SMU/UCF

[lwjr]

Another loss but the future looks bright for SMU Basketball.

[hoopmanx]

Manuel needs to push and get in the lane, no matter what. He's a different kid when attacking

[ALEX LIFESON]

From an 8-1 start, to probable 11-11 on Wednesday.

[hoopmanx]

From an 8-1 start, to probable 11-11 on Wednesday.

what did you expect?

[ponyscott]

1-5 in CUSA is a surprise to me thus far.

[ALEX LIFESON]

From an 8-1 start, to probable 11-11 on Wednesday.

what did you expect?

To not find a way to lose, just a couple of these games.

[ALEX LIFESON]

1-5 in CUSA is a surprise to me thus far.

Me too, I had hoped we could win two or three of those.

[LHS81]

Hate to say it. But I hope Shawn Williams is on line to graduate, and opens up his scholarship.

[lwjr]

Hate to say it. But I hope Shawn Williams is on line to graduate, and opens up his scholarship.

One more year, I believe

[mavsrage311]

Sticky situation, his dad is a big name in the Dallas AAU scene. Can't just cut him lose, that might do a lot of harm down the line to SMU.

I thought the team would be a lot better than this. UCF only played 8 guys too...I dont want to keep blaming depth on these losses.

[RGV Pony]

Still wondering what happened to the team we saw beat LMU

[GiddyUp]

absolutely wilt when the game is on the line.

[MustangIcon]

absolutely wilt when the game is on the line.

I agree that we don't finish games out well but let's discuss why. Here is my take:

- It is NOT that we have guys that just wilt under pressure, in my opinion
- We do not have a true PG and while turnovers can be masked through the course of the game, they are killer in crunch time
- We have only one player (Jalen Jones) who feels comfortable playing on the block, even though he isn't a true on-the-block post player per say, and defenses pack in in tight at the end of games (and smart teams, throughout the game) to keep us from getting it to the post...
- ... our other two primary scorers (Russell and Manuel) get their buckets by attacking the basket, but again find this difficult with the D sucking down and protecting the paint...
- ... and unfortunately, we have no zone busters to knock down shots from the outside

To me, we have some excellent players on the current roster and all that we are lacking for next season is:
- A bruising post presence. Check. Kennedy and Yanik
- A true PG that can handle the ball and get us into our O. Check. Nic Moore
- Guys who can shoot over the top of the zone or take advantage of kickouts in man-to-man after our penetrators break down the D. TBD. Nic Moore and ? I hope Keith Frazier. Russell and Jalen to an extent.

We will be pretty darn good next season.

[Charleston Pony]

for a brief period during a 2 game stretch, I thought Shawn was gaining some confidence and was going to become a perimeter threat, but after missing his 1st 2 shots today, he seemed to shut down on the offensive end. That left Nick to carry the load with 20 shots today

[Treadway21]

It's not wilting under pressure. It's learning how to win. That takes some time. When you are used to losing you expect to lose the close ones. When you are NC you expect to win. Brien even talked about this in the practice q and a.