Question

[expony18]

so how are we going to look thsi year. are we going to be competitive at all? or is going to be the paul mccoy show?

i dont make it over here to often, so i was just looking for some general insight

[MustangIcon]

- Athlon's College Basketball 2009-2010 Preview picked us to finish 6th of 12 CUSA teams.

- We have 2 new coaches that everyone is pretty excited about- Reggie and Reggie. (big article at top of bball forum)

- McCoy was picked preseason All-CUSA Team.

- MoFaye (who transferred from Ga Tech and averaged 10ppg last season for SMU) tore it up in some international hoops this summer leading his national team in scoring often hitting 20+ppg.

- Brought in a promising JUCO guard that can score and shoot from the outside.

- We return 6 of 7 scoring and minute leaders from last season. I would also think we have a good chance of having 4 double digit scorers on the team this season.

- We play in a new bball tourney in Hawaii this year that is sponsored by ESPN. We face UNLV in round 1. Also play A&M at home.

That's the good news. The bad news is:

- Doherty still has to show he can do something in terms of Wins with our improved talent.

- Papa Dia played pretty subpar last season. We need him to play to the level he is capable of, which earned him 'ships from OU and Louisville, and are not sure if he will.

- The one rotation player we did lose last season was Bamba and he was a pretty key contributor. And I will miss cheering for his blocked shots.

- Although there have been some improvements on the schedule still plenty of teams coming to Moody that most would yawn at the prospect of watching. And frankly a few that people would question if they were an actual university.

- We have not yet landed the stud recruit to pair with McCoy and our other young talent to make the next "jump".

That's a pretty high level overview of what changed from last season to this season for someone who doesn't follow very closely.

[PonyDoh]

- Athlon's College Basketball 2009-2010 Preview picked us to finish 6th of 12 CUSA teams.

- We have 2 new coaches that everyone is pretty excited about- Reggie and Reggie. (big article at top of bball forum)

- McCoy was picked preseason All-CUSA Team.

- MoFaye (who transferred from Ga Tech and averaged 10ppg last season for SMU) tore it up in some international hoops this summer leading his national team in scoring often hitting 20+ppg.

- Brought in a promising JUCO guard that can score and shoot from the outside.

- We return 6 of 7 scoring and minute leaders from last season. I would also think we have a good chance of having 4 double digit scorers on the team this season.

- We play in a new bball tourney in Hawaii this year that is sponsored by ESPN. We face UNLV in round 1. Also play A&M at home.

That's the good news. The bad news is:

- Doherty still has to show he can do something in terms of Wins with our improved talent.

- Papa Dia played pretty subpar last season. We need him to play to the level he is capable of, which earned him 'ships from OU and Louisville, and are not sure if he will.

- The one rotation player we did lose last season was Bamba and he was a pretty key contributor. And I will miss cheering for his blocked shots.

- Although there have been some improvements on the schedule still plenty of teams coming to Moody that most would yawn at the prospect of watching. And frankly a few that people would question if they were an actual university.

- We have not yet landed the stud recruit to pair with McCoy and our other young talent to make the next "jump".

That's a pretty high level overview of what changed from last season to this season for someone who doesn't follow very closely.

wow, that was nice work

[bagice]

Sure is great work! Nice rundown....

A couple of more basketball magazines have come out..another one picks us 6th, but one is not believing the hype and sticking us at 10th......

I personally see this team fighting for a top 4 conference finish which is a good goal since you get a first round tourney bye, but I would be happy with anything 6 or above....

[MustangIcon]

wow, that was nice work

Thanks. I tried to capture the high level changes from the end of last season to now. Please feel free to add to the list as I am sure there are a couple of relevant facts I may have overlooked.

I know I am generally on the more optomistic end about the direction of SMU hoops in the future and our prospects for this upcoming season, but just looking at that little recap reminds me of what we have to look forward to. Our biggest areas of concerns are to me:

- a big that was a very promising prospect coming from HS (as much if not more so than McCoy) and his freshman year but had an awful sophmore season. he is just going into his junior season and could still turn out to be a big time impact player.

- a head coach who has shown some questionable in game x and o's and maybe tries to control the game and his players too much during those 40 minutes. hopefully our two new coaches really help loosen doh up in this area.

- we haven't landed a big time stud recruit (although mccoy and dia were both stud-like recruits and mofaye is a semi-stud transfer for cusa) to add to our strong foundation of a team. however, we have been [deleted] poor in terms of Ws and Ls and a solid season this year could certainly change that. all it takes is one as they say.

Call me crazy but I think good things are ahead for SMU Basketball.

[MustangIcon]

Sure is great work! Nice rundown....

A couple of more basketball magazines have come out..another one picks us 6th, but one is not believing the hype and sticking us at 10th......

I personally see this team fighting for a top 4 conference finish which is a good goal since you get a first round tourney bye, but I would be happy with anything 6 or above....

Thanks.

I think a top 4 CUSA finish is a good goal as well. It will definitely be a challenge with the likes of Memphis, Tulsa, Houston, UAB who should all be pretty strong, but still possible. A goal should not be something easily acheived and I would be very proud if SMU could accomplish that top 4 finish. However, I think finishing in the top half of the conference is a must for the program to build momentum going forward.

[redpony]

I suspect that a top 6 finish is necessary if Doh expects to be around after this season.

GO PONIES!!!

[MustangIcon]

SMU administration really wants Doherty to be the guy to succeed, I think. If he goes .500, and I could even see it happening if he is 2 games below or so, he will get extended.

[George S. Patton]

SMU administration really wants Doherty to be the guy to succeed, I think. If he goes .500, and I could even see it happening if he is 2 games below or so, he will get extended.

I could see that. Again, I think the whole season really rests on what kind of year Dia has. If he finally plays to the hype and guards have great years, it could be a really interesting year. If he repeats 2008-09, Doherty's getting canned.

FWIW on Dia, a friend of mine said he thought Doherty completely mismanaged him. Can't remember how the schedule went but I want to say TCU was right after that little tournament. Dia had a good showing but didn't start against the Frogs. That's when delivered that melon performance and his season went downhill from there. Could be something to it.

I think we can all agree Doherty does not do a good job on handling his players, but I also think now the players have potentially better buffers in Geary and Brown.

[papawasamustang]

Great post Icon.

Personally, I think the team is better without Fall.
Tried to make him a go to guy & it just didn't work.
Plus, low basketball IQ & soft.
Like the guy personally.

Faye is the key to the team imo.
Not that Dia isn't very important but I think Faye has a higher ceiling.
Potential top 5 -10 player in the league if he can breakout.

Coaching is ALWAYS the main concern with this team.

[mustangxc]

Great post Icon.

Personally, I think the team is better without Fall.
Tried to make him a go to guy & it just didn't work.
Plus, low basketball IQ & soft.
Like the guy personally.

Faye is the key to the team imo.
Not that Dia isn't very important but I think Faye has a higher ceiling.
Potential top 5 -10 player in the league if he can breakout.

Coaching is ALWAYS the main concern with this team.

As great as Fall was defensively, offensively he was another player for the opposing team with all his turnovers! I think we will miss his impressive blocks, but overall we will be better without him! Hopefully Dia can erase last season and make progress from his freshman season!

[bagice]

I can't really get down too much on Fall, I liked his work ethic and wish he could have turned into a better offensive player. For a man that size, I am not sure I have ever seen someone run the floor as well as him, he could get up and down with the same speed as the gaurds. He did not tire either, unfortunately foul trouble and ineffectiveness kept him posting more minutes.

There were games where he was a great offensive option and, sad to say, he has probably been our best FT shooter the last 2+ years, another thing a bit strange for a big man....course Otis cancelled that out by being the worst FT shooter I have ever seen

I will miss Bamba, but we very well could be better going with the smaller lineup.

[PonyDoh]

SMU administration really wants Doherty to be the guy to succeed, I think. If he goes .500, and I could even see it happening if he is 2 games below or so, he will get extended.

No doubt. You don't hire two new recruiting assistants the year before letting a coach go. Those guys were hired to set up '11 & '12, not win in '09 & '10. By my eyes, Dia & Haynes are the wild-cards. Both have tremendous upside. I'm not as sold on Faye as some, but I expect consistency from the kid. If the 3 ball doesn't fall early, he better get to the hole.

I fully expect this team to be competitive and put away those that they should. Doh gets out of this mess by just smacking ALL of the cupcakes. Can't lose games we're favored in this year. Also, pull out all the stops vs UNLV on ESPN. End the national TV suffering.

FWIW, I think losing Fall is addition by subtraction. Not a shot at the kid, but the talent in this program is guards/wings and tweeners. Get those kids on the court.

[George S. Patton]

SMU administration really wants Doherty to be the guy to succeed, I think. If he goes .500, and I could even see it happening if he is 2 games below or so, he will get extended.

No doubt. You don't hire two new recruiting assistants the year before letting a coach go. Those guys were hired to set up '11 & '12, not win in '09 & '10. By my eyes, Dia & Haynes are the wild-cards. Both have tremendous upside. I'm not as sold on Faye as some, but I expect consistency from the kid. If the 3 ball doesn't fall early, he better get to the hole.

I fully expect this team to be competitive and put away those that they should. Doh gets out of this mess by just smacking ALL of the cupcakes. Can't lose games we're favored in this year. Also, pull out all the stops vs UNLV on ESPN. End the national TV suffering.

FWIW, I think losing Fall is addition by subtraction. Not a shot at the kid, but the talent in this program is guards/wings and tweeners. Get those kids on the court.

See that's my issue with Faye. He's not afraid to put it up. He's got the frame to take it to the rim. He has to want to do it. I think his game could reach another level if he does that.

With Dia, I want him to rebound, stick his butt in there and bump people, draw fouls to shoot free throws and occasionally draw that big man out so he can put up that 10-13 foot jumper. At 6-9, you can do that. That's why he is my wild card. You get about 75 percent of that this year (maybe we got 15 percent last year), and this team could have something. I say could. He's going to want to do that.

[PonyDoh]

Dia like Faye, has to go towards the rim. Dia fades, Faye floats to the arc. Those are just awful habits. Those two things alone, go a long way toward creating a soft team.

Also, I'd love for Luttman to have actual skill, but in the absence of that, break arms. Interior presence doesn't necessarily mean points. Clean the glass, lean on people, troll for put backs, bring the hammer on D, nothing easy.