Cunningham to ....

[Blvd_Stang]

Forgot about that in Bball. WIth these guys in place all we need to is start filling moody. let the moody madness begin!

[MustangIcon]

1. Early signing period is in November. These kids will be signed very, very soon.

2. Our new assistant would really be regarded as a Princeton O expert. Doh can't hold his jock in that department and knows it. Unless we scrap the princeton all together, things will stay status quo would be my guess.

[MustangIcon]

Aside from B Hop, what other 4 stars have we signed in the last 20 years?

Ratings services, as we know them today, have not been around for 20 years. Sasser was a top 2-3 player in the entire state of Texas I believe. He would have been a 5 star if the current ratings systems were around if I were guessing. Willie Davis may have been a 4 star today (not entirely sure on that one, some other may know better).

[TheTastyGreek]

It's been a pretty good week for you guys.

Nice class.

[SMU 86]

It's been a pretty good week for you guys.

Nice class.

Thanks TTG.

[PonyDoh]

Aside from B Hop, what other 4 stars have we signed in the last 20 years?

Ratings services, as we know them today, have not been around for 20 years. Sasser was a top 2-3 player in the entire state of Texas I believe. He would have been a 5 star if the current ratings systems were around if I were guessing. Willie Davis may have been a 4 star today (not entirely sure on that one, some other may know better).

I don't think Sas would have been a 5 star, just a 4. 5's are top 20 kids in America, McD AA types. Certainly, Sas/Hancock/Hop/McCoy & Dia have had certain services high on them, in the 4 star range. Not sure about Willie, he had mid major height for his position

[ponyscott]

Sas could never had been a 5 Star with that damn ackward shot with the side spin..inconsistant to say the least. Fun to watch him play though

[PonyDoh]

PonyDoh I have two important questions and that is all. I am extremely optimistic with the direction of our program, especially next year. With that said...

1. If we have a subpar year this year, do we still have a strong chance to sign these two players?

2. How set in stone is the new coaching heirarchy, with Doh stepping aside on the X's and O's

GO MUSTANGSSSSS

1) These kids will be signed before the season really starts.

2) Doh is still gonna have his say, who are we kidding. He'll figurehead the whole thing, argue w/refs, dicker w/the rotation, practice & game management etc. It's just not his offense or defense, so Mangino is essentially in charge of execution.

Let me just say this, I'm friendly w/a few ex-SMU assistants, and Armen @ Rivals did a piece on Mangino right after he was hired. It was the most telling piece I've ever read about the staff and it's roles going forward. Do you guys know how rare it is to hire a search committee for an assistant coach? What's even more mind-boggling is that he has no recruiting responsibilities. When he talks and references Doh, it's like "i have complete confidence that Matt will get the right players to work in my systems etc.' Believe me when i say some of our old assistants were slack-jawed by Mangino's confidence. They never had that sort of say. He talks like an associate head coach, and his responsibilities are more a long those lines than a foot soldier like Brown.

[papawasamustang]

WOW! Just returned home from my boys baseball game & saw this. These last couple of days have really brought life back into the program. For those of us that have been preaching that there's no reason that SMU shouldn't be tapping into some of the local talent, well, its even sweeter. Like PonyDoh & others have mentioned, kudos to Jalen Jones & Cannen Cunningham for staying @ home. I hope we can all look back in a few years & say I remember when these two guys were the 1st of many locals to stay @ home & turn the program around.

[Stallion]

Sasser was No. 2 in Texas-but in the late spring period because he had such a dominat senior season. He wasn't considered a national 5 star recruit though but Texas gets more respect these days
Willie Davis was No. 6
Chad Elsey was around No. 14- 16
Then they had two big guys who were approximately in the low to mid 20s

[ponyinNC]

i played with elsey at FM Marcus (yes, i rode the bench), didn't realize he was rated that high. Jones, Cunningham, Giles and Manuel are going to be tough in CUSA.

sure hope we keep this momentum going...we were so happy about mccoy and then things happened. Let's become the local team for dallas hoops!!!!!!

[Harry0569]

Doh might've just saved his job.

[DiamondM75]

Coach Doh is to SMU BBall as Mack Brown is to UT Football?

[ponyboy]

You gotta give him -- or Orsini -- credit for recognizing the train wreck this organization was and making the necessary adjustments. Huge pickup and another event that justifies the surge in optimism about our basketball program.

[Harry0569]

You gotta give him -- or Orsini -- credit for recognizing the train wreck this organization was and making the necessary adjustments. Huge pickup and another event that justifies the surge in optimism about our basketball program.

My only negative about this whole thing is why did it take him 4+ years to do this? I know it takes time to build up a program, but until now [outside of papa/pmccoy] we haven't had a nibble on relative big-time recruits. I'm assuming this reflects on the asst. coaches?