Never really enjoyed B-Ball but with Tubbs as ...

[jtstang]

No question this team has weaknesses, and they have been and will be exposed. But Tubbs was not brought in here to win overnight--his focus needs to be to use his HS contacts to recruit and keep home 1-2 of the top guys in DFW every year. Hell, my sunshiner hoop dream has the top guy from DFW every year wanting to come to SMU. That's how he will improve this team, if at all. I saw the DMN confirmed today that the top scorer in the area from TCA-Addison has committed, and we've needed a true shooting guard for some time, so that's a good start.

BTW, I think whatever slight improvement is noticeable on this team is attributable to Tubbs as well. Apparently its been a while since anyone has emphasized defense and conditioning on the Hilltop.

Correction: the new kid is the SECOND highest scorer in the area, per DMN:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/colleges/smu/stories/011805dnsposmubrief.1b03e68e.html

[rich_alum]

We may have made some minor improvements, but is that a result of the coach or the players becoming more experienced? The items you mentioned are probably 75% coachable.

Our assist/turnover ratio is currently the same as it was last year. Our oppenents scoring/game is marginally down.

I would agree that our rebounding is awful, but all the above items can be coached. Sloppy play can be coached........defense and rebounding can be coached.

The point is that this team is the same personnel from last year and there is little to no improvement. I'm not going to get excited over a team that has 4 returning starters, 3 of whom were all-state caliber players in high school and we are 3-3 in the WAC.

This coach hasn't impressed me yet. I keep hearing about how he is going to get all the local talent, but I thought Dement did a decent job of bringing in some good players. We need a fundamentally sound coach in here.....if Tubbs is that guy, great but I can't see any difference right now between this year and last year.

[Hoop Fan]

we have 3 all state players? What do you think other teams have? Fresno, Utep, Nevada, Rice, Hawaii all have that and more. For a rich guy, you need to get out more RA.

And who says that Dement wasnt teaching rebounding? Maybe what you see is what you get with some of these guys. Maybe the team wasn't constructed properly. Simpson, Castro, Isham might all be adequate or even good players individually, but as a group we have some serious deficiencies.

If your not impressed by Tubbs, thats your opinion. I like what I see and am as convinced as ever that this is going to turn out to be a great hire for SMU.

[Ponymon]

I am with you Hoop Fan. This team competes a LOT more than it did last year. Last year , when we were down by 15 we lost by 20+. Except for Tech and TCU early in the schedule, that hasn't been the case. We will know more in February, because that is when Dement's teams always seemed to fold.

[jtstang]

RA, as I said, the improvement on this team has been slight. And if Tubbs has not impressed you yet, then fine. But as I also said, he wasn't hired to win this year. And look, this team quit on Dement last year. Now that does not speak well of Dement OR the team, but there's a viewpoint which holds that if Tubbs can keep the team from quitting, that in itself is evidence of an improved coaching situation.

[MustangStealth]

he really seems to get the most out of his players & finds a way to be in every game -

Let's not forget:
Oklahoma State L 76-57
Texas Tech L 105-67

And before the Ok. St. game:
"We're not in a position to play a team like that, yet. I definitely think they're one of the favorites to go to the Final Four. Our program is not that far along. I'm just being honest. I just hope we don't embarrass ourselves."

Sounded (and looked) like he never even got us into that game.

I agree that he's a class act, and I have a feeling that we won't see the usual February collapse, but to me this team looks like most of the SMU bball teams from the last 5 years.