Three Year Review: SMU Has Been Really Good

[Huskybass]

It occurred to me recently that SMU has really emerged as the top program in the AAC. Over the past three seasons, they have compiled an overall record of 82-17. During that same stretch, UCONN has gone 61-43 and Cincy has gone 75-28. It should also be noted that Cincy has made the NCAA tournament every year since 2011.

SMU also won the conference regular season and tournament championships in both 2015 and 2017. UCONN took the tournament championship in 2016, when SMU was ineligible. Temple took the regular season AAC title that season.

82-17 is a very impressive three year stretch for SMU to go along with 4 of the 6 conference championships. However, they have had virtually no success in the NCAA tournament, winning only one tourney game during the three year stretch. Kind of reminds me of Pitt in the old Big East days, as they usually underperformed come tournament time.

So I guess all this suggests that a team can dominate the AAC to a substantial degree, but still not be a contender on the national stage. Thoughts?

 

[Kembacity]

Yes, I agree

 

[Balker]

Winning in the regular season is like getting good grades in college. Doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna succeed in the real world.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

It's really a shame that SMU and Cincy couldn't do more on a national stage. They've both had a couple of really disappointing performances in the NCAA tournament the last couple years.
We need our best teams to show how good they actually are.
But UConn deserves as much blame for the conference outlook as well.
If those three teams can have a decent year, add in Wichita St., we should be at least a 4 bid league in theory.

 

[the Q]

It's really a shame that SMU and Cincy couldn't do more on a national stage. They've both had a couple of really disappointing performances in the NCAA tournament the last couple years.
We need our best teams to show how good they actually are.
But UConn deserves as much blame for the conference outlook as well.
If those three teams can have a decent year, add in Wichita St., we should be at least a 4 bid league in theory.

They've had some tough losses.

Milton missed a pretty good look this year.

Ellis not laying the ball in and instead dunking it cost them the St Joe's game last year, the atrocious goal tending call vs. UCLA for SMU etc.

It's been a matter of inches for them making more waves in the tourney. But it doesn't help the AAC's record or national perception. Just more an observation that it's a pretty pretty fine line for the AAC's rep.

 

[UConnSwag11]

What's their OOC record? And against what competition? Same for Cinci. They do well in conference but what about OOC?

 

[Palatine]

We have to stop under achieving, losing to Yale, and Northeastern. Screw SMU. If we pay to our potential instead of this nonsense, they are not an issue. We need to play good basketball.

 

[LStudfellow]

What's their OOC record? And against what competition? Same for Cinci. They do well in conference but what about OOC?

Here is the other piece to our league's perception problem. The fact is that since the AAC's inception all of the following points are true:

1. The OOC schedules of every other team in the AAC other than us has been either weak, if not down right pathetic. And the results on top of that have been atrocious.
2. You can count on one hand (literally) the number of "signature" wins that our fellow conference members, including SMU and Cincinnati, have had against OOC conpetition. In fact, I will list them ALL right here:
- Cincy vs. Xavier this year (and this was after Xavier started sliding. 14-6 record after that game. I call them a "signature" win only because they have had success in the Tournament, and Cincy has struggled mightly with them since the AAC was formed. A perfect illustration of just how barren AAC members are of signature wins.)
- Temple vs. Florida State and West Virginia in December (both excellent wins - and then Temple did virtually nothing the rest of the year)
- Practically nothing else
3. Not only have we fallen off the rails, but so has Temple, Tulsa, and now more recently Memphis. Only SMU has stepped into the large vacuum created by us, Temple, Memphis and to a lesser extent Tulsa. Cincinnati has stayed competitive. Honestly, that is just not enough. Particularly when you needed the top end of the league to over-compensate for the non-competitive bottom feeders who already act like dead weights.


The Bottom Line: other schools in this conference need to grow a set of balls and start taking on the big-name schools.

 

[kobe]

Here is the other piece to our league's perception problem. The fact is that since the AAC's inception all of the following points are true:

1. The OOC schedules of every other team in the AAC other than us has been either weak, if not down right pathetic. And the results on top of that have been atrocious.
2. You can count on one hand (literally) the number of "signature" wins that our fellow conference members, including SMU and Cincinnati, have had against OOC conpetition. In fact, I will list them ALL right here:
- Cincy vs. Xavier this year (and this was after Xavier started sliding. 14-6 record after that game. I call them a "signature" win only because they have had success in the Tournament, and Cincy has struggled mightly with them since the AAC was formed. A perfect illustration of just how barren AAC members are of signature wins.)
- Temple vs. Florida State and West Virginia in December (both excellent wins - and then Temple did virtually nothing the rest of the year)
- Practically nothing else
3. Not only have we fallen off the rails, but so has Temple, Tulsa, and now more recently Memphis. Only SMU has stepped into the large vacuum created by us, Temple, Memphis and to a lesser extent Tulsa. Cincinnati has stayed competitive. Honestly, that is just not enough. Particularly when you needed the top end of the league to over-compensate for the non-competitive bottom feeders who already act like dead weights.


The Bottom Line: other schools in this conference need to grow a set of balls and start taking on the big-name schools.

Cincinnati won at Iowa State snapping their 37 game home winning against OOC opponents.

 

[Slasher]

Here is the other piece to our league's perception problem. The fact is that since the AAC's inception all of the following points are true:

1. The OOC schedules of every other team in the AAC other than us has been either weak, if not down right pathetic. And the results on top of that have been atrocious.
2. You can count on one hand (literally) the number of "signature" wins that our fellow conference members, including SMU and Cincinnati, have had against OOC conpetition. In fact, I will list them ALL right here:
- Cincy vs. Xavier this year (and this was after Xavier started sliding. 14-6 record after that game. I call them a "signature" win only because they have had success in the Tournament, and Cincy has struggled mightly with them since the AAC was formed. A perfect illustration of just how barren AAC members are of signature wins.)
- Temple vs. Florida State and West Virginia in December (both excellent wins - and then Temple did virtually nothing the rest of the year)
- Practically nothing else
3. Not only have we fallen off the rails, but so has Temple, Tulsa, and now more recently Memphis. Only SMU has stepped into the large vacuum created by us, Temple, Memphis and to a lesser extent Tulsa. Cincinnati has stayed competitive. Honestly, that is just not enough. Particularly when you needed the top end of the league to over-compensate for the non-competitive bottom feeders who already act like dead weights.


The Bottom Line: other schools in this conference need to grow a set of balls and start taking on the big-name schools.

Cincinnati had #28 (RPI) non-conference SOS and won at Iowa State in addition to beating Xavier.
SMU didn't have any great wins, but they scheduled some good teams, they just didn't win any of them (Gonzaga, Michigan, USC).

I think I made this post last year, but only UConn, Cincy and Temple schedule properly. Memphis and SMU are usually in the so-so range. Everyone else is an outright disaster. With as bad as the conference was this year, for Cincy and SMU to both finish in the top 16 of the RPI is semi-miraculous.

 

[kobe]

It occurred to me recently that SMU has really emerged as the top program in the AAC. Over the past three seasons, they have compiled an overall record of 82-17. During that same stretch, UConn has gone 61-43 and Cincy has gone 75-28. It should also be noted that Cincy has made the NCAA tournament every year since 2011.

SMU also won the conference regular season and tournament championships in both 2015 and 2017. UConn took the tournament championship in 2016, when SMU was ineligible. Temple took the regular season AAC title that season.

82-17 is a very impressive three year stretch for SMU to go along with 4 of the 6 conference championships. However, they have had virtually no success in the NCAA tournament, winning only one tourney game during the three year stretch. Kind of reminds me of Pitt in the old Big East days, as they usually underperformed come tournament time.

So I guess all this suggests that a team can dominate the AAC to a substantial degree, but still not be a contender on the national stage. Thoughts?

SMU is 0-2 in the NCAA Tournament during that 3 year run, if you lump in the previous year where some think they got "snubbed" their greatest 4 year stretch in program history resulted in ZERO NCAA wins.

 

[FartMan69]

It's really a shame that SMU and Cincy couldn't do more on a national stage. They've both had a couple of really disappointing performances in the NCAA tournament the last couple years.
We need our best teams to show how good they actually are.
But UConn deserves as much blame for the conference outlook as well.
If those three teams can have a decent year, add in Wichita St., we should be at least a 4 bid league in theory.

Temple too

 

[AZHuskiePop]

SMU can't be your flagship school due largely to the fact their in a market thst could really care less about basketball
The AAC biggest problem is the schools positioned in the best BB msrkets have underachieved.
If Memphis ,Temple and sadly us are playing to form along with Cinncy ,SMU , Tulsa and now WSU the prestige of the conference goes through the roof.
I think the blame goes to Aresco's vision of the AAC as a P6 football conference in pursuit of the big money.
He completely took his eye off the sport we love.

 

[champs99and04]

It's not really that surprising to me. SMU and Cincinnati were both good teams this season and they have been good teams. A lot of good teams struggle to win even one game in the NCAA tournament. It's really hard to get to the second weekend - provided how many upsets there are, less than half of the postseason top 25 makes the second weekend in a given year. So it's not mutually exclusive to be a really good team that has a really good season and also lose in the first weekend.

To me, SMU and Cincinnati were both on the level of teams like Notre Dame, Baylor, Iowa State, Florida State, etc. None of them made it to the second weekend but all of them - had they swapped places with SMU and Cincy - would have dominated the AAC.

Sometimes we overthink things and I think this is one of those times. They were good to very good teams and that is typically what happens to those type of teams in the NCAA tournament. If a team like Xavier can make it to the elite eight, there is no reason to think either of them are incapable of breaking through. But it takes a lot of luck.

 

[LStudfellow]

Cincinnati won at Iowa State snapping their 37 game home winning against OOC opponents.

Sorry for forgetting Iowa State... but that is EXACTLY my point Kobe. You are pointing to Iowa State as a signature win. Seriously? A nice win to be sure. And snapping their home winning streak was nice. But beating... or even playing Iowa State is NOT moving the needle!

Go play North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky, Florida, Kansas, Arizona, Syracuse or Maryland out of conference. Or Michigan... or Michigan State. I do not mention Ohio State only because I do not know if you guys have tried to play them and they refuse to do so. Play ANY of those teams on your Out Of Conference schedule and then come talk to me.

Fact is, you guys don't play those teams. We have played them ALL... within the last 5 to 6 years. Or, in Arizona's case, we start a home-and-home with them this coming year, and have played them in home-and homes previously while we were a member of the OBE.

We have certainly under-performed the last 3 years... but at least we are still willing to take on the marquee schools every year. It would be nice if someone... ANYONE.. else in this god-forsaken conference (other than Temple) would do the same.

 

[kobe]

True. Cincinnati just inked a home and home with UCLA starting in Westwood next season. It's a step in the right direction.

Also Cincinnati and Michigan agreed to basketball home and home that was supposed to start last season but Michigan "accidentally" scheduled it during their finals week and canceled at the last minute. I hope that series actually starts next year too.

Remember we are going to be playing at NKU's arena next year and so are looking for marquee H&H that start on the road or neutral site games for next year.

 

[gtcam]

SMU has proven to be a really good conference team, likes a lousy OOC schedule and regardless of how they lost- a disappointment when it really counts in the Dance

 

[UC313]

There's not enough bad blood in the AAC. Its like we kinda dont like cincy but its not like our loathe for syracuse. I feel like we need some smack talkin going on. Someone call someones mama fat. Or tell tubby smith his breath smells like pickles. We need a headline grab.

 

[BFieldHusky]

SMU has proven to be a really good conference team, likes a lousy OOC schedule and regardless of how they lost- a disappointment when it really counts in the Dance

Total ncaa wins last 3 years:

Uconn 1
smu 0

 

[willie99]

SMU = 1 and done U

they've actually embarrassed the conference when it matters most, when people are watching, when reputations are molded

 

[willie99]

Total ncaa wins last 3 years:

UConn 1
smu 0

since the inception of the conference

UConn 7

Everybody else combined 3? maybe 4?

 

[DoakW]

It's hard to schedule blue bloods or really anybody in P5 when they won't come to Moody (I'm sure UCONN can understand why). When they do come, they get throttled. See Michigan and Gonzaga last year, TCU the last 4 years, and Stanford the last 2 years (unfortunately they have been incredibly down the last few years and one of the worst teams I've seen as we were up 48-19 at half). Indiana wouldn't return the favor and come to Moody a few years ago. Only so much you can do. Texas and Baylor refuse to play us which is unfortunate.

Luckily we're in Atlantis this year against Nova, Arizona, Nc St, Purdue, TN, and WKU. Should bolster the schedule pretty good for the conference.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

There's not enough bad blood in the AAC. Its like we kinda dont like cincy but its not like our loathe for syracuse. I feel like we need some smack talkin going on. Someone call someones mama fat. Or tell tubby smith his breath smells like pickles. We need a headline grab.

Nic Moore was a testy little cabbage patch kid and Shaq Goodwin was always down to scuffle but since they left everyone in this conference is too nice. Even Caupain who I'm pretty sure got tossed from a game vs us early in his career and had quite a few dust ups won the sportsmanship award this year.

 

[August_West]

SMU has proven to be a really good conference team, likes a lousy OOC schedule and regardless of how they lost- a disappointment when it really counts in the Dance

They are the PItt of the aac

 

[Moody Magic]

SMU can't be your flagship school due largely to the fact their in a market thst could really care less about basketball
The AAC biggest problem is the schools positioned in the best BB msrkets have underachieved.
If Memphis ,Temple and sadly us are playing to form along with Cinncy ,SMU , Tulsa and now WSU the prestige of the conference goes through the roof.
I think the blame goes to Aresco's vision of the AAC as a P6 football conference in pursuit of the big money.
He completely took his eye off the sport we love.

Do you mean a market that couldn't care less about basketball?? If so, you have no clue about Dallas.

Football will probably alway rule Texas but to suggest the market of Dallas doesn't care about hoops is one of the most ignorant sports claims ever. Dallas, and Houston, consistantly produce as many D1 basketball players as any markets outside of NYC and Chicago. The Mavs just this year ended the longest sellout streak in major professional sports at 600+ games. A few years ago the NBA Sll-Star was at Jerry World and nearly 100,000 showed up. So yeah, I guess the market doesn't care about basketball.

As far as SMU goes, Dallas doesn't care about SMU sports for the most part because Dallas is a pro sports town. The only way SMU gets attention is by winning, and winning against schools that people care about like UConn, Cincy and Memphis. That's why people in Dallas started to take notice when we hired the Legend. He changed everything about basketball at this school. This isn't a flash in the pan, the program has staying power. The money has been invested in Moody, the staff and our practice facility. Moody is soldout of season tickets and there is a waiting list. Our 2017 class is better than any LB had and if we land Mike, who is visiting today, we are loaded.