Looks like on instagram the team got to practice at the Dallas Mavericks practice facility
SMU lost by 11 to a mid Butler team but also lost by only 5 to a Mississippi State team that beat a solid Pitt team by 174
Are they led by 5 guys in their mid-20’s? That is how I’m going to judge likelihood of wins from now on–the relative age/experience of the other team.
Boopie Miller from Wake Forest last year and Chuck Harris, who I wanted to jump in the portal once HGN made me aware of his existence, are their guards/
They also added that Journeyman Matt Cross and former 5 star Yohan Traore whose career hasnt been what he imagined in the front court
They have a lot of kids who were talented coming out of HS but didnt pan out and portaled over the years
Somehow Matt Cross showed up as a top portal guy. Metrics loved him, and still do this season.
Reece booped Boopie last year, not sure who can contain him this go around. It’ll be an interesting test.
SMU has 7 rotation guys with PER of 19.8 or better.
We have one - Cofie at 22.2
By the way Robinson is at a ridiculous 35.1.
Uncage Anthony!!’ Pretty please???
We don’t have anyone with an offensive rating as high as SMU’s top 8 rotation players.
ARob’s is higher than everyone’s on both teams.
Release the beast!!!
By the way their best big is 7-2 and 265 and 2 others are 6-10.
Yeah, I’m just 3 hours down the road from SMU and have been up that way recently; turned down an offer to go to this game tomorrow because it’s just not worth the hassle to watch us get smoked again. I made the drive to Houston 3 years ago, and there was the Gonzaga game in Fort Worth four years ago. Generally I don’t mind traveling to see my team even in a loss, but there’s a limit.
He’s quite good against walk ons.
Feel like the UVA basketball season hasn’t officially started until Davethewave has brought up PER numbers of guys playing green team minutes.
ARob has played 19 minutes. Roughly only 6 of those minutes have come in a non-garbage time situation. I’d like to see him more because he brings a different element in the post, but like, I don’t read a thing into his PER numbers under those circumstances
SMU has been attempting 26 FT per game.
Right now Hoos are 3rd in the country in FTA allowed at 11.6.
A key to watch for.
lol.
Tell me you haven’t been watching without saying you haven’t been watching.
It’s a pretty good matchup for UVA. If they do UVA things…granted those things aren’t yet a given this year. I just don’t like playing down there in their first ACC game. It’ll probably be nuts, like a pre party for fans before the football title game.
You think anyone else is big enough and strong enough and athletic enough on our team vs a 7-2, 6-10, 6-10 front line?
Remind me again which portions of the 2nd halves in 3 losses were not garbage time?
Florida had their starters still in.
Eye test is a thing… he belongs physically. So does Cofie.
Agreed that this isn’t a terrible matchup. Florida cracked our foul avoidance abilities, but we have been pretty good at limiting free throws. The boards are gonna be a big battleground, and just the interior in general. SMU’s on defense isn’t very turnover-focused and they allow a lot of 3s, so it should be a little more comfortable for us on offense.
The issue is they score… and score a lot and very efficiently- 9th in the country in points per possession. (123 points per 100 possessions vs our 102 points per 100 possessions)
Can we score 80?
For those wondering SMU and Florida are tied at 9th nationally in offensive rating. Tennessee is 3rd and St John’s is 85th.
P.s. I could put this in coach thread but it’s a big reason I like Bucky …. Samford is 20th nationally right now in offensive rating. They were 20th last year.
38th in 2023
I believe our idea will be to make it harder for them to score. And to try to score on their average-ish defense.
Also, I don’t think those efficiency stats you’re listing are adjusted for opponent strength; St John’s is higher on T-Rank and KenPom in offense than that, SMU slightly lower (#20-30 range).