Smu Basketball

Seeding At Stake For Memphis Vs. Smu

... Tigers: Giannotto looks at the week behind and ahead of the Tigers | 1:55. University of Memphis basketball beat writer Mark Giannotto takes a look at the Tigers' loss at Tulsa and win against USF as well as the week ahead at Houston and against UCF. Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal. 67 of 80. VIDEOS: MEMPHIS TIGER BASKETBALLTubby Smith previews Memphis game at Houston | 2:58. Memphis Coach Tubby Smith breaks down the Tigers' issues heading into their game at Houston. 68 of 80. VIDEOS: MEMPHIS TIGER BASKETBALLMarkel Crawford talks after Memphis beats South Florida | 1:12. Memphis guard Markel Crawford talks after setting a new career-high in the Tigers' win over South Florida. Mark Giannotto/The Commercial Appeal. 69 of 80. VIDEOS: MEMPHIS TIGER BASKETBALLTubby smith discusses Memphis win over South Florida | 3:12. Tubby Smith talks about what went wrong and what went right in the Tigers' win over South Florida. Mark Giannotto/The ...

Ncaa No. 6 Seed Smu Finishes Ahead Of No. 3 Seed Baylor

... to the bottom to see the full poll.). Villanova, the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, is No. 1 in the final Associated Press college basketball poll of the season. The Wildcats (31-3) were a runaway choice Monday, receiving 59 first-place votes from the 65-member media panel. How the 30-4 SMU Mustangs feel about getting a No. 6 seed in NCAA tournament. Gonzaga (32-1), which received the other six first-place votes, and Kansas, two No. 1 seeds for the tournament, were second and third, but the poll and the selection committee disagreed on the fourth No. 1. Arizona was fourth in the poll, while North Carolina, the fourth No. 1 seed, was ranked fifth. Kentucky was sixth, followed by Duke, UCLA, Oregon and Louisville. SMU was 11 th, followed by Baylor, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Purdue, Florida State, Iowa State, Cincinnati, Wichita State and Florida. The last five ranked teams were ...

Aftermath Of Smu Debacle, Now And Beyond

... – Tennessee 2:02 p.m. CT March 7, 2017. Buy Photo. Dejected University of Memphis forward Dedric Lawson (right) walks off the court after losing to Southern Methodist University 103-62 at Moody Coliseum in Dallas on Saturday, March 4, 2017. Lawson scored 13 points off 4-12 shooting while grabbing five rebounds and allowed four turnovers in 31 minutes of play. The Tigers closed the regular season with five losses in their final six games and have a 2-6 record over the past month. (Photo: Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal)Buy Photo. 2 CONNECT TWEET LINKEDIN COMMENTEMAILMORE. On this week's Tiger basketball podcast, beat writer Mark Giannotto and columnist Geoff Calkins dissect the historically lopsided loss Memphis suffered at SMU to close the regular season, its significance heading into this week's ...

Smu Barely Uses Its Bench, Ignores Positions And Somehow Makes It All Work

... Whether cutting through the interior (1.3 PPP) or spotting up from the perimeter (1.29 PPP from 17 feet to beyond the arc), and by solely focusing on getting buckets — according to __link__, 65 percent of his half-court makes were off assists — Ojeleye has flourished in Jankovich’s system. Roster composition. SMU is a unicorn in Division I. The Mustangs rarely turn to their reserves — only Nevada and Arizona State use a lower percentage of bench minutes — but rely heavily on an aggressive, trapping man defense in the half-court. Yet it works because the squad is chock full of positionless players who are adept at defending guards along the perimeter while using their length (per Ken Pom, the team’s average height ranks 10 th nationally) to disrupt an opponent’s offensive flow. Ben Emelogu is the Mustangs’ only player shorter than 6-6 who averages more than 20 minutes per game, ...

Smu Closing In On Baylor For Highest Ranking Among Texas Teams

... Weekend events push SMU one step closer to conference title. Baylor was 11 th followed by Florida, Butler, SMU, Florida State, Purdue, Duke, Cincinnati, Notre Dame and Saint Mary's. The last five ranked teams were Wichita State, Wisconsin, Virginia and newcomers Iowa State and Miami. Iowa State (19-9), which was ranked for the first six polls of the season, moved back into the Top 25 after beating Baylor on Saturday. The Hurricanes (20-8), who were ranked for most of last season, reaching as high as seventh, moved into the poll after Saturday's victory over Duke. Creighton (22-7), which was 23 rd, dropped out for the first time this season after losses to Providence and Villanova. Maryland (22-7) fell out from 24 th after losses to Minnesota and Iowa. Kansas, which has the longest current streak in the Top 25, dating to February 2009, is No. 1 for the 63 rd time. That is the fifth-best total behind UCLA (134), Duke (129), Kentucky (117) and North Carolina (113). The Jayhawks' conference title run matches UCLA's streak in ...

East Region Has Intrigue, But Upsets Unlikely

... from happening (I detail those below), but for me, I like Virginia’s matchup with UNC Wilmington and Florida’s chances against a good East Tennessee State team, in particular. Five best players. 1. Josh Hart (Villanova): A top-three nationals player of the year candidate since late November, Hart is the best player on the No. 1 overall team. A classic Villanova senior, Hart is poised, strong, makes the right play and is as reliable as any guy in the country. He’s averaging 18.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.6 steals. Villanova’s great again because of its balance, but Hart has a knack for the right play at the right moment. It’s why you’ll see so many people putting the Wildcats back in the Final Four. 2. Luke Kennard (Duke): He has been Duke’s most valuable player and hasn’t slowed on Duke’s route to a 2. Kennard averaged 21.6 points and 6.5 rebounds in Duke’s last five games. A crafty left, Kennard’s feel, footwork and confidence have been crucial for Duke’s season. Grayson Allen was the preseason All-American, but Kennard was really good from the get-go. He ...

Kentucky, Michigan And Smu Win Conference Tournament Titles

... due to NCAA sanctions. Derrick Walton Jr. scored 22 points, D. J. Wilson added 17 and Zak Irvin had 15 for Michigan, which had lost 17 of its previous 20 games against Wisconsin. The Wolverines shot 56% and were 10 for 23 from beyond the arc. Bronson Koenig scored 15 points, and Nigel Hayes and Ethan Happ had 14 apiece for Wisconsin (25-9). No. 12 Southern Methodist 71, No. 15 Cincinnati 56: Sterling Brown scored 18 points to help send the Mustangs streaking into the NCAA tournament by winning the American Athletic Conference tournament in Hartford, Conn. Tournament MVP Simi Ojeleye added 14 points, Jarrey Foster had 13 and Ben Moore scored 12 for Mustangs (30-4), who won their 16 th straight game and second AAC title in three years. The Mustangs took the championship in 2015, but missed last year's postseason under NCAA sanctions. Jarron Cumberland had 14 points to lead Cincinnati (29-5), which has not won a conference title since capturing the Conference USA crown in 2004. ATLANTIC 10. Rhode Island 70, Virginia Commonwealth 63: Jared Terrell finished with 20 points and E. C. ...

American Athletic Conference

... and the way they've competed, and the lack of whining, complaining, pointing fingers, and all of that, and for them to have cut down nets in two different—in a week in a row, they're cutting down nets, and now we're getting to going into the NCAA Tournament.”. The most recent trouble for SMU began when the Mustangs were being led by the peripatetic Larry Brown. While Brown was coaching in Dallas, one of his assistants plugged a player into an online course to maintain his eligibility. Even then, the player needed help, so a member of the SMU administrative staff did some of the work for him. The NCAA frowns on this sort of thing and, in 2015, SMU got slugged with a one-year postseason ban and, more significantly, a loss of nine scholarships over the next three seasons. The result is that SMU ...

Ncaa Tournament Predictions

... on Sunday. Larry Brown’s fingerprints are still all over this SMU squad, despite the fact that he was ousted after bringing sanctions upon the program last season. Tim Jankovic, former head coach at Illinois State, has done an outstanding job of keeping the culture and expectations in place, and the Ponies play the same way they did under Brown. They’re tough, hard-nosed, they play great defense, and they move the ball extremely well. This squad utilizes everyone’s strengths on offense–including AAC Player of the Year Semi Ojeleye, who averages 19 points and 6.7 rebounds per. Shake Milton (13.2 ppg, 4.5 apg) is a dangerous three-point shooter and attacks the rim well. Sterling Brown (13.2 ppg) is a terrific mid-range shooter, and Ben Moore (11.6 ppg, 7.8 rpg) can finish around the rim and is an excellent defender and rebounder. This is a very well-rounded team, maybe the best in SMU history. Providence’s Rodney Bullock (5) slam ...

The Long, Winding Journey Of Former Top Recruit Semi Ojeleye

... Sometimes we try to get him out of there because we’d rather have him resting. But he’s so passionate that you can set your clock on him.”. The scrimmage with Texas answered any lingering questions from SMU teammates about how much Ojeleye could contribute to the cause. “He was making all the right plays,” SMU forward Ben Moore says. That counted for something, surely, but not anything substantial in the grand scheme. Ojeleye would have to wait until Nov. 11 season opener against Gardner-Webb for that. Nerves did not besiege him the night before that outing; they’d been working him over for a week, in fact. Paying attention in class was a hopeless endeavor. All Ojeleye envisioned was being on the court, jogging out as a starter, taking the jump ball at center court. The season felt like it would never come, and when it did, the wait was replaced by worry. “I was wondering: ...

Bearcats Go West After Smu Loss

... 2017. A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. Cincinnati Bearcats guard Jarron Cumberland (34) flies to the basket for a shot in the second half of the American Athletic Conference Tournament Championship game between the Southern Methodist Mustangs (1) and the Cincinnati Bearcats (2) at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn., on Sunday, March 12, 2017. The Mustangs won the AAC Championship with a 71-56 win over Cincinnati. Sam Greene, The Enquirer. Southern Methodist Mustangs guard Jarrey Foster (10) shoots over Cincinnati Bearcats guard Kevin Johnson (25) in the second half of the American Athletic Conference Tournament Championship game between the Southern Methodist Mustangs (1) and the Cincinnati Bearcats (2) at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn., on Sunday, March 12, 2017. The Mustangs won the AAC Championship with a 71-56 win over Cincinnati. Sam Greene, The Enquirer. The Cincinnati Bearcats head to the sideline after a foul in the second half of the ...

Smu Is Going To Be Under-seeded, And Very Dangerous

... It was the worst loss Memphis has suffered since 1947 - a loss made even worse by the fact that the son (Jonathan Wilfong) of a Memphis great (John Wilfong) scored more points for SMU than two of the scholarship players first-year Memphis coach Tubby Smith enrolled prior to this season scored for Memphis. But I digress. This isn’t a column about how far Memphis has fallen. This is a column about how first-year SMU coach Tim Jankovich extended the Mustangs’ winning streak to 13 games and finished the regular season with a 27-4 record that includes a 17-1 mark in the American Athletic Conference. That’s good enough for SMU’s second outright AAC title in the past three years. Consequently, Jankovich will be the AAC Coach of the Year. He should also be considered for National Coach of the Year. And keep an eye on SMU in the NCAA Tournament. George W. Bush certainly will. The 43 rd President of the United States was, once again, courtside Saturday inside Moody Coliseum and earning his label as the most famous college basketball fan in the world. He watched the Mustangs beat an AAC opponent by double-digits for the 12 th time in 18 opportunities and enhance a resume that’ll be in ...