SMU/UCF

[GiddyUp]

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.

Same diff, fball team had same problem for years.

[BUS]

Please keep in mind that next year.. with the upgrade in talent... we will be up against an upgrade in competition.
Love your Mustangs.

[hoopmanx]

I really surprised some of you guys had any expectations whatsoever. Every time I watch us play, the only thing I see is the other team w/more horses & size.

I think the only upsetting part of this season for me, is how Larry dumbed down the roster to the point of sacrificing this season. All he talks about is next year, all while saying we're not very talented right now. We didn't have to be this thin. Hell, Vilde is walking around campus right now. He's better than Dickerson.

They just never cared about this year, why should any of us. I'm happy that Jalen/Manuel/Cannen/Nick are stepping up, and that's it. Realistically, we have one senior on the team, and we're going to have up to 9 new players next year.

[lwjr]

I really surprised some of you guys had any expectations whatsoever. Every time I watch us play, the only thing I see is the other team w/more horses & size.

I think the only upsetting part of this season for me, is how Larry dumbed down the roster to the point of sacrificing this season. All he talks about is next year, all while saying we're not very talented right now. We didn't have to be this thin. Hell, Vilde is walking around campus right now. He's better than Dickerson.

They just never cared about this year, why should any of us. I'm happy that Jalen/Manuel/Cannen/Nick are stepping up, and that's it. Realistically, we have one senior on the team, and we're going to have up to 9 new players next year.

Hoopmanx, why is LB taking this approach? He did not run off any future HOFs but some could play and would have helped this year.

[Balatro Diabolus Ex]

Still wondering what happened to the team we saw beat LMU

This is the same team. The problem was our perception of what that win indicated. LMU was picked to finish near the top of a very solid WCC (Gonzaga, St. Mary's, BYU, Santa Clara), so when SMU won everyone thought it was the beginning of a better than expected season. That LMU team is now 1-6 in conference play, with some very questionable losses along the way, and their RPI is somewhere around 225. So, beating them really didnt mean what most of us thought it did, at that moment.

The same can be said of the rest of our 8-1 record to start the season. SMU's OOC schedule wasnt considered to be all that tough, but several teams have performed well below expectations. Prior to playing Wyoming, SMU's Strength of Schedule was 325, meaning we played one of the softest OOC schedules in the country, up to that point. SMU's best win was over Utah, and they are somewhere around 160 in the RPI now, they're actually ranked lower than Tulane.

Several of our OOC opponents were expected to be better than they have performed. Not great, but better than what they have done on the court. No one could have foreseen that TCU's best player would blow out his knee 12 seconds into our game, or that Hofstra would lose 4 players to burglary charges (they robbed the head coaches house, in a bit of surreal irony). Mo State was also supposed to be a respectable opponent this year, but instead they are 3-15, and I have no idea what happened to them. The collective fail by our OOC opponents gave us a false sense of the teams level of play.

If you look at the current RPI or Sagarin rankings, you'll find that USM (41), UTEP (75), Tulsa (105), and UCF (108) are ranked significantly higher than any of our OOC opponents, except for Wyoming (39). Even Tulane (141) is rated above everyone we beat OOC. I think the team is actually playing better now, than they were earlier in the year while compiling that 8-1 start. It doesnt show in the Win-Loss column, because we are playing better teams. I might add that next year we will see a major upgrade in the level of competition, so even though the team may be deeper and and more talented, the final record may not change that much. It all has to be kept in perspective of who you are playing.

[GiddyUp]

The point is we have been in games regardless of depth and factors. No expectations, just frustration not pulling off one or two (Utah, Wy, USM, UCF)

[hoopmanx]

The point is we have been in games regardless of depth and factors. No expectations, just frustration not pulling off one or two (Utah, Wy, USM, UCF)

That's very very true, and in several cases could have closed and should have, regardless of depth. I'll be very honest and say what many won't. Brown isn't coaching circles around anyone right now, and to be honest, he's alienated this years team something awful, by giving up on the year before it started. The whole team knows we've over recruited and continue to do so.

That goes two ways, kids diving for every loose ball, or kids looking over their shoulders while getting postseason transfer visits lined up. If you were Brian Bernardi or Uche, how could you possibly play loose?

I've just never seen a staff really write off an entire year. I have no problem w/it, or gutting the roster for the future, but the hubris of cutting Leslee/Vilde and finding no replacement after Mclaurin balked, hurt. IF we'd have landed Savon Goodman and Blaise hadnt been hurt, we'd have been in business this year.

[Charleston Pony]

we still have 10 regular season games to play, with 5 at home and many of those games against teams at the bottom of CUSA.

Does anyone think this bunch has a chance of winning 5 of those and still finishing .500? That would be one heck of an accomplishment for these guys, but they will have to win on the road to do it

[Treadway21]

The point is we have been in games regardless of depth and factors. No expectations, just frustration not pulling off one or two (Utah, Wy, USM, UCF)

This is very true and probably added to the expectations. I think when Brown tried to lower expectations and then we got off to such a good start got everybody giddy and changed the perception of the team. We have shown we can play with anyone in the conference. It would be totally different if we were getting blown out.

I would rather be competitive and lose than non competitive and lose. Getting blown out gets you empty seats - see the fball team. We'd be back at 1500 if we were losing badly.

[MustangIcon]

I would rather be competitive and lose than non competitive and lose. Getting blown out gets you empty seats - see the fball team. We'd be back at 1500 if we were losing badly.

Continued mediocrity (ie the Doherty years) will inspire awful attendance too. Last year's results were pretty much similar to the results of this season. I think something like 14 of our 19 losses last season were by less than 7 points or in Overtime. We were in the vast majority of the games we played last year, it was just the same old story- 5 years later and no results. Fans gave up and rightfully so.

[MustangIcon]

we still have 10 regular season games to play, with 5 at home and many of those games against teams at the bottom of CUSA.

Does anyone think this bunch has a chance of winning 5 of those and still finishing .500? That would be one heck of an accomplishment for these guys, but they will have to win on the road to do it

I think we find a way to win 5. We have 3 games against the bottom two teams in conference (albeit 2 of them on the road) and three games against other teams with losing conference records, plus ECU who is .500 in conference. We have played right down to the last minute with So Miss, UCF, and Tulsa, 3 of the top 5 teams in CUSA, and Wyoming. No reason that this team shouldn't expect to win half of their next 10 and go into the CUSA tourney looking to knock someone off in round 1.

[Treadway21]

The difference is that this team is fun to watch and generally more athletic. We have seen more dunks this year than thru all of Dohs years. Not to bag on Dohs teams but this product is better overall.

[MustangIcon]

I think the only upsetting part of this season for me, is how Larry dumbed down the roster to the point of sacrificing this season. All he talks about is next year, all while saying we're not very talented right now. We didn't have to be this thin. Hell, Vilde is walking around campus right now. He's better than Dickerson.

I am going to defend LB on this. He opened up 4 ships if I recall correctly- JSam, Vilde, Leslee, and Norman. We used 3 of them to pull in transfers- Kennedy, Head, and Moore. We don't land those guys without opening up 3 ships and 2 of them project as starters, and maybe even our best players. I have to imagine the staff felt almost certain they could land a big much better than Dickerson otherwise they would have kept either Vilde or Smith. For sure a swing and miss there. So, say he keeps 1 of those guys- does that make a material difference in our season? Depends what you consider material but I'd guess we would add another 2-3 wins.

[SMUFan]

Speaking of those close games, I'm amazed that the Southern Miss team that barely beat us more than doubled up Marshall ... and then Marshall hung in against Memphis. By that math, we should hammer Memphis.

Weird year for a weird league.

[Charleston Pony]

we still have 10 regular season games to play, with 5 at home and many of those games against teams at the bottom of CUSA.

Does anyone think this bunch has a chance of winning 5 of those and still finishing .500? That would be one heck of an accomplishment for these guys, but they will have to win on the road to do it

I think we find a way to win 5. We have 3 games against the bottom two teams in conference (albeit 2 of them on the road) and three games against other teams with losing conference records, plus ECU who is .500 in conference. We have played right down to the last minute with So Miss, UCF, and Tulsa, 3 of the top 5 teams in CUSA, and Wyoming. No reason that this team shouldn't expect to win half of their next 10 and go into the CUSA tourney looking to knock someone off in round 1.

I hope you are right; from what I've seen so far, I think they can do it but we need all 5 starters contributing on the offensive end