OT - How good is SMU?

[champs99and04]

I'm asking because I don't know. Curious to see if anybody has seen them this year. Right now, they're mauling Nicholls State, who is awful, but they've been steamrolling people. Beat New Hampshire by 54, Michigan by 24, and now Nicholls State by 44 in their last three.

They haven't really played anybody, though they have beaten three power five teams (@ Stanford, @ TCU, vs. Michigan), two of them decisively. Jordan Tolbert, the transfer from Texas Tech, has been playing well, Frazier's back, and Ben Moore seems to have made a modest leap. Shake Milton has had an outstanding freshman season thus far. Not to mention, they've done all this without Larry Brown.

They have a couple more cupcakes before conference play starts, but they do host Gonzaga later on.

It's a shame they're banned from the tournament, but they may be the favorite to win the AAC again.

 

[CTBasketball]

They're better than last year...by a lot.

 

[champs99and04]

They're better than last year...by a lot.

I think they're better than last year, but it probably remains to be seen by how much. Looking forward to seeing how they handle conference play.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

KenPom has them undefeated headed into our match up with them on 2/18. He has UConn handing SMU their first loss of the season.

Stats that stick out with KenPom are three point shooting % which is 6th in the country (44.1%) and offensive rebounding % which if memory isn't failing me comes in around 3rd in the nation (I may be slightly off). I have watched SMU twice. With Kennedy/L. Brown that team really was a Final4 threat. Plus the Final4 is in Texas this year so...

Who knows if they will keep their mental edge as the season progresses.

 

[Ts5034]

No doubt SMU is playing really good. Their best non conference game will come in February when they play Gonzaga at Moody, right before they come to Hartford to play UConn. Its really unfortunate they have a post season ban because there is no doubt they would have made the NCAA Tournament.

 

[mauconnfan]

Best team in the AAC as of now.

 

[JSB60]

They seem good on paper, the only game I watched was when they played Yale. Yale isn't bad, but SMU was lucky to win by two at home.

 

[Hankster]

The question is who is more battle tested as of this print. If the pups play together they will prevail. Too much talent. I still like our bench although some have been heavily critiqued . I strongly love our chances this year.

 

[August_West]

SMU is very good. Also make no mistake that their games against UConn will be their "tournament" games this year. We have enough trouble with them anyway. We better strap on the man pants and come ready against them. I look forward to it. Seeing how we respond against them in conference will tell us a lot about if we have gotten mentally tougher through the season.

 

[smudubs]

I have watched ever game this season except last night's game and I honestly cannot answer the question. Something clicked after the TCU game and the team is playing the best I have ever seen in my 20+ years of following the team. Last night neither Frazier nor Kennedy played. We are thin in the front court so if our bigs get into foul trouble, we might be in trouble. We were looking forward to Semi being eligible but as many of you have probably read, it looks like he is going to redshirt this year and have two years left when we can go back to the tournament. Two of the freshman look really good (Foster and Milton). Finally our achilles heel is still any team that can knock down threes. That's how Yale and Brown stayed in the games.

 

[Kitaman]

We all know that records mean nothing in conference play. SMU has added incentive as well. So when we play them expect them to be really good, like top 10 good. We bring that out of teams and have a target on our back, especially in conference, meaning we are the team to beat.

 

[RipCity]

Watching them right now. If we moved the ball inside and out like SMU does we'd be amazing.

 

[champs99and04]

We all know that records mean nothing in conference play. SMU has added incentive as well. So when we play them expect them to be really good, like top 10 good. We bring that out of teams and have a target on our back, especially in conference, meaning we are the team to beat.

With all due respect, the "target on our back" stuff is bull s*** at this point. I'm not even necessarily saying your wrong, but SMU won the conference last year and is 4-1 against us in the last two years. If we're not ready to match their intensity then that's on us.

 

[champs99and04]

I have watched ever game this season except last night's game and I honestly cannot answer the question. Something clicked after the TCU game and the team is playing the best I have ever seen in my 20+ years of following the team. Last night neither Frazier nor Kennedy played. We are thin in the front court so if our bigs get into foul trouble, we might be in trouble. We were looking forward to Semi being eligible but as many of you have probably read, it looks like he is going to redshirt this year and have two years left when we can go back to the tournament. Two of the freshman look really good (Foster and Milton). Finally our achilles heel is still any team that can knock down threes. That's how Yale and Brown stayed in the games.

26 team assists tonight and a 49 to 23 edge on the boards. Impressive. Tolbert has been a monster these past few games.