SMU is flying high after winning the 2015 American Athletic Conference championship. The Mustangs are poised for a strong post-season run. By the way, this isn’t a foreshadowing of the 2015 football season, I’m talking about SMU’s Men’s basketball team.
Why basketball on a football site? Well, SMU football could learn a lot from its championship-caliber basketball program. The Mustangs (26-6, 15-3 AAC) won the schools first conference title in Men’s hoops since 1993, when the Ponies played in the old Southwest Conference. SMU advanced to the semifinals of the AAC Tournament yesterday and has an excellent shot to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
In the spirit of “March Madness,” I laid out three things SMU’s football team can learn from its basketball team.
Play Defense — SMU footballl in 2014 was a complete dumpster fire on both sides, ends, facets, you-name-it, of the ball. But the Mustangs’ 126th-ranked scoring defense and 122nd-ranked total defense slightly overtook the offense as the team’s worst area. Conversely, if not for its firm defense, SMU hoops wouldn’t have won the regular season AAC title. The Mustangs finished the regular season ranked 112th in scoring offense; out of 337 Division I basketball teams, which places the Ponies in the top third of Division I in scoring. Not terrible rankings, but championships aren’t won with an average offensive and defensive combo, in any sport. SMU’s defense played well beyond average to keep Mustangs basketball in contention all season, finishing the regular season with the 27th-ranked scoring D — better than 310 DI defenses (wow!). SMU football should let SMU hoops teach it a thing or two about playing championship-level defense.
Spread Out the Football — New SMU head football coach Chad Morris was hired primarily because of his reputation as a mastermind of the spread offense. If he wants his 127th-ranked offense to improve substantially in 2015, he’ll have to devise a scheme for spreading the ball out his play makers, and finding mismatches in the opponent’s secondary. Morris needs to take the page on “assisting” out of SMU Men’s basketball head coach Larry Brown’s playbook. The Ponies finished the regular season 15th in assists per game at 15.7. Even though SMU basketball wasn’t an offensive juggernaut, Brown knew spreading the ball around the court and getting it in the hands of his play makers gave them the best chance to score. Whoever the SMU starting QB is after spring practice needs to start developing rhythm with all his pass-catchers.
No “Bad” Losses — This is probably where SMU football can learn the most from its basketball team. None of SMU’s six regular season losses in basketball were considered “bad.” The one that comes close is a loss to UConn (19-13) in early March, but the Huskies have advanced to the AAC tournament semifinals, upsetting likely NCAA participant Cincinnati along the way. SMU’s other five losses were to teams that will likely hear their names called when the 2015 bracket is announced on Sunday. Championship seasons, regardless of sport, are based on big wins, but more so on lack of “bad” losses. Baylor’s football team learned the lesson on “bad” losses the hard way in 2014. If not for a loss to 7-6 West Virginia, the Bears would have bumped eventual national champion Ohio State out of the fourth spot in the College Football Playoff. If SMU football becomes a consistent winner in the Morris era, it will have to avoid “bad” losses to win a championship. They just need the Men’s basketball team on speed dial.
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