Pivotal week for Doh and Mustangs

[Hoop Fan]

The ugly second half scoring drought reared its head again yesterday. Not sure why that has been so common with us regardless of personnel. This shapes up as a big week for Doh. At 2-3 in CUSA, we go to Tulane and have Tulsa at home. If we lose both and fall to 2-5, the natives are gonna be very restless. Split and we kind of stay in the up and down mode we have been in. Win both and things start looking up going into February. Tulane is a trap game on Wednesday. They aren't bad at home, but at the same time if Doh is finally turning this program around he has to beat Tulane at this point.

[hoopmanx]

The ugly second half scoring drought reared its head again yesterday. Not sure why that has been so common with us regardless of personnel. This shapes up as a big week for Doh. At 2-3 in CUSA, we go to Tulane and have Tulsa at home. If we lose both and fall to 2-5, the natives are gonna be very restless. Split and we kind of stay in the up and down mode we have been in. Win both and things start looking up going into February. Tulane is a trap game on Wednesday. They aren't bad at home, but at the same time if Doh is finally turning this program around he has to beat Tulane at this point.

Couldn't agree more, huge week, Have to beat Tulane & keep this thing at 500

[CalallenStang]

I hope we can win. We certainly have enough talent to beat Tulane and we've already shown that we can get the job done against Tulsa.

[ontheedgeofmyseat]

..over 20 games below .500 in 6 years...not real strong.

[hoopmanx]

..over 20 games below .500 in 6 years...not real strong.

Nope, but a few games over 500 since going to the princeton. We're getting better, and we'll be better the next two, probably 3 years, but it hasn't been quick

[Billy Joe]

Need a new direction in basketball. I have been saying this for 3 years. It is a shame so many of you have wasted so much time with this program the past few years. SMU should not be stuck in the middle of the pack each year in C-USA. Orsini has done a terrible job with the basketball program.

[ibezu2]

[quote="Billy Joe"]Need a new direction in basketball. I have been saying this for 3 years. It is a shame so many of you have wasted so much time with this program the past few years. SMU should not be stuck in the middle of the pack each year in C-USA. Orsini has done a terrible job with the basketball program.[/quote]

Totally agree! Can't keep doing the same thing year after year and expect different results.

[smubrooks]

Definition of insanity!

[hoopmanx]

again, make a change, it doesn't sweat me at all. I'd just really caution to weigh the last 3 years, not the first 3. They basically have nothing to do w/one another as those were the equivalent of digging out of the worst situation I've seen in D1 ball.

Since then, the progress has been ok, but still not exactly rapid. The reality of our roster is that we're going to be considerably better next, then better the year after that, provided our frosh keep improving. Beyond, this entire princeton/princeton assistants situation was set up just prior to last season, which basically is the same as making a coaching change prior to last year. Doh just isn't that influential

[papawasamustang]

I find myself looking toward the future every season with Doh's basketball squads.
Up to this point in the season, I would say the team has UNDER performed. I'm mixed about last season's 20 wins. Yes, I enjoyed it, but lets not fool ourselves. You look back @ the schedule, most of the W's were against very poor teams. My question is, does getting 20 w's against cupcakes last season, and a lackluster season so far this season give Doh a 7th season? It will be interesting to see how this week & the rest of the conference schedule pans out. Regardless, Doh is a very lucky man to have landed the SMU gig.

[hoopmanx]

Just gotta see how it plays out. I'd love the excitement of a new hire around Crum, so long as it's a legit coach. It really

It's just a strange place/time for the program, cause the princeton approach is working, and the talent is improving rapidly. We had a really awful schedule last year, that was put together by design, to get SMU 20 wins, so its disingenuous at best. We had 3 kids declared ineligible for all or much of last year, and there are 9 new faces in the line-up this year. This type of O is showing some dividends for us, w/o ever having any continuity. We're also pretty good defensively. It's run way too slow, and we need to attack w/numbers, press some as well, but it might be the right approach.

Anyway, I'm sick to death of Doh, but I think the direction he finally chose makes sense. We're gonna play this whole season nip & tuck w/o much age in the line-up. In a few years, these kids will have had a few years in the system, and they'll be a real pain the butt to play. It's not hard to see that's the direction, unless you're hung up on the first 3 years.

All that said, you never know w/a new guy. Should he really have a plan for SMU/Dallas/Big East, and brings bench & road swag w/him, nothing is more exciting

[shadowman]

Looking forward to this week, I agree it is pivotal and I hope we can go 2-0 to help keep the casual fans interested in the season.

Tulane started off hot this year, blowing through their Non conference schedule, however they hit a rough spot once C-USA started. They are improved and they are playing at home. I would have to imagine Tulane will be favored, so us winning would be a mild upset. I certainly do not see this a game we should win or a trap game. I think an SMU win would be a nice win for us against a favored opponent.

Tulsa is playing better now and since we beat them to open conference play, they have gone 4-1. The Tulsa game last year at home was a real bummer. We had beat them in Tulsa earlier and faced them at home with momentum during our suprising and fun stretch of good conference play. But they beat us at home, game was close, but Tulsa pretty much lead wire to wire. Hopefully we can sweep them this year.

Both games would be nice wins if we could pull them off. No sure wins for SMU this year(see Jackson St.) but I am not sure these would qualify even if we were a bit more consistent. These will be tough games that if we play well, we should have a chance to win.

[PonyKai]

I'm trying hard to temper my words here....but if you did, do, or will continue to advocate for the firing of SMU's basketball coach from the position after only three years given the circumstances here, i.e.:

-Both you and your AD agree that it will be a 5 year rebuild operation
-Most of Dallas and local hoops perceives the program as racist
-You just canned a minority coach over trumped up overblown burger charges at a white-washed school
-Your trying to buy-out the current coach's contract and land another one on a CUSA revenue budget
-You will have gone through three head coaches in just about 5 years; two of those coaches would have been terminated in disturbingly short periods of time, especially given their circumstances. Tubbs in 2 and then Doh in 3? Your looking at RS-SRs on the team going through their THIRD head mean while they're in the school.

Really? Come on. Really? Good luck trying to land a quality candidate as an AD when the first question from the coach is, "So, are you going to fire me two full years before the timeline you agree to publicly hasn't been met?" Then we can get to question two..."So, are you going to bribe DISD and local hoops coaches to talk to me, because they aren't right now." Then, he'll ask if he can be paid in peanuts since that would probably be all that's left of the hoops budget.

Look, Doherty has paddled himself way up sh*t creek for a variety of reasons, but its irritatingly ridiculous to come in all WE SHOULD HAVE FIRED HIM THREE YEARS AGO OMG

[mustangbill67]

I'm trying hard to temper my words here....but if you did, do, or will continue to advocate for the firing of SMU's basketball coach from the position after only three years given the circumstances here, i.e.:

-Both you and your AD agree that it will be a 5 year rebuild operation
-Most of Dallas and local hoops perceives the program as racist
-You just canned a minority coach over trumped up overblown burger charges at a white-washed school
-Your trying to buy-out the current coach's contract and land another one on a CUSA revenue budget
-You will have gone through three head coaches in just about 5 years; two of those coaches would have been terminated in disturbingly short periods of time, especially given their circumstances. Tubbs in 2 and then Doh in 3? Your looking at RS-SRs on the team going through their THIRD head mean while they're in the school.

Really? Come on. Really? Good luck trying to land a quality candidate as an AD when the first question from the coach is, "So, are you going to fire me two full years before the timeline you agree to publicly hasn't been met?" Then we can get to question two..."So, are you going to bribe DISD and local hoops coaches to talk to me, because they aren't right now." Then, he'll ask if he can be paid in peanuts since that would probably be all that's left of the hoops budget.

Look, Doherty has paddled himself way up sh*t creek for a variety of reasons, but its irritatingly ridiculous to come in all WE SHOULD HAVE FIRED HIM THREE YEARS AGO OMG

Your post is totally confusing. DOH has been here six seasons. When he was hired we were not in the Big East. He has yet to demonstrate he is ready to coach against Big East competition. If this year goes down the toilet, we need to bail on him.

[hoopmanx]

I'm trying hard to temper my words here....but if you did, do, or will continue to advocate for the firing of SMU's basketball coach from the position after only three years given the circumstances here, i.e.:

-Both you and your AD agree that it will be a 5 year rebuild operation
-Most of Dallas and local hoops perceives the program as racist
-You just canned a minority coach over trumped up overblown burger charges at a white-washed school
-Your trying to buy-out the current coach's contract and land another one on a CUSA revenue budget
-You will have gone through three head coaches in just about 5 years; two of those coaches would have been terminated in disturbingly short periods of time, especially given their circumstances. Tubbs in 2 and then Doh in 3? Your looking at RS-SRs on the team going through their THIRD head mean while they're in the school.

Really? Come on. Really? Good luck trying to land a quality candidate as an AD when the first question from the coach is, "So, are you going to fire me two full years before the timeline you agree to publicly hasn't been met?" Then we can get to question two..."So, are you going to bribe DISD and local hoops coaches to talk to me, because they aren't right now." Then, he'll ask if he can be paid in peanuts since that would probably be all that's left of the hoops budget.

Look, Doherty has paddled himself way up sh*t creek for a variety of reasons, but its irritatingly ridiculous to come in all WE SHOULD HAVE FIRED HIM THREE YEARS AGO OMG

LOL, great post. This year is really the first we can actually talk about replacing the guy, and it's no slam dunk. Makes for good conversation and I'm ok w/whatever we do, but those saying he should have been gone 3 years ago, no longer get to sit at the big boy table