team would have won at least 3-4 more games than they have. We should at least be expecting to play at the level Houston and UAB are playing...the question is whether any of these FR will be a part of that kind oif team. I think they can be, but I 1st want to see SMU have what UTEP and Tulsa have, i.e., very competitive teams on their home courts, good fan attendance, etc...I sure hope these guys will at least experience that level of success.

[George S. Patton]

In fact you are correct-after Dement was fired and after about 35 years of going to just about every game- I started a new phase in my relationship with SMU BB-not giving a [deleted] just like SMU's administration hasn't for 20 years. I've found better things to do than pretending the the whole damn program wasn't flawed.

If this university had supported Mike Dement from the beginning he easily could have had us in the NCAAs.

If this university had given Matt Doherty the tools he needed on the date he was hired we wouldn't be in Year 2 of a 5-6 year building program.

Years and years and years later we still can't find a Coach in football or basketball that can perform better than the "great" Mike Cavan or "great" Mike Dement-who told you that at the time? Who told you the essential problem was not a Coaching problem but a Model problem?

Hopefully, they've finally learned that I was correct many years ago and have changed the Model to allow them to compete. But you know I'm still having trouble giving a [deleted] about a basketball program that expected its coach to turn this program without a quick infusion of immediate help from the JUCO ranks or Division 1A Transfers-so I'll just give a [deleted] when they're good again just like 98% of SMU fans-the Truth you don't want to hear.

The day SMU is good in Basketball and Football will be the day our rosters are filled with relatively(CUSA standards) highly recruited Division 1A Transfers, JUCOs, Preps, low qualifiers, late qualifiers etc just like the championship teams in CUSA..

And when you return, you'll just be labled as fair weather.