Memphis Notes- from SLAM Magazine

[ponyscott]

Observations from Rodger Bohn at SLAM, and the last paragraph sums it all up for him....at least.

Monday, January 23rd, 2012 at 11:00 am
Game Notes: SMU at Memphis

The Tigers take care of business at home.

by Rodger Bohn / @rodgerbohn

While rolling through Memphis to check out the Penny Hardaway Hoop Fest, it was a given that any basketball nut like myself would look to see if there was going to be any college or NBA games to peep. Much to my pleasure, the Memphis Tigers were taking on SMU at noon before the elite HS hoops tipped off, so it was a given that I was going to stop in and see what Josh Pastner had to offer.

Once the game was set to tip at noon, the National Anthem and starting lineups were done and the players were ready to tip. One problem: No lights. Even Gucci couldn’t cut the lights on, so after a 15 minute or so delay, everything was ready to roll. With Adonis Thomas out for the season, it was evident that this group of Tigers wasn’t quite used to playing with each other. The chemistry simply wasn’t there. With Antonio Barton and Joe Jackson not exactly being the epitome of true point guards, everyone had a “I’m gonna get mine” mentality out there. Not coincidentally, this resulted in a really rough half for the Tigers on both ends. They shot 12/31 from the field offensively and constantly got beat for open lay0ups/jumpers due to lack of communication. The lack of continuity allowed SMU to stick around, trailing Memphis by only 2 at the half, 30-28.

The second half started off very much the same for Memphis: Bad shots and poor rotation defensively. SMU was able to grab a 5 point lead via making the extra pass, killing the Tigers on the offensive glass, and knocking down open jumpers. It was looking like we were going to have an upset on our hands, despite Memphis hella hyped crowd. Then at around the 7 minute mark, Memphis turned it on. They applied unbelievable ball pressure on SMU and created mad turnovers, which led to easy bucket after easy bucket in transition. I caught myself slipping early in the game wondering whether or not Memphis was as good as advertised, but those last 7 minutes showed why they can easily win the C-USA ‘ship. The damage they put on SMU during that run allowed them to walk away with a convincing 63-45 W.

Here are a few key observations from the game:

—Will Barton is one of college basketball’s elite shot creators. At 6-6 and 175 pounds, Will Barton doesn’t exactly fit the bill of what you’d envision on a guy who can get buckets on anyone. Don’t let his sinewy build fool you, he can go. After playing more of a combo guard throughout his high school career, the sophomore seems to have realized that he has the most potential as a cold-blooded scorer. He used the handle that he developed running point to easily shake SMU defenders off to free himself up for open looks. The first step and natural scoring instincts he shows are special, hence why he is leading C-USA in scoring as a sophomore. There is plenty of work to do with Barton’s decision making, but nobody can deny the fact that he will have the option to bounce bounce to the league this June if he chooses to do so.

—It will be a surprise if Joe Jackson is wearing a Memphis jersey next season. After almost transferring at the semester break, former McDonald’s All American Joe Jackson decided to stick it out at Memphis for the remainder of the season. You’d hope that in a situation like that, things would get better. Based on the SMU game, they haven’t. The former star just a few miles away at White Station played very sporadically throughout the game at both the point and shooting guard slots. Jackson and his camp have stressed that they want him to play point guard and it was super clear to everyone in attendance that it didn’t seem like he was having a good time out there on the court. With Chris Crawford emerging as the team’s best option at the point, look for Jackson to explore other options at season’s end, including in state rival Tennessee.

—If/When Memphis gels, they are going to be tough. For the first 33 minutes of the game, I sat there wondering whether or not Memphis was an NCAA tournament team. For the last 7 minutes, I was debating how deep they’d go in March. The Tigers have everything that you could ask for in a legit NCAA caliber team in terms of talent, but have yet to develop the continuity or establish a leader for the team. If they’re able to get it together and stop beating teams simply off of talent alone, UAB and UCF are going to be in for a surprise as the season goes on.

—Matt Doherty will be lucky if he is in Dallas next season. Despite what many UNC fans will think, its not that he can’t coach; It’s that he can’t recruit. Against Memphis, he did an excellent job of keeping his players disciplined and convincing them to settle for good shots. In fact, his sets that involved tons of back cuts constantly got his team open look after open look. The problem was that his players just weren’t talented enough to knock shots down or create their own offense when they got deep in the shot clock. There haven’t been any more Jeryl Sasser’s walking through that door under Doherty’s tenure and if things stay the way they are, I expect there t o be a change in leadership at SMU soon.

[hoopmanx]

The last paragraph is pretty good in that it really speaks to the need for slashers and kids that can get their own looks. Doh's a good recruiter, he's just been flat bad w/managing the roster. Seldom do we have the right mix of talent, just pieces here or there. We're getting closer to having a complete roster, just not there yet. We chased our own tail on the trail for years, always trying to fill important roles in the late Spring. Only been since '11 that we were done in the Fall

The reality of a kid like Frog, is that he's beaten the odds. That said, Doh passed on several kids in that cycle who are just better players, specifically scorers, by far, in an effort to get a true PG. Now the kid is going to start for 4 yrs? I was very involved in that search, and it was eye-opening. Probably won't get over it as long as Frog is playing 20+ per

[shadowman]

I agree with that. Although in the minority, I felt that Doherty was a pretty good floor general, he knows how to coach, he knows ho to motivate/punish his players, and he always takes the blame and the pressure off the athletes in the press.

It is just tough to get talent to come to SMU. The point of throwing out the first 3 years is quite valid. SMU was at death's door with all the scandal and toxicity in the program from Tubbs and Dement. I am actually amazed we have come this far.

It all boils down to recruiting, and we are getting better. However, we still have a long way to go and hopefully the shift to the Big East will get talent to take a look at us.

[hoopmanx]

I agree with that. Although in the minority, I felt that Doherty was a pretty good floor general, he knows how to coach, he knows ho to motivate/punish his players, and he always takes the blame and the pressure off the athletes in the press.

It is just tough to get talent to come to SMU. The point of throwing out the first 3 years is quite valid. SMU was at death's door with all the scandal and toxicity in the program from Tubbs and Dement. I am actually amazed we have come this far.

It all boils down to recruiting, and we are getting better. However, we still have a long way to go and hopefully the shift to the Big East will get talent to take a look at us.

A hoops buddy of mine told me that people had it all wrong. Can't look at it as Doh & his assistants. The system is Mangino's and Hobbie is a Skill & Development guy. They are handling basketball. Anyway, he goes 'where is SMU going to get a recruit coordinator better than Doherty?' Anyway the point was that he fundraises, handles pressers, looks presidential, and recruits at a high major level. a blue blood level. He's a high end Big East recruit coordinator. Not strangely, his biggest question mark was Pooh & Mangino, cause Pooh doesn't really sign kids. Didnt at A&M, so we'll see, but everyone loves him. Mangino b/c he doesn't recruit at all. He's like one of those guys on June's staff that everyone [deleted] about. Dude doesn't recruit at all. That is a problem since most chefs like to pick their ingredients

[Hoop Fan]

Scandal? Burgers and Cheer was a pretty laughable "scandal". What we had was an overly involved grandpa booster and a new AD who wanted his own guy and a fresh slate. Yet its taken us more time to even sniff respectability (are we there yet? highly questionable but i like the young guys) than it has taken Baylor to go to an Elite 8 against Duke and follow it up with top 5 rankings after a REAL scandal. I know, I know, we are all skeptical of Drew's tactics, but if there was any real dirt in Waco I'm pretty sure UT investigators would have found it and exposed it by now. Its a big bad world, no one gets 10 years to turn around ANY program. Heck, Rossley got fired from SMU after what 4 short years for not winning enough within the immediate decade after the Death Penalty, the third biggest scandal of all time (following Baylor and Penn State of course!). Yet, Doh needs and deserves 7 or 8 years? I don't see the logic. I'm well aware of SMU's image problem in South Dallas, especially after Tubbs, but if SMU really cared that much about that then they wouldn't have hired lilly white, corporate CEO lookalike Doh to rub salt in the wounds of Burgers and Cheer. To me, the admin can't have it both ways by hiring a guy who was gonna have a hard time healing the wounds and then give him twice as much time to get respectable than anyone else would get.

[ponyscott]

Scandal? Burgers and Cheer was a pretty laughable "scandal". What we had was an overly involved grandpa booster and a new AD who wanted his own guy and a fresh slate. Yet its taken us more time to even sniff respectability (are we there yet? highly questionable but i like the young guys) than it has taken Baylor to go to an Elite 8 against Duke and follow it up with top 5 rankings after a REAL scandal. I know, I know, we are all skeptical of Drew's tactics, but if there was any real dirt in Waco I'm pretty sure UT investigators would have found it and exposed it by now. Its a big bad world, no one gets 10 years to turn around ANY program. Heck, Rossley got fired from SMU after what 4 short years for not winning enough within the immediate decade after the Death Penalty, the third biggest scandal of all time (following Baylor and Penn State of course!). Yet, Doh needs and deserves 7 or 8 years? I don't see the logic. I'm well aware of SMU's image problem in South Dallas, especially after Tubbs, but if SMU really cared that much about that then they wouldn't have hired lilly white, corporate CEO lookalike Doh to rub salt in the wounds of Burgers and Cheer. To me, the admin can't have it both ways by hiring a guy who was gonna have a hard time healing the wounds and then give him twice as much time to get respectable than anyone else would get.

Good post Hoop Fan! Interesting observations.....we will see how it goes over the next 45 days..it will make or break the Doh regime IMHO.

[shadowman]

Tubbs was in way over his head, and to top that all off, when SMU fired him, it created a lot of bad blood and made things very difficult for the incoming coach. The "burgers and cheer" was not the toxicity I was talking about.

What I was talking about was the fact that Dement totally lost the team and Tubbs, bless his heart, had no idea how to be a head coach and all that it involved. Then, right or wrong, when we fired Tubbs, Doherty walked into a toxic situation. That was my point.

Doherty plays the part much better than Tubbs or Dement ever did. He knows what a coach needs to do to keep the money flowing and the wheels greased. Now, maybe he can start recruiting better talent.

[hoopmanx]

Scandal? Burgers and Cheer was a pretty laughable "scandal". What we had was an overly involved grandpa booster and a new AD who wanted his own guy and a fresh slate. Yet its taken us more time to even sniff respectability (are we there yet? highly questionable but i like the young guys) than it has taken Baylor to go to an Elite 8 against Duke and follow it up with top 5 rankings after a REAL scandal. I know, I know, we are all skeptical of Drew's tactics, but if there was any real dirt in Waco I'm pretty sure UT investigators would have found it and exposed it by now. Its a big bad world, no one gets 10 years to turn around ANY program. Heck, Rossley got fired from SMU after what 4 short years for not winning enough within the immediate decade after the Death Penalty, the third biggest scandal of all time (following Baylor and Penn State of course!). Yet, Doh needs and deserves 7 or 8 years? I don't see the logic. I'm well aware of SMU's image problem in South Dallas, especially after Tubbs, but if SMU really cared that much about that then they wouldn't have hired lilly white, corporate CEO lookalike Doh to rub salt in the wounds of Burgers and Cheer. To me, the admin can't have it both ways by hiring a guy who was gonna have a hard time healing the wounds and then give him twice as much time to get respectable than anyone else would get.

None of this has to do w/the NCAA or any sanctions. Also, you're a better poster than saying Drew is on the up'n'up. That said, much of this is on Orsini. He didn't have a clue about SMUs rep in grassroots, specifically post-Tubbs, and is a hoop ignorant AD, that got torn a new one by Doh's lawyers. He overpaid the pants off Jones too.

Now that we're close to getting Doh out, he's starting to show signs of life. We'll see how this season plays out

[Pony Up]

I'd be surprised if Doherty goes anywhere. If he did, SMU would have to pay a Big East salary (a lot more than MD makes) to a replacement, and that seems unlikely.

[Hoop Fan]

I'd bet my own money that Baylor is filthy, but i also would have expected some violations to surface by now. If Drew is so filthy, why hasn't anything surfaced? If he's good at covering tracks, then I guess you have to tip your cap to him for being saavy and winning. Either way, until a real violation surfaces, Baylor is cleaning up big time and benefitting from huge national pub. None of the talking heads on ESPN or CBS are saying 'yeah but' after fawning all over Baylor. It just sounds like jelousy coming from us because we either can't or won't compete for same level of recruits.

Speaking of Baylor, along with Tech and A&M, I wonder why Doh hasn't scheduled any of those ex rivals? Besides being scared of them, Baylor is a natural OOC game for SMU to play every year.

[hoopmanx]

I'd bet my own money that Baylor is filthy, but i also would have expected some violations to surface by now. If Drew is so filthy, why hasn't anything surfaced? If he's good at covering tracks, then I guess you have to tip your cap to him for being saavy and winning. Either way, until a real violation surfaces, Baylor is cleaning up big time and benefitting from huge national pub. None of the talking heads on ESPN or CBS are saying 'yeah but' after fawning all over Baylor. It just sounds like jelousy coming from us because we either can't or won't compete for same level of recruits.

Speaking of Baylor, along with Tech and A&M, I wonder why Doh hasn't scheduled any of those ex rivals? Besides being scared of them, Baylor is a natural OOC game for SMU to play every year.

It's not jealousy to say Drew is cheating or Calhoun or Calipari etc. Finding a smoking gun is plenty easy, so it's really more a matter of no one caring, than the NCAA missing something, or Drew just being savvy at it. UT has well-known skeletons, see Durant and every Canadian in the program, so who are they going to turn in? Institutionally, you have to decide to what degree you want to play the game. To this point, SMU barely plays it. As you know, this isnt football, which is remarkably clean by comparison.

I'm not throwing stones at rogue programs, I'm merely saying IF you want their success, you have to get your hands as dirty as they get there's. We haven't shown that sort of commitment. SMU can easily be on that level, but as Stallion likes to say, it won't be 'within the spirit of the NCAA rules.' Not even close.

Let's say this about Baylor, b/c of my grassroots experience in Vegas, I was asked to background check Pierre Jackson for a program not named SMU. I did so, and it turns out he was handled by a fella whose full-time job is head of the gang task force in North Las Vegas. Having friends in LVPD, we saw the kid was once gang-affiliated, but was supposedly clean now. Anyway, the head of the task force grabs 'at risk' ballers, tries to keep them out of gangs, by fielding competitive AAU teams. Suffice it to say, the head of the NLV gang task force having a non-profit for at-risk kids seems very plausible. Anything to help the kids etc.

When we approached about Jackson, we were told in no uncertain terms, that any face to face w/he & his handlers would cost a sizable donation to the non-profit. That donation would have to be laundered as to not come from Waco or any other town that could be linked to the university in question. Anyway, that was the set-up, prior to even speaking to his main handlers, much less getting an official visit. That's just one example from personal experience. I have 4 or 5 more, just as damning. The reality is that it could all be tracked down if the NCAA had manpower, or just gave a crap, which they don't. This is a generation of coaches that pads its resume by working outside the lines. So, the question becomes what is SMU truly trying to get done?

[shadowman]

I just get the feeling that the casual fan does not acknowledge or understand how difficult it is to attract top talent to play basketball in the state of Texas if you are not in the Big 12.

The Big 12 has the advantage of having traditional powerhouses such as Kansas, Missouri, and Texas in the conference. This provides the conference a high profile and makes the recruiting of top talent and Texas kids that want to paly close to home viable.

Anyone else though, forget it...Almost no reason for a top athlete to consider a college in Texas that is not in the Big 12. There are dozens and dozens of prestigious schools back east in power conferences that offer everything SMU as a school can. And if a kid is a top recruit and from Texas and wants to play at home, he has every Big 12 school to consider first. Yes, someone like a UNT or a UTEP may get a minor bump up every now and then, but no school outside the Big 12 has sustained anything, regardless of coach, in years and years.

Recruiting (cleanly) here at SMU is a tough sell and probably the biggest thing that could happen to us in decades is going to the Big East. WE are now a member of the best Conference in the country and should see a recruiting bump. Other than that though, I think Doherty has done a pretty good job.